Optimization of emulsion properties of chickpea protein and its application in food

Abstract

As a leguminous plant, chickpea has been widely concerned by researchers because of its high yield, low production cost, and high protein content. Compared with soy protein, chickpea protein has lower allergenicity, better solubility, and foaming properties. Therefore, chickpea protein is considered a good alternative to animal protein. Currently, chickpea protein is used in products made from flour, such as cookies, breads, and noodles. Chickpea protein emulsion also has many potential applications in food, such as delaying lipid oxidation, transporting nutrients, and serving as a substitute for animal fat. However, the physical, chemical stability and biological activity of chickpea protein emulsion are easily affected by many factors, including salt ionic strength, pH, temperature, and so forth in food processing. In order to better apply chickpea protein emulsions to more real food substrates, it is necessary and meaningful to study the factors that affect the characteristics of the emulsion. The properties of chickpea protein emulsion can be improved by pretreatment of chickpea protein, including pH adjustment, cross‐linking by glutaminase, hydrolysis of by protein hydrolase, formation of complex with glycosides or polysaccharides and acetylation modification. In the future, the optimized and stable chickpea protein emulsion will be more widely used in the food field.