What it does
Extrusion aligns the protein chains and sets them in that alignment, which produces a sponge like particle with a directional, meat like bite. Rehydrated, it absorbs several times its own weight in water and keeps its shape. The particle is doing a structural job, not a binding one.
Where it works
Hybrid meat products, where it replaces part of the meat while keeping bite. Plant based burgers and mince, where its fibrousness is the texture. Also cost reduction in coarse ground products.
Where it does not
It does not bind. A product made with it alone falls apart, because something else has to hold the particles together. Over hydration or under hydration both show up directly in the eating quality, and the tolerance is narrower than most trials assume.
What it interacts with
Binders, necessarily. Colour systems, because the particle is pale and reads as filler unless coloured. Flavour, because it carries very little of its own.
