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Even though plant proteins are more plentiful and affordable than animal proteins in comparison, direct usage of plant-based proteins (PBPs) is still limited because PBPs are fed to animals as feed to produce animal-based proteins. Thus, this work has comprehensively reviewed the effects of various factors such as pH, temperature, pressure, and ionic strength on PBP properties, as well as describes the protein interactions, and extraction methods to know the optimal conditions for preparing PBP-based products with high functional properties and health benefits. According to the cited studies in the current work, the environmental factors, particularly pH and ionic strength significantly affected on physicochemical and functional properties of PBPs, especially solubility was 76.0% to 83.9% at pH = 2, while at pH = 5.0 reduced from 5.3% to 9.6%, emulsifying ability was the lowest at pH = 5.8 and the highest at pH 8.0, and foaming capacity was lowest at pH 5.0 and the highest at pH = 7.0. Electrostatic interactions are the main way for protein interactions, which can be used to create protein/polysaccharide complexes for food industrial purposes. The extraction yield of proteins can be reached up to 86–95% with high functional properties using sustainable and efficient routes, including enzymatic, ultrasound-, microwave-, pulsed electric field-, and high-pressure-assisted extraction. Nondairy alternative products, especially yogurt, 3D food printing and meat analogs, synthesis of nanoparticles, and bioplastics and packaging films are the best available PBPs-based products. Moreover, PBPs particularly those that contain pigments and their products showed good bioactivities, especially antioxidants, antidiabetic, and antimicrobial. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Blueberries (BBs) are perennial fruits belonging to the Ericaceae family. BBs are popular worldwide because of their high concentration of bioactive compounds. BBs have a long history of usage as traditional healthy foods, but their short shelf-life (less than 6 days under non-controlled conditions) is the main reason for their unavailability. Thus, processing BBs to different products is a better option for long time storage. Thus, this review highlighted the nutritional importance of BB fruits and explored potential options for the long-time preservation and consumption of BBs. Moreover, the review addressed the health benefits of BBs and BBs-based food products. BBs exhibited high nutritional composition, especially anthocyanins (123.2–623.89 mg/100 g dry weight). Many processing technologies can be applied to extend the consumption time of BBs, including drying, juicing, producing wine and vinegar, and using them as food additives. BBs powder, juice, and wine are considered the best options to prolong BBs consumption time. Additionally, BBs and their products exert excellent antioxidant, anti-obesity, anti-diabetic, anti-inflammatory, anti-microbial, and anticancer activities. The anti-diabetic, cardioprotective, and anticancer effects are noticeable among all bioactivities. Therefore, developing commercial food products using BBs or BBs-components can increase the health benefits and consumer acceptability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

BACKGROUND: The effective hot‐air drying of foods such as jujube requires an effective green pretreatment alternative to chemical pretreatments. Jujube slices were pretreated using 5 and 10 mg mL−1 ultrasound‐assisted vitamin C (UVC) for 10, 20, and 30 min, followed by hot‐air drying. RESULTS: Ultrasound‐assisted vitamin C pretreatment for 10, 20, and 30 min modulated the characteristics of fresh jujube slices such as water loss (from −28.25% to −25.52% after 30 min of UVC pretreatment), solid gain (from −31.68% to −26.82% after 30 min of UVC pretreatment), loss of total and reducing sugars (from 200.25 mg and 34.88 mg to 287.14 mg and 4.71 mg, respectively, after 30 min of UVC pretreatment), total soluble solids (from 76.32 oBrix to 82.08 oBrix), and water diffusivity (from 9.01 × 10−10 m2 s−1 to 6.71 × 10−10 m2 s−1). These characteristics were associated with altered surface morphology and improved drying characteristics. The UVC pretreatment preserved an acceptable reddish‐yellow or orange‐like color during hot‐air drying and reduced the browning index from 26.3 optical density (OD)/g DM to 23.25 OD/g dry mass basis (DM), which was connected with reduced 5‐hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF) content. On the other hand, the proportions of bioactive components such as vitamin C increased from 1.05 mg g−1 DM to 9.02 mg g−1 DM, phenolics increased from 12.8 mg gallic acid equivalent (GAE)/g DM to 17.5 mg GAE/g DM, flavonoids increased from 4.0 mg rutin equivalent (RE)/g DM to 4.4 mg RE/g DM, and procyanidin content increased from 2.0 mg catechin equivalents (CE)/g DM to 2.9 mg CE/g DM in UVC pretreated jujube slices, which had a positive association with increased antioxidant activity – for example, 2,2'‐azino‐bis(3‐ethylbenzothiazoline‐6‐sulfonic acid (ABTS) increased from IC50 22.5 mg DM/mL to 8.0 mg DM/mL, 2,2‐diphenyl‐1‐picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) changed from IC50 36.5 mg DM/mL to 9.5 mg DM/mL, and ferric reducing antioxidant power (FRAP) increased from 2.0 mg vitamin C equivalent (VCE)/g DM to 11.9 mg VCE/g DM). CONCLUSION: The data indicated that UVC can be used as a promising pretreatment method for improving the hot‐air drying characteristics and the quality of jujube slices. © 2023 Society of Chemical Industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]