Novel rotating die coupled to a twin-screw extruder as a new route to produce meat analogues with soy, pea and gluten.

Modern plant-based meat analogues should have a pronounced fibrous structure as an important characteristic. In this study, we demonstrate that the combination of high moisture extrusion cooking (HMEC) with well-defined shear during cooling is a new process to make fibrous products using common meat analogue ingredients. The shear was applied via a cooling die attached to the extruder that was specially designed for that purpose. The in-house developed cooling die consists of two sequential rotating inner cylinders with a separate drive-unit in an outer cylinder that can be thermo-regulated. Three rotational speeds of the inner cylinder, 45, 75 and 105 min^-1, were tested for pea protein isolate, soy protein concentrate, vital wheat gluten and blends of pea or soy with gluten. A large effect on macro-and micro-texture and anisotropy index was found when the concentration of gluten was increased. The different ingredients and blends had different optimal conditions...