Design, production and characterization of a cleanlabel vegan pea butter using fermentation with EPSproducer Leuconostoc pseudomesenteroides

Consumers are increasingly interested in health and sustainability aspects of their diets. Animalderived products reduction diets have gained popularity leading to an increase in plant-based products in the markets. However, these products are usually produced using a significant amount of additives (e.g., flavorings, binding agents, and coloring agents) which, from a technological point of view, play an important role in the development of food products, but give rise to the impression of unfamiliarity, which in turn results in perceptions of higher health risk. Indeed, the demand for more natural and healthier products is associated with the “clean label” trend. Lactic acid bacteria fermentation of plant-based ingredients has widely demonstrated to be a suitable tool to produce in-situ compounds with technological properties, i.e. exopolysaccharides (EPS) showing texture enhancing and water-binding properties. In this study, a combination of enzymatic treatment and fermentation with EPS-producer Leuconostoc pseudomesenteroides DS20193 was used to prepare a high-protein pea-based ingredient to be included in the formulation of a new clean-label vegan product. The characterization of the peabased ingredient showed that the fermentation process was able to ensure an abundant in situ production of EPS (5% of dextran on dry weight), and a significant increase of the peptides (+40 %) and total free amino acids (+137%) concentration. The fermented pea-ingredient (35%) was mixed with defatted durum wheat germ (45%) and almond powder (20%), respectively, pasteurized and characterized prior, during (every 3 days) and after storage under refrigerated conditions. Overall, the novel product had a high fiber (6.8%) and protein (12.6%) content, coupled with improved rheological properties. During a storage period of 10 days, the chemical and biochemical composition remained stable, and the microbiological safety was not affected.