Characterization of pea composites and feasibility of heat-modulated meat analogs production.

This study aimed to characterize pea composites' functionalities and investigate the feasibility of pea composites-based heat modulated meat analog (MA) production. Pea composites (concentrate, flour) were used as the main source of plant-proteins in preparation of MA. Techno-functional, sensorial, microstructural, chemical, and thermal characteristics of pea composites as well as the prepared MAs were investigated. Results showed that, protein content and particles size significantly (p < 0.05) influenced the water holding capacity (0.94 g/g ± 0.03-1.17 g/g ± 0.08), oil holding capacity (1.08 g/g ± 0.02-1.32 g/g ± 0.04), foaming capacity (49.20 % ± 0.12-58.9 % ± 0.98), foam stability (63.15 % ± 0.21-71.82 % ± 0.68), emulsion stability (61.73 % ± 1.68-66.02 % ± 1.25), least gelation concentration (at pH 7: 8.02 % ± 0.91-18.02 % ± 0.21), and solubility (at pH 7:70.51 % ± 2.54-93.71 % ± 1.86) of studied pea composites; that subsequently influenced the formation of heat-modulated MAs. Color, stickiness, moldability, microstructure (surface plot, fractal dimension: 2.771 ± 0.006-2.884 ± 0.009, surface openings: 8.76 % ± 1.25-33.24 % ± 1.28), thermal (denaturization temperature:103.41 °C ± 3.87-161.20 °C ± 1.35, enthalpy: 1085.10 J/g ± 115.42-1322.71 J/g ± 185.65), and chemical attributes of MAs were associated with the protein content (25.30 % ± 0.98-60.30 % ± 1.87) and particle size (d10:2.30 µm ± 0.32-15.02 µm ± 1.35; d50:6.30 µm ± 1.02-59.01 µm ± 2.35; d90:15.11 µm ± 2.34-137.01 µm ± 15.21) of pea composites. MA formulated with pea flour showed better moldability and acceptability in comparison to pea concentrates. This study exposed the use of pea flour as a feasible option to produce heat modulated meat analogs.

Application of batter coating for modulating oil, texture and structure of fried foods: A review.

Food surface modulation by batter coating is a promising approach to reduce the presence of oil in fried products. This review critically discussed the functionalities, mechanism of actions, rheology, ingredients of formulation, mathematical modeling of the process, cooking method, safety and regulatory aspects, physicochemical, thermal-microstructural characterization of batter coatings, and future research directions. Enormous list of ingredients could be used in preparation of oil-reducing viscoelastic batter coating that includes mostly flours, hydrocolloids, and starches. Bioactive compounds, enzymes, minerals, herbal extracts, baking agents, sugar alcohols, etc. could be incorporated in batter formulation to affect the taste and texture of coated products. Overall mass-transfer process of batter-coated fried foods could be characterized by several mathematical models (Fick, Newton, Page, Henderson & Pabis, modified Page, Arrhenius). Surface and internal microstructural characterization techniques, thermal probing, physicochemical characterization techniques and artificial intelligence can characterize different functionalities of batter coatings including oil reduction and textural evolution.

Correction to: Osmotic and convective hot air drying of sweet gourd.

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.1007/s10068-022-01193-x.].

Thermomechanical transitions of meat-analog based fried foods batter coating.

This study aimed to characterize the thermomechanical transitions of meat-analog (MA) based coated fried foods. Wheat and rice flour-based batters were used to coat the MA and fried at 180 °C in canola oil for 2, 4 and 6 min. Glass-transition-temperature (Tg) of the coatings were assessed by differential scanning calorimetry, directly after frying or after post-fry holding. Mechanical texture analyzer and X-ray microtomography were employed to assess textural attributes and internal microstructure, respectively. Batter-formulation substantially impacted the Tg of fried foods coating i.e., crust. Tg of fried foods crust were ranged between -20 °C to -24 °C. Tg was positively correlated with frying time and internal microporosity (%), whereas negatively correlated with moisture content. Internal microstructure greatly influenced the textural attributes (hardness, brittleness, crispiness). Post-fry textural stability considerably impacted by Tg. Negative Tg value explains post-fry textural changes (hard-to-soft, brittle-to-ductile, crispy-to-soggy) of MA-based coated products at room-temperature (25 °C) and under IR-heating (65 °C).

