Abstract: In order to improve the quality of silk fibroin yogurt, a two-variable, three-level factorial experimental design was used to explore the effects of silk fibroin in combination with one of four common stabilizers including pectin, xanthan gum, sodium alginate, acid-resistant carboxymethyl-cellulose (CMC) on the viscosity and water-holding capacity of stirred yogurt. The results showed that combined with pectin, xanthan gum or sodium alginate, silk fibroin had a highly significant on the viscosity of stirred yogurt (P＜0.01). Moreover, there was a highly significant interaction of silk fibroin with each of the three stabilizers (P＜0.01). All the combinations of silk fibroin with pectin, xanthan gum or acid-resistant CMC had a highly significant effect on water-holding capacity of stirred yogurt (P＜0.01), and a highly significant interaction between silk fibroin and xanthan gum was found (P＜ 0.01). Four optimized combinations were obtained as follows: 0.5% silk fibroin and 0.01% pectin, 1% silk fibroin and 0.03% xanthan gum, 1% silk fibroin and 0.03% sodium alginate, and 0.5% silk fibroin and 0.05% acid-resistant CMC, which revealed a viscosity and a water-holding capacity of 903.8 mPa•s and 65.5%, 1196.2 mPa•s and 68.0%, 1320.6 mPa•s and 68.3%, and 962.1 mPa•s and 65.0%, respectively.

Key words: stabilizer, silk fibroin, yogurt, viscosity, water-holding capacity