A new plant-based milk alternative of Pistacia vera geographically indicated in Türkiye: Antioxidant activity, in vitro bio-accessibility, and sensory characteristics

Abstract

The plant-based food market is expanding and demand for novel plant-based milk alternatives is increasing. Compared to conventional milk, lower protein content, and lower sensory acceptance are some of the challenges of the plant-based milk alternative industry. This research aimed to develop novel plant-based milk from two different local pistachio varieties grown in Antep and Siirt, Türkiye that would be higher in protein, unsaturated fatty acids, and phenolic compounds, and have superior taste and sensory characteristics. Protein content, fatty acid composition by gas chromatography, phenolic profile by high-pressure liquid chromatography, total phenolic content, and antioxidant activity by spectrophotometric method, and in vitro gastrointestinal digestion along with sensory characteristics by quantitative descriptive test were evaluated. The protein contents of the prepared pistachio milk were 3.78% and 3.09% for Antep and Siirt varieties of pistachio milk, respectively. The most abundant fatty acid was oleic acid and the most abundant phenolic compounds were catechin and gallic acid. Moreover, the bio-accessibilities of total phenolic content were 201% and 213% and the bio-accessibility of total antioxidant activity was 200% and 205% for plant-based milk of Antep and Siirt pistachio, respectively. The overall sensory acceptance scores of the prepared pistachio milk were 5.6–7/10. These findings indicated that plant-based milk substitutes prepared from Antep and Siirt pistachio were higher in protein, had highly bio-accessible phenolic content, and overall accepted in terms of sensory except color challenges.