Evaluation of Textural and Microstructural Properties of Vegan Aquafaba Whipped Cream from Chickpeas

Abstract

Aquafaba, the viscous by-product liquid from cooking chickpeas or other legumes, is recognized as one of the most common plant-based egg alternatives for forming foam and adding more texture to food products. Recently, canned chickpeas aquafaba, have been suggested as a good choice for replacement egg white in vegan products. In this study, the effects of some processing parameters such as chickpeas/cooking water ratio, pH, sea salt, sugar and xanthan gum on foam capacity, foam stability, viscosity on chickpeas cooking water (aquafaba) were evaluated. Based on the results from the tests, the new recipe of whipping cream was developed, in which the chickpea aquafaba obtained from cooking in chickpeas: cooking water ratio (1:4) with salt content of 0.003 g.ml-1, xanthan gum of 0.00005 g.ml-1, pH of 4 and sucrose content of 0.7 g.ml-1 were mixed for 8 min, and then was whipped for 5 min. The results showed that some textural properties of the vegan whipped cream from chickpeas were compared to whipped cream from eggs. The results may be significant to develop new technologies utilizing legume proteins to produce eggless, non-dairy cold desserts.