Cheesy goodness for plant-based alternatives

Scientists from the University of Guelph and the Canadian Light Source are working to produce a plant-based cheese with all the characteristics of real cheese but with some health benefits. The research findings have been published in Physics of Fluids, by AIP Publishing.

It isn’t an easy task for food manufacturers to replicate the creamy, cheesy qualities that make dairy so indulgent.

“If you wanted to strictly eat only plant-based products, you would end up eating a lot of beans and tofu, which can be little bit boring after a while,” said author Alejandro Marangoni. “Now, consumers expect essentially the same animal product but with plant-based ingredients, which is very difficult.”

The researchers in Canada studied multiple types of plant-based proteins and a variety of physical attributes such as the melting, stretching and oil-release upon grilling and heating. They also studied how the proteins interacted with alternative cheese scaffolds. “The behaviour of milk proteins and meat proteins is reasonably well-understood, but knowledge about the functionality of plant proteins is lacking,” Marangoni said. “There is also a huge variety of different plant proteins, each one very different from one another.”

Previous research concluded that a blend of 25% coconut oil, 75% sunflower oil, and pea protein created a desirable cheese texture. In this research, Marangoni and his team studied isolates from three proteins (lentil protein, a particular type of pea protein, faba bean protein, and lentil protein and a particular type of pea protein), and observed how the isolates interacted with the oil and with the starch matrix of the cheese alternative.

They found that increasing the coconut oil increased the hardness of cheeses, but cheese with pea protein and 25% coconut oil had the firmest texture due to their unique protein-fat interactions. This formulation matched or surpassed the melt, oil loss and stretch of the cheese analogs made with 100% coconut oil.

Using a blend of sunflower and coconut oil decreased the saturated fat content of the cheese, creating a healthy cheesy alternative.

“Ultimately we want to improve the nutrition, increase the protein content, and lower the saturated fat content of cheese alternatives,” Marangoni said. “But keeping all the functionality in there, which includes the melt and the stretch of the ‘cheese,’ is very difficult.”

Image caption: Researcher Alejandro Marangoni demonstrates the stretchy properties of his team’s plant-based cheese analog. Image credit: Alejandro Marangoni.