This document discusses modifying pulse flavors to increase their use in food applications. It describes how pulses have great nutritional benefits but strong flavors have limited their use in Western foods. Researchers developed a process to neutralize pulse flavors and identified a "nutty" flavor in mung beans. This led to the development of a new pulse ingredient with a neutral to nutty flavor that can be used in many food products as a substitute for peanuts. The ingredient is now commercially produced and exported, providing a solution for nut allergies while adding nutrition to foods.

1. Modifying pulse flavour to
increase food applications
Dr Ken Quail
General Manager Research and Services

2. Content
• Pulse check
• The problem with pulses
• The journey
• The solution
• New pulse ingredients

3. Pulse Check
• The edible seeds of plants in the
legume family
• Dried peas, lentils and beans eg.
• Not typically soy or peanuts as
these are considered oil seeds
• Fantastic for farming systems as
they fix nitrogen
• 2016 Year of the Pulse (United
Nations)

4. Why don’t we eat more pulses?
• Reluctance to try new things?
• Nutrition?
• Convenience?
• Flavour?

5. Familiarity
• Western diets - Not in common
use…
• Diversity of food
– Indian
– Middle Eastern
– European

6. The problem with pulses…
Convenience:
• Cooking time
• Traditional dried peas and beans
• Breeding for shorter cooking
times
• Western applications?
• Canning, retort pouches,
flours, kibble, fermented ….
Quick Pulse / Hogan
Brothers

7. Nutrition
• High in protein
• High in dietary fibre
• Low fat content
• Micronutrients
• Anti-nutritional components – effectively
removed with cooking
• Flatulence – more myth than fact

8. The problem cont’d
Flavour:
• Traditional applications
• Strong history of use in a wide
variety of products
• Generally used with other strong
flavours
• Western food products
• Diversity of ethnic cuisine
• More open to new things
• Wider use?

9. The problem cont’d
• Flavour of pulses is a major road block to
their use as ingredients in Western food
products to:
• enhance protein content
• enhance fibre content
• deliver antioxidants

10. Is it really a problem?
Bread made with increasing levels of pulse
addition: 5, 10, 15 and 20% substitution of
wheat flour.
• At 10% noticeable
• At 15% unacceptable
• “Beany”
• “Grassy”
• “Green”
• “Bitter”

11. Opportunity
• Great nutritional and functional properties – an
unrealized potential
• Modify the flavour of pulses to make them more
acceptable for use as mainstream ingredients.
• Grain Foods CRC established a project to
neutralise pulse flavour
• Create an ingredient that can be used in a range
of foods rather than a single product

12. Which pulses to work on?
• Produced flour from 12 different pulses
• Baked bread with a 15% flour substitution level
• Sensory panel ranked the samples for
preference
• Selected most acceptable:
– Mung bean
– Chickpea
– Faba bean
– Navy bean

13. Treatments
• Evaluate methods to remove beaniness
• Approximately 12 methods evaluated:
• “Washing”
• Chemical
• Enzymes
• Heat – dry and wet
• Others
• Sensory panels to evaluate pastes made
from the flours post treatment

14. Eureka moment!
• Distinct “nuttiness” or roasted peanut
aroma and flavor identified
• A dry powder, could it be used in foods?
• Food prototypes
• “Peanut butter” without the nuts?

15. A new opportunity identified
• Peanuts are a major allergen
• Tree nuts a significant allergen
• Mung rarely identified as allergenic (you
can never say “allergen free”)
• Reduce the risk of nut products and nut
contamination

16. Demonstrated potential
• Patents
• Find a commercial partner
• Blue Ribbon Seed and Pulse Traders
• Scale the process
• Ausindustry assistance
• Pricing
• Commercial production

17. Progress
• Eight years since identification of the “problem”
• Product is in health food stores and online
• Exports stronger than local demand
• Aiming to go mainstream
– Excellent nutrition
– Great taste
– Cost competitive

18. New Pulse Ingredient
• Flours and Kibble
• Neutral to nutty flavour
– Mung
– Chickpea
– Faba
• Wide range of products
– Pastes including satay sauce
– Batters
– Baked goods – particularly gluten free
– Shakes for meal replacement
– Breakfast cereals

19. Flours
Mung Bean Chick Pea Faba Bean
Protein % 28 26 33.7
Total fat % 2 5.2 1.8
Dietary fibre % 6 11.3 9.5
Total sugar % 2.9 3.4 5.5
Total folate µg/100g 330
Thiamine µg/100g 220
Niacin µg/100g 2000
Excellent option to add nutrition to baked goods –
especially gluten free

20. So What?
• Australian innovation.
• Adding value to Australian produced pulses
• Ingredients for improved product nutrition
• Great solution to nut allergy

21. Acknowledgements
• Grain Foods CRC – original funding
• Blue Ribbon Group – commercial risk
• Stephen Donnelly
• Andrew Boundy
• Tim Donnelly
• Michele Cooper
• AusIndustry - scale up
• “BRI” Staff (now AEGIC)
• John Kalitsis
• Dr Hon Yun
• Gasiram Rema
• Dr Siem Siah