Peanut powders poised to boost protein and sensory experience in sports foods
05 Jan 2024 | Golden Peanut
Defatted peanut flour is supporting consumers looking to incorporate more plant-based protein into their diet. The format is the base for “powdered peanut butter,” a convenience ingredient used in sports nutrition smoothies. Ali Hill details peanuts’ nutritional profile and how the legume can help mask off notes of other plant-based proteins, improving the sensory experience overall.
This is Missy Green at FIE 2023.
I'm here with Allie Hill, who's the general manager of specialty products at Golden Peanut.
So Allie, what are some of the applications of peanuts beyond your typical roasted peanuts?
Sure, so some of the other types of ingredients that you can make out of peanuts are deep fatted peanut flours, as as.
Sort of roasted peanut oil, the fatted peanut flour that our company Golden Peanut makes.
We do two different lines.
So there's a 12% fat with 50% protein and our 28% fat line that has 40% protein that's used in a variety of different applications.
So what kind of applications are we talking about?
Yeah, so some of the most typical applications for peanut flour.
Include protein bars, any sort of nutritional bar where you're looking to add protein as as roasted peanut flavor, confections, so thinking about in the center of, say, a peanut butter truffle, for instance, as as there's a lot of consumers are familiar with peanut flour if they have utilized it in a powdered peanut butter, or adding to smoothies.
So that's.
One way that consumers like to use peanut flour to get that peanut butter taste profile.
They get a higher protein usage in there, and it's easier to use in their smoothies.
It also goes into pet treats.
It can go into cereals, baked goods, as as different sauces and dressings.
How long has powdered peanut butter been out there on the market?
Powdered peanut butter has been on the market, I'd say for probably around 8 years or so, kind of first got on the market, and it's really taken off a lot in the last several years, so probably in the last couple of years where it's really taken off.
You see it a lot in people from a sports nutrition standpoint, so they're really trying to increase, protein content, but really just from a consumer standpoint, that ease of use, people love to utilize a powdered ingredient.
It's a very simple and easy to use, and a way to get that flavor and protein in there.
Are there any other peanut ingredients that you feel like recently have sort of been taken off?
So I think, there's other types of ingredients.
So certainly peanut flour can be used as as peanut butter into different things like peanut butter drops or to make coatings, those type of ingredients can really enhance a variety of different, product types.
But I'd say, really, I still see the peanut flour being used mostly from, increasing the protein standpoint of any type of application.
And protein in general has been rising.
Yes.
Yeah, we see a lot of interest in the plant-based proteins, and this is really one where.
Sometimes with other plant-based proteins you're worried about the flavor profile, but with peanut flour you're getting a very pleasant flavor profile, so it can be used in combination even with other plant-based proteins to cover up or mask some of those off notes that you see with different, different plant-based proteins.
What is the protein profile in terms of.
Amino acids or PDC scores.
Yes, so for peanuts, you do need to combine it with other proteins in order to make a complete protein.
Your PDC score is around about 0.52, I believe, so it does need to be mixed with other proteins in order to.
Make it a complete protein.
But it's one way where you can still kind of add in, and that's where I think from a formulation standpoint, that really, that combination of proteins allows you to get, get that complete protein and to really balance out a product.
Is there an ideal other protein to combine it with?
I think that it can be used, really kind of across the board.
So it's, I've seen it used with other pulses.
So like a pea or, if you use it with like a chickpea proteins, I've seen some of that.
Where that will kind of create a nice blend, but it also works really with just your standard kind of soy or whey.
It will go nicely in those products as.
OK, thank you so much.
Thank you.
