Role of heat pretreatment and transglutaminase treatment on the gelling properties of pea protein

Pea proteins are widely used in the food industry due to their good gelling properties, and their gelling ability depends not only on the protein concentration but also on the coagulant and gelation conditions. In this study, we investigated the mutual cross-linking effect of pea proteins under three different preheating temperatures (60 degrees C, 80 degrees C, and 100 degrees C) and without preheating treatment, which was induced by different transglutaminase (TGase) additions (0%, 3%, 4%, and 5%). It has been found that both TGase and heating treatments can enhance the gelling ability of proteins, based on which, their combined effects on the gelling ability of pea proteins as an interesting modification strategy remains to be validated. The optimized results indicated that the mechanical strength of pea protein gel reached its peak when subjected to heating at 60 degrees C with the addition of 4% TGase, demonstrating superior gelling and water-holding capacity compared to the control group. Different temperature treatments and the addition of different levels of TGase improved the three-dimensional network structure of the pea protein gel thereby affecting the water presence state. This result opens up new possibilities and is of great significance for the application of TGase-induced pea protein gels in the food industry.