Development of a Vegan, Protein-Rich, Probiotic Beverage

Sammanfattning: This project aimed to develop a vegan high-protein probiotic drink with two different tastes. The protein used should have similar quality as whey, amino acid score (AAS) 1.0. One aim was also to detect necessary processing steps. The protein sources studied for this application were oat, pea, pea+rice, hydrolyzed pea, soy, and potato. The protein sources were evaluated based on descriptive sensory analysis, sedimentation, allergenicity and AAS. One processing step that was included was homogenization, and a hydration step for one hour at 60oC was evaluated. The final protein sources, hydrated oat, hydrated pea and oat protein, and not hydrated pea and oat protein, were included in one strawberry-passionfruit drink, and in one banana-tropical drink and was evaluated based on particle size, solubility, protein content, AAS and sensory analysis. Oat was preferred based on taste. However, the texture was not appealing due to sandiness, and the AAS was low. Pea had strong off-taste, but good texture and a better AAS. A combination of these protein sources provided a better product in terms of sandiness and AAS. The results from the analysis revealed that the hydration step did not make any significant difference on the texture of the final product and thus; the hydration step is not recommended. Two tastes of the new product were created, with a protein content of 4%. The protein sources were a combination of pea and oat protein, with an AAS of 0.81. A homogenization step was included.