Powdered proteins: can they be cooked? Here is how to use them. | Iswari © (2024)

What are protein powders?

Let's start by explainingwhat protein powders are. Protein is the building block of our tissues: it is the muscles, skin and hair, but also the structure of our internal organs. Protein also has many other functions in our bodies. They carry various substances, regulate many chemical processes such as insulin production and act as catalysts for many biological reactions.

In order to survive,we must therefore introduce proteins through food. Which proteins should we eat? Proteins can basically be divided into animal and vegetable proteins. The first are those contained in meat, milk and dairy products, fish and eggs.

Vegetable proteins, on the other hand, are contained in a great many plants, such as legumes, algae and many others. Unlike animal proteins, vegetable proteinsare much more digestible and healthy, are less toxic to the liver and - if organic - are also free of harmful substances such as antibiotics, pesticides and hormones.

We believe in plant proteins and offer youa wide range of protein powders, all of which are of plant origin. How do you use them?

Can protein powders be cooked?

The vegetable proteins we offer you, such as hemp, peas, rice, but also the mixesSuper Vegan Protein and Super Green Protein, and the newwhite hemp proteins, are obtained by grinding the plants of origin, peas, rice and hemp.

They are for all intents and purposes normal foods, and can be cooked like any other source of protein.

What happens to proteins during cooking?

Proteins are like filaments with various knots along their entire length. The knots are the amino acids that build them up. Cooking causes the knots to melt, while keeping the filaments intact. Cooking proteins involves structural modification of the peptides, calledprotein denaturation.

So is this process a good thing or a bad thing? Protein denaturation, i.e. cooking, is a positive phenomenon from a certain point of view, as temperatures above about 70 degrees break the stabilizing bonds of the proteins and make them more soluble. Cooking involves dividing the amino acids in the proteins into smaller amino acid chains that are more attackable by gastric juices andtherefore more digestible.

The cooking of protein powders has the same results as the cooking of all types of proteins:the nutritional values remain the same.With cooking, therefore, the quality of the proteins does not change and the nutritional properties do not change.

The only aspect that can be slightly modified is their digestibility. As we have seen, cooking can slightly improve the digestibility of protein powders, but a clarification is needed. Cooking them often means adding them to a recipe along with other ingredients. So, it is not so much cooking but increasing the complexity of the ingredients that can make digestion slower.

Is it safe to cook proteins?

Cooking protein powder is safe.With our protein powders, the same rules and indications apply as for all other proteins, such as meat, fish and legumes. In fact, it must be specified that cooking must not be too long, nor done at too high temperatures. Cooking above 200° may cause the production ofpolycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, which are very toxic to our health.

How can protein powders be used in the best possible way?

The best way to use protein powders is to dissolve them in a liquid such as water to facilitate rapid digestion. Alternatively, they can beused for the preparation of different recipes, even those in which cooking is expected. Just be careful not to use too high temperatures and to mix powdered vegetable proteins with simple and healthy ingredients.