Could flavourless pea protein become a reliable substitute for meat in vegan dishes, and help cut down on animal produce?
Scientists think it could – and claim it would be more eco-friendly than the current soya beans.
The government is funding a new project looking into flavourless peas is part of a new research programme, which aims to boost food production and cut back on greenhouse gas emissions. Could it be a win-win?
Scientists are hoping for a commercially viable alternative to soya, with digestible protein and easier to harvest, by cross-fertilising flavourless peas with other varieties with a high yield and protein content.
While soya beans, responsible for tofu, soya milk, edamame, many protein bars to name just a few, may be one of the leading vegetarian substitutes, it has to be imported, usually from South America – and has been traced to deforestation in the Amazon.
But, peas are very eco-friendly. They grow in the UK, don’t need nitrogen-rich fertilisers (which can be energy intensive and drive costs up), and actually put nutrients back into the soil.
US outlet Healthline also points out that they have a low calorie content (only 62 calories per 170g serving), with 70% of those calories from carbohydrates – the rest from protein and a small amount of fat.
While 170g of cooked carrots has only one gram of protein, peas have 4 times that.
And, peas contain “just about every vitamin and mineral you need, in addition to a significant amount of fibre,” according to the Healthline experts.
That’s vitamin A, K and C, thiamine, folate, manganese, iron and phosphorus covered then.
But this isn’t a new discovery.
While peas have been considered as a substitute before, scientists now think they’ll be able to extract the flavour of the peas, making the ingredient more versatile.
The gene for that distinctive pea flavour was actually discovered three decades ago in a wild pea plant in India, but was quickly put on the back-burner because, let’s be honest, it didn’t seem exactly useful at the time.
However, professor Claire Domoney of the John Innes Centre in Norwich has explained that scientists are now wanting to increase plant-based protein in the diets rather than animals – meaning this decades-old discovery has finally come in handy.
“So flavourless peas have suddenly become the flavour of the day,” she told the BBC.
She’s right – there’s appetite for it.
The government’s research and funding agency, Innovate UK, says that demand for meat alternatives have grown at 30% a year, 50%for dairy free milks and 40% for cheese alternatives.
However – not everything is completely green with pea products.
Peas are not a vegetable but a legume and related to the peanut, so can trigger an allergic reaction to those with an intolerance to nuts, as sufferers told HuffPost UK before.
Campaigners have been calling for the government to list peas as an official allergen for some time now, although it’s still not on the Food Standards Agency’s allergens list.