Since endogenous pectin has been reported to improve water redispersibility of dried nanofibrillated cellulose (NFC), feasibility of using exogenous pectin to achieve such a purpose when NFC was prepared from a material with minute amount of pectin was investigated. Cabbage outer leaves, which are by‐product with low pectin content, were selected as the test material. Prior to defibrillation, commercial citrus pectin at different concentrations was autoclaved at 130 °C for 2 h with the cabbage. After hot air drying at 60 °C, dried NFC samples with 43%–44% (dry mass) cellulose and varying pectin contents were obtained. Freshly prepared NFC suspensions exhibited desirable gel‐like behaviour, while suspensions prepared from dried NFC did not. Aggregation of NFC was clearly seen from microstructural images although the contents of pectin were believed to be adequate. Hydrolysis of exogenous pectin during autoclaving into low molecular‐weight oligomers was noted to be responsible for such incapability.

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