The viscosity, swelling degree, water retention and gelatin textural properties of inulin were explored. When the inulin content was lower than 25%, the viscosity of aqueous solution was low and the increasing was not significant with the content increasing. However, with further increasing in the content, the viscosity increased rapidly. Temperature had significant effects on the swelling degree and the water retention, both of them had the same trend and reached the maximum value at 40℃. The gelling ability of inulin was evaluated by using gel index (VGI) and gelling time. The results showed that inulin could not gelatinize completely unless the content was no less than 35% and the gelling time became shorter as inulin content increased. TPA test showed that hardness, gel strength, adhesiveness, adhesive force and gumminess of gel were improved in the different extents as inulin content increased and storage time prolonged. Hardness, gel strength, adhesiveness and gumminess of gel were improved significantly when the inulin content was above 40%.