WO2014174149A1 - Method for producing a proteinous food composition - Google Patents

Method for producing a proteinous food composition Download PDF

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Publication number
WO2014174149A1
WO2014174149A1 PCT/FI2014/050288 FI2014050288W WO2014174149A1 WO 2014174149 A1 WO2014174149 A1 WO 2014174149A1 FI 2014050288 W FI2014050288 W FI 2014050288W WO 2014174149 A1 WO2014174149 A1 WO 2014174149A1
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WIPO (PCT)
Prior art keywords
protein
containing fraction
starch
liquid
food composition
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PCT/FI2014/050288
Other languages
French (fr)
Inventor
Tuula SONTAG-STROHM
Hannu Salovaara
Zhongqing JIANG
Weijing WU
Yi Xu
Original Assignee
Sontag-Strohm Tuula
Hannu Salovaara
Jiang Zhongqing
Wu Weijing
Yi Xu
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Application filed by Sontag-Strohm Tuula, Hannu Salovaara, Jiang Zhongqing, Wu Weijing, Yi Xu filed Critical Sontag-Strohm Tuula
Publication of WO2014174149A1 publication Critical patent/WO2014174149A1/en

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Classifications

    • A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
    • A23—FOODS OR FOODSTUFFS; TREATMENT THEREOF, NOT COVERED BY OTHER CLASSES
    • A23J—PROTEIN COMPOSITIONS FOR FOODSTUFFS; WORKING-UP PROTEINS FOR FOODSTUFFS; PHOSPHATIDE COMPOSITIONS FOR FOODSTUFFS
    • A23J1/00—Obtaining protein compositions for foodstuffs; Bulk opening of eggs and separation of yolks from whites
    • A23J1/12—Obtaining protein compositions for foodstuffs; Bulk opening of eggs and separation of yolks from whites from cereals, wheat, bran, or molasses
    • A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
    • A23—FOODS OR FOODSTUFFS; TREATMENT THEREOF, NOT COVERED BY OTHER CLASSES
    • A23J—PROTEIN COMPOSITIONS FOR FOODSTUFFS; WORKING-UP PROTEINS FOR FOODSTUFFS; PHOSPHATIDE COMPOSITIONS FOR FOODSTUFFS
    • A23J1/00—Obtaining protein compositions for foodstuffs; Bulk opening of eggs and separation of yolks from whites
    • A23J1/14—Obtaining protein compositions for foodstuffs; Bulk opening of eggs and separation of yolks from whites from leguminous or other vegetable seeds; from press-cake or oil-bearing seeds
    • A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
    • A23—FOODS OR FOODSTUFFS; TREATMENT THEREOF, NOT COVERED BY OTHER CLASSES
    • A23J—PROTEIN COMPOSITIONS FOR FOODSTUFFS; WORKING-UP PROTEINS FOR FOODSTUFFS; PHOSPHATIDE COMPOSITIONS FOR FOODSTUFFS
    • A23J3/00—Working-up of proteins for foodstuffs
    • A23J3/14—Vegetable proteins
    • A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
    • A23—FOODS OR FOODSTUFFS; TREATMENT THEREOF, NOT COVERED BY OTHER CLASSES
    • A23L—FOODS, FOODSTUFFS, OR NON-ALCOHOLIC BEVERAGES, NOT COVERED BY SUBCLASSES A21D OR A23B-A23J; THEIR PREPARATION OR TREATMENT, e.g. COOKING, MODIFICATION OF NUTRITIVE QUALITIES, PHYSICAL TREATMENT; PRESERVATION OF FOODS OR FOODSTUFFS, IN GENERAL
    • A23L11/00—Pulses, i.e. fruits of leguminous plants, for production of food; Products from legumes; Preparation or treatment thereof
    • A23L11/05—Mashed or comminuted pulses or legumes; Products made therefrom
    • A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
    • A23—FOODS OR FOODSTUFFS; TREATMENT THEREOF, NOT COVERED BY OTHER CLASSES
    • A23L—FOODS, FOODSTUFFS, OR NON-ALCOHOLIC BEVERAGES, NOT COVERED BY SUBCLASSES A21D OR A23B-A23J; THEIR PREPARATION OR TREATMENT, e.g. COOKING, MODIFICATION OF NUTRITIVE QUALITIES, PHYSICAL TREATMENT; PRESERVATION OF FOODS OR FOODSTUFFS, IN GENERAL
    • A23L2/00—Non-alcoholic beverages; Dry compositions or concentrates therefor; Their preparation
    • A23L2/52—Adding ingredients
    • A23L2/66—Proteins
    • A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
    • A23—FOODS OR FOODSTUFFS; TREATMENT THEREOF, NOT COVERED BY OTHER CLASSES
    • A23L—FOODS, FOODSTUFFS, OR NON-ALCOHOLIC BEVERAGES, NOT COVERED BY SUBCLASSES A21D OR A23B-A23J; THEIR PREPARATION OR TREATMENT, e.g. COOKING, MODIFICATION OF NUTRITIVE QUALITIES, PHYSICAL TREATMENT; PRESERVATION OF FOODS OR FOODSTUFFS, IN GENERAL
    • A23L33/00—Modifying nutritive qualities of foods; Dietetic products; Preparation or treatment thereof
    • A23L33/10—Modifying nutritive qualities of foods; Dietetic products; Preparation or treatment thereof using additives
    • A23L33/17—Amino acids, peptides or proteins
    • A23L33/185—Vegetable proteins

Definitions

  • the invention relates to the production of a plant-based proteinous food composition.
  • Protein is an essential nutritional component for humans, the intake of which nowadays largely de- pends on meat and dairy food.
  • feeding the animals is expensive and the ecological problems of ani ⁇ mal farming are also demonstrated. Therefore, the par ⁇ tial replacement of the animal-based proteins in human diet by plant-based proteins has triggered strong in- terest in the industry, scientists and technologists in the fields of food manufacturing, agriculture and ecology.
  • Wheat gluten and soybean proteins have been adopted for producing some types of meat and dairy al ⁇ ternatives. Nevertheless, there should be more choices of plant protein sources and types of foods to be de ⁇ veloped to meet a growing demand and to provide alter ⁇ natives for people suffering from allergies that pre ⁇ vent them from using products from specific sources.
  • Emulsifying ability is an important function- ality of the food proteins in regard for their pro ⁇ cessing into food compositions.
  • Food proteins that can be used to prepare stable oil-in-water emulsions are needed in order to replace food additives and to im ⁇ prove the nutritional value of food.
  • Emulsion is a common system existing in various aqueous foods, such as milk and salad dressing.
  • Oil-in-water emulsion system has small lipid droplets dispersed in the water medium and the emulsion tends to break down over time by phase sepa- ration.
  • Oil-in-water emulsions have an appearance, mouth feeling, nutritional composition and lipid- oxidative stability that differ advantageously from other liquids used for the production of food composi ⁇ tions, such as pasted starch suspension and non-lipid- containing protein solution.
  • Formation of a stable oil-in-water emulsion is an important basis for further processing of some foods such as yogurt and cheese which are emulsion gels in structure.
  • Lipid functions as a filler in the emulsion gel and contributes to its properties that are considered valuable, such as appearance, nutri ⁇ tional composition and texture.
  • a method for preparing a protein emulsion gel comprises mixing oil or fat with a protein- containing aqueous medium by homogenization to form an oil-in-water emulsion and heating the mixture to 50- 200 °C for a period sufficient to form an emulsion gel .
  • an all- vegetable fat-containing emulsion is disclosed, where ⁇ in the aqueous phase comprises a protein-containing oat base, which is rich in soluble fiber and prefera ⁇ bly contains degraded starch, and the fat phase com- prises a fractionated vegetable oil.
  • the oat base is made preferably of enzymatically treated rolled oats and has a protein content between 0.01-0.2% by weight.
