EFFECTS OF SOY PROTEIN, WHEAT GLUTEN, AND OYSTER MUSHROOM BLEND RATIOS ON THE PROPERTIES OF PLANT-BASED BURGERS

Abstract

Plant-based protein foods represent a sustainable solution to mitigate environmental impacts and climate change. However, consumer purchase decisions are heavily influenced by sensory attributes, particularly flavor and texture, which require significant improvement in plant-based protein foods. This study was therefore conducted to enhance the cooking properties (cooking loss, moisture retention and dimensional changes after cooking) and textural properties (hardness, cohesiveness, resilience and gumminess) of plant-based burgers by combining texturized soy protein (TVP), wheat gluten, and oyster mushroom. In the first experiments, the ratios of TVP to gluten were surveyed. Among the formulations tested, the 70: 30 TVP - gluten ratio exhibited the best cooking and textural properties and was thus selected for the subsequent experiment. In the second experiment, TVP was replaced at levels of 2%, 4%, 6% and 8% with oyster mushroom, revealing that the 6% replacement sample achieved the highest resilience, while other textural parameters (hardness, cohesiveness, chewiness) showed no statistically significant differences across replacement levels. These results indicated that the plant-based burger formulation with a 70: 30 TVP - gluten ratio and 6% TVP replacement by oyster mushroom is the best. These findings demonstrated the potential application of blending multiple proteins and mushrooms in improving the cooking and textural properties of plant-based protein foods.