Ultra-Performance pulse ingredients with pristine taste and functionality

Pulse-based foods are on-trend globally and pulse-based ingredients are a key area for global growth due to their positive impact on health and the environment. However, “pulse flavor” including beany or bitter notes have limited the practical incorporation of pulse ingredients in many categories and can be a significant detractor to new product development.  Another hurdle in using pulse ingredients (e.g. flours) is a high microbial level for products that do not go through a micro kill step, which prevents using them in ready to eat (RTE) food products.

A proprietary and environmentally friendly/ sustainable de-flavoring technology has been developed and implemented to treat pulse-based ingredients without using chemicals or additives which maintains a clean label.  The technology was successfully commercialized at the manufacturing scale. The “Ultra-Performance” pulse products made via this green technology achieve pristine taste, desired functionality, and well controlled microbial level need for RTE status. The new Ultra-Performance products can deliver differentiated benefits at a great cost in use.

We describe the overall approach used to develop and commercialize “Ultra-Performance” pulse ingredients including an overview of the technical advantages and differences vs. untreated pulse materials including starch gelatinization, protein denaturation, sensory differences and performance differences in example applications.  In addition, the environmental benefits of this technology are reviewed to assess how it can help further adoption of pulse-based ingredients.