How do we best treat starch-based wine gums to get the desired gummy texture? Help us to understand the molecular mechanisms going on during storage

Potato starch is used in many different applications. In wine gum potato starch is used as a functional ingredient to facilitate and ensure a desirable texture. 

It has been observed that the storage conditions of the wine gum after production has a great impact on the texture development. This can most likely be ascribed to some on-going retrogradation of the starch, binding of water, and interactions between the ingredients. However, currently we do not fully understand the molecular mechanisms. 

In this project, you will produce wine gums and work in model systems, using different ingredients and storage conditions. The finished wine gums and gels will be analyzed using Low-field NMR relaxation measurements combined with rheology and texture measurements.