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INFLUENCE OF TEMPERATURE AND RELATIVE HUMIDITY ON THE PHYSICAL STATES OF COTTON CANDY
Author(s) -
LABUZA THEODORE P.,
LABUZA PETER S.
Publication year - 2004
Publication title -
journal of food processing and preservation
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.511
H-Index - 48
eISSN - 1745-4549
pISSN - 0145-8892
DOI - 10.1111/j.1745-4549.2004.24041.x
Subject(s) - relative humidity , amorphous solid , crystallization , glass transition , materials science , moisture , water content , diffractometer , humidity , composite material , chemistry , crystallography , polymer , scanning electron microscope , geology , organic chemistry , meteorology , physics , geotechnical engineering
Cotton candy is made by melting crystalline sucrose above 210C in a bowl which shoots molten liquid sucrose into the air where it rapidly cools and dries into an amorphous glassy solid state. As such, it is highly hygroscopic, picking up moisture as %RH increases and becoming rubbery. The glass transition line (T g vs. %RH) divides the two states. When rubbery, cotton candy should collapse forming crystalline sucrose becoming unsaleable. Cotton candy was stored at 25C and at %RH from ∼0% to 75%. Moisture gain/loss, visual observations, and powder X‐ray diffraction using a Seimens 5005‐powder X‐ray diffractometer were used to evaluate collapse and crystallization. At ∼0% and 11% RH (below T g ), cotton candy maintained a stable structure for at least 12 months. At 33% RH (just at T g ), it collapsed and crystallized within 3 days while at 45, 54 and 75% RH, collapse and crystallization occurred in less than 1 day.