Researchers at Tecnológico de Monterrey and the University of Manitoba raised the protein in corn tortillas by about 70% in a pilot-scale trial, Expansión reported Nov. 4. They replaced 10% of the nixtamalized corn flour with protein-rich fractions from lentils and beans. Protein content went from 4.5 to 7.7 grams per 100 grams of tortilla, according to the project’s technical sheet as cited by the magazine, and lysine — an amino acid that is limited in corn — rose by as much as 40%.

The work is led at the Tec by Johanan Espinosa, a professor who heads the school’s Center for Research and Development of Proteins (CIDPRO), in collaboration with Cristina Rosell at the University of Manitoba in Canada. Expansión said the team mills the legumes and separates the protein-rich fraction with air — a dry process that avoids wet extraction and later drying — then blends that fraction into the corn flour.

Because the substitution changes how the masa behaves, the researchers also tested texture and ran the formula on a machine. They produced tortillas on a Villamex V-25 CB, which sheets the masa with rollers, cuts the pieces and bakes them in a three-level gas oven, to see whether the dough would go through a line, cook, and stay strong enough to hold a filling and fold as a taco. “Parece a veces trivial, pero justo los análisis que hacemos es para revisar que el taco va a resistir” (“It can seem trivial, but the analyses we run are precisely to check that the taco will hold”), Espinosa told Expansión.

The project was funded by the Tec and the government of Canada, the magazine reported, and an open-access paper is being prepared with the conditions for making the ingredients and the tortillas, so other manufacturers could repeat the tests. Expansión also reported that, so far, the Tec has not spoken with any company about commercializing the work, and that formal consumer-acceptance tests and a finished-goods price estimate still have to be done. The magazine noted that legumes cost more than corn and could raise the price of the tortilla.

Companies Tecnológico de Monterrey University of Manitoba

Read the release / full story at Expansión