Salt can improve fibrousness in extruded plant-based high-moisture meat analogues
2023
Kaleda, Aleksei | Talvistu, Karel
High-moisture meat analogues (HMMA) are typically produced from plant-based proteins using an extruder equipped with a long cooling die. Inside the extruder, protein powders are mixed with water, heated up to 160 °C, and the screws push the melted material into the die. The solidifying material inside the die stretches into long fibres that resemble meat. To better imitate meat fibrousness, the recipe and extrusion conditions must be optimized. We developed three HMMA recipes based on combinations of proteins from (A) soy and wheat, (B) soy, wheat, and pea, and (C) wheat and pea. Extrusion conditions were optimized for each recipe. First, one HMMA was produced with tap water, then water was switched to a 1.5% sea salt solution. The changes were assessed visually by cutting the samples in half and using the texture profile analysis (TPA). The texture of HMMAs with salt was less uniform and had fibres and layers that separated more easily thus enhancing similarity to cooked meat. However, the effect depended on the recipe. Sample C became the most fibrous, while sample B improved only slightly. TPA showed that samples A and C became softer and less chewy with salt, in contrast, sample B became significantly harder. To counter the loss of mechanical strength, 0.6% of KOH was added to sample C to increase pH. This significantly improved its mechanical strength while preserving some of its fibrousness. Thus, the incorporation of salt can be a simple and cost-effective way of improving the fibrousness of HMMAs.
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