Reconstitution of Food Powders Granulated with Oil‐in‐Water Emulsions

Vegetable soups are complex mixtures containing vegetables in different percentages, thickeners, salt, fat, and emulsifying/wetting agents. When prepared as dehydrated powders in convenience foods, they need to be rehydrated before consumption and this can lead to formation of undesired lumps when carried out in hot water. Elimination of lumps and simplification of the preparation procedure were reached by granulating three different vegetable mixtures, each with a predominant vegetable (spinach, beetroot, and carrot), using an alternative liquid binder besides water. The use of an oil‐in‐water emulsion affected positively some technological properties of the dry products like granule strength and flowability, and the rehydrated soups in terms of complete dispersion in hot water. Also, the interplay between starches and soluble sugars, naturally present in vegetables, was found to impact the complete rehydration of the soups. Instant vegetable soups have been obtained by wet granulation using oil‐in‐water emusions as liquid binder. Three different soup formulations with different starch‐to‐soluble sugar ratios (SSR) have been produced. Experiments demonstrated the positive effect of the emulsion as binder and the role of SSR in eliminating the formation of lumps during the reconstitution process.