Abstract: Egg white was blended with sodium carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC-Na) or carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC) of certain concentration respectively, and the dry-heated products were obtained at relative humidity (75%) after freeze drying. The products were analyzed on gel strength, color scale, scanning electron microscope observation, SDS-PAGE, and Differential Scanning Calorimetric (DSC) at intervals. The results showed that a significant increase in the gel strength of egg white, more uniform and compact gel network structure and a significant reduction in the content of proteins with small molecular weight were found after 2 days of reaction at 60 ℃. The foaming capacity of egg albumen was found to be enhanced significantly by 2-day-long reaction, but the excessive cross-linking might lead to a large molecular weight, decrease the solubility of egg white powder and darken its color. Adding CMC or CMC-Na at a concentration of 0.25% resulted in the best foaming capacity at 60 ℃, with 0.6-fold and 0.5-fold increases in comparison with a blank sample, respectively and meanwhile, a significant improvement was observed for foam stability. It was proved that a novel egg white powder with both higher gel property and foaming capacity can be obtained under the reaction conditions.

Key words: egg albumen, carboxymethyl cellulose, crosslinking reaction, gel strength