Abstract: This paper reports the effect of rosemary, clove and cinnamon extracts (0.005, 0.010 and 0.020 g/g protein) added to pork myofibrillar protein, respectively on total thiols content, surface hydrophobicity, solubility, gel strength and rheological properties. The results showed that all spice extracts reduced the total thiols content and solubility of pork myofibrillar protein. The surface hydrophobicity increased first and then decreased with increasing addition of the spice extracts. At the final stage of heating, the elasticity modulus (G’) of all of the three additions was higher when compared with the control. Low and medium concentrations of the spice extracts were beneficial for gel strength enhancement and gel formation. However, the addition of high concentration of the spice extracts was detrimental for the gelation of myofibrillar protein. Therefore, the interactions between spice extracts and myofibrillar protein have an impact on protein structure and gel properties.

Key words: spice extracts, pork, myofibrillar proteins, functional characteristics