Study of the stability of egg white protein-based foams: effect of heatingprotein solution

The results reported in this study are concerned with the effects of pre-he ating treatments of ovalbumin and lysozyme solutions on the formation, stab ility and texture morphology of their corresponding foams. It was shown tha t pre-heating solutions of these proteins to temperatures higher than that of their thermal denaturation led to an enhanced rate of surface pressure d evelopment and enhanced foaming properties relative to the unheated protein s. The effect of pre-heating was more clearly apparent for lysozyme, which has a higher rigidity than ovalbumin in the native conformational state. Fu rthermore, the evolution of liquid volume retained in the lysozyme- and ova lbumin-based foams and foam images during the destabilisation step indicate d the slowest drainage and the finest, most homogeneous and most stable foa m texture for foams formed from pre-heated protein solutions. (C) 2000 Soci ety of Chemical Industry.