**4. Conclusion**

As CMC proportion rises, the aggregation and gel times of NaCAS:CMC mixtures increased and the pH at which these processes begin decreased, revealing a stabilizing effect of CMC. The degree of compactness diminished when the CMC proportion increased. This effect can be linked to protein conformational changes in the presence of CMC that lead to a decrease of surface hydrophobicity, which difficult the establishment of hydrophobic interactions. The gels also showed lower elasticity at CMC:NaCAS high ratios.

Therefore, it is possible to obtain acid gels with different textures varying the protein:polysaccharide proportions due to surface hydrophobicity and electrostatic stability modification of NaCAS particles and due to changes on the kinetic of aggregation and gelation processes.
