Hempseed Protein: Processing and Functional Properties

Increasing the utilization of plant proteins is needed to support the production of protein-rich foods that could replace animal proteins in the human diet so to reduce the strain that intensive animal husbandry poses to the environment. The seeds of non-drug Cannabis sativa L. commonly referred to as hemp, are an important source of nutrition. Hempseed typically contains over 30% oil and about 25% protein, with considerable amounts of dietary fiber, vitamins, minerals, and specific phenolic compounds. However, the utilization of hempseed in food products is still at the very beginning. Previously, few research groups have reported trials on extracting and purifying proteins from hempseed. However, most of these methods have focused on protein isolates using different precipitation techniques, but these methods may not be suitable for commercial scale production, due to their intensive costs. Also, precipitation techniques may adversely affect the functional properties of hempseed proteins. This review aims to provide an overview of the current knowledge of the hempseed protein extractions and the functional properties of the enriched protein fractions.