Materials
Litchi (Dehradun variety) was procured from the regional
research station of Punjab Agricultural University,
Hoshiarpur, Punjab, India. Hydrocolloids, viz. CMC, SA and
pectin (low degree of esterification [DE]), were procured
from Sigma-Aldrich (St. Louis, MO). CMC had the viscosity
of 50–200 cps at 25C and molecular weight of 90 kDa, while
SA had a viscosity of 5–40 cps and pectin had a DE of 24%
and molecular weight of 114 kDa (approximate). Pectins
with low DE were used because they can form gels in the
presence of calcium ions and are hence used widely
in the food industry. All the other chemicals and solvents
were of analytical grade and were purchased from Fisher
Scientific (Mumbai, India).