Improvement of the gel properties and flavor adsorption capacity of fish myosin upon yeast β-glucan incorporation

The potential effects of yeast β-glucan (YG) on heat-induced gel properties, microstructure and flavor adsorption capacity of fish myosin at different NaCl concentrations were investigated in this study. The incorporation of YG significantly improved the texture properties, gel strength, water holding capacity (WHC), storage modulus and loss modulus of myosin gels, especially at a high salt level, whereas the whiteness declined. Furthermore, myosin gels containing YG displayed a more compact and ordered three-dimensional network structure, accompanied by the increasing immobilization of water in gels. The binding abilities of gels to selected flavor compounds at high salt content were inferior to those at the low salt content. Regardless of the salt level, YG addition boosted the flavor binding capacity of gels, which might be attributed to the unfolding of the protein conformation by exposing more flavor-binding sites, as well as the porous sponge structure of YG with unique adsorption capacity.