Abstract
This study aimed to evaluate how extrusion cooking conditions and microwave heating play a role in enhancing physical and thermal properties of third-generation expanded cellular snacks made from yellow pea (YP) and red lentil (RL) flours for the first time. Increasing temperature and moisture content during extrusion resulted in darker, crunchier and crispier products with higher expansion index (EI). Microwave heating after extrusion led to an increase in cell size and porosity of YP and RL products when qualitatively compared to extrusion alone. Additionally, extrusion followed by microwave heating resulted in extensive damage to starch granular structure and complete denaturation of proteins. Using microwave heating, as a fast and inexpensive process, following partial cooking with extrusion was demonstrated to greatly improve the physical and thermal properties of YP and RL snacks. Microwave heating following mild extrusion, instead of severe extrusion cooking alone, can potentially benefit the development of high quality nutritionally-dense expanded cellular snacks made from pulse flours.
Highlights
Plant protein-rich foods, such as those from pulses, offer environmentally less resource-intensive and more humane alternatives to animal protein-rich foods [1]
The objective of this study was to investigate the effects of extrusion temperature, feed moisture content and the use of microwave heating on physical properties, starch crystallinity and thermal properties of expanded cellular foods made from relatively higher protein ingredients
An increase in torque values with a decrease in moisture content (MC) was evident for both flour types (r = −0.893 for red lentil (RL) and −0.850 for yellow pea (YP) flours)
Summary
Plant protein-rich foods, such as those from pulses (e.g., peas, lentils, etc.), offer environmentally less resource-intensive and more humane alternatives to animal protein-rich foods [1]. Forecasted for the coming years, i.e., expected to worth over US$73 billion by 2028 [3] In this regard, extrusion, a high temperature-short time process which has been traditionally used for production of starchy snack foods, can be used for formulating snacks rich in plant proteins [4,5,6,7]. Certain adaptations during the manufacturing of high protein extrudates may be required to ensure satisfactory physical quality at elevated protein concentrations. Process modifications such as the use of physical blowing agent assisted extrusion [4] and microwave heating in combination with extrusion [11,12] have been introduced
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