Givaudan unveils new flavouring approach for plant-based meat alternatives
Flavour and fragrance specialist, Givaudan, has revealed an entirely new approach to transform the taste experience of meat alternatives created from textured vegetable protein.
Conventionally, flavour is added after the texturising process, producing an intense but short-lived experience. Adding flavour during or before texturising is not commonly done because the flavour affects the texture of the product, and the flavour performance is affected by the texturisation process.
Flavio Garofalo, global category director, savoury flavours and natural ingredients said: “Givaudan has studied how to best flavour high moisture texturised protein and has developed strategies to maximise performance and produce a much longer lasting authentic meat flavour which, when combined with post-texturising marinating, transforms the taste experience of plant-based texturised vegetable protein.”
Developed as part of Givaudan’s extensive programme in protein, these advancements have been the result of many hours of research, trial and learning, where even minute changes in flavour composition, water or temperature can have a dramatic effect on the end result.
“Vegetable protein’s [typically soya] globular format is transformed into longer fibres to produce a meat-like texture by extrusion, essentially a kneading process similar to that of bread making. This has been successful in terms of texture, but not so much in terms of taste”, said Garofalo.
“It is almost as much of an art as a science. In addition to great flavour, there is also texture and mouthfeel to consider, and we have developed the whole package.”
This new flavour technique was developed as part of Givaudan’s extensive programme in protein, supported by food scientists to create the optimum texture and appearance for applications such as meat free chicken pieces, nuggets, burgers and other high moisture applications.