  • the purpose of the invention is to provide a new method for the production of a plant-based protei- nous food composition that can be used as such or as an alternative for producing milk-type, as well as yo ⁇ gurt-, tofu-, cheese- or spread-type food products.
  • the proteinous food composition according to the present invention is characterized by what is pre ⁇ sented in claim 11.
  • the food product according to the present in ⁇ vention is characterized by what is presented in claim 14.
  • Fig. 1 is a flow chart illustration of one embodiment of the method according to the present in ⁇ vention ;
  • Fig. 2A is an illustration of the effect of oil concentration on average droplet size of the faba bean milk
  • Fig. 2B is an illustration of the effect of oil concentration on the zeta-potential of faba bean milk
  • Fig. 3A is an illustration of the effect of oil concentration on gel texture and strength of faba bean yogurt
  • Fig. 3B is an illustration of the effect of oil concentration on the firmness of faba bean yogurt
  • Fig. 4A is an illustration of the effect of acid deamidation treatment on the zeta-potential of oat protein with natural faba bean protein as reference; and Fig. 4B is an illustration of the oat yogurt appearance .
  • Fig. 5A is an illustration of a failed oat yogurt production without solubilization of oat pro- teins.
  • Fig. 5B is an illustration of the viscosity of oat yogurt.
  • Fig. 5C is an illustration of the gel strength of the oat yogurt.
  • Fig. 5D depicts the microstructure of the oat yogurt prepared with deamidated oat protein
  • the present invention relates to a method for producing a proteinous food composition, wherein the method comprises the following steps of:
  • the inventors of the present invention sur- prisingly found out that by using the method of the present invention it was possible to produce alterna ⁇ tive protein-rich food compositions having stable oil- and-water emulsion properties and a pleasant appearance to be used as nutrition.
  • the proteinous food com- positions according to the present invention have a similar kind of protein content as the traditional soybean-based proteinous food compositions, such as tofu .
  • proteinous food composition should be understood in this specification, unless otherwise stated, as an oil-and-water emulsion that contains at least some protein and that can be used for human nutrition as such or after further processing.
  • stable oil-in-water emulsion should be understood in this specification, unless otherwise stated, as an oil-in-water emulsion that re- mains in one continuous phase for at least 14 days and preferably for at least 30 days.
  • the plant-based protein source or the proteinous starting material is obtained from plant material.
  • the present invention further relates to a method for producing a proteinous food composition, wherein the method comprises the following steps of:
  • Some commonly used foods such as yogurt, cheese and tofu are emulsion gels in structure.
  • Some commonly used foods such as yogurt, cheese and tofu are emulsion gels in structure.
  • There is a large variation in the composition of such prod- uct and many different plant-based variations are pos ⁇ sible with the method according to the present inven ⁇ tion.
  • the plant-based protein source containing starch is obtained from a legume, cereal, pseudocereal , tuberous plant, root vegetable or any combination thereof. In one embodiment of the present invention the plant- based protein source containing starch is obtained from faba bean, oat, buckwheat, quinoa, mung bean, pea, lentil, chick pea, navy bean, pinto bean, white bean, amaranth, barley or corn. Seeds of legumes (i.e.
  • plants belonging to the Fabaceae, or the pea, family are typically rich in protein, but also many cereals (belonging to Poaceae, or the grass, family) and pseu- docereals (non-grass plants used similarly to cereals) contain enough protein make them usable as protein sources. Examples of such plants are faba bean (Vicia faba) and oat (Avena sativa) .
  • the plant material Before the plant material is used for produc ⁇ ing a protein-containing fraction to be used for further steps of the method, it can, in one embodiment of the present invention, be pre-treated.
  • the selected plant mate ⁇ rial is dehulled, dried, heated and/or milled.
  • the necessary pre-treatment ( s ) depend on the crop in ques ⁇ tion and a large variety of pre-treatment methods is established in the relevant technical field.
  • starch is removed from the plant-based protein source and a liquid protein-containing fraction is formed.
  • the starch can be removed by dry fractionation methods, for example air-classification, electrostatic separation, or wet fractionation methods, for example sedimentation, enzymatic hydrolysis, chemical hydroly ⁇ sis or centrifugation, or by any combination thereof, for forming dry flour or suspension.
  • the liquid used for forming the liquid protein- containing fraction is water.
  • the method comprises a step of adjusting the water content of the liquid protein-containing fraction from step a) for setting its protein concentration to 0.01- 60 weight-%, preferably to 0.05-10 weight-%, or to 3- 20 weight-%.
  • the water content of the liquid protein-containing fraction in step a) is adjusted for setting its protein concentration to 0.05-20 weight-%, or preferably to 3-20 weight-%.
  • a proteinous food composition produced in one embodiment of the present invention by setting the protein concentration to 0.05-10 weight-% has the appearance of a milk-type emulsion whereas a proteinous food composi- tion produced in one embodiment of the present inven ⁇ tion by setting the protein concentration to 3-20 weight-% is an emulsion gel in structure.
  • Gelling property is an important functionali ⁇ ty of food proteins, since many proteinous foods can be regarded as emulsion gels.
  • Protein-protein interac ⁇ tions are important for gel formation, structure, tex- ture and rheology. The interactions can be affected by protein concentration, protein properties (e.g. structure, chemical, and physicochemical properties) , solu ⁇ tion pH, ionic strength and existence of coagulating agent (e.g. bridging salts, cross-linking enzymes).
  • the lower limit of the protein concentration determines the processing alternatives of the protei ⁇ nous food composition, since increasing protein concentration in the liquid protein-containing fraction allows the formation of an emulsion gel in a further stage of the process.
  • the method comprises a step of removing residual starch from the liquid protein-containing fraction before step b) .
  • the presence of starch in the liquid protein-containing fraction may affect the properties of the formed proteinous food composition.
  • Starch can become pasted and viscous in the temperatures that are used to denature the plant storage proteins forming the bulk of the protein (at step b) ) .
  • the step of removing re ⁇ sidual starch from the liquid protein-containing fraction from step a) comprises removing starch by sedi ⁇ mentation, centrifugation, enzymatic degradation or hydrolysis .
  • Starch does not need to be completely removed from the protein-containing fraction, but the more is removed, the more advantageous it is for the quality of the proteinous food composition and the end product made from it.
  • the different options for starch removal are not mutually exclusive, and several of them can be used during a single protocol as will be obvious for the skilled person based on this specification.
  • the larger starch-containing particles can be first allowed to sediment, after which the solution can be centrifuged and residual starch broken down en ⁇ zymatically and/or through hydrolysis.
  • the proteins of the plant-based protein source con ⁇ taining starch are treated to improve their character- istics for production of a plant-based proteinous food composition.
  • Many plant storage proteins have a high heat denaturation temperature and do not easily form emulsions.
  • the oat globulin which is the major protein in oat grains, is denatured at a high temperature of 112 °C . Therefore, the plant material can be treated chemically, physically and/or enzymati- cally to make it more susceptible to heat denatura- tion, emulsification and gel formation. Treating the proteins can e.g. improve their solubility or other characteristics .
  • the method comprises a step of adjusting the protein solubility to 40-100 %, preferably to 50-100 %, of to ⁇ tal protein before step b) .
  • adjust ⁇ ment methods include enzymatic, mechanical and chemi ⁇ cal modifications, and germination.
  • poten- tial chemical modifications are deamidation, succinyl- ation, acetylation, alkylation, chemical glycosyla- tion, chemical phosphorylation and chemical hydroly ⁇ sis.
  • Protein solubility is indicated by nitrogen solu ⁇ bility index and it can be measured according to standard methods.
  • step b) proteins within the liquid pro ⁇ tein-containing fraction are denatured and the liquid protein-containing fraction is mixed with a lipid in any order for producing a protein- and lipid- containing mixture.
  • denaturing protein in step b) comprises subjecting the liquid protein-containing fraction to heat treatment.
