Development of a vegetarian analogue of chicken drumstick and determination of its physico-chemical properties and shelf life

Abstract

This study was aimed to develop a vegetarian analogue of chicken drumstick havingauthentic fibrous and tender meat texture, using locally available and potentiallyunderutilized raw materials. Tender jackfruit (Artoarpus heterophyllus), kohila (Lasiaspinosa) rhizome and chickpea flour were used as the main ingredients. Soy and wheat-based ingredients were not used since their potential allergenicity to some consumers.Four formulationswere prepared changing above main ingredients ratio,along with SriLankan spices to match with authentic meaty flavor. The best formulation was selectedfollowing physico-chemical tests (pH, color, water activity, shrinkage, batter pickup, oilusage, and cooking loss) compared with real chicken drumstick as control. Sensoryranking tests were performed to study the consumer preference for texture, flavor andoverall acceptability of the formulations. Physico-chemical tests results revealed that allformulations were not significantly different (P>0.05) for before frying pH, after fryinglightness (L*) and yellowness (b*) and batter pickup compared to the control. Theformulation (jackfruit: kohila: chickpea 20:4:15) was selected depend on physico-chemical and sensory test results to prepare the final product. Real-time shelf-lifedetermination revealed that the product was self-stable (without added preservatives)under frozen condition showing no significant impact (p>0.05) on a packaging system(normal sealed package and vacuum sealed package), in terms of microbial quality,color, cooking loss and pH for 15-day study period. Based on thecalculated Q10 value(2.06) of accelerated shelf life study, the product was self-stable for 56 days under frozencondition without added preservatives, in terms of microbial quality. Moisture, crudeprotein, crude fat, crude fiber and ash contents of the final product were 66.79 ± 0.03%,7.31 ±0.10% 5.79 ± 0.07%, 4.88 ± 0.07% and 2.63 ± 0.08%, respectively. Furtherresearch is needed to improve the protein content similar to real chicken drumsticks.