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To improve the quality and yield of traditional firm tofu prepared with bittern as coagulant, water-in-oil (W/O) emulsions with bittern solution as the aqueous phase, where the ratio of the bittern solution to the oil phase was 1:1.5 or 1:1 ( w/ w), and an emulsifier at a concentration of 0.8 or 1.0 wt.% were prepared. The parameters water content, water-holding capacity, yield, texture, and microstructure of the tofu were tested. The results indicated that the bittern W/O emulsions provided satisfactory controlled-release application potential. The use of the W/O emulsions significantly improved tofu's water content, and the product remained moist for at least 24 h. Moreover, emulsified bittern increased the yield and made the gel network more homogenous and compact compared with the control. As expected, emulsions with an emulsifier concentration of 1.0 wt.% showed slightly better controlled-release capacity than those with 0.8 wt.%. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To explore the controlled-release capacity and potential application of water in oil (W/O) emulsions, W/O emulsions with bittern solution as the aqueous phase were prepared with polyglycerol polyricinoleate (PGPR) as the emulsifier. Several factors that influenced the preparation of W/O bittern coagulants were investigated. Optimized conditions were applied as follows: bittern solution/oil phase at 4:6 or 5:5 ( w/ w), processing temperature at 65 °C, emulsifier concentration higher than 0.6 wt% and high-pressure homogenization at 60 MPa; W/O emulsions that had a good particle size distribution, good rheological properties, good embedding ratio and high stability were prepared. The optimized W/O emulsions also exhibited the expected controlled-release ability, affected by the bath temperature, shear speed and emulsion characteristics. The preliminary results also showed that the application of W/O emulsions has the potential to improve tofu quality by delaying the solidification of soybean protein and creating a much smoother and finer gel structure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, acidic whey (AW), a natural tofu-coagulant in China, was investigated for the micro flora and chemical changes of AW during tofu whey natural fermentation. The gel properties of AW tofu coagulated with AW were also studied. Throughout the fermentation stages, the change of lactic acid bacteria (LAB) was found to be similar to that of total mesophilic aerobic bacteria (TMAB), implying that LAB is the most important role that works on AW fermentation. The numbers of enterobacteriaceae, yeast and mould (fungi) were too low to detect. Bacterial spores (spores) and acetibacteria was found to increase slowly with fermentation time. The pH value, protein, carbohydrate, organic acid changes during the production of acidic whey were studied. It was found that the pH value of acidic whey had a significant effect on the gel properties of AW tofu. The microbiological findings in this study have clearly demonstrated the presence of the high counts of LAB investigated and a large amount L-lactic acid produced by LAB must have act as the main tofu coagulant. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]