Characterising the Progress of Gelation in Tofu Making with Ohmic Heating

Abstract

In tofu making by heat treatment, the addition of coagulant ionizes the proteins as a result of heat dissolution and the ionized proteins aggregate with the coagulant to form protein clusters. The electrical conductivity (EC) of the soya milk emulsion varies in response to the progress of gelation. By ohmic heating, the applied current and voltage directly indicate the electrical conductivity of the soya milk emulsion and then indirectly the progress of tofu gelation. In this paper, ultrasonic measurement is adopted to explore the feasibility of using EC as an indicator of tofu gelation. Experiments showed a strong correlation between EC and ultrasonic measurement in characterisation of tofu gelation.