University of Hohenheim develops vegan ham with bite

It's still about the sausage: however, alternative products based on vegetable proteins are increasingly playing the leading role in what was once the subject of "meat technology", which is now called "food material science". But why is it that certain vegan sausage types come closer to the animal original than others? Young researchers and students on the Food Science and Biotechnology bachelor's degree are getting to the bottom of this question at the University of Hohenheim in Stuttgart and are looking for innovative solutions. In a project seminar, they developed a product that has so far posed a challenge to food manufacturers: a tasty vegan cooked ham with bite. The participants of the seminar want to test how the result is received by other students on Wednesday, May 17th at a tasting event in front of the canteen. Media representatives are also cordially invited.
 
Tiled rooms, silver machines reminiscent of oversized kitchen appliances, smokehouses: at first glance, the technical center looks like a butcher's shop. There are even meat hooks. However, half pork halves are now very rarely hanging here. Once a year, a master butcher demonstrates professional cutting for students. In the meantime, however, the focus of research has shifted.

This is even reflected in the name of the department: What used to be “meat technology” became “food material science”. Sebastian Mannweiler, Dominic Oppen, Maurice König and Theresa Scheuerer are four of a total of nine doctoral students at the chair. In their research projects, they mainly deal with products based on vegetable proteins.

"For the production of vegan sausage alternatives, you essentially need the same equipment as for the meaty original," explains Sebastian Mannweiler. "We have therefore been able to expand our research spectrum enormously in recent years without major investments. Incidentally, for the same reason, manufacturers of meat and sausage products have also managed to establish themselves very successfully in the new market segment. Rügenwalder Mühle, for example, even sold more vegetarian than meat for the first time in 2022.”

"Meaty" mouthfeel presents a challenge
The young food scientists want to give further impetus to this development through their research at the University of Hohenheim. "The increasing demand for meat substitute products is mainly due to a growing number of flexitarians," explains Maurice König. “This target group does not reject meat because of the taste, but wants to be more conscious of their consumption, for example for reasons of the CO2 balance or animal welfare. Market research shows that these people are particularly attracted to vegan products that emulate their animal-based counterparts in terms of appearance, texture and taste as closely as possible.”

And this is exactly where the young researchers' mission begins. Because while there are already a large number of convincing plant-based analogue products on the market for some animal products such as minced meat or boiled sausages, harder types of sausage such as boiled ham or salami still pose a major challenge. The reason for this is their complex texture with muscle fibers that stretch characterized by a specific “fleshy” mouthfeel when chewed.

Students participate in research
Students on the Food Science and Biotechnology bachelor's degree are also involved in the search for innovative solutions. "Humboldt reloaded", an award-winning initiative at the University of Hohenheim, offers an optimal framework for this, which enables students in their basic studies to participate in real research in small groups.

"In our project seminar 'Ham without Oink' we jointly developed a vegan cooked ham with a smoked crust that is firm, but at the same time elastic and juicy and reminds of the original when chewed," summarizes student participant Saskia. For this purpose, the students were able to use the technical center for food material science for several days for their experiments in the last six months. “Our first task was to find the right ingredients. To do this, we first researched existing recipes in advance and then tried them out and varied them ourselves in the technical center,” reports fellow student Rebecca.

On the trail of the optimal recipe
The first insight? Vegetable thickeners are used in many vegan sausage alternatives, e.g. B. guar gum, carrageenan, agar-agar or pectin. For example, they ensure that a vegan Lyoner is juicy and firm at the same time. However, such hydrocolloids are less suitable for vegan ham because the end product lacks the necessary bite and the desired texture.

Instead, the two students tried the wheat protein gluten as a water-binding alternative. One advantage: by simply stretching the base mass, the long-chain protein molecules can be brought into a uniform alignment. This creates a fibrous structure that is reminiscent of meat in the mouth.

Then comes the fine tuning: In order to make the mass for the vegan ham even firmer, the students treated it with the enzyme transglutaminase, which causes better cross-linking of the proteins. It was also important to find the right proportions of the ingredients and the right mixture of spices and suitable natural colorings. Finally, the last step in the process was smoking for a tasty crust and longer shelf life.

Tasting in front of the canteen & press event
In the end, of course, the different product variants also have to pass the taste test. The students have already selected their favorites with the expert support of their supervisors and a real master butcher. Now they want to know whether they would also convince potential customers.

BACKGROUND: Humboldt reloaded
The "Humboldt reloaded" initiative aims to get students at the University of Hohenheim interested in science right from the start. The students work in small research groups with optimal supervision, whereby the projects are carried out in blocks or over one to two semesters. The starting signal for "Humboldt reloaded" was fired in 2011.

The Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) financed "Humboldt reloaded" through the "Teaching Quality Pact" in two funding periods from 2011-2020 with a total of around 15 million euros. Since the end of the maximum possible funding period through the federal-state program in spring 2021, the University of Hohenheim has been continuing the reform project from its own funds, as a separate department within the Department of Studies and Teaching. Info: https://humboldt-reloaded.uni-hohenheim.de