What has been done so far in vegan, plant-based mayonnaise research?
As all we know, mayonnaise is one of the most common sauce after the ketchup. It is oil in water
emulsion (usually 80%). It normally contains the following ingredients which are oil, emulsifier (egg
yolk), vinegar (as pH regulator and as flavor), spices, flavors (sugar, salt, mustard) and stabilizers
(thickeners for mayonnaise with <70% oil only). (Bockisch, 1998) Emulsification ability and capacity is
the key parameters when formulating its procedure and planning it's scaling up parameters, to
provide consumer acceptance, appropriate shelf life, and desired quality criteria. Therefore, most
producers preferred to use eggs in it.
Besides, its unique sour taste and texture, there are some conflicts by the way researchers whether
using egg yolk in mayonnaise as a substance. Since naturally raw eggs are a food with a risk of
Salmonella spp., the production of mayonnaise with raw eggs will pose a great risk to us in
companies with insufficient hygiene. The other conflict of using egg ingredients affect it to choose
the product in the market for those who have allergy issues and carrying sustainability and plant-based lifestyle.
There are some researches in the literature about testing the usability of another ingredient instead
of the egg while meeting before mentioned criteria.
In the most recent study, oleosomes, that are extracted from rapeseed seeds due to its capacity to
potentially substitute any kind of manufactured oil droplets widely used such as dressings, sauces,
were chosen to produce a plant-based mayonnaise-like emulsion.(Romero-guzmán, Köllmann, Zhang,
Boom, & Nikiforidis, 2020) To increase oleosomes purity, alkaline conditions are needed to cause the
repulsion between oleosomes, and co-extracted materials are enhanced, that they became
negatively charged in this condition.
To understand their rheological characteristics, the two mayonnaise-like creams were evaluated and
compared with 3 benchmark mayonnaises in terms of the storage modulus (G') and the loss modulus
(G'') and all the cream samples are reported viscoelastic (means G' greater than G''), like
conventional mayonnaise.
The extensively purified cream sample, which is extracted at pH 7, was reported as a perfect match
to commercial mayonnaise due to these conditions provides smaller ail droplets leads to increase the
G' value means increasing the strength of the structure.
In another the study durian fruit seed gum, which is a gum obtained from durian fruit by extraction
method to serve the purpose of waste management in a sustainable view, was tested instead of egg
yolk in the mayonnaise product by comparing commercial ones(Cornelia, Siratantri, & Prawita,
2015).
The point makes the importance of the gum is due to it has a hydrophobic amino acid (non-polar)
less than the hydrophilic (polar) which gives ability can help the dispersion of oil in water emulsion
which led to the formation of oil in water. Then, the best formulation of vegan mayonnaise was
found from 4% durian seed gum was compared to commercial and the control as well.
When seeking substitute ingredient to egg yolk, baobab powder revealed, surprisingly, there are lots
of mayonnaise recipe suggestions for vegans with using baobab powder and some research-based
companies are trying to find the best formulation in the market.
The study baobab powder usability in jam production rather than commercial pectin under cover of
itself high gelling capacity. It stated that it could be used as a substitute for the expensive commercial
pectin in the production of fruit jams(Ndabikunze, Masambu, & Tiisekwa, 2011).
Using baobab pulp powder in tempe product increase the acidity level during fermentation which led
to an increase in the population of lactic acid bacteria including this acidic medium could prevent the
growth of pathogenic bacteria (like, Salmonella sp., Streptococcus.)(Popoola, 2005). As stated in the
beginning, the ingredient vinegar intensely influences microbiological stability with lowering the pH
and provides a more stable product. and addition of baobab powder to the recipe will not neutralize
the pH balance contrarily suitable for use in it since originally it contains vinegar.
In addition to these studies, knowing the physical and thermal properties (such as bulk and tapped
density, specific heat, thermal conductivity, and thermal diffusivity) of baobab powder gives us more
effective knowledge of how we design and optimize this ingredient on the industrial scale(Adekunle,
Shittu, Abioye, Adeyanju, & Osanaiye, 2013).
To sum up, there are too many challenges to solve for science communities and industries when
searching sustainable, vegan, or plant-based alternatives, for example, to design a suitable heat
treatment (pasteurization) to deactivate enzymes and hence give shelf stability to the obtained
emulsions or to research on other solely-plant based ingredient with considering markets and budget.
.
CONTENT: Nursena Zeybekoğlu
REFERENCES:
Adekunle, A. A., Shittu, T. A., Abioye, A. O., Adeyanju, J. A., & Osanaiye, F. G. (2013). Physical and
Thermal Properties of Baobab Fruit Pulp Powder. 3(3), 925–928.
Bockisch, M. (1998). Fats and Oils Handbook. Içinde M.
Bockisch (Ed.), Academic Press and AOCS Press.
https://doi.org/10.1016/b978-0-9818936-0-0.50013-5
Cornelia, M., Siratantri, T., & Prawita, R. (2015). The Utilization of Extract Durian ( Durio zibethinus L .)
Seed Gum as an Emulsifier in Vegan Mayonnaise. Italian Oral Surgery, 3, 1–18.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.profoo.2015.01.001
Ndabikunze, B. K., Masambu, B. N., & Tiisekwa, B. P. M. (2011). The production of jam from indigenous
fruits using baobab ( Adansonia digitata L .) powder as a substitute for commercial pectin.
5(March), 168–175.
Popoola, T. (2005). The effects of baobab pulp powder on the micro flora involved in tempe
fermentation. (February). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00217-004-0998-y
Romero-guzmán, M. J., Köllmann, N., Zhang, L., Boom, R. M., & Nikiforidis, C. V. (2020). LWT - Food
Science and Technology Controlled oleosome extraction to produce a plant-based mayonnaiselike emulsion using solely rapeseed seeds. LWT - Food Science and Technology, 123(August
2019), 109120. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.lwt.2020.109120