  • the proteins are denatured, their three- dimensional structure opens up revealing the hydropho ⁇ bic amino acid residues that are buried in the interi ⁇ or of the protein in its native form. This allows a protein suspension to be formed.
  • the term "suspension” is to be understood in this specification, unless oth- erwise stated, as a liquid containing dispersed non- dissolved protein particles. This in turn, allows the formation of an oil-and-water emulsion once lipid is added to the protein suspension and the mixture is me ⁇ chanically treated (in steps b) and c) ) .
  • the denatura- tion of protein also allows the formation of an emul ⁇ sion gel at a further stage of the process when a co- agulant is added to the oil-in-water emulsion or it is fermented .
  • the plant-based protein source of the present invention is typically low in lipids and the low lipid content may contribute to the failure of producing stable emulsions for proteinous food composition from it.
  • the inventors discovered that a stable milk-type emulsion is achievable with lower amounts of lipids than an emulsion gel.
  • lipid is added to the pro ⁇ tein suspension to allow the formation of an emulsion system at step c) .
  • mixing the liquid protein-containing fraction with a lipid in step b) comprises adjusting the lipid concen ⁇ tration of the liquid protein-containing fraction to 1-60 volume-%.
  • the content of added lipid is approximately 1-10 volume-% for making milk-type emulsions, and approxi ⁇ mately 5-60 volume-% for making emulsion gels.
  • the minimum functional lipid concentration depends on the properties of the proteins in the emulsion, more spe ⁇ cifically on their zeta-potential and emulsifying ability, which in turn are affected by their surface electronic properties.
  • Protein zeta-potential represents the elec- trical characteristics of the particles in a colloidal system, such as emulsion. With a stronger surface electronic charge, the protein particle has a stronger protein-water interaction and larger protein-protein repulsion. This gives the protein a better emulsifying ability and it can retain the lipid stably in the emulsion phase. Zeta-potential can thus be used as an indication of the stability of the emulsion system. Despite the variation in protein properties, a lipid concentration of approximately 1 weight % can be considered a general minimum concentration for the production of a stable emulsion system.
  • the lipid used at this step can be either oil, such as rapeseed, sunflower seed or olive oil, or other fat, either of plant or animal origin.
  • the lipid droplet size which increases with increasing lipid concentration, is relevant for the oil-in-water emulsion properties, such as appearance, mouth feeling, nutritional composition, viscosity and stability. It also affects the textural proper ⁇ ties of an emulsion gel made from the oil-in-water emulsion .
  • Emulsion systems with zeta-potential higher than +30 mV or lower than -30mV are normally considered stable.
  • those emulsion systems with zeta-potential higher than +40 mV or lower than - 40mV are predicted to be very stable, whereas those emulsion systems with zeta-potential between -30 mV and +30 mV are considered instable.
  • the method comprises step c) of homogenizing and emul ⁇ sifying the protein- and lipid-containing mixture from step b) .
  • step c) of homogenizing and emul ⁇ sifying the protein- and lipid-containing mixture from step b) .
  • This is done to produce a stable oil-in-water emulsion to be used as a proteinous food product or as an intermediate in the production thereof.
  • the homoge- nization and emulsification can be achieved with a mechanical treatment, such as homogenization or soni- cation.
  • the proteinous food composition can be used as such or it can be subjected to further pro ⁇ cessing steps.
  • the present invention further relates to a proteinous food composition obtainable by the method according to the present invention.
  • the proteinous food composi- tion is a liquid oil-in-water emulsion.
  • the proteinous food composition is an emulsion gel.
  • the proteinous food composition is a solid, semi-solid or a gel-like composition re- sembling yoghurt, tofu or cheese.
  • the different types of proteinous food compo ⁇ sitions can be used as such or after further processing.
  • the food composition can be made from more than one source of protein and it can contain differ- ent additives, such as sugar, coloring agents, fla ⁇ vors, weighting agents, viscosity enhancers, choco ⁇ late, fruit extract, vitamins, preservatives and the like .
  • the present invention further relates to a food product comprising the proteinous food composi ⁇ tion according to the present invention.
  • the food product can contain the proteinous food composition as its main component or the protei ⁇ nous food composition can be used as an additive.
  • a method, a food composition or a food product, to which the invention is related, may comprise at least one of the embodiments of the invention described hereinbefore .
  • An advantage of the present invention is that it allows the use of starch-containing plant species for the production of proteinous food compositions.
  • An advantage of the present invention is that it allows the use of low-fat plant species for the production of proteinous food compositions.
  • An advantage of the present invention is that it allows the use of proteins from oat and some other cereal grains that have poor hydration capacity lower ⁇ ing their ability to form emulsions, in the production of proteinous food compositions.
  • An advantage of the present invention is that it provides alternatives for the traditional soybean- based methods of producing plant-based proteinous food compositions .
  • An advantage of the present invention is that it is possible to produce proteinous food compositions from a variety of plant species.
  • Figure 1 illustrates a method according to one embodiment of the present invention for producing a proteinous food composition.
  • starch is removed from the plant-based protein source containing starch and a liquid protein- containing fraction is formed in step a) of the method.
  • the water content of the liquid protein-containing fraction is then adjusted, protein solubility is ad ⁇ justed and an additional starch removal step is per ⁇ formed.
  • the order of the steps of adjusting water con- tent and protein solubility as well as additional starch removal step can vary. Their order can be suited to the specific starting material as will be obvi ⁇ ous for the skilled person based on this specifica ⁇ tion.
  • step b) protein is denatured and the liquid protein-containing fraction is mixed with lipid to form a protein- and lipid-containing mixture. Denaturing and mixing with lipid can be done in any order.
  • the protein- and lipid-containing mixture from step b) is then homogenized and emulsified in step c) to pro- Jerusalem a proteinous food composition, i.e. an oil-in- water emulsion, that can be used as such or processed further .
  • a proteinous food composition i.e. an oil-in- water emulsion
  • EXAMPLE 1 Preparing faba bean milk containing ap- proximately 5 weight-% faba bean protein and 1-30 weight-% rapeseed oil.
  • the faba beans were soaked in water, in order to rehydrate and soften them. Then, the faba beans were dehulled and heated in order to remove the off-flavor. The faba beans were then blended with wa ⁇ ter, milled and centrifuged (13 000 rcf, 15 min) to remove starch. As a result, a liquid protein- containing fraction was formed, which in this case was protein solution. The protein concentration of the liquid protein-containing fraction was then adjusted to approximately 5 weight-% by adding water. The pro ⁇ tein solution was then boiled for 10 minutes in order to denature the faba bean proteins sufficiently. Then, the protein solution was mixed with rapeseed oil to reach oil concentration of 1-30 weight-% thus forming a protein- and lipid-containing mixture.
  • Faba bean milk containing approximately 5 weight-% faba bean protein and 1-30 weight-% rapeseed oil was prepared.
  • the faba bean milk was inoculated with 0.05 weight-% lactic acid bacteria (Lactobacillus acidophilus, Bifidobacterium sp . and Streptococcus thermophilus) and fermented by them at 37 °C for 16-18 hours in order to decrease the pH of faba bean milk to the isoelectric point (pi) of faba bean protein by lactic acid production.
  • the pH of the faba bean milk dropped to approximately 4.4.
  • After storing at 5 °C for 24 hours a set-style faba bean yogurt was formed.
  • the method contained a further step of disrupting the gel network by using an injector for approximately 30 seconds.
  • Oat grains were dry-fractionated using an air-classification method for removing starch.
  • Protein-containing oat fraction containing approximately 60 weight-% oat protein and 15 weight-% starch, was used in further steps.
  • Protein-containing oat fraction was diluted with 0.2 M HC1 water solution in a ratio of 1:20 and deamidated by heat treatment at 95 °C for 2 hours in order to improve the protein solubility and increase its concentration in water. This treatment increased the solubility of oat protein from 10% to 86% of total protein. Further, as illustrated in Fig.
