Fermented Cashew Nut Cheese Alternative Supplemented with Red Seaweeds (Chondrus crispus and Porphyra sp.)

This study aimed to develop fermented cashew nut cheese alternative supplemented with Chondrus crispus and Porphyra sp. for enhancing their nutritional and sensory characteristics, as well as familiarizing consumers with seaweeds consumption. The impact of seaweeds supplementation was evaluated through analysis of some physicochemical, microbiological and organoleptic properties of the developed food products. The total lipids content decreased with the supplementation with seaweeds. Crude protein content also slightly decreased, while elemental analysis showed that mineral and trace elements (Ca, K, Mg, Na, Fe, I, Se, and Zn) content increased when C. crispus was added to the paste. The analyses of color and textural (TPA) attributes showed that theese were significantly influenced by adding seaweeds to the cashew paste. Generally, the microbiological results comply with the different European guidelines for assessing the microbiological safety of ready-to-eat foods placed on the market, except for aerobic mesophilic bacteria and marine agar counts. Flash Profile analysis al-lowed to distinguish samples attributes, showing an increased flavor complexity of plant-based cheese alterna-tives supplemented with seaweeds. Overall, the study indicates that seaweed enrichment mainly influenced the physicochemical and sensory characteristics of plant-based cheese alternatives.