The rheological, textural, frictional, and digestive properties of starch-based cheese analogs prepared with tapioca starch and almond protein

Most commercial starch-based cheese analogs were pointed out that protein content is low, but protein can affect the formation of the starch gel and its sensory properties. Almond proteins have high nutritional values because they are abundant in essential amino acids. In this study, the effects of different tapioca starch/almond protein proportions on the starch-based cheese analogs texture, rheology, friction and digestion properties were studied. The addition of almond protein to starch-based cheese analogs resulted in soft texture, small storage modulus values, increased friction coefficients, and increased fat digestibility as the proportion of protein increased. When increase the starch proportion, an opposite trend was observed. These findings showed that protein-supplemented starch-based cheese analogs with tunable texture, rheological, frictional and digestive properties can be easily produced by controlling the proportion of tapioca starch/almond protein.