Plant-based 'vegurts' result of collaboration

As demand for healthy and more sustainable food choices rises, there has been a boom in launches of plant-based dairy alternatives. Now, CP Kelco and Chr. Hansen have collaborated to create shelf-stable, plant-based yoghurts (vegurts).

The collaboration was established to demonstrate that production of nutritious yoghurt alternatives is possible for a variety of different plant bases, and the result of the collaboration includes industrially validated prototypes of drinkable and spoonable vegurts with oat, soy, pea, coconut or almond bases.

“The technological challenge to produce both spoonable and drinkable ambient vegurts with great nutrition, taste and texture is significant,” said Christian Gilleladen, Principal Application Scientist at Chr. Hansen. “Selecting the right culture to provide fermentation performance, texture and flavour for each recipe, and having these complement the stabilisation and flavour systems is critical to making great products.”

Gilleladen continued, “By working together, we have been able to unlock the synergies between ingredients and process to produce a variety of desired thicknesses and mouthfeel.”

“This collaboration represents a new way of helping our respective customers accelerate their product development and access technical application support globally,” said Anne Sinha, Marketing Director at CP Kelco, on behalf of the two companies.

To date, a range of vegurt prototypes are available to food producers for tasting, and they have received some positive feedback. Thanks to the comprehensive expertise in fermentation, stabilisation, flavour, processing and packaging offered by the collaboration, the prototype recipes can be tweaked to meet specific requirements for sugar, protein, fat, texture and flavour.

“Together, we look forward to this opportunity of sharing our support and helping with the development of the flavours, textures and nutritional profiles our customers are targeting when they embark on the plant-based, shelf-stable vegurts journey,” said Tora Jorn, Sales Technical Service Manager at CP Kelco.

Image caption: iStock.com/Amguy