Tyrosinase-crosslinked pea protein emulsions: Impact of zein incorporation

The effect of tyrosinase-crosslinking of pea protein and pea-zein complexes on the properties of concentrated o/w emulsions was studied in the present work. Emulsions comprising 2% pea protein (w/w) solubilized in the aqueous phase (60% w/w) with or without zein solubilized in the oil phase (40% w/v), were fabricated by using high pressure homogenization. Tyrosinase treated emulsions (TyrBm-crosslinked) and non-crosslinked emulsions were evaluated after 2 h of incubation. Crosslinked pea protein stabilized emulsions led to better stability, larger particle size, increased viscosity and a paste-like structure, compared to non-crosslinked pea protein stabilized emulsions. Zein incorporation in the crosslinked pea-zein stabilized emulsions, contributed to significant improvement of stability and an increase in G’ concurrently with a gel-like structure formation (G’ > G″), compared to the non-crosslinked pea-zein and crosslinked pea protein stabilized emulsions. In general, crosslinked emulsions showed higher protein adsorption percentage compared to non-crosslinked emulsions, while the fraction adsorbed at the oil/water interface contained crosslinked convicilin/vicilin and zein fractions. Altogether, results demonstrate that enzymatic covalent bond formation in pea protein or zein-pea protein complexes is a useful approach to design and formulate sauces, cheese and meat replacements, and other vegetarian or vegan emulsion based foods. In addition, this work represents a step forward in application of functionalized zein in concentrated oil-in-water-emulsions.