Studies of ovalbumin gelation in the presence of carrageenans and after manothermosonication treatments

Ovalbumin is a key ingredient in many food products due to its ability to form a three-dimensional network after heat denaturation, that is, to form gels. We have explored two ways of modifying gels based on ovalbumin: (1) the addition of carrageenans, and (2) manothermosonication (MTS) treatments of ovalbumin suspensions prior to gelation. Ovalbumin gels showed elastic modulus (G′) values of 1216 Pa after a heating and a cooling period. The addition of kappa, lambda, and iota carrageenan enhanced G′ values by 6, 1.7, and 1.7 fold, respectively. Kappa carrageenan was not only the most effective carrageenan in the improvement of ovalbumin gelation but changed also the gelation process at the end of the cooling phase. MTS treatments reduced G′ values of ovalbumin gels by about 50% measured immediately after MTS treatments but only by ca. 25% after 24 h, which reveals that ovalbumin modifications introduced by ultrasound, whatever they are, are reversible. This reduction does not preclude the use of manothermosonicated liquid egg as gelling agent.