  • the absolute value of zeta-potential of oat pro ⁇ tein increased from 15 mV to 35 mV, hence improving the emulsifying ability of the oat protein.
  • the re ⁇ sulting absolute zeta potential value is close to that of natural faba bean protein which has a suitable emulsifying ability.
  • the protein-containing oat fraction was then neutralized with 5 M NaOH and centrifuged.
  • the super- natant contained 4.3 weight-% soluble oat protein. It was then boiled for 13 min. in order to denature the oat protein and cooled to room temperature (approx. 20 °C) .
  • 5 weight-% rapeseed oil was added to the solution, the protein- and lipid-containing mixture was homogenized by ultra-turrax homogenizer (2 000 rpm for 2 min.) to an emulsion, which was regarded as oat milk .
  • Lactose (1.5 g/100 g oat milk) and sucrose (3 g/100 g oat milk) were added to the oat milk in order to allow the growth of lactic acid bacteria. Then, lactic acid bacteria (Lactobacillus acidophilus, Bifidobacterium sp . and Streptococcus thermophilus) were inoculated into the oat milk and fermentation was allowed to progress for 17.5 hours at 37 °C. Lactic acid produced by the bacteria reduced the pH of oat milk, and when it was close to the isoelectric point (pi) of the deamidated oat protein, the oat milk coag ⁇ ulated and formed a gel structure. As a result, oat yogurt was produced (Fig. 4B) .
  • Faba bean milk was prepared as described in example 1, with a rapeseed oil concentration of 3 weight-% and a protein concentration of 5.4 weight-%.
  • Coagulant glucono-5-lacton (GDL) was added to cooled faba bean milk to a concentration of 0.5 weight-% in order to reduce the pH of faba bean milk to 5.0, which is close to the pi of faba bean protein.
  • the solution was then incubated at 95 °C for 2 hours to promote the formation of protein-protein interactions.
  • faba bean tofu, a gel or curd food was pro ⁇ quizky.
  • EXAMPLE 5 Preparing an emulsion gel -based oat pro- teionous food composition
  • FIG. 5A depicts an example of such an attempt.
  • native oat protein containing fraction after starch removal was suspended in water (in ratio 1:10 w:w), the suspension was cen- trifuged to remove insoluble components and 5 weight-% oil was added into the suspension. The mixture was then homogenized to prepare an emulsion, heated at 121 °C for 20 min and proteins were coagulated by lactic acid fermentation. As shown in Fig. 5A, the emulsion is not stable and clear phase separation is visible.
  • Figure 5 B depicts a flow curve of oat yogurt prepared with the above protocol including deami- dation.
  • the viscosity of the yogurt which is an emul ⁇ sion gel in structure, was measured under a shearing force that started at 20 s -1 , increased to 100 s -1 and then decreased from 100 s -1 back to 20 s -1 (the arrows visualize the direction of the curve) .
  • the experiment was done with two different yogurt batches: one pro ⁇ quizd from an oat protein-containing fraction containing 1 weight-% protein and the other from an oat protein-containing fraction containing 2 weight-% protein.
  • Yogurt made of the 2 weight-% fraction had a higher viscosity (measured as shear stress, Pa) than that made of the 1 weight-% fraction.
  • the 2 weight-% fraction also displayed a more significant thinning phenomenon (i.e. the gap between the viscosities dur ⁇ ing increasing shear rate and decreasing shear rate) .
  • the 2% deamidated oat protein yogurt had a typical gel structure and stronger gel strength than the 1 % one .
  • Figure 5C depicts the storage modulus (C , measured in Pa) that refers to the gel strength.
  • Gen ⁇ erally, the higher the G' value, the better.
  • the per ⁇ cent values (2, 3, 4.5) in Figure 5 indicate the solu- ble protein concentration of the oat protein- containing fraction used for producing the yogurt.
  • the dotted line displays a commercial soybean yogurt as a comparison. It can be concluded from Figure 5C that increasing protein concentration strengthens the gel structure and the oat yogurt produced by the method according to the current disclosure has a stronger gel structure than the commercial soybean yogurt used in the experiment.
  • the loss modulus (G' ' , not shown) that refers to the viscosity of the yogurt was measured for these samples. It was always significantly smaller than the G' value. This means that the solid-like characteristics of the samples were more predominant than their liquid-like characteristics. This, again, indicates that all the yogurt samples analyzed in this had a typical emulsion-gel structure.
  • Figure 5D depicts the microstructure of the yogurt prepared with deamidated oat protein (protein concentration 4.5 weight-%) .
  • the protein is visible as gray cloudy matter and the lipid as lighter droplets.
  • Figure 5D clearly shows the emulsion gel structure where the lipids are covered by the proteins, the pro ⁇ teins are evenly distributed and continuous protein- protein network structure is formed.

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Abstract

The invention relates to a method for producing a proteinous food composition, wherein the method com- prises the following steps of: a) removing starch from a plant-based protein source containing starch and forming a liquid protein-containing fraction;and b) denaturing protein within the liquid protein- containing fraction and mixing the liquid protein- containing fraction with a lipid in any order for pro- ducing a protein- and lipid-containing mixture. The invention relates also to the proteinous food composi- tion obtainable by the above method and to a food product made thereof.

Description

METHOD FOR PRODUCING A PROTEINOUS FOOD COMPOSITION
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The invention relates to the production of a plant-based proteinous food composition.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Protein is an essential nutritional component for humans, the intake of which nowadays largely de- pends on meat and dairy food. However, feeding the animals is expensive and the ecological problems of ani¬ mal farming are also demonstrated. Therefore, the par¬ tial replacement of the animal-based proteins in human diet by plant-based proteins has triggered strong in- terest in the industry, scientists and technologists in the fields of food manufacturing, agriculture and ecology. Wheat gluten and soybean proteins have been adopted for producing some types of meat and dairy al¬ ternatives. Nevertheless, there should be more choices of plant protein sources and types of foods to be de¬ veloped to meet a growing demand and to provide alter¬ natives for people suffering from allergies that pre¬ vent them from using products from specific sources.
Emulsifying ability is an important function- ality of the food proteins in regard for their pro¬ cessing into food compositions. Food proteins that can be used to prepare stable oil-in-water emulsions are needed in order to replace food additives and to im¬ prove the nutritional value of food. Emulsion is a common system existing in various aqueous foods, such as milk and salad dressing.
An oil-in-water emulsion system has small lipid droplets dispersed in the water medium and the emulsion tends to break down over time by phase sepa- ration. Oil-in-water emulsions have an appearance, mouth feeling, nutritional composition and lipid- oxidative stability that differ advantageously from other liquids used for the production of food composi¬ tions, such as pasted starch suspension and non-lipid- containing protein solution.
Formation of a stable oil-in-water emulsion is an important basis for further processing of some foods such as yogurt and cheese which are emulsion gels in structure. Lipid functions as a filler in the emulsion gel and contributes to its properties that are considered valuable, such as appearance, nutri¬ tional composition and texture.
In publication WO 2008/130251 Al, a method for preparing a protein emulsion gel is disclosed. The process comprises mixing oil or fat with a protein- containing aqueous medium by homogenization to form an oil-in-water emulsion and heating the mixture to 50- 200 °C for a period sufficient to form an emulsion gel .
In the European patent EP 1389919 Bl (vegeta- ble fat emulsion comprising oat protein) an all- vegetable fat-containing emulsion is disclosed, where¬ in the aqueous phase comprises a protein-containing oat base, which is rich in soluble fiber and prefera¬ bly contains degraded starch, and the fat phase com- prises a fractionated vegetable oil. The oat base is made preferably of enzymatically treated rolled oats and has a protein content between 0.01-0.2% by weight.
However, the inventors have recognized the need for a method for producing proteinous food compo- sitions from a variety of different plant species.
