# The Potential of Aquafaba as a Structure-Shaping Additive in Plant-Derived Food Technology
## 2 History and Etymology  
Due to changing consumer needs, scientists and technologists have long been trying to develop a plant-based egg substitute [16]. The reasons for searching for an egg substitute are an increasing number of vegans, [11] the reduction of allergens--in this case for egg white--a growing interest in healthy nutrition, [10] facilitation of the technological process at the storage and pre-treatment stages in terms of safety, environmental sustainability and lower prices [18]. Eggs are characterized by many functional properties. These include binding, emulsifying, raising, thickening, gelling, antimicrobial and moisture retention properties. In addition, what should be noted is their high protein content, about 12.5% [18]. Currently, egg replacement products are soy lecithin, chia seeds, fruit or vegetable pulp, flaxseed, silk tofu, pulses flour, corn flour, agar, cane arrowroot and black Himalayan salt [16, 18]. Unfortunately, none of these products has such versatile properties as eggs do, and it is often necessary to combine some substitutes with each other to achieve a satisfactory effect [16, 18]. The first reports related to the use of aquafaba date back to 10 years ago (Figure 1). In March 2011, [PERSON] published a post on the website artisanve-ganlife.com, in which she described how to make a meringue from linen gel. Unfortunately, the proposed recipe had a significant disadvantage: the foam fell during baking and the flax flavor was too strong. The preparation of the gel itself was also time-consuming, but this discovery turned out to be the basis for later experiments. In August 2012, another vegan meringue was created, in which saponin extract was used as an egg substitute [www.aquafaba.com]. Meringue prepared according to this recipe had a better texture and did not fall apart, but still had a significant disadvantage. Its big problem was the unpleasant taste, and saponin extract is difficult to access by the general public [www.aquafaba.com/history.html# (accessed on 3 January 2023)]. A key discovery of aquafaba's properties was made in December 2014 by [PERSON], a French tenor who tested egg substitutes on the example of the 'floating island' dessert, which uses egg white foam [[[http://www.revolutionvegetale.com/en](http://www.revolutionvegetale.com/en)]([http://www.revolutionvegetale.com/en](http://www.revolutionvegetale.com/en)) (accessed on 18 December 2022)]. He found that red bean and hearts of palm aquafaba could pro  
Figure 1: A simplified history of aquafaba. duce foam similar to that from egg whites, but it was not stable. It was necessary to add corn starch and guar gum. A little later, in February 2015, two Frenchmen prepared a ganache using aquafaba. At the same time, an American, [PERSON], made the first veget meeringue from aquafaba. The foam from aquafaba after the addition of sugar was stable and did not require any other stabilizers [www.aquafaba.com/history.html# (accessed on 3 January 2023)]. The term 'aquafaba' was coined on 13 March 2015 by [PERSON] and was adopted by the local community in a Facebook group and then officially included in the Oxford English Dictionary, Merriam Webster and Scrabble Dictionary. 'Aquafaba' consists of two Latin words. 'Aqua' means water and 'faba' means beans. Aquafaba means water from boiling the seeds of edible legumes [16]. Currently, the most popular is chickpea aquafaba, due to the high consumption of chickpeas in the world [14]. Since 2015, aquafaba has been constantly gaining popularity thanks to its simplicity and accessibility. It is used by cooking enthusiasts, professional chefs and bartenders. Scientists and food technologists are trying to deepen their knowledge about it and find new applications for it to best meet the current needs of consumers [www.aquafaba.com/community.html (accessed on 3 January 2023)]. Aquafaba has become popular due to its diverse functional attributes such as gelling, foaming, emulsifying and thickening properties.