Method of preparing fibre-containing pectin product and pectin products hereof

1. A method for providing a fibre-containing pectin product from a plant material, the method comprising the steps of:

(i) providing a plant material comprising pectin, wherein the pectin has a degree of esterification of 55% or less,

(ii) adding an acidic aqueous solution to the pectin containing plant material obtained in step (i), wherein the acidic solution does not comprise an organic solvent and does not comprise a salt, and providing a suspension of the plant material, wherein the suspended plant material provides an in situ system by swelling the plant material under conditions where the pectin is kept within the plant material and is not dissolved or extracted during the swelling, and

(iii) obtaining the fibre-containing pectin product from the suspension provided in step (ii), wherein the plant material is allowed to swell in the acidic aqueous solution from 10 to 120 minutes and the plant material is substantially depleted of divalent cations during the swelling.

2. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the plant material is depleted from divalent cations or substantially depleted from divalent cations by removing at least 10% w/w of the divalent cations naturally present in the plant material.

3. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the content of divalent cations after addition of the acidic aqueous solution is 50 mmol/kg dry matter or less.

4. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the fibre-containing pectin product obtained in step (iii) is a plant material insoluble fibre product (PMIF-product).

5. The method according to claim 4 , wherein the PMIF-product is capable of absorbing water.

6. The method according to claim 4 , wherein at least 0.1 g water is absorbed per gram PMIF-product.

7. The method according to claim 4 , wherein the PMIF-product is depleted of the divalent cations.

8. The method according to claim 7 , wherein the divalent cations include Ca 2+ , Mg 2+ , Sr 2+ or Ba 2+ .

9. The method according to claim 7 , wherein the content of the divalent cations is present in the PMIF-product and the content of the divalent cations after depletion is less than 40 mmol/kg dry matter.

10. The method according claim 7 , wherein the PMIF-product is subjected to a wash that comprises water.

11. The method according to claim 10 , wherein the PMIF-product and the wash are separated so as to provide a washed PMIF-product.

12. The method according to claim 11 , wherein the separation is performed by filtration, centrifugation, decanting or a combination thereof.

13. The method according to claim 7 , wherein the PMIF-product has a pH value in the range of pH 1-5.

14. The method according to claim 7 , wherein the PMIF-product is subjected to drying.

15. The method according to claim 7 , wherein the PMIF-product has a degree of esterification in the range of 10-55.

16. The method according to claim 7 , wherein the PMIF-product has a degree of acetylation of 25 or less.

17. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the suspension of the plant material is subjected to a treatment that provides a mud of the suspension of the plant material having a dry matter content above 15% w/w.

18. The method according to claim 17 , wherein the treatment giving a dry matter content above 15% w/w is selected from the group consisting of centrifugation, filtration, decanting, and pressing or any combination thereof.

19. The method according claim 17 , wherein the mud or the suspension of the plant material provides an in situ system by swelling the plant material in the acidic aqueous solution without extracting pectin from the mud.

20. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the suspended pectin containing plant material is separated from the acidic aqueous solution.

21. The method according to claim 20 , wherein the separation is performed by filtration, centrifugation, decanting, or pressing or a combination thereof.

22. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the plant material is obtained from a native vegetable material in a fresh or dried state.

23. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the plant material comprising pectin is selected from the group consisting of potato, sugar beet, apples, citrus fruits, tobacco, cacao, sun flower, pumpkin, mango, tomato and Aloe Vera or a pulp or peel thereof.

24. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the plant material is subjected to comminution, pulverization, grinding, or tearing before the acidic aqueous solution is added.

25. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the method is conducted at a temperature below 80.degree. C.

26. A method for providing a fibre-containing pectin product from a plant material, the method comprising:

(i) providing a plant material comprising pectin, wherein the pectin includes a degree of esterification of 55% or less;

(ii) adding an acidic aqueous solution to the pectin, wherein the acidic solution does not comprise an organic solvent and does not comprise a salt having a divalent cation, and providing a suspension of the plant material, wherein the suspended plant material provides an in situ system by swelling the plant material under conditions where the pectin is kept within the plant material and is not dissolved or extracted during the swelling; and

(iii) obtaining the fibre-containing pectin product from the suspension, wherein the plant material is allowed to swell in the acidic aqueous solution from 10 to 120 minutes and is substantially depleted of divalent cations during the swelling, and wherein the fibre-containing pectin product is a plant material insoluble fibre product (PMIF-product) depleted of the divalent cations.

27. The method according to claim 26 , wherein the PMIF-product is capable of absorbing water.

28. The method according to claim 27 , wherein at least 0.1 g water is absorbed per gram PMIF-product.