Johanna Östlund

PhD project title: Fermentation of Swedish faba beans and oats for foods with improved texture, flavour, and nutritional properties

Short description of the project

The overall aim of this project is to enhance the nutritional and organoleptic qualities of milk analogues made from crops cultivated in Sweden, with the goal of improving consumer acceptance. The research focuses specifically on how pre‑treatment and fermentation of faba beans and oats can be optimised for food purposes. Structural, rheological and molecular properties are assessed to understand how processing influences the final product. A streamlined workflow will be developed to produce a yoghurt‑like prototype with high sensory quality and improved nutritional characteristics.

Supervisors

Main supervisor:

• Maud Langton

Co-supervisors

• Galia Zamaratskaia, SLU
• Hanna Eriksson Rönisch, SLU
• Su‑Lin Hedén, SLU
• Volkmar Passoth, SLU
• Sophia Wassén, RISE
• Karin Wendin, HKR

Location

Department of Molecular Sciences, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU), Uppsala

My academic background is the Food Agronomy programme at SLU, where I also completed a master’s degree in Food Science. Part of my master’s studies took place at Wageningen University, focusing on molecular nutrition. After graduating, I worked at RISE in Ultuna for several years, mainly managing projects aimed at developing Swedish food value chains from farm to fork. One example was Swedish hop production—from cultivation to final beer—and another involved developing food products from Swedish faba beans. These experiences sparked my interest in the functional properties of faba beans, and now as a PhD student I appreciate being able to design experiments based on my own curiosity. I also enjoy exploring oats as an additional raw material.