Tigernuts Traders is carrying out a project in which tiger nuts are used for the development of new fermented protein dairy analogues: yoghurt and cheese. The objective is to design and develop new allergen-free final matrices with differentiating organoleptic and nutritional properties. Explanation.
The aim of the FERCHU project is to differentiate itself from the current analogue dairy products on the market, offering an alternative with added nutritional, technological and sensory value, with a novel matrix. The new products will be characterised by being allergen- and dairy-free, thus meeting one of the current demands of a large majority of consumers in this segment. With tiger nuts it is possible to act on different points:
- It provides fat to give creaminess with a predominance of unsaturated fatty acids, as opposed to the saturated fatty acids of other fats such as coconut.
- It provides sweetness and greater organoleptic balance. Thanks to its sugar composition, tiger nut has the ability to alleviate the bitterness and astringency of legume and cereal proteins, obtaining a more neutral and sweet sensory profile.
- Tests will be carried out combining it with other vegetable proteins to achieve a high protein content. This fraction is usually more limited in dairy analogues, with respect to their dairy counterparts.
- Contribution of thickening, structuring and gelling function, thanks to the fibre and starch content of the tiger nut, and its own structures and bonds, combining with the vegetable proteins and the fermentation process, to form a stable network in the products, without phase separation. The tiger nut could help to bind the protein structure, creating a synergistic effect between the protein and the tuber.
- The fermentation process will reduce the anti-nutritional factors of the tiger nut and vegetable proteins, as well as improving their flavour, and contributing to the formation of the structure of the dairy analogues. The texturising capacity of the tiger nut, together with fermentation, can make it possible to achieve different degrees of texture, which can be very useful for matrices such as cheeses, where there is an infinite number of textures: soft, semi-hard, hard.