How is vegetarian meat processed?

With the growth of vegetarian population, there are more and more vegetarian materials on the market. Simulation technology is getting higher and higher in taste, texture, fiber, color and aroma. Some vegetarian materials have been heard but not eaten, or you have eaten but don't know their names. Chicken-like mushrooms, seafood-like konjac and Hericium erinaceus with sesame oil are the best traditional Chinese medicine stews to imitate mutton, and there is a large class of "vegetarian meat". No matter how its texture changes, you can still recognize it from its texture: it is a "soybean" product!

When manufacturing soybean processed products, most manufacturers will add defoamers and preservatives in the pulping process. Because soybean contains saponin, bubbles will be produced during pulping, which makes the quality of the final product difficult to control. Moreover, soybean oil content is high, and most of them are easily oxidized unsaturated fatty acids, so it will also be inhibited by adding antioxidants.

Depending on the coagulant added, soybean milk will bring out many different kinds of tofu, such as boxed tender tofu (adding glucono-δ lactone) and traditional board tofu (magnesium chloride or gypsum). If the board tofu is cut and fried, it is "oily tofu"; If it is dehydrated under pressure, it will be colored with caramel pigment, that is, "dried tofu, vegetarian chicken" and so on; When tofu is frozen, the water in it freezes, and when it is eaten, it loses water, becoming a "frozen tofu" with bigger holes and easier absorption of soup.

Soybean milk is heated continuously, and the solidified film on the upper layer is called "bean curd skin" after drying, and becomes "bean skin" after frying, and the proportion of protein in soybean milk will increase from 30% to 50%.

Recently, more meta-processing methods can produce vegetarian processed products, and many novel soybean products appear. Soybean meal is a by-product of soybean oil refining, which can be obtained by three different extraction processes, such as soybean protein isolate with different protein content, soybean protein concentrate and soybean protein powder. According to the product characteristics, the three can flexibly use the proportion to create a variety of vegetarian meat products, such as vegetarian shredded pork and vegetarian fish.

Making vegetarian meat is based on the electrical characteristics of the surface structure of protein. First, the soybean meal was poured into a dilute alkali bucket (NaOH) to make protein autodissolve, and then put into an acid bucket (HCl) to make protein precipitate and concentrate. Finally, after neutralization, cleaning, centrifugation and spray drying, the "soy protein isolate" with the highest content of protein was obtained, which is the main component of vegetarian meat.

Soybean meal is "soybean protein powder" after vacuum distillation and spray drying to remove water. Using the characteristics of protein powder absorbing water to produce gel, soybean protein powder, wheat protein powder, whey protein, etc. Will be added to the vegetarian meat processing process as an adhesive to bond the materials together.

Finally, add seasonings, vegetarian meat spices, vegetarian fish spices, pigments, etc. It is necessary to fuse and shape, then add natural food according to taste or flavor, and then fry, for example, wrap seaweed and add seafood, and then fry to increase the crispy taste, which becomes a "vegetarian oyster cake"; Wrapped in bean skin, seasoned with peach wood, it becomes "vegetarian smoked chicken", plus casserole, it becomes "fat pork" You can imagine almost everything. Vegetarians who love meat no longer have to "miss" the taste in memory.