Modifying pulse flavour to

increase food applications

Dr Ken Quail

General Manager Research and Services

Content

• Pulse check

• The problem with pulses

• The journey

• The solution

• New pulse ingredients

Pulse Check

• The edible seeds of plants in the

legume family

• Dried peas, lentils and beans eg.

• Not typically soy or peanuts as

these are considered oil seeds

• Fantastic for farming systems as

they fix nitrogen

• 2016 Year of the Pulse (United

Nations)

Why don’t we eat more pulses?

• Reluctance to try new things?

• Nutrition?

• Convenience?

• Flavour?

Familiarity

• Western diets - Not in common

use…

• Diversity of food

– Indian

– Middle Eastern

– European

The problem with pulses…

Convenience:

• Cooking time

• Traditional dried peas and beans

• Breeding for shorter cooking

times

• Western applications?

• Canning, retort pouches,

flours, kibble, fermented ….

Quick Pulse / Hogan

Brothers

Nutrition

• High in protein

• High in dietary fibre

• Low fat content

• Micronutrients

• Anti-nutritional components – effectively

removed with cooking

• Flatulence – more myth than fact

The problem cont’d

Flavour:

• Traditional applications • Strong history of use in a wide

variety of products

• Generally used with other strong flavours

• Western food products • Diversity of ethnic cuisine

• More open to new things

• Wider use?

The problem cont’d

• Flavour of pulses is a major road block to

their use as ingredients in Western food

products to:

• enhance protein content

• enhance fibre content

• deliver antioxidants

Is it really a problem?

Bread made with increasing levels of pulse

addition: 5, 10, 15 and 20% substitution of

wheat flour.

• At 10% noticeable

• At 15% unacceptable

• “Beany”

• “Grassy”

• “Green”

• “Bitter”

Opportunity

• Great nutritional and functional properties – an

unrealized potential

• Modify the flavour of pulses to make them more

acceptable for use as mainstream ingredients.

• Grain Foods CRC established a project to

neutralise pulse flavour

• Create an ingredient that can be used in a range

of foods rather than a single product

Which pulses to work on?

• Produced flour from 12 different pulses

• Baked bread with a 15% flour substitution level

• Sensory panel ranked the samples for

preference

• Selected most acceptable:

– Mung bean

– Chickpea

– Faba bean

– Navy bean

Treatments

• Evaluate methods to remove beaniness

• Approximately 12 methods evaluated: • “Washing”

• Chemical

• Enzymes

• Heat – dry and wet

• Others

• Sensory panels to evaluate pastes made from the flours post treatment

Eureka moment!

• Distinct “nuttiness” or roasted peanut

aroma and flavor identified

• A dry powder, could it be used in foods?

• Food prototypes

• “Peanut butter” without the nuts?

A new opportunity identified

• Peanuts are a major allergen

• Tree nuts a significant allergen

• Mung rarely identified as allergenic (you

can never say “allergen free”)

• Reduce the risk of nut products and nut

contamination

Demonstrated potential

• Patents

• Find a commercial partner

• Blue Ribbon Seed and Pulse Traders

• Scale the process

• Ausindustry assistance

• Pricing

• Commercial production

Progress

• Eight years since identification of the “problem”

• Product is in health food stores and online

• Exports stronger than local demand

• Aiming to go mainstream

– Excellent nutrition

– Great taste

– Cost competitive

New Pulse Ingredient

• Flours and Kibble

• Neutral to nutty flavour

– Mung

– Chickpea

– Faba

• Wide range of products

– Pastes including satay sauce

– Batters

– Baked goods – particularly gluten free

– Shakes for meal replacement

– Breakfast cereals

Flours

Mung Bean Chick Pea Faba Bean

Protein % 28 26 33.7

Total fat % 2 5.2 1.8

Dietary fibre % 6 11.3 9.5

Total sugar % 2.9 3.4 5.5

Total folate µg/100g 330

Thiamine µg/100g 220

Niacin µg/100g 2000

Excellent option to add nutrition to baked goods –

especially gluten free

So What?

• Australian innovation.

• Adding value to Australian produced pulses

• Ingredients for improved product nutrition

• Great solution to nut allergy

Acknowledgements

• Grain Foods CRC – original funding

• Blue Ribbon Group – commercial risk • Stephen Donnelly

• Andrew Boundy

• Tim Donnelly

• Michele Cooper

• AusIndustry - scale up

• “BRI” Staff (now AEGIC) • John Kalitsis

• Dr Hon Yun

• Gasiram Rema

• Dr Siem Siah