Sodium Alginate and Chitosan as Components Modifying the Properties of Inulin Hydrogels

The aim of the study was to investigate the influence of addition of sodium alginate (SA) and chitosan (CH) on the properties of inulin hydrogels. Inulin hydrogels (20 g/100 g) containing various additions (0.0, 0.1, 0.3, and 0.5 g/100 g) of SA and CH were produced. The hydrogels’ properties were assessed based on the volumetric gel index, microstructure, yield stress, texture, stability, and color parameters. According to the findings, the inclusion of these polysaccharides had no influence on the gelation ability of the inulin solution. The physical properties of the hydrogels containing SA or CH differed from hydrogels containing only inulin (INU). The obtained microstructural pictures revealed that the addition of SA and CH resulted in the formation of hydrogels with a more compact, smooth, and cohesive structure. Consequently, they had higher yield stress, strength, and spreadability values than INU hydrogels. The addition of chitosan in comparison with sodium alginate also had a greater effect in strengthening the structure of hydrogels, especially at the level of 0.5 g/100 g. For example, the addition of this amount of SA increased the yield stress on average from 195.0 Pa (INU) to 493.6 Pa, while the addition of CH increased it to 745.3 Pa. In the case of the strength parameter, the addition of SA increased the force from 0.24 N (INU) to 0.42 N and the addition of CH increased it to 1.29 N. In the case of spreadability this increase was from 2.89 N * s (INU) to 3.44 N * s (SA) and to 6.16 N * s (CH). Chitosan also caused an increase in the stability of inulin hydrogels, whereas such an effect was not observed with the addition of sodium alginate. The gels with the addition of SA and CH also had significantly different values of color parameters. Inulin–alginate hydrogels were characterized by higher values of the color parameter a *, lower values of the color parameter b *, and in most concentrations higher values of the color parameter L * compared to inulin–chitosan hydrogels. Based on the collected data, it can therefore be concluded that through the addition of sodium alginate and chitosan, there is a possibility to modify the properties of inulin hydrogels and, consequently, to better adapt them to the characteristics of the pro-health food products in which they will be used.