The ancient process of fermentation could help to produce plant-based cheese that more closely resembles the texture and flavour of traditional cheese.
Plant-based alternatives to animal-derived food are becoming increasingly popular, in part because of the environmental impact of livestock farming, but vegan cheeses have so far struggled to gain popularity with consumers.
Plant proteins behave differently from animal proteins, making it difficult to replicate the texture and flavour of dairy cheese. Most vegan cheeses are derived from starch and coconut oil and contain little protein, says at the University of Massachusetts Amherst.
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at the University of Copenhagen, Denmark, and her colleagues investigated whether microbial fermentation, which is involved in the production of most dairy cheeses, could help produce better results. They used yellow peas, which have a high protein content and are very sustainable to grow.
“Fermentation has several potential advantages for plant-based foods,” says McClements, who wasn’t involved in the study. “By choosing appropriate microbes and fermentation conditions, cheese-like flavours may be produced.In addition, fermentation can reduce the levels of undesirable flavours in pea proteins.”
Masiá and her colleagues started with a “milk” made from yellow peas, sunflower oil, sugar and water. They inoculated this mixture with 24 different combinations of bacteria, mainly consisting of species that produce lactic acid, which are commonly used to produce many fermented foods including cheese, yogurt, sourdough bread and kimchi.
Within 8 hours, all of the bacterial cultures produced a firm texture similar to a soft cheese. They all, to varying extents, produced aroma compounds that usually contribute to the flavour of dairy cheeses, and some blends were more efficient at removing compounds responsible for bean-like flavours.
While the results are encouraging, much more research is needed to make plant-based cheeses more attractive to consumers.
“It is important that they taste good, function like real cheese and, most importantly, that they have nutritional profiles similar to or better than real cheese,” says McClements.
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