A range of electricity-driven innovative processing technologies such as high pressure, microwave, radiofrequency heating, pulsed electric field (PEF), pulsed light, ultrasonication among others, has become commercially available to the food industry. There is significant interest not only in the capacity to produce superior quality products but also in the energy saving potentials. In 1984, the British APV Baker company designed and manufactured continuous commercial production ohmic heater for heating sterilization of food containing fluid particles (Halden, de Alwis, & Fryer, 1990). Ohmic heating (OH) has a lot of merits such as: no need for heat exchange surface, no temperature gradient; uniform and fast volume heating; little mechanical damage to the product, strong permeability, high product quality; high energy efficiency and low energy consumption; suitability for cutting force sensitive food; no pollution; and wide processing range. The electrode is directly in contact with the food, and the power supply is mainly of two types: direct current (DC) and alternating current (AC) (Knirsch, dos Santos, Vicente, & Penna, 2010). Both thermal and non-thermal effects of OH are related to structural changes of food materials (Sensoy & Sastry, 2004). DCOH is easy to cause electrolytic deterioration of food components and electrode corrosion, which may lead to food contamination, and is mainly used in the field of sterilization. In ACOH, the direction of electric field (EF) changes repeatedly with the change of current frequency, and the ions and molecules in food move back and forth with the change of EF, thus generating heat (Jha, Xanthakis, Jury, & Le-Bail, 2017; Jan, Bashir, & Jan, 2021). Compared with the DCOH, the ACOH can reduce electrolysis of food components and electrode corrosion, is more safely applied in food processing. The rapid heating of ACOH can shorten the heating time and reduce the negative impact of heat treatment on food quality. It is more suitable for processing heat-sensitive foods with high protein (Icier, 2010; Icier & Bozkurt, 2011), improving production efficiency and product quality, while maintaining the texture and aroma of products (Samaranayake & Sastry, 2005). Th ACOH has broad prospects in heating, blanching, evaporation and concentration, dehydration, fermentation, extraction, sterilization, pasteurization and other fields (Mannozzi et al., 2018), and can also be used in the processing of space food and military rations (Kumar, 2018; Sastry et al., 2009). The OH has been applied to pork, chicken, beef and other meat products and protein gels (Sarang, Sastry and Knipe, 2008). Brunton et al. (2005) used OH to achieve the maturation of minced meat. Halleux, de Piette, Buteau, and Dostie (2005) used OH to cook Bologna ham by reducing the cooking time 90% to 95% compared with traditional cooking methods. Rui, Fasolin, Avelar, Petersen, and Pereira (2020) improved water-holding capacity and elasticity of whey protein gel through the EF effect of OH. Chen et al. (2022) showed that compared with traditional heating, OH significantly improved the gel properties of pea protein. New interpretations reveal the impacts of ohmic heating on the physicochemical behaviors and functional/allergenic features of proteins. For example, Miranda et al. (2023) suggested that the intensity of intrinsic fluorescence of lentil protein was not affected by ohmic heating at different temperatures.

The peanut (Arachis hypogaea) belongs to the botanical family Fabaceae (or Leguminosae). Rather than above ground typically among legume crop plants, peanut pods develop underground, therefore, the botanist Carl Linnaeus gave peanuts the specific epithet hypogaea with this geocarpy, which means “under the earth”. Peanuts became an agricultural mainstay in Asia where is now the largest producer in the world and China accounts for over one third of the world total peanut production volume (FAOSTAT (Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations, Statistics Division), 2023). Similar to several tree nuts, peanuts are rich in essential nutrients. In 100 g, peanuts contain about 25 g of protein, provide 2385 kJ of food energy and are an excellent source of several B vitamins, vitamin E, several dietary minerals, such as manganese, magnesium and phosphorus, and dietary fiber. They also contain polyphenols, polyunsaturated, and monounsaturated fats.

Except for oil manufacturing, culinary uses of peanut include whole grain (dried or boiled or fried as snacks or dishes, with or without flavoring), crunched grits (as seasoning, ingredients, etc.), and flour (for food paste or spread, e. g., peanut butter), etc. It is also used in a number of confections, such as peanut-flavored granola bars or croissants and other pastries. Peanut flour is used in gluten-free cooking. Peanut protein concentrates and isolates are commercially produced from defatted peanut flour as vegetable protein supplies, recently as a plant-based meat analogue ingredient.

Industrialization and natural imbalance might alter the adaptability for the humans who have always been struggled with the prevalence of food allergy. For the purpose of strengthening the safety, the products on the markets are generally overheated and deeply denatured causing the products a tough mouthfeel and loss of nutrition. Improving the organoleptic sense of the vegetable proteins as a base ingredient should be one of the topics in the plant-based meat analogue development. Not just that, structure modification can also benefit the desensitization of protein allergens. The effects of OH on peanut protein (PP) structure, texture, and flavor were studied using peanut protein isolate (PPI) to provide effective information for the application of OH as a new processing method to improve the structure and flavor of plant meat ingredients and end products.