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Improving Gelling Properties of Tofu: Study on ApnA Aspartic Protease Enzyme Impact on the Resulting Chemical and Microstructure Properties

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Abstract

This study investigated the prospective effect of ApnA enzyme under different concentrations (µL/100 mL soymilk) compared to chemical (pH, MgCl2, and K-carrageenan, respectively) as tofu coagulants. The resultant tofu samples were analyzed for compositional analysis, thermal properties, water distribution, and microstructure properties. The higher concentration of enzyme used, the higher resulted moisture content of tofu. ApnA enzyme increased the cross-linking through protein molecules and trapped more water within the gel network. Tofu samples prepared by different concentrations of ApnA enzyme displayed significantly less freezable water content (15.44, 12.84, and 19.46 g/100 g). In particular, 800 µL ApnA/100 mL soymilk formed an interconnected gel matrix with regular distribution with almost invisible cavities. The thermal pretreatment and the increased coagulation time might encourage this irregular structure. On the other hand, the gel network coagulated using the reduction of pH showed a weaker gel due to an accelerated acidification.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biological Chemical Engineering, College of Chemical Engineering and Material Science, Tianjin University of Science and Technology, TEDA, Tianjin, 300457, China

    Fatma Ali & Xuhui Liu

  2. Food Science and Formulation, University of Liège-Gembloux Agro-Bio Tech, Gembloux, Belgium

    Sabine Danthine

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  1. Fatma Ali
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  2. Xuhui Liu
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  3. Sabine Danthine
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Contributions

Fatma Ali: conceptualization, data curation, formal analysis, writing the original draft, and writing-review and editing. Xuhui Liu: data curation and formal analysis. Sabine Danthine: editing the reviewed draft.

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Correspondence to Fatma Ali.

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Ali, F., Liu, X. & Danthine, S. Improving Gelling Properties of Tofu: Study on ApnA Aspartic Protease Enzyme Impact on the Resulting Chemical and Microstructure Properties. Food Bioprocess Technol (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11947-024-03346-8

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