Legume protein concentrates from green gram, cowpea, and horse gram

Abstract

In recent years, owing to the rise in awareness regarding sustainability challenges associated with meat production, the trend of plant protein‐based meat substitutes as the sustainable and healthier alternative is growing. The present work focuses on the extraction of plant proteins from Indian pulses as a first step towards contributing to this trend. Herein, experiments were designed to develop processes for securing pulse protein concentrates from green gram, horse gram, and cowpea via wet methods, namely alkaline extraction, acid extraction precipitation, water extraction precipitation, and micellization precipitation. The proximate composition of the pulses was determined, the protein yield, protein recovery, and protein purity were estimated to assess the suitability of the wet processing methods. The results showed that the alkaline extraction exhibited the highest yield ranging from 13.5% to 18%, the highest protein recovery varied from 58% to 67%, and the highest purity (cowpea protein concentrate ~79%, horse gram protein concentrate ~79%, and green gram protein concentrate ~87%) compared to other methods. The extraction method significantly influenced the yield and recovery, but not the purity. These results indicated that alkaline extraction is preferable for the purification of proteins from the selected pulses. Novelty impact statement The protein solubility is more, and co‐precipitation of non‐protein components was significantly less at pH 9. Alkaline extraction exhibited the highest yield of protein, recovery, and protein purity. Alkaline extraction is preferable for the purification of proteins from the pulses.

A comprehensive review of mung bean proteins: Extraction, characterization, biological potential, techno‐functional properties, modifications, and applications

“…The steps are principally alkaline extraction (pH 9.0, with 1 M NaOH for 180 min), followed by isoelectric precipitation (pH 4.5 with 1 M HCl for 30 min), freeze‐drying, or spray drying to obtain MBP concentrates or isolates. The difference between concentrates and isolates is whether the MBP skin is removed during the pretreatment stage (milling) (Du et al., 2018; Penchalaraju & Bosco, 2022). Water extraction is the second method used to obtain a high yield and purity.…”

“…It is directly extracted with water, forgoing the subsequent acid precipitation step (Boye et al, 2010). Penchalaraju and Bosco (2022) used water (blended for 16 h at 4-8 • C) and spray drying to extract MBP concentrates. The resulting yield and purity were 12.5% and 83%, respectively.…”

“…Salt extraction (micellization) is based on the salting‐in and salting‐out phenomena of proteins. Salt extraction maintains the natural conformation of proteins and avoids rapid denaturation (Boye et al., 2010; Penchalaraju & Bosco, 2022; Wen, Liu, et al., 2022). Acid extraction, which is similar to alkaline extraction, is a less frequently used method, except for the initial acidic pH conditions.…”

Leveraging Indian pulses for plant‐based meat: functional properties and development of meatball analogues

“…The flour was dispersed in water, adjusted the pH and subjected to centrifugation using a cooling centrifuge. The protein extract was subjected to drying using a spray drier (Penchalaraju & John Don Bosco, 2022).…”

“…However, there is a growing interest in replacing animal protein with plant proteins worldwide. In our previous work, we have focused on pulse protein isolation using wet processing methods such as alkaline extraction, water extraction, micellisation and acid extraction methods (Penchalaraju & John Don Bosco, 2022). In this work, we (1) study their physicochemical and functional properties, and (2) prepare plant-based meatball analogues.…”