High moisture extrusion of fava bean protein blend: Evaluating potato protein as gluten replacement for texture enhancement

Le résumé fourni par la source

High-moisture extrusion (HME) enables fibrous structuring of plant proteins for meat analogues where wheat gluten (WG) remains a prevalent texture aid with allergenicity concerns. This study evaluated whether potato protein isolate (PPI) can be a gluten-free structuring agent for texturizing fava bean protein isolate (FPI) during HME. FPI, FPI–WG, and FPI–PPI blends (75:25 w/w) were extruded and assessed for functional properties, colour, texture, nonlinear rheology, protein–protein interactions, microstructure, and taste profiling. The PPI increased specific mechanical energy relative to FPI and WG and produced co-extrudates with the highest surface hydrophobicity (11,824) and strongest intrinsic fluorescence quenching (68.3a.u.), indicating extensive unfolding and aggregation. When co-extrudate with FPI, WG lowered hardness and increased springiness compared to PPI. Both co-extrudates E(FPI-WG) and E(FPI-PPI) increased disulfide-linked protein fractions (31–33%) relative to E(FPI) (21.8%), while E(FPI-PPI) exhibited the strongest nonlinear viscoelastic response. The study also elucidates the mechanistic underpinnings of gluten-free texturization in E(FPI-PPI) demonstrating hybrid protein–protein network formation by PPI primarily through covalent interactions. Oil-holding capacity of extrudate increased specifically with PPI (211.8%) compared to WG which is due to the combination of higher surface hydrophobicity and porous architecture of E(FPI-PPI). Overall, PPI formed a reinforced hybrid interaction network with FPI upon HME, supporting its viability as a gluten-free structuring agent for fava-based meat analogues. However, e-tongue based taste profiling revealed stronger bitterness and astringency with prolonged aftertastes in E(FPI-PPI) which underscores a formulation trade-off as PPI enhances network strength but necessitates bitterness mitigation strategies compared to WG.

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