Peanut Protein: Rich Source As Vegan Protein

Abstract

Protein is a building block and contributor for growth and development and different activities in human body system. Various animal and plant based food are rich source of protein and essential amino acids. Egg protein, milk protein, soy protein, peanut protein and many proteins contain essential amino acids having various health benefits and functional properties. Peanut is an important oilseed and defatted peanut flour is a byproduct of peanut oil milling industry with a rich source of protein. This protein can be concentrated as Peanut Protein Concentrate (PPC) and Peanut Protein Isolate (PPI) with around 80-85% and more than 90% protein, respectively. Peanut protein can be extracted for bioactive peptides, hydrolysates, can also be converted into texturized protein such as meat analogue, packaging film. Favorable functional properties of peanut protein such as emulsifying activity, emulsifying stability, foaming capacity, excellent water retention and high solubility etc. made it versatile for various food system. Various extraction methods such as isoelectric precipitation, aqueous precipitation, isoelectric precipitation, alcohol precipitation, Ultrafiltration (UF) and combination of thereof are used for preparation of PPC and PPI. The peanut protein can compete with another animal and plant proteins with all the required health benefits and functional properties necessary for the food system. There is a huge scope in exploring peanut protein as source of vegan protein.