Several studies have been carried out to understand the behaviour of whey protein concentrates (WPC). One of the most important properties of this functional ingredient is the capacity to form stable gels in the temperature range from 70 to 90ºC, which makes it a convenient component of many foods such as bakery, meat, texturized and milk products. Protein concentration, pH, ionic composition and temperature must be kept under control in order to form products with desirable characteristics. The aim of this work was to investigate the influence of metallic divalent ions, Ca++ and Mg++, on the hardness of thermally induced WPC gels. Dispersions of WPC at 6, 7 and 8% protein, at pH 6.3 containing 0, 7, 15, 30 and 75mM CaCl2 or MgCl2 were heated at 75ºC for 45 min, followed by cooling at 4ºC for 12 hours. The gels were evaluated in a texturometer TA-XT2. Gels with higher ionic concentration showed higher hardness values.
whey; gel; calcium; magnesium; functional properties; texturometer TA-XT2
