Microstructural, Rheological, and Melting Behavior of Plant-Based Frozen Desserts Produced From Soy and Pea Protein Isolates

Despite the growing interest in plant-based frozen desserts, they still have significant difficulties mimicking the microstructural properties of dairy ice cream using plant-based ingredients. Therefore, the impact of mono and diglyceride (MDG) and polysorbate 80 (PS80) at 0.15% and 0.30% levels, as well as different stabilizer levels (0%, 0.2%, and 0.4%) on the microstructural, rheological, and melting behavior of plant-based frozen desserts produced from soy and pea protein isolates was evaluated to provide a comprehensive understanding regarding their structure. The mean ice crystal size values of the samples were not affected by changing emulsifier type, level, stabilizer level, and protein source, whereas the partial coalescence was found to increase with increasing amounts of PS80. The samples containing MDG had higher total drip-through compared to those with PS80. This study provides a more comprehensive understanding of the effect of ingredients on the microstructure and meltdown properties of plant-based frozen desserts.