PURPOSE OF THE INVENTION
The purpose of the invention is to provide a new method for the production of a plant-based protei- nous food composition that can be used as such or as an alternative for producing milk-type, as well as yo¬ gurt-, tofu-, cheese- or spread-type food products. SUMMARY
The method according to the present invention is characterized by what is presented in claim 1.
The proteinous food composition according to the present invention is characterized by what is pre¬ sented in claim 11.
The food product according to the present in¬ vention is characterized by what is presented in claim 14.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
The accompanying drawings, which are included to provide a further understanding of the invention and constitute a part of this specification, illus¬ trate embodiments of the invention and together with the description help to explain the principles of the invention. In the drawings:
Fig. 1 is a flow chart illustration of one embodiment of the method according to the present in¬ vention ;
Fig. 2A is an illustration of the effect of oil concentration on average droplet size of the faba bean milk;
Fig. 2B is an illustration of the effect of oil concentration on the zeta-potential of faba bean milk;
Fig. 3A is an illustration of the effect of oil concentration on gel texture and strength of faba bean yogurt;
Fig. 3B is an illustration of the effect of oil concentration on the firmness of faba bean yogurt;
Fig. 4A is an illustration of the effect of acid deamidation treatment on the zeta-potential of oat protein with natural faba bean protein as reference; and Fig. 4B is an illustration of the oat yogurt appearance .
Fig. 5A is an illustration of a failed oat yogurt production without solubilization of oat pro- teins.
Fig. 5B is an illustration of the viscosity of oat yogurt.
Fig. 5C is an illustration of the gel strength of the oat yogurt.
Fig. 5D depicts the microstructure of the oat yogurt prepared with deamidated oat protein
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a method for producing a proteinous food composition, wherein the method comprises the following steps of:
a) removing starch from a plant-based protein source containing starch and forming a liquid protein- containing fraction; and
b) denaturing protein within the liquid protein-containing fraction and mixing the liquid protein-containing fraction with a lipid in any order for producing a protein- and lipid-containing mixture.
The inventors of the present invention sur- prisingly found out that by using the method of the present invention it was possible to produce alterna¬ tive protein-rich food compositions having stable oil- and-water emulsion properties and a pleasant appearance to be used as nutrition. The proteinous food com- positions according to the present invention have a similar kind of protein content as the traditional soybean-based proteinous food compositions, such as tofu .
The expression "proteinous food composition" should be understood in this specification, unless otherwise stated, as an oil-and-water emulsion that contains at least some protein and that can be used for human nutrition as such or after further processing. The expression "stable oil-in-water emulsion" should be understood in this specification, unless otherwise stated, as an oil-in-water emulsion that re- mains in one continuous phase for at least 14 days and preferably for at least 30 days.
In the method according to the present inven¬ tion, the plant-based protein source or the proteinous starting material is obtained from plant material.
The present invention further relates to a method for producing a proteinous food composition, wherein the method comprises the following steps of:
a) removing starch from a plant-based protein source containing starch and forming a liquid protein- containing fraction, and adjusting the water content of the liquid protein-containing fraction for setting its protein concentration to 0.01-60 weight-%; and
b) denaturing protein within the liquid protein-containing fraction and mixing the liquid pro- tein-containing fraction with a lipid in any order for producing a protein- and lipid-containing mixture.
Some commonly used foods, such as yogurt, cheese and tofu are emulsion gels in structure. There is a large variation in the composition of such prod- uct and many different plant-based variations are pos¬ sible with the method according to the present inven¬ tion.
In one embodiment of the present invention the plant-based protein source containing starch is obtained from a legume, cereal, pseudocereal , tuberous plant, root vegetable or any combination thereof. In one embodiment of the present invention the plant- based protein source containing starch is obtained from faba bean, oat, buckwheat, quinoa, mung bean, pea, lentil, chick pea, navy bean, pinto bean, white bean, amaranth, barley or corn. Seeds of legumes (i.e. plants belonging to the Fabaceae, or the pea, family) are typically rich in protein, but also many cereals (belonging to Poaceae, or the grass, family) and pseu- docereals (non-grass plants used similarly to cereals) contain enough protein make them usable as protein sources. Examples of such plants are faba bean (Vicia faba) and oat (Avena sativa) .
Before the plant material is used for produc¬ ing a protein-containing fraction to be used for further steps of the method, it can, in one embodiment of the present invention, be pre-treated. In one embodi¬ ment of the present invention the selected plant mate¬ rial is dehulled, dried, heated and/or milled. The necessary pre-treatment ( s ) depend on the crop in ques¬ tion and a large variety of pre-treatment methods is established in the relevant technical field.
After selecting and possibly pre-treating the plant-based protein source containing starch to be used, starch is removed from the plant-based protein source and a liquid protein-containing fraction is formed. The starch can be removed by dry fractionation methods, for example air-classification, electrostatic separation, or wet fractionation methods, for example sedimentation, enzymatic hydrolysis, chemical hydroly¬ sis or centrifugation, or by any combination thereof, for forming dry flour or suspension.
In one embodiment of the present invention the liquid used for forming the liquid protein- containing fraction is water.
In one embodiment of the present invention the method comprises a step of adjusting the water content of the liquid protein-containing fraction from step a) for setting its protein concentration to 0.01- 60 weight-%, preferably to 0.05-10 weight-%, or to 3- 20 weight-%. In one embodiment, the water content of the liquid protein-containing fraction in step a) is adjusted for setting its protein concentration to 0.05-20 weight-%, or preferably to 3-20 weight-%. A proteinous food composition produced in one embodiment of the present invention by setting the protein concentration to 0.05-10 weight-% has the appearance of a milk-type emulsion whereas a proteinous food composi- tion produced in one embodiment of the present inven¬ tion by setting the protein concentration to 3-20 weight-% is an emulsion gel in structure. The expres¬ sions "milk" and "milk-type emulsion" should be under¬ stood in this specification, unless otherwise stated, as a proteinous food composition containing 0.05-10 weight-% protein and 1-10 weight-% lipid and being substantially liquid. The expression "emulsion gel" should be understood in this specification, unless otherwise stated, as a proteinous food composition containing 3-20 weight-% of protein and 5-60 weight-% of lipid and being substantially solid or semi-solid. Without limiting the invention to any specific theory, the high enough protein content enables the establishment of protein-protein interactions that result in a gel structure of the food composition.
Gelling property is an important functionali¬ ty of food proteins, since many proteinous foods can be regarded as emulsion gels. Protein-protein interac¬ tions are important for gel formation, structure, tex- ture and rheology. The interactions can be affected by protein concentration, protein properties (e.g. structure, chemical, and physicochemical properties) , solu¬ tion pH, ionic strength and existence of coagulating agent (e.g. bridging salts, cross-linking enzymes).
The lower limit of the protein concentration determines the processing alternatives of the protei¬ nous food composition, since increasing protein concentration in the liquid protein-containing fraction allows the formation of an emulsion gel in a further stage of the process. There are many alternatives for adjusting the protein concentration. In one embodiment this means increasing the amount of dissolved proteins in the liquid protein-containing fraction, for example by chemically or enzymatically improving the solubili¬ ty of proteins , but in another embodiment, the liquid protein-containing fraction might also be diluted, es- pecially if milk-type end products are desired.
In one embodiment of the present invention, the method comprises a step of removing residual starch from the liquid protein-containing fraction before step b) . The presence of starch in the liquid protein-containing fraction may affect the properties of the formed proteinous food composition. Starch can become pasted and viscous in the temperatures that are used to denature the plant storage proteins forming the bulk of the protein (at step b) ) . In one embodi- ment of the present invention the step of removing re¬ sidual starch from the liquid protein-containing fraction from step a) comprises removing starch by sedi¬ mentation, centrifugation, enzymatic degradation or hydrolysis .
