Pasting and Texture Properties of Commercial Plant Proteins and Its Mixtures

Abstract

Protein mixtures are usually applied in plant based products development in order to achieve amino acids balance and properly technological performance. Therefore, the aim of this work was to study the pasting and texture properties of commercial proteins commonly used in food products (pea, lentil, fava bean, rice and soybean) and its binary and ternary mixtures. The pasting properties were studied by Rapid Visco Analyser (RVA) and the texture by Texture Profile Analysis (TPA) method using a texturometer. Results showed that protein mixtures exhibit distinct behaviors when compared to single proteins. Single lentil and soy protein presented the highest final viscosity (847 and 806 cP, respectively) whilst the rice the lowest final viscosity (10 cP). Related to texture, faba bean and soy exhibited the highest gel hardness (1.52 and 1.50 N, respectively). For binary and ternary mixtures, in general, the viscosity and texture profiles parameters decreased. Rice-containing mixtures showed the lowest final viscosity (30.5–62.0 cP), while lentil and faba bean mixtures had the highest final viscosities and gel strengths (579 cP and 1.77 N, respectively). From the ternary mixtures, samples containing lentil, fava bean, and rice displayed superior gel strength (0.9 N) due to a synergistic interaction. This work provides information about vegetable proteins and its mixtures that can be used for a better design of plant based food products.