Abstract:
To explore the quality evaluation methods for the high-moisture textured vegetable protein (HMTVP) and identify mechanical indicators reflecting fiber strength, in this study, food blender was employed to conduct fiber-distintegration processing on HMTVP. Firstly, single-factor experiment was conducted to investigate the effects of blender fiber-disintegration time, cutter speed, and width on the knife blade on the fiber breaking strength on HMTVP. On this basis, the response surface methodology (RSM) was utilized to optimize the fiber-disintegration process for HMTVP. According to the optimized process, fiber-disintegration was performed on HMTVP with different starch contents, and mechanical indicators such as fiber breaking strength, tensile properties, degree of texturization, and textural characteristics were measured and subjected to correlation analysis. The experimental results indicate that the optimal fiber-disintegration conditions are 240 s of disintegration time, a cutter speed of 10 500 r/min (9 speeds), a blade width of 30 mm (using a flour-kneading die). Under these conditions, the fiber-disintegration effect is best, producing the finest fibers, with a fiber breaking strength of 0.70 N, which aligns with the predicted value of 0.70 N. Meanwhile, the correlation analysis reveals a highly significant negative correlation between fiber breaking strength and tensile properties, degree of texturization, and textural characteristics. The optimized fiber-disintegration process demonstrates universal applicability, and the fiber breaking strength, as a mechanical indicator, can represent the strength of fibers in HMTVP.