Starch does not need to be completely removed from the protein-containing fraction, but the more is removed, the more advantageous it is for the quality of the proteinous food composition and the end product made from it. The different options for starch removal are not mutually exclusive, and several of them can be used during a single protocol as will be obvious for the skilled person based on this specification. For example, the larger starch-containing particles can be first allowed to sediment, after which the solution can be centrifuged and residual starch broken down en¬ zymatically and/or through hydrolysis.
In one embodiment of the present invention the proteins of the plant-based protein source con¬ taining starch are treated to improve their character- istics for production of a plant-based proteinous food composition. Many plant storage proteins have a high heat denaturation temperature and do not easily form emulsions. For example, the oat globulin, which is the major protein in oat grains, is denatured at a high temperature of 112 °C . Therefore, the plant material can be treated chemically, physically and/or enzymati- cally to make it more susceptible to heat denatura- tion, emulsification and gel formation. Treating the proteins can e.g. improve their solubility or other characteristics .
In one embodiment of the present invention, the method comprises a step of adjusting the protein solubility to 40-100 %, preferably to 50-100 %, of to¬ tal protein before step b) . Examples of these adjust¬ ment methods include enzymatic, mechanical and chemi¬ cal modifications, and germination. Examples of poten- tial chemical modifications are deamidation, succinyl- ation, acetylation, alkylation, chemical glycosyla- tion, chemical phosphorylation and chemical hydroly¬ sis. Protein solubility is indicated by nitrogen solu¬ bility index and it can be measured according to standard methods.
In step b) , proteins within the liquid pro¬ tein-containing fraction are denatured and the liquid protein-containing fraction is mixed with a lipid in any order for producing a protein- and lipid- containing mixture.
In one embodiment of the present invention, denaturing protein in step b) comprises subjecting the liquid protein-containing fraction to heat treatment. When the proteins are denatured, their three- dimensional structure opens up revealing the hydropho¬ bic amino acid residues that are buried in the interi¬ or of the protein in its native form. This allows a protein suspension to be formed. The term "suspension" is to be understood in this specification, unless oth- erwise stated, as a liquid containing dispersed non- dissolved protein particles. This in turn, allows the formation of an oil-and-water emulsion once lipid is added to the protein suspension and the mixture is me¬ chanically treated (in steps b) and c) ) . The denatura- tion of protein also allows the formation of an emul¬ sion gel at a further stage of the process when a co- agulant is added to the oil-in-water emulsion or it is fermented .
The plant-based protein source of the present invention is typically low in lipids and the low lipid content may contribute to the failure of producing stable emulsions for proteinous food composition from it. The inventors discovered that a stable milk-type emulsion is achievable with lower amounts of lipids than an emulsion gel. Thus, lipid is added to the pro¬ tein suspension to allow the formation of an emulsion system at step c) .
In one embodiment of the present invention mixing the liquid protein-containing fraction with a lipid in step b) comprises adjusting the lipid concen¬ tration of the liquid protein-containing fraction to 1-60 volume-%. In one embodiment of the present inven¬ tion, the content of added lipid is approximately 1-10 volume-% for making milk-type emulsions, and approxi¬ mately 5-60 volume-% for making emulsion gels. The minimum functional lipid concentration depends on the properties of the proteins in the emulsion, more spe¬ cifically on their zeta-potential and emulsifying ability, which in turn are affected by their surface electronic properties.
Protein zeta-potential represents the elec- trical characteristics of the particles in a colloidal system, such as emulsion. With a stronger surface electronic charge, the protein particle has a stronger protein-water interaction and larger protein-protein repulsion. This gives the protein a better emulsifying ability and it can retain the lipid stably in the emulsion phase. Zeta-potential can thus be used as an indication of the stability of the emulsion system. Despite the variation in protein properties, a lipid concentration of approximately 1 weight % can be considered a general minimum concentration for the production of a stable emulsion system. In one embodi- ment of the present invention, the lipid used at this step can be either oil, such as rapeseed, sunflower seed or olive oil, or other fat, either of plant or animal origin. The lipid droplet size, which increases with increasing lipid concentration, is relevant for the oil-in-water emulsion properties, such as appearance, mouth feeling, nutritional composition, viscosity and stability. It also affects the textural proper¬ ties of an emulsion gel made from the oil-in-water emulsion .
Emulsion systems with zeta-potential higher than +30 mV or lower than -30mV are normally considered stable. On the other hand, those emulsion systems with zeta-potential higher than +40 mV or lower than - 40mV are predicted to be very stable, whereas those emulsion systems with zeta-potential between -30 mV and +30 mV are considered instable.
In one embodiment of the present invention the method comprises step c) of homogenizing and emul¬ sifying the protein- and lipid-containing mixture from step b) . This is done to produce a stable oil-in-water emulsion to be used as a proteinous food product or as an intermediate in the production thereof. The homoge- nization and emulsification can be achieved with a mechanical treatment, such as homogenization or soni- cation. There are different types of devices for car¬ rying out this step. The choice of selecting and com¬ bining these process steps are within the knowledge of the skilled person based on this specification. After emulsification, the proteinous food composition can be used as such or it can be subjected to further pro¬ cessing steps. The present invention further relates to a proteinous food composition obtainable by the method according to the present invention. In one embodiment of the present invention, the proteinous food composi- tion is a liquid oil-in-water emulsion. In one embodiment of the present invention, the proteinous food composition is an emulsion gel. In one embodiment of the present invention the proteinous food composition is a solid, semi-solid or a gel-like composition re- sembling yoghurt, tofu or cheese.
The different types of proteinous food compo¬ sitions can be used as such or after further processing. The food composition can be made from more than one source of protein and it can contain differ- ent additives, such as sugar, coloring agents, fla¬ vors, weighting agents, viscosity enhancers, choco¬ late, fruit extract, vitamins, preservatives and the like .
The present invention further relates to a food product comprising the proteinous food composi¬ tion according to the present invention.
The food product can contain the proteinous food composition as its main component or the protei¬ nous food composition can be used as an additive.
The embodiments of the invention described hereinbefore may be used in any combination with each other. Several of the embodiments may be combined to¬ gether to form a further embodiment of the invention. A method, a food composition or a food product, to which the invention is related, may comprise at least one of the embodiments of the invention described hereinbefore .
There are several agricultural plant species, for example oat and faba bean, that contain signifi- cant amounts of nutritionally valuable proteins, but for which there are no methods for producing such a variety of proteinous products as for soybean or ani- mal-derived protein sources. The traditional methods for manufacturing soybean-based proteinous food prod¬ ucts do not apply to oat, faba bean and other legume and cereal species.
An advantage of the present invention is that it allows the use of starch-containing plant species for the production of proteinous food compositions.
An advantage of the present invention is that it allows the use of low-fat plant species for the production of proteinous food compositions.
An advantage of the present invention is that it allows the use of proteins from oat and some other cereal grains that have poor hydration capacity lower¬ ing their ability to form emulsions, in the production of proteinous food compositions.
An advantage of the present invention is that it provides alternatives for the traditional soybean- based methods of producing plant-based proteinous food compositions .
An advantage of the present invention is that it is possible to produce proteinous food compositions from a variety of plant species.
EXAMPLES
Reference will now be made in detail to the embodiments of the present invention, and some of their relevant features are illustrated in the accom¬ panying drawings .
The description below discloses some embodi- ments of the invention in such a detail that a person skilled in the art is able to utilize the invention based on the disclosure. Not all steps of the embodi¬ ments are discussed in detail, as many of the steps will be obvious for the person skilled in the art based on this specification.
