Vegetable “meats” have been around for more than 20 years, yet the first prototypes tasted very different from traditional meats. Fortunately, there has been an increase in the development of alternative meat products, especially the vegan burger.
These new products are making significant progress in appearance and taste, the study authors found. However, they all have significant flavor differences from the aroma and taste of real burgers. A team of researchers from Eastern Kentucky University wanted to see if vegetable burgers look like real meat. To do this, they focused on identifying the sensory and analytical differences between the real hamburger and the main plant-based alternatives.
Beyond Meat, the most realistic vegan burger
In the study, researchers analyzed the aromas of eight plant-based burgers: Beyond Meat, Impossible Foods, Awesome Burger (Nestlé), Tyson Raised and Rooted, Emerge, Incogmeato (Kellogg’s), Dr. Praeger’s Perfect Burger and Gardein Ultimate Burger .
Beyond Meat was the closest aroma to the beef burger, closely followed by Awesome. Then there is a gap with the next closest one, which is impossible. Impossible Foods was found to have a significantly different aroma than beef patty.
The rest of the vegetable burgers were far from the first. The main cause is that there are more spices and flavors added to these products. Many of the plant-based burgers are composed of elevated toasted notes and lack the sweet, meaty, and fatty notes of traditional burgers. For example, some had strong notes of onion and garlic, and one had a smoky aroma of barbecue sauce.
The smell is decisive to substitute the meat
Beyond Burger has topped a list of plant-based burgers that smell more like real beef compiled by scientists, which they say is due to their ” meaty aroma .”
They found that the aromas of a pair of veggie burgers are close to real when cooked, although other products still have a long way to go. Beyond Meat’s Beyond Burger was more like the smell of a cooked burger, the team discovered, but others were more like appearance. The Beyond Burger had meaty, fatty, and grilled meat characteristics of the 1-octen-3-ol, octanal and nonanal compounds; however, it was still significantly different from real meat.
Increased awareness of the impact meat production has on climate change has become a major factor in the shift towards greater acceptance of plant-based alternatives. Since 2020, meat shortages during the pandemic also led to more plant choices.
Although plant-based meat products have been available for more than 20 years, the first versions were very different from traditional meat. In recent years, many food companies have done extensive research on how to make plant proteins like soybeans and peas taste more like beef.
Raw hamburger has little odor, but cooking it releases hundreds of volatile compounds that contribute to flavor and aroma. The problem with the vegan burger is that the plant protein itself adds a strong smell . For example, pea protein smells like cut green grass, so companies have to find a way to mask that aroma. Some use strong seasonings.
