Enzyme destruction temperature

[Guest guest]

I did some more checking on this since I posted vaguely on this recently.

Here's what I found.

There is no " official " temp at which enzymes go AWOL. Enzymes and their

environments are variable. The temperatures at which they work best and the

temperatures at which they are destroyed are also variable. Furthermore,

temperature is not the only factor in enzyme destruction, time is also a

critical factor. Most of the sources I found claimed that enzyme loss

begins somewhere between 116 and 150 degrees depending on a variety of

factors. A brief exposure to a temperature at the low end of that range

will most likely reduce but not eliminate enzymes whereas a very prolonged

period at the lower end of the range might completely destroy the enzymes.

The higher the temp, the shorter the period of time before all enzymes are

destroyed.

In other words, there's really no easy answer. However, if an appliance

really does only raise a food to 118 degrees for a brief time, there's

probably an extremely small loss of enzymes.