Thanksgiving is right around the corner, and to celebrate this food-filled holiday, we invite you to take a look into the chemistry of pectin—a key ingredient in cranberry sauce—and its many uses beyond your dinner plate.
This post was originally published in November 2017 and has been refreshed with new content and research highlights for your 2023 holiday enjoyment. Dig in!
Thanksgiving is here again, so it’s only natural to have food—and the chemistry behind it—on the brain. Thanksgiving is a time for gratitude and appreciation of family and friends, but there are often many strong (and conflicting) opinions surrounding the meal itself, such as whether canned or homemade cranberry sauce is superior. Regardless of where you stand on that issue, Thanksgiving is the perfect time to explore the chemistry behind a key molecule in this holiday treat: pectin.
Pectin is a naturally occurring polysaccharide polymer and is used in food as a gelling agent. But has an array of beneficial uses beyond just cranberry sauce, some of which are outlined in the following selection of recent articles across the ACS journal portfolio.
Orange Pectin with Compact Conformation Effectively Alleviates Acute Colitis in Mice
J. Agric. Food Chem. 2022, 70, 5, 1704–1714
DOI: 10.1021/acs.jafc.1c07951
Enhanced Protein Adsorption Capacity of Macroporous Pectin Particles with High Specific Surface Area and an Interconnected Pore Network
ACS Appl. Mater. Interfaces 2022, 14, 12, 14435–14446
DOI: 10.1021/acsami.1c22307
Apple Pectin-Based Hydrogel Electrolyte for Energy Storage Applications
ACS Sustainable Chem. Eng. 2022, 10, 48, 15802–15812
DOI: 10.1021/acssuschemeng.2c04600
Supplementation with the Prebiotic High-Esterified Pectin Improves Blood Pressure and Cardiovascular Risk Biomarker Profile, Counteracting Metabolic Malprogramming
J. Agric. Food Chem. 2022, 70, 41, 13200–13211
DOI: 10.1021/acs.jafc.2c03143
Natural Pectin and Commercial Luvicap-Bio as Green Kinetic Hydrate Inhibitors: A Comparative Evaluation by Crystal Growth Inhibition Methods
Energy Fuels 2022, 36, 24, 14898–14906
DOI: 10.1021/acs.energyfuels.2c03348
Rapid Indomethacin Release from Porous Pectin Particles as a Colon-Targeted Drug Delivery System
ACS Appl. Bio Mater. 2023, 6, 7, 2725–2737
DOI: 10.1021/acsabm.3c00218
Short-Term Supplementation of Pectin Alters Substrate Dynamics and Modulates Microbial Carbohydrate Metabolism in the Gut of a Pig Model
J. Agric. Food Chem. 2023, 71, 27, 10470–10482
DOI: 10.1021/acs.jafc.3c02562
Sustainability Challenges and Opportunities in Pectin Extraction from Fruit Waste
ACS Eng. Au 2022, 2, 2, 61–74
DOI: 10.1021/acsengineeringau.1c00025
Ultrasensitive and Degradable Ultraflexible Synaptic Transistors Based on Natural Pectin
ACS Appl. Electron. Mater. 2022, 4, 1, 316–325
DOI: 10.1021/acsaelm.1c01021
Evaluation of Tannin-Delivery Approaches for Gut Microbiota Modulation: Comparison of Pectin-Based Microcapsules and Unencapsulated Extracts
J. Agric. Food Chem. 2023, 71, 38, 13988–13999
DOI: 10.1021/acs.jafc.3c02949