Wageningen researchers look for taste key in plant-based alternatives

One reason why meat alternatives are not popular with consumers is that they dislike the taste. Taste and price are the main reasons for repeat buying, followed by health or personal convictions. Monique Vingerhoeds, expertise leader Food Consumer Behaviour, is studying consumer behaviour at Wageningen University & Research (WUR). “That is also the main problem with plant-based alternatives: you have to learn to develop a taste for a new flavour. To do that, you need to have eaten the food seven times on average. This is how children learn to eat certain vegetables, but it’s obviously difficult to convince adults to buy something again if they didn’t like it the first time.” That is one of the reasons why there is now a focus on copying familiar flavours.

[ This article appeared previously in Eiwit Magazine ]

There are five basic taste sensations: sweet, salty, sour, bitter and umami. Some researchers even claim that there is a sixth taste: fatty. The combination of these basic taste sensations and how they react in the mouth is what is described as our taste. Professor for Food Oral Processing at WUR, Markus Stieger: “People have an innate preference for sweet tastes. In evolutionary terms, bitter tastes, on the other hand, are linked with poisonous or dangerous plants or substances. Coffee or chicory have a bitter taste that people need to learn to appreciate. That bitterness is also one of the characteristics of some beans.

Meat has various taste elements. Firstly, that very umami, savoury flavour. A recognisable flavour that is experienced as pleasant. The texture and mouthfeel of meat also play a role. Meat has a kind of bite and is often juicy. Stieger: “Take beef steak, for example. You can order it rare, medium or well done. Everyone has a different preference, and that influences the taste experience. Imitating the juiciness of meat is difficult. Meat retains water and oil in meat proteins, while this is more complicated in vegetable proteins.

Copying the taste of meat is extremely complicated, particularly with ingredients which taste totally different, like fava beans or split peas. These ingredients can be grown in Europe, which is why they are preferred for sustainability reasons. However, these legumes are known for their bitter taste. Laurice Pouvreau, expertise leader in Protein Technology, is therefore studying how it might be possible to process these ingredients to give them a mild flavour and make them more suitable for use in plant-based alternatives. “We’ve experimented with roasting the beans before the proteins are extracted. By roasting the beans, an enzyme in the beans that produces a bitter taste is eliminated. The husk, the outer layer of the bean, is then removed and the bean can be steamed. That gives it a milder flavour. Still, there is a search for a balance between produce, sustainability and taste. Less fractured ingredients are preferred for sustainability reasons (lower energy and water footprint), but have a stronger aftertaste.”

Want to know more about how undesirable flavours can be eliminated? Read the full article here, including:

• Answer to the question: what to do about undesirable flavours?
• Different technologies explained
• How food producers can make products tastier