Sensory and techno-functional properties of Alkaline solubilized-bacterial acidified pea protein isolate.

Plant protein use in food applications and meat alternatives is drastically increasing nowadays. Pea protein contributes a major proportion among them after soya protein as soya has a large amount of antinutrients; thus, it is preferred less. Whereas pea has a good quality soluble protein profile, with one major limitation that is off-flavor compounds. The conventional Alkali solubilization and acid precipitation method (AS-APM) is well-known among other methods for pea protein extraction with high protein recovery and yield. However, off-flavor problems still exist in the finished product. Fermentation has a well-known contribution in developing a new flavor profile for its finished product. It uses the natural power of bacteria for chemical modification. Traditionally, a strong acid is used for acid precipitation in AS-APM. In this research we have used fermentation during processing in which lactic acid bacteria (LAB) were used for acidification. LAB drops down the pH to the same level and reduces the amount of off-flavor volatile compounds and thereby beany-ness of extracted protein. The target functional group for beany-ness is aldehyde (for example, hexanal and nonanal). Fermentation was performed by starter culture having fast acidification and the ability to reduce beany-ness smell and taste properties significantly. Volatiles profile by GCMS, 16s rRNA for detecting major contributing strain in overall fermentation, revealing degree of denaturation by HPLC-SEC and techno-functional studies has analyzed and compared with conventional AS-AP method. The study has concluded the degree of reduction in off-flavor profile and techno-functionality changes in finished dried protein isolate powder by different starter cultures.