The Application of Raw Chickpeas and Nuts in the Development of Plant-Based Cheese Snack: Ideal Nutrition and Texture Properties

Abstract

Human and global health would be greatly improved by replacing animal-based foods with plant-based alternatives. This transition would be facilitated when more affordable, convenient, sustainable, nutritious, and tasty plant-based foods are available on the market. Interest in related research has surged these years, and dozens of plant-based cheese (PBC) products have been introduced to the market. However, studies found that most PBCs are far from comparable with dairy cheese in nutritional value, and the texture and sensory properties are still hurdles to the widespread consumption of PBCs. This paper focused on the “tissue disruption route” and adopted chickpeas and nuts as the main ingredients to form a cheese snack. Test results showed that our samples were high of nourishment value compared to the cheese sample and even healthier than the cheese in the terms of energy ( 709.37 ± 1.35 vs. 865.63 ± 0.49 kJ/100 g, p < 0.01 ), K/Na ratio ( 142.00 ± 0.82 / 13.33 ± 0.12 mg/100 g vs. 121.67 ± 2.05 / 44.23 ± 0.05 mg/100 g, p < 0.01 ), DF ( 6.99 ± 0.01 g/100 g vs. N/A, p < 0.01 ), and cholesterol ( 8.81 ± 0.25 vs. 207.30 ± 3.35 mg/100 g, p < 0.01 ). From the order of magnitude, the PBC samples are similar to the cheese sample in the aspects of cohesiveness ( p < 0.05 ) in texture test, and the fermentation process improved the imitation of texture properties in terms of hardness and cohesiveness (both p < 0.05 ). The volatile compounds were similar between the two PBC samples; however, the fermentation process could increase the species of the volatile compounds and make the PBC a little more similar to the dairy cheese. Overall, the observed properties of our PBC snack using raw chickpeas and nuts make the “plant-based cheese substitutes” extremely promising because of their nutritional value, sensory, and texture properties.