January 15, 2025

University of Massachusetts Amherst food scientist Hang Xiao is tackling a new challenge in his ongoing aim to develop tasty, nutritious and sustainable plant-based alternatives to animal meat. 

His new research, funded with a four-year, $387,000 grant from the USDA’s Pulse Crop Health Initiative, focuses on fermenting dry chickpeas and dry peas to create a new type of tempeh, traditionally made with soybeans. Preliminary research suggests that chickpea and pea tempeh may help offset the health risks of the Western diet, such as obesity, fatty liver, hyperlipidemia and diabetes. 

 

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