Pulses — lentils, chickpeas, peas, and beans — are one of the fastest-growing ingredient categories in food manufacturing, driven by demand for plant-based protein, clean-label formulations, and sustainable sourcing. But pulse ingredients behave very differently from cereals: their heat-resistant starches and proteins mean functionality often cannot be fully characterised below 100°C, with some pulse flours requiring 120°C or above to reach peak viscosity. The Rapid Visco Analyser (RVA) with high-temperature capability provides the rapid, objective characterisation these ingredients demand. It serves pulse ingredient suppliers — the millers and processors producing pulse flours, concentrates, isolates, and starches — and the food manufacturers who formulate with them. That increasingly means producers of plant-based meat and dairy alternatives, alongside bakery, snack, and ready-meal makers turning to pulses for protein, binding, and clean-label functionality.

Industry Challenges
 

• Pulse starches and proteins are heat-resistant — standard testing at 95°C underestimates their true pasting behaviour, missing peak viscosity that only develops at 120°C or higher
• Complex interactions between starch, protein, dietary fibre, and lipids in pulse flours affect viscosity development in ways that are difficult to predict without testing under realistic processing conditions
• Wide variability between pulse types (lentil, pea, chickpea), varieties, and crop years in functional properties such as gelling, thickening, and water binding
• Pulse flour functionality changes during storage — properties like water absorption and viscosity can shift over time, affecting product consistency
• Formulators need to match or replace dairy, egg, and cereal-based functional ingredients with pulse alternatives without sacrificing product quality

How the RVA Solves These Problems

The RVA's high-temperature capability lets you test pulse ingredients at the temperatures they actually encounter during processing — 95°C, 120°C, or 140°C. This is critical because many pulse flours and starches simply do not reveal their true functional potential at standard testing temperatures. A lentil flour that looks unremarkable at 95°C may develop excellent viscosity at 120°C — and you need to know that before you design your process around it.

The RVA uses a slower heating rate specifically designed for pulse materials, which captures the complex interactions between starch and the matrix of proteins, dietary fibres, and lipids that surround it. This level of detail matters: it explains why two pulse flours with similar starch content can behave completely differently in your formulation.

For formulators working on plant-based products, the RVA enables direct comparison of pulse ingredients against conventional cereal and dairy-based alternatives. You can screen varieties, processing methods, and suppliers on a level playing field, and quickly identify which pulse ingredient delivers the functionality you need — whether that is gelling for a dairy-free dessert, binding for a meat analogue, or thickening for a canned product.

The RVA also tracks how pulse flour functionality changes during storage, so you can set appropriate shelf-life specifications for your ingredients and avoid surprises in production when working through older stock. 
 

Related RVA Methods

The RVA comes with a library of standard methods that can be used as-is for known applications, or as a starting point for developing your own product-specific test profiles.

*Requires the RVA 4800, which provides high-temperature testing up to 140°C.

  Key Benefits 
 

• ✓ High-temperature testing up to 140°C reveals the true functional potential of heat-resistant pulse starches and proteins
• ✓ Fully adjustable hold temperature lets you match the exact processing conditions for your application — whether that is canning, jet cooking, extrusion, or anything in between
• ✓ Adjustable heating rate allows you to fine-tune resolution, capturing starch-protein-fibre interactions that fixed-rate methods miss
• ✓ Rapid screening of pulse varieties, origins, and processing methods for functional performance
• ✓ Works across isolated starches, flours, whole meals, and formulations — one instrument for the full pulse ingredient portfolio