Food Blog

Keeping it crispy

Liming Cai, Ph.D. is a principal scientist at MGP. That means he has seen all the great ways our ingredients enhance products. In one experiment, he actually fried nearly 100 chicken drumsticks to test Fibersym®, and his conclusions were a crispy surprise.

What’s the most interesting use of Fibersym you’ve ever seen?

I worked on application research with Fibersym as an ingredient in a crispy coating batter mix. We combined it with other MGP cookup wheat starches to test its effect on battered chicken crispiness.

How was it unique from other uses of Fibersym?

Fibersym is mostly used to enhance the health profile of bakery products. It increases the dietary fiber and reduces calories and cholesterol in products like bread, flour tortillas, pizza crust, bakery mixes, cookies, muffins, etc. 

Why was it so impressive?

Results show an impressive adhesion to make a smooth coating and it improves crispiness and reduces oil absorption, so food is less greasy and more golden brown. And when the chicken was tested under a heat lamp, it remained crispy for an hour. That’s a big deal for places where food sits under heat lamps for periods of time.

What can we learn from this use?

Fibersym can actually improve texture in breaded coatings and extruded fried snacks. So, it has benefits beyond improving the end health values of products.

https://www.mgpingredients.com/food-ingredients/products/line/fibersym]

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