In recent years, plant-based ‘milk’ has become a staple food for many consumers, whether as a genuine alternative or as a supplement to cow’s milk.
As this segment matures, consumers are becoming more demanding in terms of nutritional value and flavour experience. BENEO offers various solutions that fulfil all these requirements.
Pleasant textures and taste
Faba bean is a source of dietary fibre, protein, and starch, as well as vitamins and minerals. BENEO’s faba bean concentrate boasts a 60 per cent protein content, making it a healthy and nutritious enhancement to plant-based drinks. Beyond their nutritional benefits, faba beans offer a host of textural advantages. Their high solubility creates a beautifully homogenous and stable drink with a pleasant texture and good taste.
So, food developers can ensure a smooth beverage texture, containing no sediment or sandy mouthfeel. In addition, faba protein has good emulsifying and foaming properties, which is useful for preparing plant-based drinks such as vegan cappuccinos with dairy-free coffee creamer.
Enhancing plant-based beverages with barley beta-glucans
Beta-glucans from the ancient grain barley are valuable dietary fibres. Orafti β‑Fit is a wholegrain barley flour, rich in beta-glucans, offering various health advantages, including helping to reduce blood cholesterol levels, supporting cardiovascular health, contributing to improved blood sugar levels, and promoting digestive health.
Orafti β‑Fit also scores with its textural properties. Its solubility, clean taste, neutral colour, and temperature stability enables food manufacturers to incorporate the ingredient in a wide variety of food applications.
The plant-based industry will continue to make its mark in Asia Pacific’s F&B landscape. In order to keep the pace, food developers must be agile, and be able to adapt to evolving consumer preferences.
Using ingredients such as faba beans and barley beta glucans, a wide range of plant-based beverages can be made available — that not only fit the nutritional needs of consumers, but also meet taste and texture expectations.