Development of innovative food products: High protein sacha inchi milk

Abstract

Milk, one of the favorite food around the world, typically is produced by the mammary glands of mammals such as a cow. However, dairy from the cow is not suitable for people with dairy allergies and lactose intolerance. Thus, the global demand for non-diary or plant-based milk is rising. Sacha Inchi (Plukenetia Volubilis L) or Dao incha is an edible oil-seed nut originated from the Amazon Rainforest in Peru. This crop is known as a rich source of oil with high content of polyunsaturated fatty acids. Not only essential fatty acids but the nuts also consist of high protein level and minerals. It is not surprising that in recent years, there has been growing interest in developing the sacha inchi plant as a novel food such as roasted nuts or cookie. This study evaluated the chemical, physical, microbiological properties and nutritional factor of milk from Sacha Inchi comparing with pressed-cake powder from a by-product of Sacha Inch oil extraction process. According to our results, the Sacha Inchi has a potential to be developed as an alternative plant-based milk. The roasted Sacha Inchi milk consists of a complete protein with all nine essential amino acids, and they are rich in omega 3, 6, and 9. A high contents of minerals such as 2400 mg of calcium per 100 g sample was aslo found in raosted Sacha Inchi nuts. By roasting the nut, the protein content was found to be decreasing up to 55.34 % to the same level of the protein content in the pressed-caked Sacha inchi powder. However, roasting can add a flavor to the Inchi nuts and also in the milk. Comparing the nutrition factors of the nut milk and the pressed-cake Sacha Inchi milk, the pressed-cake milk consists of fat and calory less than roasted Sacha Inchi milk. However, the protein and sodium content is quite similar at 4% and 15 mg, respectively. The preference for original, matcha green tea and cocoa of the roasted Sacha Inchi milk were determined. The three samples were not significantly different in the liking of any attributes (p>0.05). The color of the three flavour of non-diary milk showed slight to moderate in customer liking. Although not significantly different in affection, the cocoa flavor had higher liking scores than original and green tea flavors. The just-about-right results showed that the disliking of Sacha inchi milk was mainly due to too much bean aroma and flavour as well as too less sweet taste. The Dao Inca milk has the potential to be new high protein milk that is good for health-conscious consumers and those who are allergic to cow's 3 milk. The current product was not well liked due to intense beany aroma and flavor and too less sweet taste. However, using other flavours and seasoning such as cocoa could mask the beany smell and flavour.