Protein-rich ingredient from cowpea, Bambara groundnut and amaranth 

Objective

Cowpea, Bambara Groundnut and amaranth are some of the commonly produced and consumed indigenous crop on the African continent. They are relatively high in protein compared to cereals and have commercial potential for product development. Considering the huge need to improve protein self-sufficiency worldwide and switch from animal to plant-based proteins, the objective was to develop a technology (dry fractionation) to produce protein-rich ingredients from cowpea, Bambara Groundnut and amaranth with good yield.  

TECHNOLOGY DESCRIPTION

Dry fractionation is a mild process to that does not use high temperature, solvents or energy for drying. It enables the separation of components, such as protein, starch and dietary fibre. Cowpea, Bambara Groundnut and amaranth have high nutritional value and the preparation of high-protein ingredients would be a feasible way to produce value-added products.  

The process developed to produce the high-protein ingredients includes milling of the grains, defatting if necessary (only for Bambara) and air-classification. With this technology, protein-rich ingredients containing 56, 53 and 31 % of protein were produced from Cowpea, Bambara Groundnut and amaranth, respectively. The mass yield of those protein-rich ingredients reached 23, 34 and 36%, respectively. The protein-rich ingredients had very good techno-functional properties, such as better solubility and higher water-holding capacity, indicating that can be used in diverse food applications. For example, when protein-rich ingredient from cowpea was used in savoury crackers, they achieved nutritional claims (high fibre & source of protein), gave a better appearance and reduced the beany flavour compared to the crackers baked with regular cowpea flour. Another example was the use of protein-rich ingredient from Bambara in high-moisture extrusion to produce texturized vegetable protein (i.e., meat analogues).

CONTACT INFORMATION

Name: Natalia Rosa-Sibakov  

Address: Tekniikantie 21, Espoo, Finland  

Email: Natalia.rosa-sibakov@vtt.fi  

Name of Institution: VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland Ltd