Vital Wheat Gluten

Brief Overview
Vital wheat gluten is flour that has little starch content and high gluten content instead. Wheat flour is hydrated to remove all starch granules then dehydrated to separate the gluten from the mass. To obtain vital wheat gluten, the insoluble elastic mass is then hydrated again to activate the gluten. Gluten is the main protein in wheat and is a popular choice in the vegan community. Due to its chewy texture, it resembles the texture of meat and is often used to make mock meat and other meat substitute products.
Manufacturing Process
Vital wheat gluten is made from wheat flour. The wheat flour is then kneaded underwater to agglomerate the gluten into an elastic mass. The elastic mass is collected by centrifugation. After which, the gluten mass undergoes a screwing process to remove moisture. Up to 65 % of the moisture is removed in this process. The gluten is then dried at an elevated temperature to obtain the powdered form of gluten. The final product contains only about 7 % of moisture and is sieved and milled to obtain the refined form of vital wheat gluten.