Do you want a Babybel with protein powder? The Bel group, which owns major cheese brands such as La Vache qui Rit, plans to use a brand new ingredient from biomass fermentation to produce a vegan alternative to its cheese recipes. And it’s not soy or cashews…
Rehydrate cashews, otherwise mix soy yogurt with olive oil and tofu. These are the two main recipes for making “vromage” or faux-mage, a vegan version of cheese. This camembert, cheddar and other feta substitutes, which are the result of this mix, try with great effort to approach our traditional cheese dish as closely as possible. In the future, a new ingredient could embody the faux magi’s most successful bet: a protein created by the fermentation of biomass.
Processed vegetable fibers
An American start-up, Superbrewed Foods, has turned it into its growth lever. She discovered the existence of this substance by wondering whether certain animals such as the gorilla or the elephant can develop impressive muscle mass while eating only plants. By following the same fermentation steps followed to produce beer, this food technology has developed a protein ingredient from microorganisms naturally found in plants that have the ability to transform plant fibers.
Specifically, the result resembles powder. Last year, private investors invested $45 million in the technology of this Delaware company, so that this new ingredient could become the basis of food products that are free of any protein of animal origin. From a nutritional point of view, this “recipe” is really good news as it contains no less than nine essential amino acids, as well as minerals, iron, phosphorus and magnesium. According to the Food and Drug Administration, the US food police officer, only 30 grams of this protein powder meets the recommendations for daily intake of B vitamins.
What future?
For consumers, this discovery is becoming reality thanks to the collaboration between the start-up and a snacking cheese giant: the Bel-groep. If the name doesn’t mean anything to you, the brands are very popular all over the world. The industrialist from the Ile-de-France is indeed at the origin of La Vache qui Rit and Babybel… He decided to “to develop a complete range of cheeses with this ingredient and to be able to offer these new products to consumers very soon”, as advertised on its website. For its part, Superbrewed Foods had indicated that it plans to launch its protein in the first half of 2023…
The topic of vegan cheese is a long-standing project for the Bel group. Last year he already unveiled a vegan version of his Babybel. The small round cheese, which conquered the consumer at an early age with its iconic wax bowl, had adapted its recipe with a mixture based on coconut oil and starch. Naturally, the French manufacturer is determined to strengthen its vegan cheese offering…
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