Non-meat food products are provided that have the appearance and the texture of cooked meat. Methods for making such non-meat food products are also provided. In an embodiment, a method includes mixing dry ingredients comprising vegetable proteins with wet ingredients including water and/or oil to form a non-meat dough; heating the non-meat dough under pressure; maintaining the pressure while transferring the heated non-meat dough to a cooling device; and gradually cooling the heated non-meat dough while gradually decreasing pressure on the heated non-meat dough, to form a non-meat food product. The mixing can be performed by a batch or continuous mixer; the heating can be performed by a device selected from the group consisting of a high shear emulsifier, a heat exchanger, and a dielectric heater; and the gradual cooling can be performed by a heat exchanger.

Disclosed herein are pigment compositions for meat substitutes and meat substitutes including such pigment compositions. The pigment compositions include a thermolabile EforRed variant polypeptide. The pigment compositions provide a pink and/or red color to a meat substitute composition that transitions to a brown color after cooking. For example, the thermolabile EforRed variant may have a sequence at least 80% identical to SEQ ID NO:1 and include (i) an XYG chromophore tripeptide and (ii) a mutation at a position selected from the group consisting of phenylalanine (F) 68, threonine (T) 102, aspartate (D) 119, D130, alanine (A) 139, F163, F206, A214, and combinations thereof relative to SEQ ID NO:1.

Disclosed herein are pigment compositions for meat substitutes and meat substitutes including such pigment compositions. The pigment compositions include a thermolabile EforRed variant polypeptide. The pigment compositions provide a pink and/or red color to a meat substitute composition that transitions to a brown color after cooking. For example, the thermolabile EforRed variant may have a sequence at least 80% identical to SEQ ID NO:1 and include (i) an XYG chromophore tripeptide and (ii) a mutation at a position selected from the group consisting of phenylalanine (F) 68, threonine (T) 102, aspartate (D) 119, D130, alanine (A) 139, F163, F206, A214, and combinations thereof relative to SEQ ID NO:1.

The invention relates to a process for preparing a meat-analogue food product. More specifically, the present invention relates to a process for preparing a meat-analogue food product having the appearance and the texture of meat and also relates to a meat-analogue food product obtained by the process.

The invention relates to a process for preparing a meat-analogue food product. More specifically, the present invention relates to a process for preparing a meat-analogue food product having the appearance and the texture of meat and also relates to a meat-analogue food product obtained by the process.

The present invention relates to a method of making a plant based product, said method comprising a) mixing in water a cold set gelling dietary fibre, preferably psyllium fibre; a heatset gelling plant based ingredient, preferably flour; and op-tonally calcium salt to form a binder aqueous phase; b) adding lipid to the binder aqueous phase and homogenizing to form an emulsion gel binder; and c) mixing plant extract and/or vegetables, cereals and legumes with the emulsion gel binder, and molding and cooking to form a plant based product.

The present invention relates to a method of making a plant based product, said method comprising a) mixing in water a cold set gelling dietary fibre, preferably psyllium fibre; a heatset gelling plant based ingredient, preferably flour; and op-tonally calcium salt to form a binder aqueous phase; b) adding lipid to the binder aqueous phase and homogenizing to form an emulsion gel binder; and c) mixing plant extract and/or vegetables, cereals and legumes with the emulsion gel binder, and molding and cooking to form a plant based product.

Improved methods for preparing functional food ingredients comprising plant protein, the resulting enhanced functional food ingredients, and foods containing the same. The methods comprise providing a mixture or slurry of plant protein in an aqueous solution, reacting the plant protein with a modification agent selected from the group consisting of an acylating agent, transglutaminase, and protein glutaminase to yield a modified plant protein, and conjugating the modified plant protein with a hydrophilic polysaccharide to yield the functional food ingredient with synergistic improvements in properties.

A method of preparing a high fat extruded protein product includes feeding water, a first fat, and a blend of plant proteins to an extruder to produce an extruded protein mixture. The extruded protein mixture is directed through a cooling die and divided into pieces, with the pieces being subsequently tumbled with oil. The resulting high fat extruded protein product will have at least 15-23% total fat by weight and, upon cooking, exhibits a desirable grease-out effect (e.g., reminiscent of a traditional pepperoni product). The blend of plant proteins preferably includes soy protein, wheat gluten and a grain or starch-based ingredient, and makes up at least 40-50%, by weight, of the high fat extruded protein product.

A method of preparing a high fat extruded protein product includes feeding water, a first fat, and a blend of plant proteins to an extruder to produce an extruded protein mixture. The extruded protein mixture is directed through a cooling die and divided into pieces, with the pieces being subsequently tumbled with oil. The resulting high fat extruded protein product will have at least 15-23% total fat by weight and, upon cooking, exhibits a desirable grease-out effect (e.g., reminiscent of a traditional pepperoni product). The blend of plant proteins preferably includes soy protein, wheat gluten and a grain or starch-based ingredient, and makes up at least 40-50%, by weight, of the high fat extruded protein product.