Effects of ethanol treatment on rheological and gel properties of chicken myofibrillar protein

Abstract

Culinary wine is often used to marinate meat products before cooking to remove unfavorable flavors. However, the effects of ethanol as the main component in culinary wine on the main proteins in meat products are not clear. Therefore, we studied the effects of ethanol treatment on the microstructure, rheological, and gelation properties of chicken myofibrillar protein (CMP) and the reasons for these changes. The viscosity coefficient of CMP solutions firstly decreased; then increased with increasing ethanol and reached the minimum at 0.9% ethanol. The gel strength, water holding capacity, and storage modulus of CMP gels reached the maximum at 0.9% ethanol treatment, and the scanning electron micrographs showed a more compact structure. The presence of ethanol decreased the dielectric constant of solution, resulting the changes of surface hydrophobicity and sulfhydryl groups of CMP solutions and gels. These changes contributed the evolution of the properties we mentioned above.