The impact of different adsorbents on flavour characteristics of a lentil protein isolate

In this study, the effect of different adsorbents on the reduction of off-flavours within a lentil protein isolate (LPI) was examined by isolating volatile compounds using headspace solid-phase microextraction (HS-SPME), and analysing with gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (GC–MS). LPIs were treated with Amberlite-XAD16N, Amberlite-XAD7HP, Amberlite-XAD4, Sepabeads-SP207 and Diaion-HP20 adsorbents, and then total peak areas of each of the flavour compounds were compared with controls. XAD16N, SP207, and HP20 were able to reduce the levels of aldehydes by 32%, 32%, and 41%, respectively. The aldehyde group of compounds (78% being hexanal) represented the major volatile compound within the LPI. All adsorbents significantly reduced 3,5-octadien-2-one by 61–92%. XAD16N and HP20 were found to be the most effective adsorbents in removing alcohols with decreases of 84% and 80%, respectively. Findings from this study could be integrated into the traditional wet extraction process to produce blander plant protein ingredients.