[Characterization of the water-binding capacity of proteins]

A general method for determining the water-absorbing capacity of proteins is described. To calculate their water-absorbing capacity, the proteins are centrifuged off and then added with portions of water to determine the amount of water required for just obtaining an aqueous supernatant (in case of insoluble proteins) or for obtaining a paste which is beginning to flow (in case of soluble proteins). The correlation between the "modified centrifugation method" and the Grau-Hamm pressing method for determining the "juice loss", a method that is currently used in practice, is demonstrated by some examples.