Abstract: In this paper, cavitation jet treatment was introduced in the glycosylation process of soy protein isolate (SPI) to explore the structure and function of glycosylated products as a function of cavitation jet treatment time. The results showed that cavitation jet treatment for an appropriate duration could promote the glycosylation of soy protein, increasing the degree of grafting and browning as well as surface hydrophobicity and improving solubility and functional characteristics such as emulsifying properties. The experimental results showed that cavitation jet treatment for 60 min was the most effective in improving the function of the grafted product overall. Compared with the glycosylated product obtained by heating alone, the solubility was increased by about 37%, and the emulsifying activity and emulsion were also improved. Furthermore, this study found that cavitation jet treatment significantly changed the secondary and tertiary structures of the grafted product, accounting for the functional improvement.

Key words: soy protein isolate, cavitation jet, glycosylation, structure, functional properties