Curdlan Innovation Cuts Pineapple Jam Production Time by Two-Thirds While Maintaining Quality
Researchers have discovered that curdlan, a natural polysaccharide, can reduce pineapple jam cooking time from three hours to just one while improving texture and stability without compromising taste, offering a cost-effective alternative to expensive pectin that could transform fruit preservation and reduce food waste.
A natural polysaccharide called curdlan is poised to revolutionize pineapple jam production by dramatically reducing cooking time while enhancing product quality and stability. Researchers from Universiti Sains Malaysia and Mountains of the Moon University found that incorporating curdlan into pineapple jam formulations cut processing time from three hours to just one hour while strengthening texture, reducing water loss, and improving overall stability.
The study, published on July 18, 2025, in Food Quality and Safety (DOI: 10.1093/fqsafe/fyaf033), tested pineapple jams prepared with varying concentrations of curdlan up to 1.5%. The research team examined cooking efficiency, texture, color, and consumer acceptance across different formulations. The findings reveal that curdlan not only improved physical and structural properties but also maintained sensory qualities that consumers expect from traditional pineapple jam.
Pineapple ranks as the world's third most-produced tropical fruit, rich in flavor and nutrition but highly perishable with nearly one-third of harvests lost after picking. Processing pineapples into jam offers an important preservation method, but traditional production relies heavily on pectin, which is expensive, limited in supply, and naturally scarce in pineapple flesh. This creates significant technical challenges for manufacturers who must balance consistency, stability, and cost considerations.
The research demonstrated that the highest curdlan concentration of 1.5% achieved the most dramatic results, reducing cooking time by two-thirds. This efficiency gain stems from curdlan's unique ability to bind water, accelerate soluble solids accumulation, and form dense gel networks. The curdlan-enhanced jams displayed reduced syneresis—the liquid separation that can spoil consistency—and lower water activity, both critical factors for safe storage and extended shelf life.
Quality assessments showed improvements in brightness, redness, and yellowness in the jam's color profile, while texture tests revealed firmer, less sticky products. Microscopic imaging confirmed that curdlan created compact, well-structured networks that reinforced product stability. Most importantly, a consumer panel of 45 untrained tasters reported no significant differences in flavor, color, or overall acceptability across the samples, with jams containing 0.5% curdlan receiving the highest scores for spreadability.
Lead author Shin-Yong Yeoh stated that curdlan could be a game-changer for fruit jam production, providing a low-cost and versatile alternative to pectin without compromising quality. The research was funded by the Ministry of Higher Education Malaysia through the Fundamental Research Grant Scheme. Beyond pineapple applications, curdlan's ability to shorten cooking time suggests potential for lower energy consumption and faster processing across various fruit-based preserves, potentially helping reduce post-harvest fruit waste by stabilizing perishable crops.
For manufacturers, switching to curdlan could significantly cut production costs by replacing expensive pectin, while consumers would benefit from affordable jams with the same taste and appeal they expect. The findings point to curdlan as a functional alternative particularly valuable for low-pectin fruits like pineapple, with broader implications for creating more sustainable, accessible, and innovative food systems. Further research into industrial scalability and shelf-life stability will be essential before curdlan can reach wider commercial implementation.