Being a food technologist, you might have heard about yeast and bacteria. They are known to give us various fermented products that we consume in our daily routine. Mushroom is also a fungus and liked by many people because of its unique taste and texture. But have you ever seen mushroom carefully? Have you ever thought that you can utilize mushroom mycelium to carry out fermentation?
Yes, MycoTechnology, a Colorado-based company utilized mushroom mycelium to ferment plant proteins and increase its PDCAAS value to 1 i.e. a complete protein.
(PDCAAS stands for protein Digestibility –Corrected Amino Acid Score. It’s a method to measure the value of protein in human nutrition. The highest PDCAAS value is 1, which belongs to Casein, whey, soy, and egg protein). (1)
What is the benefit of this new technology? Why do we need to ferment plant proteins with mushroom mycelium?
Well, there is a huge number of benefits that MycoTecnology claims by using this new technology. One of the issues is the protein bio-availability of plant proteins. Plant proteins have low protein bio-availability compared to animal proteins, which is a limiting factor in the promotion of a plant-based diet. Mushroom mycelium fermentation is beneficial in achieving complete protein from plant and hence, solving the major issue of protein bio-availability.
Moreover, Rice protein and pea protein don’t taste good in their native form but when they are allowed to ferment with mycelium of shiitake mushroom, the taste, flavor, and aroma of the product become favorable. The major reason behind this is the oxidation of volatile taste and aroma compounds by the enzymes (e.g. Laccase) secreted by shiitake mushroom mycelium. The fermentation also causes an increase in meaty flavors, enhanced umami flavor, enhanced savory flavor, and reduced bitter, astringent, and beany flavor, make the product suitable for plant-based meat products. Moreover, it is claimed by the company that the product PureTaste® (trademark product of MycoTechnology), contains rice and pea protein fermented by shitake mycelia with approximately 75% protein concentration and can be utilized in a variety of ways such as formulation aid, texturizer, protein source, texturing of meat analogues, increasing water holding capacity and gelation capacity of the product, etc. except infant formula. The products also come under the GRAS category (2).
The fermentation of plant proteins is not the only thing that mushroom mycelium can do. There are various patents filed by the company related to the production of high protein food composites, myceliating coffee, functional foods, and nutraceuticals, etc. by utilizing the mycelium of various mushroom varieties.
But how is it done? Is it the same as traditional fermentation processes with yeast and bacteria?
The whole process is slightly different from traditional fermentation. The process can be divided into two parts where the first part involves the successive fermentation of the culture of Shiitake mycelia (Strain Lentinula edodes) for a pure shiitake mycelia biomass of concentration 2g/mL. Once the large quantity of biomass is produced, it’s inoculated (4% of the volume of the fermenter) with the sterile protein materials to ferment for 20-40 hours. After completion of fermentation, the product is concentrated and spray dried and the resultant product is PureTaste®
The difference with the traditional fermentation process is that the shitake mycelia remains in the lag phase throughout the process, i.e. there is no mycelia growth and no drop in pH during fermentation. It means a majority of changes that occur in the product are due to the enzymes secreted by mycelium during its lag phase.
So, it’s time to open your eyes and see the world from a different perspective. The mushroom, that we eat often, has solved the major issue of plant proteins. Food science has a vast scope. It just requires out of the box thinking and seeing the world from your unique perspective.
References:
1.) Merieux nutrisciences: PADCAAS – What’s this all about? By Sneh Bhandari and Nick Price
2.) GRAS notice 848 for Pea and rice protein fermented by Shiitake mycelia
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