Apparent universality of leguminous proteins in swelling and fibre formation when mixed with gluten

Steven H.V Cornet,Jan M Bühler,Raquel Gonçalves,Marieke E Bruins,Ruud G.M Van Der Sman,Atze Jan Van Der Goot

doi:10.1016/j.foodhyd.2021.106788

Abstract

Fibrous meat analogues can be made through shear-induced structuring from gluten in combination with a second protein. A combination of swelling experiments and shear-cell structuring was used to investigate the relation between fibrousness and the presence of a continuous gluten network for mixtures containing gluten and either pea protein, fababean protein or soy protein. When the gluten content of the mixed gels increased, swelling of the other protein decreased proportionately. This suggested the presence of a continuous gluten network. Normalization of the swelling data resulted in an apparent master curve. The strain on the non-gluten protein was derived from the swelling data and increased with increasing gluten content. Structuring the protein mixtures in a High Temperature Shear Cell resulted in fibrous structures at gluten contents ≥0.5 wt/wt. The effect of gluten on swelling and fibre formation is universal for the tested proteins. We, therefore, propose that in gluten-containing mixtures, a continuous gluten network is required for the formation of fibres, while the second protein acts merely as a filler and is replaceable.

Highlights

A number of technologies exist to produce fibrous meat-like struc tures from food polymers (Chiang et al, 2019; Grabowska et al, 2014; Krintiras et al, 2015; Mattice & Marangoni, 2020; Nieuwland et al, 2014)
Effectively all industrial production relies on high-moisture extrusion cooking techniques, which are a form of thermo-mechanical processing
Water sorption isotherms were determined for fababean protein isolate (FPI) and pea protein isolate (PPI) (Fig. 1)

Summary

Introduction

A number of technologies exist to produce fibrous meat-like struc tures from food polymers (Chiang et al, 2019; Grabowska et al, 2014; Krintiras et al, 2015; Mattice & Marangoni, 2020; Nieuwland et al, 2014). Shear cells offer a simpler form of thermo-mechanical processing through the use of simple shear flow and heat, and can be used to produce fibrous, meat-like structures (Dekkers, Nikiforidis, & van der Goot, 2016; Grabowska et al, 2014, 2016; Schreuders et al, 2019). Fibrous structures were obtained using various mixtures: soy/gluten (Chiang et al, 2019; Dekkers, Emin, et al, 2018; Grabowska et al, 2014; Pietsch et al, 2016), soy/pectin (Dekkers, Nikiforidis, & van der Goot, 2016), and pea/gluten (Schreuders et al, 2019).

Methods

Results

Conclusion