Peas, also known as cold beans, wheat beans, snow peas, bi beans, national beans, etc. Pea is an annual pod crop that originated in western Asia and the Mediterranean region, and is widely planted in my country. Today’s cultivated peas can be divided into three types: grain peas, forage peas and vegetable peas.
1. Nutrition of peas
1.1 Enhance the immune function of the body:
Peas are rich in various nutrients needed by the human body, especially high-quality protein, which can improve the body’s disease resistance and recovery ability.
1.2 Cancer prevention and cancer treatment:
The young leaves of pea pods and bean sprouts are rich in vitamin C and enzymes that can decompose nitrosamines in the body, and have anti-cancer and anti-cancer effects. Peas are rich in carotene, which can prevent the synthesis of human carcinogens after eating, thereby reducing the formation of cancer cells and reducing the incidence of human cancer.
1.3 Tongli large intestine:
Peas are rich in crude fiber, which can promote the peristalsis of the large intestine, keep the stool smooth, and play a role in cleaning the large intestine.
1.4 Antibacterial and anti-inflammatory:
Substances such as gibberellin and phytohemagglutinin contained in peas have the functions of antibacterial, anti-inflammatory and enhancing metabolism.
1.5 Protect eyesight:
The large amount of carotene and lutein contained in pea seeds are very beneficial to protect the optic nerve and improve vision.
2. Pea composition and its application in the food industry
2.1 Pea starch
At present, the application of pea starch in the food industry is mainly to make vermicelli and jelly. In order to meet the food industry’s demand for product innovation and the development and promotion of functional foods, the preparation of resistant starch from native starch by scraping methods such as physical (moist heat), chemical (cross-linking) or enzymatic treatment (debranching enzymatic hydrolysis) has become a development strategy. The main direction of pea starch.
Resistant starch can control blood sugar, improve the metabolism of people with diabetes; reduce the concentration of cholesterol and triglycerides in serum, prevent fatty liver disease; can be fermented by large intestine microorganisms to generate short-chain fatty acids, inhibit colon cancer; Physiological functions such as the absorption of material elements.
Utilizing its good physiological function and unique physical and chemical properties, it can be added to baked foods as a dietary fiber fortifier; used as an additive to improve the expansion coefficient in extruded cereals and other extruded foods; as a food thickener added to flavoring It can also be used as a coating for food-grade microcapsules to improve the anti-enzymatic stability of the coating.
2.2 Pea protein
Pea protein can be used as a food nutrition fortifier. It can be added to different foods according to its functional characteristics to balance nutrition. Its good solubility can be used in fluid foods such as beverages and sauces; its good oil absorption, water retention and gel formability can replace part of meat protein and add it to meat products such as ham and luncheon meat; Its certain foaming performance and foam stability can be added to cakes, pastries and other pastry foods; its excellent emulsification performance and emulsification stability can be used as an emulsifier to be added to flavors, fragrances, cold drink products and other related products middle.
In recent years, in order to further improve the nutritional properties of pea protein and improve its utilization rate, it has become a research hotspot to decompose pea protease into pea peptides and add them to food. Compared with pea protein, in addition to the nutritional function of pea protein, its polypeptide also has better solubility, stability and anti-gelling properties than pea protein, and can prevent cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases, improve human immune function, Eliminate excess free radicals in the body, anti-aging and anti-cancer and other broader physiological regulation functions.
Pea peptides have a mild taste and can be used in the production of infant formula milk powder, and can also be added to adult food to make functional foods, peptide reagents, peptide drugs, etc. The development and application of pea polypeptide provides a broader market space for the research and utilization of pea protein.
2.3 Dietary fiber of peas
In the production of food industry, the physicochemical properties and functional properties of pea dietary fiber can be used to add it to flour to strengthen the dough strength and make pastry products with special taste and flavor; it can be added to beverages, dairy products and other fluids It can be added to puffed food and fried food to improve its flavor and product value; it can be added to sauces and condiments to increase its consistency and improve product structure.
In addition, in recent years, many studies have used physical methods (mainly ultra-high pressure technology, ultra-fine grinding technology, etc.), chemical methods (including acid method and alkali method) or biological methods (enzymatic method and fermentation method) to modify pea dietary fiber. , its physicochemical properties and functional properties have been further improved. Its development and utilization will provide a broader market prospect for the application of pea dietary fiber in the food industry.
2.4 Other components in peas
Pea skin is rich in chlorophyll. If it is refined and refined, it can be made into copper chlorophyll sodium salt, which is easily soluble in water, light and heat resistant, and has good stability, which can be used as a natural pigment for coloring food; pea seeds are rich in phytic acid. , easily soluble in water, ethanol, insoluble in chloroform and ether, can be used as a preservative and color-preserving agent for fruits, vegetables and aquatic products; polysaccharides in pea seeds and polyphenols in pods can scavenge free radicals in the human body , has the effect of anti-oxidation and anti-aging, polysaccharide has good solubility, low viscosity and no beany smell, can replace pectin as a new type of food additives; polyphenols can be used as natural antioxidants, preservatives and alcohol, beverages Etc. clarifiers are used in food processing and production. Pea grains also contain flavonoids and saponins, but the current research on the physiological functions of the two is not clear.