Plant-based patties – towards understanding texture and taste

Meat replacers are one of the options to nudge consumers towards a more sustainable and healthier diet. Unfortunately, the quality of meat replacers is usually not up to the standards of their animal counterparts. This study investigates the effects of five ingredient variations in texture and taste of a vegan patty. The total fat content was varied from 6–14 %, sunflower and coconut fat were used in different ratios, low moisture extruded textured vegetable protein (LM-TVP) and high moisture TVP (HM-TVP) were compared, methylcellulose content was varied from one to three percent, and citrus fibre content from zero to two percent. Sensory profiling analysis with a trained panel (QDA) was supplemented with analytical measurements using compression experiments with a texture analyser, that quantified serum loss and texture. Most variation in the patties was observed in the texture attributes, that also correlated well with the analytical texture parameters. At the same time, smaller but significant changes were observed in flavour perception, despite all patties having the same flavour type and concentration. This shows the importance of matrix effects and textural effects on flavour perception. From the applied variations, methylcellulose content and type of texturized protein were found to have the largest impact on the sensory properties of the patties. Methylcellulose content influenced parameters related to hardness but also springiness, with an increase of hardness and springiness with increasing methylcellulose content. The ratio HM-TVP:LM-TVP was most important for the attributes related to the smoothness, where a higher HM-TVP content reduced smoothness.