A review on plant-based tree nuts beverages: technological, sensory, nutritional, health and microbiological aspects
Victor Jonas da Rocha Esperança, Caroline Corrêa de Souza Coelho, Renata Valeriano Tonon, Renata Torrezan, Otniel Freitas‐Silva
Abstract
The term tree nuts is used to describe any nut that comes from a tree. The best known and most consumed are almond, Brazil nut, cashew, hazelnut, macadamia, pecan, pine nut, pistachio, and walnut. This consumption has led to their use in the development of plant-based beverages. This review aims to bring information reported in the literature on plant-based beverages made from tree nuts regarding health, technological, microbiological, sensory, and consumer aspects. The bibliographic search covered the articles published between the years 2000 and 2022. In total, 54 articles were selected for this review, which were categorized according to their thematic area as Food technology (n = 37); Nutrition and Health (n = 19); Microbiological aspects (n = 10); and Sensory and consumer studies (n = 12). It was observed that the most mentioned tree nuts were almond, cashew, hazelnut, and walnut, and the lowest mentioned were Brazil nut, macadamia nuts, pine nut, mallow nut, and sapucaia. Finally, this review observed that beverages represent beneficial nutritional and functional profile, but cannot be considered as a substitute, in their entirety, for dairy milk, except in the case of allergies to this food. Technological aspects proved to be positive for obtaining these beverages, with high pressure being the most advantageous. Considered safe and very promising from nutritional, industrial, environmental, and functional aspects.