Potential of Hydroxypropylated Corn and Sorghum Starch Extrudates as Simultaneous Fat and Casein Mimetics in Analogue Mozzarella Cheese: Insights from Functional, Rheological, Textural, and Sensory Analysis

This study demonstrates that inclusion of modified starch extrudates as casein and fat replacers in analogue mozzarella cheese array is a statistically echo loom for hydroxypropylation of sorghum and corn starch extrudates involving lesser number of researches than the predictable approach. The hydroxypropylated starches are prepared by using propylene oxide and are found to have DS values between 0.0083 and 0.153, which complied with food grade limit approved by Codex Alimentarius. Inclusion of native and hydroxypropylated corn and sorghum starch extrudates in analogue cheese results in better melt characteristics as compared to their counterpart control cheese. The storage modulus (Gʹ) and loss modulus (Gʹʹ) of analogue cheese increase with the rising frequency. Hydroxypropylated extrudates (HEx) containing cheese is softer and shows elastic behavior. Replacement of casein and fat with native and hydroxypropylated starch extrudates improves the analogue cheese melt and stretch but this strengthening is at the expense of hardness. Inclusion of native and hydroxypropylated starch extrudates permits easy instantaneous replacement of casein by 15% and fat by 10% in analogue mozzarella cheese. This study provides a theoretical guidance for industrialization of analogue cheese with improved rheology, texture, melt, and stretch.