Varying the amount of solid fat in animal fat mimetics for plant-based salami analogues influences texture, appearance and sensory characteristics

In this study, we utilized a recently developed novel animal fat mimetic with varying fat composition to formulate plant-based salami-type sausage analogues. To that purpose, the fat mimetic was composed of mixtures of canola oil and sal fat at different mixing ratios (0, 25, 50, 75, and 100% sal fat). Salami analogues were produced with plant protein extrudates, a binder and the fat mimetics. The oil-fat-ratio had only little impact on color, slightly shifting b*-values towards yellow. Texture analysis showed that with increasing sal fat proportion hardness increased, while cohesiveness and springiness decreased. Fat particles' structure substantially impacted properties of the salami-type analogues (increasing hardness and decreasing elastic properties caused by sal fat). Drying speed was notably decreased by increasing amount of sal fat, attributed to a smearing of solid fat during processing. At low and medium amount (25 and 50%) of solid fat in the lipid phase, the fading of white fat marbling during drying, a phenomenon that was observed for systems formulated with only liquid oil, was inhibited. Overall, these samples scored also highest in the sensory evaluation, while analogues formulated with higher amounts of sal fat were described as waxy in mouthfeel and appearance.

Automated summary

The study found that increasing the proportion of sal fat resulted in increased hardness and decreased cohesiveness and springiness of the salami analogues. The structure of solid fat substantially impacted the properties of the analogues and inhibited the fading of white fat marbling during drying to some extent.