Abstract

Plant-based model cheeses made from pea protein isolate (PPI), zein and zein/PPI blends, were made in combination with corn starch, sunflower oil, different levels of κ-carrageenan (κC) and CaCl2 (CC), and glycerol as a zein-plasticizer. Their viscoelastic properties at ambient temperature and upon heating, as well as their lubrication properties were analyzed. The properties of all plant-based formulations were compared to two dairy cheeses of reference: mozzarella and raclette. Formulations containing PPI formed a gel, whose network structure did not weaken upon heating. In contrast, zein-based cheeses showed potential for structure weakening during heating, as observed during the rheological temperature sweep. The latter observation increased in zein/PPI-combinations with increasing zein content, even though the melting behaviour of any of the plant-based formulations was not fully comparable to the one of raclette cheese. All of the examined formulations reduced the friction coefficient by a factor between 2 and 10 in the boundary regime, compared to HEPES-buffer. In zein-containing formulations, the friction coefficients decreased to a lesser extent the higher the zein proportion was. Finally, the inclusion of κC or CC did not have a significant influence in the lubrication properties of PPI-formulations. In summary, particularly zein/PPI-combinations made of a total protein content of 30% in the formulation showed good potential in mimicking the melting of conventional cheese, opening prospect for the development of formulations with improved sensory characteristics in future works.

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