A researcher at the University of Guelph is developing a method of making vegan meats taste more like the real thing.

Dr. Alejandro Marangoni, who is a vegan himself, says plant-based meats typically use coconut oil for grease, because it is solid at room temperature. However, when heated, it tends to seep out of the vegan meat and pool in the bottom of the pan, making the ‘meat’ dry.

Using the Canadian Light Source at the University of Saskatchewan, he developed a solid plant-based fat by rearranging the molecules in liquid oils to turn them into solids.

In addition to making the meat more flavorful, textured, and juicy, this development would also replace the need to use coconut oil, as now any oil can be turned into a solid.

“You can use maybe Canadian grown canola oil, or your locally grown oil, and now you’ve improved the nutrition. Less saturated fat, and you can use locally grown crops instead of something that comes from southeast Asia,” suggested Marangoni.

Marangoni has partnered with a plant-based meat company that will open a facility in British Columbia in 2024. They will be using his new oil development in a burger product.

His next steps include working on a plant-based structure that mimics adipose tissue, the tissue in meat that allows the fat to stay inside the meat as it is being cooked.

“What we’re trying to do is create a structure that is similar to adipose tissue which would serve many purposes. (It would) give it some texture, the chew that the fat gives you, the gristle.”

Ideally, the structures inside vegetable tissue would be filled with the solidified oils. The oil would become trapped there, much like in real meat, and the vegan meat would remain moist even after it’s cooked.