Food Applications, Sensory Analysis, and Quality Characterization of Edible Food Wrap Developed from Coconut Protein Isolate

Abstract

Edible food wraps are popular nowadays as they are environmentally friendly and supply additional nutritional benefits to the consumers’ diets. This study investigated the potential of developing an edible food wrap from coconut protein isolates and the applicability of formulated food wrap for different food products. Food wraps from coconut protein isolates were developed using three levels (10, 15, and 20%) of glycerol, and the physicochemical characteristics were analyzed and compared to find the best. According to the results, 10% glycerol added food wrap reported significantly low levels of moisture content, swelling index, transparency, rehydration ratio, water solubility, and water uptake ratio compared with other treatments (p < 0.05). The light and water vapor transmission rates were also lowest in the food wrap made with 10% glycerol. The antioxidant activity of food wraps was not significantly different at p < 0.05. Food wrap with 10% glycerol was selected as the best and it was used for two food applications (sausage and sushi). The suitability of prepared food wrap for sausage and sushi was compared with commonly available edible casings/wraps, using sensory evaluation (5- point hedonic test) and other quality characteristics (cooking loss, emulsion stability, moisture reduction, increment of fat content, microbial analysis, etc). The sensory evaluation of sausage with food wrap didn’t show significant differences in sensory attributes except for appearance (p < 0.05), compared to the sausage with edible casing. Consumer preference for sushi with food wrap was significantly higher compared with seaweed wrap (p < 0.05). The microbial counts for both sausage and sushi with food wrap were not beyond acceptable levels during the period of shelf life evaluation. The study highlights the feasibility of using coconut oil cake as a potential raw material for protein extraction in food wraps.