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The growing demand for sustainable and ethical food options has led to significant advancements in plant-based meat substitutes (PBMS). PBMS have made considerable progress in simulating the taste, texture, and sensory properties of animal meat. Connective tissue is a fundamental component of animal meat that significantly influences tenderness, texture, and sensory properties. However, the imitation of realistic connective tissues has received relatively less attention in the PBMS industry. The current work focuses on exploring materials and techniques for the replication of plant-based connective tissues (PBCT). By understanding the structural and functional characteristics of animal connective tissues (ACT), it is possible to replicate these characteristics in PBCT. Hydrogels, with their ability to simulate certain properties of ACT, present a viable material for the creation of PBCT. To achieve the desired simulation, their mechanical and structural properties need to be enhanced by using several materials and several physical techniques., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declared no conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

This study aimed to reveal the effect of different basic emulsion structures (W/O/W and O/W) and polysaccharide additions on protein-polysaccharide composite-based emulsion gels utilizing soybean protein isolate, palm oil and konjac glucomannan. The results of texture profile, rheological tests, microstructure observations, and oral tribology showed that basic emulsion structures and konjac glucomannan addition had significant effect on the emulsion gels' properties, while the impact of konjac glucomannan addition was stronger. W/O/W double emulsion gels (DEG) exhibited lower oral friction coefficients and obtained higher scores for oiliness and juiciness during the sensory evaluation. However, O/W single emulsion gels (SEG) displayed a firmer texture and higher chewiness, a 29.62% and 49.57% increase compared to the DEG at 7% konjac glucomannan addition on the hardness and chewiness respectively. It has demonstrated the emulsion gels' potential as cube fat mimetics and feasibility of adjusting their properties by changing the basic emulsion structure., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2023 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)