What makes pea protein enjoyable?
DOI: 10.1063/10.0044325
What makes pea protein enjoyable? lead image
As plant-based diets grow in popularity, meat substitutes and plant proteins are becoming more commonplace. Among them is pea protein, a complex mixture of protein molecules derived from peas that is frequently used as an alternative to products that contain dairy, eggs, and even meat.
However, to encourage widespread adoption, these plant-based alternatives need to be enjoyable, which includes achieving a pleasant texture. Olsmats et al. studied the structural responses of pea protein emulsions to understand the substance’s applicability to complex food products.
“The rheological properties of these materials influence both the texture and mouthfeel during consumption,” said author Eleonora Olsmats. “Attractive texture and ‘feel in the mouth’ are important if people are to accept new food products.”
Pea protein molecules tend to disperse within their surrounding fluid rather than molecularly dissolve, so one key question is how stable these emulsions are over time. By monitoring a commercial pea protein isolate with a combination of rheology-coupled small angle X-ray scattering and X-ray photon correlation spectroscopy, the researchers found the proteins constrain droplet motion within the mixture, preventing the emulsified droplets from coming back together. In other words, the mixture remains mixed.
Under high shear, the emulsions thin out, but eventually return to their initial viscosity.
“In the kitchen, this study is comparable to, for example, a food blender or mixer during cooking,” Olsmats said.
The researchers believe their findings could potentially be applicable to other plant-derived proteins. They plan to study how temperature affects protein emulsions to better understand the interactions between protein and oil.
Source: “Microstructure and dynamics in protein stabilized emulsion gels under shear,” by Eleonora Olsmats, Gouranga Manna, Bruno Telli Ceccato, Panlin Jin, and Adrian R. Rennie, Physics of Fluids (2026). The article can be accessed at https://doi.org/10.1063/5.0329519 .
