Heat induced gelling properties of soy protein isolates prepared from different defatted soybean flours

Three soy protein isolates were prepared from two commercial defatted soybean flours (SG and ADM) and flour indigenously prepared from soybeans grown in Ontario (ON). Denaturation degree and protein composition of three isolates as measured by DSC and SDS-PAGE were not different significantly, but remarkable differences in ANS surface hydrophobicity and turbidity were noticed. Heat induced gelling properties of these soy protein isolates were examined by small deformation oscillatory rheological test. The critical gelling concentrations of the two isolates from commercial soy flours (SG and ADM) in distilled water were 90 mg/ml, much lower than 110 mg/ml for ON. The effect of type and concentration of salts on the gelling properties of the three protein isolates were also examined. In 1 mol/L NaCl solution, ADM had the higher gel strength than SG. It was found that the increase in gel strength of ON by addition of NaSCN was much greater than that in NaCl solution. N-Ethylmaleimide (NEM) was observed to increased the gel strength for all soy protein isolates examined despite its sulfhydryl groups blocking function. It is suggested that a non-heat aggregation of protein which led to turbidity development was responsible for the inferior gelling property of ON while the different gelling behavior between SG and ADM could be attributed to their difference in ANS surface hydrophobicity.