Cirrincione, Federica (2026) Development of vegetarian and vegan foods from lentil by-products for a healthy and sustainable diet. [Tesi di dottorato]

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Abstract

Lentils (Lens culinaris Medik.) are the fourth most-consumed grain legume worldwide and represent a highly sustainable crop due to their ability to fix atmospheric nitrogen, reduce fertiliser inputs, enhance soil quality, and tolerate drought conditions. During industrial processing, lentils are commonly dehulled, generating by-products composed of hulls, germs, and broken cotyledons that are typically diverted to low-value animal feed. These side streams, however, are rich in protein and dietary fibre and therefore represent an underexploited resource for the development of nutritious, high-fibre foods. Despite growing interest in sustainable food systems, the reuse of lentil by-products in baked goods remains poorly explored, partly due to their potential impact on physicochemical, rheological, and sensory properties.This PhD project aimed to investigate the valorisation of green and red lentil by-products as functional ingredients for bakery and related products, providing scientific evidence to support their integration into sustainable food systems. Over three years, five main studies were conducted. The first two focused on ice cream wafer sheets produced using whole green lentil flour and lentil waste flour, also exploring partial sugar substitution. These studies demonstrated that lentil-based wafers had low glycaemic indices, high protein and fibre contents, reduced antinutritional factors after baking, and acceptable textural and sensory-related properties, despite the presence of characteristic lentil-derived volatile compounds. A third study valorised green lentil waste flour through protein extraction and ultrafiltration, yielding a protein-rich concentrate with favourable gelling, water-holding, and rheological properties suitable for plant-based food applications. The fourth study evaluated red lentil flour and red lentil dehulling by-products in muffins, highlighting nutritional improvements and fibre enrichment, while also identifying structural and textural challenges associated with full substitution using by-products. Finally, the impact of sodium chloride on 100% lentil doughs was investigated, revealing its critical role in modulating rheological and technological properties. Overall, this work demonstrates the strong potential of lentil by-products as sustainable, nutrient-dense ingredients, while underlining the need for formulation optimisation to balance technological performance and product quality.

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