Plant-Based Protein Flavor Maskers and Enhancers

Formulating food products with plant proteins brings a variety of challenges. The issue of off-flavors caused by plant protein addition is the major factor limiting their usage in food applications such as plant-based protein powders and meat analogues. Most plant proteins come with characteristic off-flavors from the plant source, including beany, grassy, and bitter notes. Off-flavors can be naturally existing and/or generated from the lipoxygenase-mediated conversion of lipids to lipohydroperoxides, whose subsequent degradation forms many volatile and nonvolatile constituents during harvesting, processing, and storage. Several approaches have been developed to solve these off-flavor issues, such as removing the off-notes as well as adding flavor masking agents. This chapter will review the overall flavor issues in plant protein and plant-based meat analogues. Moreover, the current solutions (chemical, physical, and biological) for removing the off-notes will be elucidated. The flavor masking agents developed and used for the plant-based meat analogues will also be included. Finally, major challenges and future perspectives regarding formulating palatable plant-based meat analogues with authentic flavor will be discussed.