Free and Bound Water

Water is abundant in all living things and consequently, in

almost all foods, unless steps have been take to remove it.
Most natural foods contain water up to 70% of their weight or greater
unless they are dehydrated, and fruits and vegetables contain water up
to 90% or greater.
Water that can be extracted easily from foods by squeezing or cutting
or pressing is known as free water, whereas water that cannot be
extracted easily is termed as bound water.
Bound water is usually defined in terms of the ways it is measured;
different methods of measurement give different values for bound
water in a particular food.
Many food constituents can bind or hold water molecules such that
they cannot be easily removed and they do not behave like liquid
water. Some characteristics of bound water include:
It is not free to act as a solvent for salts and sugars
It can be frozen only at very low temperatures (below the
freezing point of water).
It exhibits essentially no vapor pressure
Its density is greater than that of free water
Bound water has more structural bonding than liquid or free water
thus it is unable to act as a solvent.
As the vapor pressure is negligible the molecules cannot escape as
vapor; and the molecules in bound water are more closely packed than
in the liquid state. So the density is greater.

An example of bound water is the water present in cacti or pine tree

needles the water cannot be squeezed or pressed out; extreme
dessert heat or a winter freeze does not negatively affect bound water
and the vegetation remains alive.
The energy of water molecules is reduced as the water bonds
chemically with other molecules and structurally via Van der Waals
forces. As a result, water activity describes whether or not water will
be available to support microbial growth, participate in chemical
reactions, or cause physical changes.
This has caused some people to refer to water activity as a measure of
bound and free water. Sometimes people go further, interpreting a
water activity of .25 for example as 25% bound water and 75% free
water. This is not scientifically accurate, and can cause confusion.
The concept of bound water has multiple definitions. For example,
it is frequently used to describe the process of physically restricting
the flow of liquid water by creating a gel system. When the concepts
of water activity and physical binding are confused, it can result in
attempts to lower water activity by binding water using gels.
The gel does prevent water from flowing as a liquid, but doesnt lower
water activity. The water can still move easily as a vapor. In fact, gelbound water may have a very high energy, or water activity, and be
available for microbial growth and other reactions.
Instead of thinking of bound and free water, it is more accurate to
think in terms of available energy. For example, water in a sample
with a water activity of 0.25 has 25% of the energy of pure water.