pH shifting treatment of egg yolk granules /salted ovalbumin mixed gels: Reassembled of egg yolk granules effects on heat-induced amorphous aggregates

In this study, we propose three methods of acidic pH shifting of egg yolk granules (EYGs) to investigate effects of EYGs structure on properties of EYGs-salted ovalbumin (SO) gels. Different pH parameters affect protein unfolding behavior, as well as assembly of high-density lipoprotein (HDL) and phosvitin during acidification. The main mechanism was a change in the microenvironment of hydrophobic amino acid residues and new hydrogen bonds, which induced the reassembly. Besides, low-content EYGs increased the mixed gel network structure density, cohesiveness (0.12-0.14) and chewiness (29.46-49.11). While mixed gels with high content EYGs had higher hardness and recovery rate, and were more tightly bound to water molecules. EYGs-4-6 exhibited greater hydrogen bonding forces, which could lead to a more rigid network and greater potential for use as an active filler. Our study tracked the trajectory of pH-shifting preparations of reassembled EYGs while providing new insight into nutritional value of SO gel.