Storage Stability of Conventional and High Internal Phase Emulsions Stabilized Solely by Chickpea Aquafaba

Abstract

Aquafaba is a liquid residue of cooked pulses, which is generally discarded as waste. However, it is rich in proteins and, thus, can be used as a plant-based emulsifier to structure vegetable oil. This study investigates chickpea aquafaba (CA) as an agent to structure different oil phase volumes (Φ) of canola oil (CO). CO was structured in the form of conventional emulsions (EΦ65% and EΦ70%) and high internal phase emulsion (HIPE) (EΦ75%) by the one-pot homogenization method. Emulsions were evaluated for a period of 60 days at 25 °C in terms of average droplet size (11.0–15.9 µm), microscopy, rheological properties, and oil loss (<1.5%). All systems presented predominantly elastic behavior and high resistance to coalescence. EΦ75% was the most stable system throughout the 60 days of storage. This study developed an inexpensive and easy to prepare potential substitute for saturated and trans-fat in food products. Moreover, it showed a valuable utilization of an often-wasted by-product and its conversion into a food ingredient.

Chickpea Aquafaba-Based Emulsions as a Fat Replacer in Pound Cake: Impact on Cake Properties and Sensory Analysis

“…In the study of Buhl et al [ 15 ], the authors analyzed the emulsifying properties of CA by the emulsifying activity index (EAI) and the emulsifying stability index (ESB) of the emulsions prepared with the canned aquafaba at various pH values (i.e., 3, 4.5, 6, 7, and 8.5) and reported that the best EAI and ESB was at pH ≥ 6. This indicates that the natural pH of CA is suitable for preparing stable CA-based emulsions, which was confirmed in the study of [ 14 ].…”

“…The chickpea seeds were prepared as in [ 14 ]. In short, the chickpea seeds were pre-soaked (16 h at 4 °C) at a ratio of chickpea (C): distilled water (DW) of 1:3 ( w / v ).…”

“…The aquafaba was then frozen until use. The proximate composition of CA consisted of 94.4% (moisture), 3.4% (carbohydrate), 1.2% (protein), 0.5% (ash), 0.5% (fiber), and 0.1% (fat), as determined in a previous study from our research group [ 14 ].…”

“…The canola oil (CO) was used as the oil phase and the CA as the aqueous phase. The conventional type emulsions, E1 (35% CA and 65% CO) and E2 (30% CA and 70% CO), and a high internal phase emulsion (HIPE), E3 (25% CA and 75% CO) were prepared using a rotor stator device (Ultraturrax ® T18 basic; IKA ® -Werke GmbH & Co., KG, Staufen, Germany) operating at 15,500 rpm for 1 min, as prepared in [ 14 ].…”

“…Aquafaba is a nutrient-rich ingredient with great potential for the replacement of animal-based proteins (e.g., eggs), due to its emulsifying and foaming properties [ 12 ]. Chickpea aquafaba (CA) has gained considerable attention in recent years and has mainly been tested for its foaming and emulsifying properties [ 13 , 14 , 15 ]. In fact, CA has been tested as an egg replacer in distinct foodstuffs, such as cakes [ 16 , 17 ], mayonnaise [ 18 , 19 ], and meringues [ 20 , 21 ].…”