Insun Kim

Edible insects, such as the two-spotted cricket (Gryllus bimaculatus, GB), have high nutritional value but are not widely consumed because of their appearance and smell. Consequently, the development of foods containing these insects in less recognizable forms, e.g., flour-like powders, has drawn considerable attention. Herein, we investigated the quality characteristics of muffins prepared from wheat flower supplemented with fresh ginseng (5%) and GB (0, 10, 20, and 40%) powders. GB loading was negatively correlated with muffin volume, height, moisture content, and textural properties (hardness, springiness, cohesiveness, and chewiness) and positively correlated with crude protein content and antioxidant properties. Significant (p10% GB≈20% GB>40% GB. Based on these results, a GB loading of 20% offered the best trade-off between attractiveness and nutritional value. Thus, this study promotes the widespread use of GB in the food industry and the development of various edible-insect-based food products.

The rise in popularity of vegetarian and plant-based diets has led to extensive research into plant-based whipped creams. Whipped cream is an oil-in-water emulsion that creates foam through whipping, stabilizing the foam with proteins and fats. Pea protein is an excellent emulsifier and foaming agent among plant-based proteins, but its application in whipped cream is currently limited. The objective of this study was to investigate the quality characteristics of plant-based whipped cream made with ultrasonicated pea protein. The whipped creams were evaluated based on their quality characteristics. A commercially available dairy whipped cream (CON) was used as a control. Plant-based creams were evaluated using pea protein solution, cocoa butter, and canola oil to produce un-ultrasonicated pea protein whipped cream (PP) and ultrasonicated pea protein whipped cream (UPP) at 360 W for 6 min. UPP significantly reduced whipping time and foam drainage compared with CON and PP, resulting in significantly increased overrun, fat destabilization, and hardness. Optical microscopy showed that UPP had smaller fat globules and bubble size than PP. The fat globules of UPP and CON were mostly below 5 μm, whereas those of PP were distributed at 5-20 μm. Finally, ultrasonication significantly improved the overrun, foam drainage, fat destabilization, and hardness of UPP, which are significant quality characteristics of whipped creams. Therefore, ultrasonicated plant-based pea protein whipped cream is believed to be a viable alternative to dairy whipped cream.

한국식품저장유통학회지(Korean Journal of Food Preservation)

The purpose of this study was to analyze the correlation between the external, internal and chemical quality characteristics of 6-year-old red ginseng produced in punggi area. Red ginseng samples are graded as cheon (1st grade), ji (2nd grade), yang (3rd grade), gi (out of grade) by trained inspectors. External characteristics of red ginseng depend on weight, volume, density, length and color. Internal characteristics were expressed by length and occurrence ratio of inner white and inner cavity. Chemical characteristics were evaluated by crude saponin, ginsenoside (Rg1, Rb1, Rc), total sugar, acidic polysaccharide, and 50% ethanol extracts contents. Overall, this study showed that quality of external and internal characteristics was matched with grade, but chemical quality was not matched.

Recently, there has been a growing trend to replace animal ingredients used in food with plant-based alternatives for health, environment, and animal welfare. In this study, chickpea aquafaba was used as emulsifier for mayonnaise, and the effect of ultrasound on aquafaba and plant-based mayonnaise was investigated. Aquafaba with chickpea [1:2 (w/w)] was treated by ultrasound in 40 kHz and 200 W for 0, 30, 60, and 90 min. The emulsion property and quality of aquafaba with ultrasonic treatment time (UTT) and plant-based mayonnaise (UTT0, UTT30, UTT60, and UTT90) were analyzed, and compared with mayonnaise using egg yolk (CONT). As the UTT of aquafaba, the protein solubility increased, but emulsion activity index was highest in sample treated for 30 min (p<0.05). These results affected plant-based mayonnaise. The microstructure was confirmed that oil droplet of plant-based mayonnaises were larger than CONT, and size of oil droplet decreased by UTT. The emulsion stability of plant-based mayonnaises were about 7-11% lower than CONT, and among plant-based mayonnaises, UTT30 was the highest at 81.30%, and UTT60 and UTT90 were the lowest. Plant-based mayonnaise had higher viscosity and overall acceptability than CONT, and viscosity decreased by UTT. Optimal UTT had a beneficial effect on the emulsion property of aquafaba and mayonnaise, and a positive role can be expected as plant-based alternative emulsifier.