Effect of saturated and unsaturated fat on the physical properties of plant-based cheese

Abstract: It is becoming more common to see meat and dairy analogues on grocery store shelves. Popular products include plant-based burgers and sausages, as well as plant-based cheeses. Coconut oil is often used in these products to provide textural and structural properties in an attempt to mimic animal fats, because of its high saturated fat content. However, the health risks associated with saturated fat and the sustainability concerns for coconut oil indicate the need to investigate alternative combination of fats in plant-based foods. To evaluate the effects of saturated fatty acid content on plant-based cheese physical characteristics, five different ratios of coconut: sunflower (saturated: unsaturated) oil, 100%, 75%, 50%, 25%, and 0%, were used.

As determined through textural profile analysis, the hardness of the cheeses after setting at 5°C for 24 hours increased with increasing amounts of coconut oil as expected due to the increasing solid fat content providing additional firmness. The samples with 0% coconut oil displayed the lowest melt and stretch, at 84% spread and 20mm stretch. However, with only a 25% addition of coconut oil, the melt and stretch significantly increased, reaching values of 105% spread and 68mm stretch. Surprisingly, the melt and stretch values did not continue to increase with increasing saturated fat content, but instead remained constant with increasing coconut oil addition. Rheological analysis of the cheeses during a temperature ramp from 20-95°C were assessed where the tan δ value at 95°C was used as a measure of cheese melt, where values closer to 1 indicate a better melt. We observed that the 0% coconut oil cheese had the lowest tan δ value of 0.271, whereas the addition of 25% coconut oil into the cheese resulted in the tan δ increasing to values greater than 0.5. The tan δ values remained similar with increasing amounts of added coconut oil. Therefore, there is an opportunity to decrease the amount of coconut oil in plant-based cheese systems to as low as 25%, while maintaining good functional properties and improve the sustainability and health benefits of the final product.