X-raying eggs while they cook reveals how egg white becomes solid

egg

Eggs change a lot during cooking – and we are closer to understanding the process

Daniel Day/Getty Images

Egg whites are one of the most versatile foods because they can foam, gel and also act as emulsifiers. Very little is known about how the proteins inside egg whites bind together to achieve these properties – but X-ray analysis has now given us a better idea.

Nafisa Begam at the University of Tübingen in Germany and her colleagues have used a technique called X-ray photon correlation spectroscopy to understand how proteins form into networks when an egg white is cooked.

“The egg …

source: newscientist.com