Development of vegan soft candy productsenriched with plant based protein

Proteins are important nutrient groups that are needed especially for growth, development and cell repair. It is known that especially animal protein sources are insufficient with the increasing population in the world. As an alternative to all these, plant proteins that meet the protein need are seen as an alternative to animal proteins due to their lack of saturated fat, easy availability and nutritional properties. In this study, vegan soft candy was produced using pea, pumpkin, bean, broad bean and rice proteins as plant protein sources. Plant proteins with different protein content ratios were used in formulations to have 3%, 6%, 9% and 12% protein content in the final product. Water activity, cooking brix, texture, color measurement, melting, accelerated shelf life and sensory evaluation analyses were performed in the samples from which the targeted protein contents were obtained. It was observed that the hardness value of products with 3% protein content was between 597g-1013g values ​​in terms of textural values, while products with 12% protein content were between 1113g and 2955g values, but their gelation ability decreased. In products with 3% protein content, the water activity value was found to be between 0.6818% and 0.7029%, while when the protein content was 12%, the water activity value was found to be between 0.7481% and 0.7471%. When the color values ​​were examined, the highest values ​​of 60.155 and 75.530 L were measured in the bean protein product type in soft candy products with 3% and 12% protein content. In the color measurement analysis, it was observed that the ΔE values ​​of protein soft candy products increased depending on the increase in protein content. Finally, according to the sensory evaluation and accelerated shelf life results, it was seen that the preference rate of soft candy products with 3% protein content was high and stable during shelf life.