Assessing the impact of bacterial blends, crosslinking enzyme and storage times on volatile and non-volatile compound production in fermented pea protein emulsion gels

Pea protein is a promising ingredient for plant-based cheese production but has poor consumer acceptance due to intrinsic beany flavors. Fermentation could potentially decrease these off-flavors while also producing desirable cheese-like aromas. Pea protein emulsion gels were fermented using four different bacterial blends for 16 weeks with and without the crosslinking enzyme transglutaminase. The volatile organic compound (VOC) profiles were assessed by GC–MS and the peptide profile was measured by LC-MS/MS during storage. VOC production was mainly affected by the composition of the bacterial blends, followed by storage time. Crosslinking of the protein gel structure had minimal impact on VOC production. The peptide-level profiling revealed that crosslinking can reduce peptide size and the production of bitterness-like peptides in some blends. This study provides insights into the effect of bacterial blends, storage time, and enzymatic crosslinking on the production of volatile components and peptides related to aroma and peptide profiles for pea protein.