Figure 1 illustrates a method according to one embodiment of the present invention for producing a proteinous food composition. After potential pre- treatments, indicated by the dashed outline of the box, starch is removed from the plant-based protein source containing starch and a liquid protein- containing fraction is formed in step a) of the method. The water content of the liquid protein-containing fraction is then adjusted, protein solubility is ad¬ justed and an additional starch removal step is per¬ formed. The order of the steps of adjusting water con- tent and protein solubility as well as additional starch removal step can vary. Their order can be suited to the specific starting material as will be obvi¬ ous for the skilled person based on this specifica¬ tion. In step b) , protein is denatured and the liquid protein-containing fraction is mixed with lipid to form a protein- and lipid-containing mixture. Denaturing and mixing with lipid can be done in any order. The protein- and lipid-containing mixture from step b) is then homogenized and emulsified in step c) to pro- duce a proteinous food composition, i.e. an oil-in- water emulsion, that can be used as such or processed further .
EXAMPLE 1 - Preparing faba bean milk containing ap- proximately 5 weight-% faba bean protein and 1-30 weight-% rapeseed oil.
First, the faba beans were soaked in water, in order to rehydrate and soften them. Then, the faba beans were dehulled and heated in order to remove the off-flavor. The faba beans were then blended with wa¬ ter, milled and centrifuged (13 000 rcf, 15 min) to remove starch. As a result, a liquid protein- containing fraction was formed, which in this case was protein solution. The protein concentration of the liquid protein-containing fraction was then adjusted to approximately 5 weight-% by adding water. The pro¬ tein solution was then boiled for 10 minutes in order to denature the faba bean proteins sufficiently. Then, the protein solution was mixed with rapeseed oil to reach oil concentration of 1-30 weight-% thus forming a protein- and lipid-containing mixture.
Homogenization using an ultra-turrax homoge- nizer (2 000 rpm for 2 min.) dispersed the protein- and lipid-containing mixture and formed a stable emul¬ sion which was called faba bean milk and could be used for further processes. The emulsion oil droplet size was measured from faba bean milk produced with the above method.
The average oil droplet size increased with the increase of oil concentration in faba bean milk as is illustrated in Fig. 2A. Oil addition also increased the surface electronic charge of faba bean protein dispersion as the faba bean milk having oil concentration larger than 0 weight-% had a more negative zeta- potential than the faba bean protein solution without oil addition as is illustrated in Fig. 2B. In all oil concentrations of 5 weight-% or higher, the zeta- potential was more negative than -40 mV indicating that the faba bean milk is a very stable emulsion sys¬ tem (Fig. 2B) . EXAMPLE 2 - Preparing a yogurt-type product made from the faba bean milk produced in Example 1.
Faba bean milk containing approximately 5 weight-% faba bean protein and 1-30 weight-% rapeseed oil was prepared. The faba bean milk was inoculated with 0.05 weight-% lactic acid bacteria (Lactobacillus acidophilus, Bifidobacterium sp . and Streptococcus thermophilus) and fermented by them at 37 °C for 16-18 hours in order to decrease the pH of faba bean milk to the isoelectric point (pi) of faba bean protein by lactic acid production. At this time, the pH of the faba bean milk dropped to approximately 4.4. After storing at 5 °C for 24 hours a set-style faba bean yogurt was formed. For stirred-style faba bean yogurt, the method contained a further step of disrupting the gel network by using an injector for approximately 30 seconds.
The effects of faba bean milk oil concentra¬ tion on the faba bean yogurt gel texture and strength were studied by Texture Profile Analyzer (TPA) as il¬ lustrated in Fig. 3A and rheological methods as illus- trated in Fig. 3B. With the increase of the oil con¬ centration, the strength and firmness of faba bean yo¬ gurt gel increased (Fig. 3A and 3B) . The difference between the oil concentrations of 5 weight-% and 10 weight-% was observed as illustrated in Figs 3A and 3B. The faba bean yogurt with oil concentration of minimum 10 weight-% had a network gel structure, as a decrease of force at punch distance of 2 mm in the TPA test could be observed (Fig. 3A) . EXAMPLE 3 - Preparing a yogurt-type product from pro¬ tein-containing oat fraction.
Oat grains were dry-fractionated using an air-classification method for removing starch. Protein-containing oat fraction, containing approximately 60 weight-% oat protein and 15 weight-% starch, was used in further steps. Protein-containing oat fraction was diluted with 0.2 M HC1 water solution in a ratio of 1:20 and deamidated by heat treatment at 95 °C for 2 hours in order to improve the protein solubility and increase its concentration in water. This treatment increased the solubility of oat protein from 10% to 86% of total protein. Further, as illustrated in Fig. 4A, the absolute value of zeta-potential of oat pro¬ tein increased from 15 mV to 35 mV, hence improving the emulsifying ability of the oat protein. The re¬ sulting absolute zeta potential value is close to that of natural faba bean protein which has a suitable emulsifying ability.
The protein-containing oat fraction was then neutralized with 5 M NaOH and centrifuged. The super- natant contained 4.3 weight-% soluble oat protein. It was then boiled for 13 min. in order to denature the oat protein and cooled to room temperature (approx. 20 °C) . Then, 5 weight-% rapeseed oil was added to the solution, the protein- and lipid-containing mixture was homogenized by ultra-turrax homogenizer (2 000 rpm for 2 min.) to an emulsion, which was regarded as oat milk .
Lactose (1.5 g/100 g oat milk) and sucrose (3 g/100 g oat milk) were added to the oat milk in order to allow the growth of lactic acid bacteria. Then, lactic acid bacteria (Lactobacillus acidophilus, Bifidobacterium sp . and Streptococcus thermophilus) were inoculated into the oat milk and fermentation was allowed to progress for 17.5 hours at 37 °C. Lactic acid produced by the bacteria reduced the pH of oat milk, and when it was close to the isoelectric point (pi) of the deamidated oat protein, the oat milk coag¬ ulated and formed a gel structure. As a result, oat yogurt was produced (Fig. 4B) .
EXAMPLE 4 - Preparing faba bean tofu.
Faba bean milk was prepared as described in example 1, with a rapeseed oil concentration of 3 weight-% and a protein concentration of 5.4 weight-%. Coagulant glucono-5-lacton (GDL) was added to cooled faba bean milk to a concentration of 0.5 weight-% in order to reduce the pH of faba bean milk to 5.0, which is close to the pi of faba bean protein. The solution was then incubated at 95 °C for 2 hours to promote the formation of protein-protein interactions. As a result, faba bean tofu, a gel or curd food, was pro¬ duced . EXAMPLE 5 - Preparing an emulsion gel -based oat pro- teionous food composition
If native oat protein is used for an attempt to produce an emulsion gel, such as yogurt, the pro¬ duction will fail. Figure 5A depicts an example of such an attempt. In this example, native oat protein containing fraction after starch removal was suspended in water (in ratio 1:10 w:w), the suspension was cen- trifuged to remove insoluble components and 5 weight-% oil was added into the suspension. The mixture was then homogenized to prepare an emulsion, heated at 121 °C for 20 min and proteins were coagulated by lactic acid fermentation. As shown in Fig. 5A, the emulsion is not stable and clear phase separation is visible.
However, when the solubility of the oat pro¬ teins was increased from their native 9% to 45% by de- amidation, the same process resulted in a stable emul¬ sion gel. When a deamidated oat protein was suspended in water so that the suspension contained 1 weight-% soluble protein it was possible to produce a weak emulsion gel.
Figure 5 B depicts a flow curve of oat yogurt prepared with the above protocol including deami- dation. The viscosity of the yogurt, which is an emul¬ sion gel in structure, was measured under a shearing force that started at 20 s-1, increased to 100 s-1 and then decreased from 100 s-1 back to 20 s-1 (the arrows visualize the direction of the curve) . The experiment was done with two different yogurt batches: one pro¬ duced from an oat protein-containing fraction containing 1 weight-% protein and the other from an oat protein-containing fraction containing 2 weight-% protein. Yogurt made of the 2 weight-% fraction had a higher viscosity (measured as shear stress, Pa) than that made of the 1 weight-% fraction. The 2 weight-% fraction also displayed a more significant thinning phenomenon (i.e. the gap between the viscosities dur¬ ing increasing shear rate and decreasing shear rate) . As a conclusion, the 2% deamidated oat protein yogurt had a typical gel structure and stronger gel strength than the 1 % one .
