DEVELOPMENT OF VEGAN MOZZARELLA-LIKE CHEESE WITH EXTRUDED FAVA PROTEIN

Abstract

Fava protein-based cheese prototypes, mimicking properties of conventional Mozzarella cheese, were prepared with extruded and unextruded fava protein and studied to find out if extrusion processing could improve the functionality of fava protein isolate. Both fava samples were prepared with 10% fava protein isolate and analyzed for their stretchability and meltability profiles. Part-skim low moisture Mozzarella from local grocery store and Follow Your Heart (FYH) dairy-free shredded Mozzarella were also analyzed for comparison. Results indicated that part-skim Mozzarella cheese has the best stretch and melt among all samples. The extruded fava sample scored higher in both the stretch and melt tests compared to FYH Mozzarella; it also performed better in stretch test compared to unextruded fava sample. Even though the results from texture analyzer suggested that the textural properties of part-skim low moisture Mozzarella and extruded fava sample were different when heated, extruded fava sample was able to achieve a desirable stretching property. Overall, the extruded fava-based Mozzarella prototype demonstrated that the idea of functionalizing fava through extrusion is promising and offers a potential option for generating sustainable dairy alternatives with stretching and melting properties that consumers desire.