Meatier meat-analogues through elucidating and optimising water entrainment in mycoprotein-based products

目前的研究只能通过对最终产品的结构分析来推断水的物理化学状态及其对结构和产品质量的贡献。此外，这些研究通常研究具有非常短的老化周期的模型系统。这种类型的研究只提供了工业应用所需知识的一小部分，在工业应用中，水状态、产品内部分布以及与蛋白质结构组分的相互作用发生了深刻的变化。目的：了解、跟踪和预测水在真菌蛋白混合物中的物理化学状态和分布，以帮助肉类类似物的合理设计。研究真菌蛋白浓度和冷却诱导的过饱和度对水的冷冻行为和物理化学状态（结合与未结合）的影响。2. 了解非真菌蛋白成分对水结晶、流动性和再结晶行为的影响。评价水的理化状态在真菌蛋白多尺度分子组装成纤维束中的作用。4. 将基于真菌蛋白束的水状态和热机械行为与帮助模拟真实肉类感官的感觉反应相关联。

Current studies extrapolate the physicochemical state of water and its contribution to structure and product quality, only through textural analysis of the final product. Additionally, these studies typically investigate model systems with a very short ageing cycle. This type of studies only provides a small part of the knowledge required for industrial applications, where profound transformations in the water state, distribution within the product, and interactions with proteinaceous structural components occur. Aim: Understand, track, and predict water physicochemical state and distribution in mycoprotein mixtures to aid rational design of meat analogues.Objectives:1. Investigate the impact of mycoprotein concentration and cooling induced supersaturation on the freezing behaviour and the physicochemical state (bound vs unbound) of water. 2. Understand the impact of non-mycoprotein ingredients on water crystallisation, mobility, and re-crystallisation behaviour.3. Evaluate the role of water physicochemical state on the mycoprotein multi-scale molecular assembly into fibrous bundles. 4. Correlate water state and thermo-mechanical behaviour of mycoprotein-based bundles to the sensory response aiding the mimicking of real meat sensory.