Figure 5C depicts the storage modulus (C , measured in Pa) that refers to the gel strength. Gen¬ erally, the higher the G' value, the better. The per¬ cent values (2, 3, 4.5) in Figure 5 indicate the solu- ble protein concentration of the oat protein- containing fraction used for producing the yogurt. The dotted line displays a commercial soybean yogurt as a comparison. It can be concluded from Figure 5C that increasing protein concentration strengthens the gel structure and the oat yogurt produced by the method according to the current disclosure has a stronger gel structure than the commercial soybean yogurt used in the experiment.
Also the loss modulus (G' ' , not shown) that refers to the viscosity of the yogurt was measured for these samples. It was always significantly smaller than the G' value. This means that the solid-like characteristics of the samples were more predominant than their liquid-like characteristics. This, again, indicates that all the yogurt samples analyzed in this had a typical emulsion-gel structure.
The results also show that the emulsion gel prepared with soluble protein content as high as 3% had a good gel strength, which is favorable for emul- sion gel products such as yogurt, tofu and cheese. The gel strength improves with the increase of soluble protein content. Practically, controlling the protein content between 3% and 20% is feasible and useful for preparing most commercial emulsion gel foods.
Figure 5D depicts the microstructure of the yogurt prepared with deamidated oat protein (protein concentration 4.5 weight-%) . The protein is visible as gray cloudy matter and the lipid as lighter droplets. Figure 5D clearly shows the emulsion gel structure where the lipids are covered by the proteins, the pro¬ teins are evenly distributed and continuous protein- protein network structure is formed.
It is obvious to a person skilled in the art that with the advancement of technology, the basic idea of the invention may be implemented in various ways. The invention and its embodiments are thus not limited to the examples described above; instead they may vary within the scope of the claims.

Claims

1. A method for producing a proteinous food composition, c h a r a c t e r i z e d in that the method comprises the following steps of:
a) removing starch from a plant-based protein source containing starch and forming a liquid protein- containing fraction, and adjusting the water content of the liquid protein-containing fraction for setting its protein concentration to 0.01-60 weight-%; and
b) denaturing protein within the liquid protein-containing fraction and mixing the liquid protein-containing fraction with a lipid in any order for producing a protein- and lipid-containing mixture.
2. The method of claim 1, wherein the water content of the liquid protein-containing fraction in step a) is adjusted for setting its protein concentra¬ tion to 0.05-20 weight-%, or preferably to 3-20 weight-% .
3. The method of any one of claims 1 - 2, wherein the method comprises a step of removing resid¬ ual starch from the liquid protein-containing fraction before step b) .
4. The method of any one of claims 1 - 3, wherein the method comprises a step of adjusting the protein solubility to 40-100 %, preferably to 50-100 %, of total protein before step b) .
5. The method of any one of claims 1 - 4, wherein the method comprises step c) of homogenizing and emulsifying the protein- and lipid-containing mix- ture from step b) .
6. The method of any one of claims 1 - 5, wherein the plant-based protein source containing starch is obtained from a legume, cereal, pseudo- cereal, tuberous plant, root vegetable or any combina- tion thereof.
7. The method of any one of claims 1 - 6, wherein the plant-based protein source containing starch is obtained from faba bean, oat, buckwheat, quinoa, mung bean, pea, lentil, chick pea, navy bean, pinto bean, white bean, amaranth, barley or corn.
8. The method of any one of claims 1 - 7, wherein the step of removing residual starch from the liquid protein-containing fraction from step a) comprises removing starch by sedimentation, centrifuga- tion, enzymatic degradation or hydrolysis.
9. The method of any one of claims 1 - 8, wherein denaturing protein in step b) comprises subjecting the liquid protein-containing fraction to heat treatment .
10. The method of any one of claims 1 - 9, wherein mixing the liquid protein-containing fraction with a lipid in step b) comprises adjusting the lipid concentration of the liquid protein-containing fraction to 1-60 volume-%.
11. A proteinous food composition obtainable by the method of any one of claims 1 - 10.
12. The proteinous food composition of claim
11, wherein the proteinous food composition is a liquid oil-in-water emulsion.
13. The proteinous food composition of claim 11, wherein the proteinous food composition is an emulsion gel.
14. A food product comprising the proteinous food composition of claim 11.
PCT/FI2014/050288 2013-04-25 2014-04-22 Method for producing a proteinous food composition WO2014174149A1 (en)

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WO2017171601A1 (en) * 2016-04-01 2017-10-05 Oatly Ab Enhanced viscosity oat base and fermented oat base product
EP3512355B1 (en) 2016-09-13 2020-12-02 Société des Produits Nestlé S.A. Fermented nutritional composition for cow's milk protein allergic subjects
US11533941B2 (en) 2016-09-13 2022-12-27 Societe Des Produits Nestle S.A. Fermented nutritional composition for cow's milk protein allergic subjects
WO2018115597A1 (en) * 2016-12-23 2018-06-28 Bioferme Oy A foodstuff of vegetable origin and a method for producing same
JP7189148B2 (en) 2017-03-31 2022-12-13 コーンプロダクツ ディベロップメント インコーポレーテッド Foods containing processed broad bean protein concentrate
KR102561033B1 (en) 2017-03-31 2023-07-31 콘 프로덕츠 디벨롭먼트, 인크. Food containing processed fava protein concentrate
CN110573025A (en) * 2017-03-31 2019-12-13 玉米产品开发公司 Foodstuff comprising treated fava bean protein concentrate
JP2020512006A (en) * 2017-03-31 2020-04-23 コーンプロダクツ ディベロップメント インコーポレーテッド Foods containing treated broad bean protein concentrate
KR102666794B1 (en) 2017-03-31 2024-05-20 콘 프로덕츠 디벨롭먼트, 인크. Foodstuffs comprising treated fava bean protein concentrates
US11969003B2 (en) 2017-03-31 2024-04-30 Corn Products Development, Inc. Foodstuffs comprising treated fava bean protein concentrates
RU2777338C2 (en) * 2017-03-31 2022-08-02 Корн Продактс Дивелопмент, Инк. Food products containing treated concentrates of garden bean protein
US11793213B2 (en) 2017-03-31 2023-10-24 Corn Products Development, Inc. Foodstuffs comprising treated fava bean protein concentrates
KR20190129122A (en) * 2017-03-31 2019-11-19 콘 프로덕츠 디벨롭먼트, 인크. Foods Containing Treated Peanut Protein Concentrates
WO2018183729A1 (en) * 2017-03-31 2018-10-04 Corn Products Development, Inc. Foodstuffs comprising treated fava bean protein concentrates
US11553725B2 (en) 2017-03-31 2023-01-17 Corn Products Development, Inc. Foodstuffs comprising treated fava bean protein concentrates
WO2020256908A1 (en) * 2019-06-18 2020-12-24 Corn Products Development, Inc. Pulse protein emulsifiers
CN113924002A (en) * 2019-06-18 2022-01-11 玉米产品开发公司 Bean protein emulsifier
WO2022029384A1 (en) 2020-08-04 2022-02-10 Maire Beatrice Process for producing at least one intermediate food product capable of forming a mousse and/or having emulsifying and/or gelling properties - associated products
FR3113224A1 (en) * 2020-08-04 2022-02-11 Béatrice MAIRE Culinary process based on field beans for the preparation of an intermediate food product having gelling and emulsifying properties
WO2022144452A1 (en) * 2021-01-04 2022-07-07 Roquette Freres Oat protein composition of high solubility
WO2022253818A1 (en) * 2021-06-01 2022-12-08 Société des Produits Nestlé S.A. Fermented non-dairy food composition comprising oat and faba proteins
EP4356755A1 (en) * 2022-10-21 2024-04-24 DMK Deutsches Milchkontor GmbH Fermented plant proteins

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