Physicochemical, anti‐nutritional, and functional properties of air‐classified protein concentrates from commercially grown Canadian yellow pea ( Pisum sativum ) varieties with variable protein levels

Abstract Background and objectives Air classification is a physical process based on particle size and density used to separate pulse flours into protein and starch concentrates. Little information is available on how variety and crude protein content affect physicochemical and functional properties of the air‐classified yellow pea proteins. The objective of this work was to investigate the effect of flour protein content on particle size (PS), yield, protein separation efficiency (PSE), composition, anti‐nutritional factors, and functionality of the air‐classified protein concentrates derived from commercially grown yellow pea varieties. Findings Pea protein concentrates obtained from high‐protein flours had lower PS, PSE, starch, insoluble and total dietary fiber (IDF and TDF), sucrose, raffinose, and stachyose, but higher protein, foaming capacity (FC), and foaming stability (FS) at 30–120 min than that from low‐protein flours. Crude protein of the pea flours had no significant effect on yield, ash, soluble dietary fiber (SDF), phytic acid (PA), trypsin inhibitor activity (TIA), water‐holding capacity (WHC), oil absorption capacity (OAC), and oil emulsion capacity (OEC) of the corresponding protein concentrates. Among pea varieties, PS, yield, starch, IDF, TIA, sucrose, oligosaccharides, and FS at 30 min of the protein concentrates varied significantly but their PSE, protein, ash, SDF, PA, WHC, OAC, OEC FC, and FS at 10, 60–120 min remained similar. Conclusions Air classification is better suited to using high‐protein pea flour due to low oligosaccharides, high‐protein concentration, and foaming properties of resulting protein fractions compared to concentrates derived from low‐protein peas. However, lower PSE could be a concern due to presence of more small starch particles in the high‐protein pea samples. Significance and novelty This study showed the relationships between flour protein content and characteristics of the air‐classified protein concentrates from yellow peas and identified areas for improvement.