Scientists of South Ural State University have created chips that are beneficial for health and do not harm it. These are made using “healthy” technologies and contain proteins and unsaturated fatty acids necessary for the human body. At the same time, the raw material for production is something that is obtained practically for free.
Rape is a plant with small yellow flowers and black-pea seeds. For a long time, it was used as pet food. In its unprocessed form, it was unsafe for humans due to the glycosides and erucic acid it contained. However, in the middle of the 20th century, the food industry mastered the use of rapeseed oil, and today it is a common technology. Rape plant is cultivated in the south and east of the Chelyabinsk Region. After pressing the oil, rapeseed press cake remains.
Together with her colleagues, senior lecturer of the Department of Technology and Organization of Public Catering of the SUSU Institute of Sport, Tourism and Service Nataliia Zhuravleva extracted substances from it that are valuable for the human body.
“Protein is a building material that helps restore muscles, including after strains and sprains, for example, that athletes get during training,” says Nataliia Zhuravleva. “In addition to protein, we extracted many micronutrients, fibre, unsaturated fatty acids from rapeseed press cake that are not synthesized by the human body, that is, it must receive them from outside, as well as vitamin B12, which is found only in meat. Fibre will help, for example, to get rid of radionuclides, that is, this is a type of healthy nutrition.”
How is this precious for the body complex of substances extracted? First, the rapeseed press cake is defatted, the isolate is precipitated ‑ a dry powder is obtained, which can be added to regular culinary flour, or can be used in pure form ‑ the product only benefits in colour.
Then the powder is diluted with meat or vegetable broth, sautéed vegetables are added to it. This is how the basis for making chips, the main red sauce, is produced. Namely for this Nataliia Zhuravleva and her colleagues from SUSU obtained a patent several years ago.
Now the sauce has to be turned into chips. Frying it is out of the question. The scientists had two options: to dry the sauce in a drying cabinet in the laboratory, or to use a combi steamer, which many catering establishments are equipped with today. The scientists compared both cooking technologies, and the combi steamer turned out to be a suitable option since the chips cooked in it preserved their chemical composition better than with another cooking method, and also demonstrated excellent organoleptic properties, were tasty and crispy.
Due to the fact that the already patented "red sauce" with rapeseed press cake was chosen as the basis, the chips also turned out to be red in colour and had a sweet and sour taste.
The product should be not only healthy, but also mobile: the chips should not crumble and not lose shape during both transportation to retail outlets, and then in the backpack of a tourist, athlete or ordinary consumer.
“The creation of chips from rapeseed press cake materials is a unique technology for Russia,” says Nataliia Zhuravleva. “Products from rapeseed proteins are also being developed in China, but they are limited to liquid sauces only.”
Now the unique development by the Chelyabinsk scientists is undergoing production tests at the small enterprise of IP Kosova. One of the possible modifications is the production of confectionery bars based on the same protein isolates.