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From:	Marcia (d36-22-129.home1.cgocable.net)
Subject:	Re: Tofu Chemistry help please
Date:	November 2, 2005 at 8:03 pm PST

In Reply to: Tofu Chemistry help please posted by Bea on October 16, 2005 at 2:21 pm:

Bea,

I don't know if you're still looking for information on this, but here's what I found out this summer when I was trying to answer a similar/related question.

"All charged proteins (which includes most food proteins) have what is referred to as an isolelectric point, the point at which their net charges sum to zero and at which they can come out of solution, since the electrostatic stabilizing force (negative charges repelling each other) has been eliminated. The isoelectric point is at a specific pH for each protein. If the concentration is correct they will coagulate, otherwise they will precipitate. Other destabilizing forces can also be used, by changing solvent quality, for example (addition of alcohol) or by heat denaturation of the protein... All food proteins are negatively charged at normal pH, so in all cases [it] would be acidification [that is required] to hit the isoelectric point."

There's also some interesting stuff on Wikipedia under magnesium chloride, which is the primary compound in nigari.

Hope this helps!

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