Functional Properties Found in a Lemon Meringue


While making the Lemon Meringue Tarts there are many functional properties with the recipe.

Gelatinisation is the thickening and setting of food, this is were certain foods become thicker and form their shape. This is found in the recipe when combining water, lemon juice, sugar and corn flour in a saucepan and stirred. While doing this over low the mixture began to thicken. By doing this it allowed the custard to form and the ingredients to mix together. The filling was no longer running and this made it easier to build the tart.

Denaturation is another functional property found in Lemon Meringue Tarts. Denaturation is when a protein is changed and the protein cannot be put back into its natural formed. The Separation of the yolk and egg white during the making of the meringue and mixing of the custard is an example of denaturation. This allowed us to make the meringue with the egg whites and yolk to make the custard.

When the meringue was mixed with egg whites and sugar it comes together. Aeration is a process of incorporating air with the food product to make it more light and fluffy. Aeration changes the texture of the food. When making the meringue I aerated the mixture, which allowed the meringue to form and become fluffy.

 

By putting tart into oven the heat allowed the protein to thicken and create its structure, this is where the liquid forms into a gel. This is called Coagulation, coagulation is where liquid thickens to form a gel. Coagulation occurred when placing the tart into the oven. When this was done the custard within the tart started to gel.

Caramelisation is when sugar is cooked by heat. This occurred when I placed the meringue into the oven until the meringue became brown. By caramelising the top of the meringue it gave more flavour and made the tart look presentable and appealing. Also by browning the meringue it had a different texture at the top of the meringue.

When starch is cooked and becomes browner and sweeter is the process of dextrinisation. The dry heat in the oven cooked the puff pastry, this enabled the puff pastry to brown and become firm. The enabled the pastry to hold the shape of the tart and everything inside, without the dexterinisation of the tart the tart would not be able to hold. This would have made it difficult to consume the tart and why the dextrinisation process had an major impact on the tart.