Osmotic and convective hot air drying of sweet gourd.

Kinetics of osmotic dehydration (OD) and insights into the effect of salt concentration (5%, 10%, 15%, 20%), drying temperature (50 ∘C, 60 ∘C, 70 ∘C), and sample thickness (4 mm, 6 mm, 8 mm) on the drying kinetics of sweet gourd of two varieties (SGV-1 and SGV-2) were investigated based on the Fick's second law of diffusion model. Quality attributes (chemical and organoleptic) of biscuit formulated with osmotic dehydrated sweet gourd powder were assessed. Results showed that, significant changes occurred during the first 2 h of process where mass transfer kinetics were increased with increasing salt concentration. With increasing time, drying rate was proportional to the temperature, inversely proportional to the sample thickness as well as salt concentration. Moreover, sweet gourd variety has shown impact on formulated products quality and consumer acceptability which could serve as a ground to diversify the use of sweet gourd towards industrial application. Supplementary Information: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s10068-022-01193-x.

Challenges and Prospects of Plant-Protein-Based 3D Printing.

Three-dimensional (3D) printing is a rapidly developing additive manufacturing technique consisting of the deposition of materials layer-by-layer to produce physical 3D structures. The technique offers unique opportunities to design and produce new products that cater to consumer experience and nutritional requirements. In the past two decades, a wide range of materials, especially plant-protein-based materials, have been documented for the development of personalized food owing to their nutritional and environmental benefits. Despite these benefits, 3D printing with plant-protein-based materials present significant challenges because there is a lack of a comprehensive study that takes into account the most relevant aspects of the processes involved in producing plant-protein-based printable items. This review takes into account the multi-dimensional aspects of processes that lead to the formulation of successful printable products which includes an understanding of rheological characteristics of plant proteins and 3D-printing parameters, as well as elucidating the appropriate concentration and structural hierarchy that are required to maintain stability of the substrate after printing. This review also highlighted the significant and most recent research on 3D food printing with a wide range of plant proteins. This review also suggests a future research direction of 3D printing with plant proteins.

Electromagnetic, Air and Fat Frying of Plant Protein-Based Batter-Coated Foods.

There is growing consumer and food industry interest in plant protein-based foods. However, quality evolution of plant protein-based meat analog (MA) is still a rarely studied subject. In this study, wheat and rice flour-based batter systems were used to coat plant protein-based MA, and were partially fried (at 180 °C, 1 min) in canola oil, subsequently frozen (at -18 °C) and stored for 7 days. Microwave heating (MH), infrared heating (IH), air frying (AF) and deep-fat frying (DFF) processes were employed on parfried frozen MA products, and their quality evolution was investigated. Results revealed that the fat content of MH-, IH- and AF-treated products was significantly (p < 0.05) lower than DFF-treated counterparts. Batter coatings reduced fat uptake in DFF of MA-based products. Both the batter formulations and cooking methods impacted the process parameters and quality attributes (cooking loss, moisture, texture, color) of MA-based coated food products. Moreover, the post-cooking stability of moisture and textural attributes of batter-coated MA-based products was impacted by both the batter formulations and cooking methods. Glass transition temperature (Tg) of MA-based products' crust ranged from -20.0 °C to -23.1 °C, as determined with differential scanning calorimetry. ATR-FTIR spectroscopy and scanning electron microscopy analysis revealed that surface structural-chemical evolution of MA-based products was impacted by both the coating formulations and cooking methods. Overall, AF has been found as a suitable substitute for DFF in terms of studied quality attributes of meat analog-based coated products.