Rheological investigation of soy protein hydrogels induced by Maillard-type reaction

Gel fractal dimension did not vary with cross-linker type or concentration, while prefactor values increased with cross-linker concentration and when salt was used. The invariability of the fractal dimension is believed related to the absence of effect of the cross-linking agents on protein ionic repulsions, while prefactor value is believed inversely proportional to the number of inter-floc particle–particle interactions in the three-dimensional network and to floc size. The prefactor value was thus shown to increase as cross-linking degree increased and gel lacunarity decreased.