Non-Dairy Cheese "Analogue" for Pizza

Cargill is probably the hugest company in the U.S. whose name isn't a household word. It's privately owned, the largest such company in the U.S., so it doesn't get the daily attention from the business world that companies with publicly trade stock receive. Cargill had revenues of $120 billion last year, or as much as Microsoft and Boeing combined.

That gives them lots of pennies to pay for R&D. A teeny portion of Cargill, which means huge by any other standard, is Cargill Texturizing Solutions, with a mere 31 plants on five continents.

What did they do in a Belgium laboratory? Come up with a non-dairy cheese "analogue" for pizza. Luckily for me, one of their press releases is in something resembling English, and by that I mean not filled with too many technical terms (rheological? syneresis?) for my brain to process.

Cargill has launched a unique breakthrough innovation that enables the cost-effective production of a 100 percent non-dairy cheese analogue for pizza and other prepared food applications.

Lygomme™ACH Optimum functional system (patent pending) replicates the functionality of dairy protein and replaces it fully at an outstanding cost advantage for the manufacturer.

Fabien Bouron, senior dairy applications specialist at Cargill Texturizing Solutions, explains: “Cheese represents approximately 15 percent of a pizza recipe and given its high and fluctuating price, it can have a significant impact on the cost of frozen pizza production. In order to protect their margins, manufacturers have traditionally had to choose between raising pizza prices, limiting portion sizes, or using a blend of different cheeses depending on their current market value.”

Lygomme™ACH Optimum functional system removes this instability by offering manufacturers a cost-effective cheese alternative for pizza which can be used to completely replace highly volatile dairy proteins. Furthermore, its appearance, taste and texture perfectly match those of processed cheese based on dairy proteins and are similar to those of traditional hard cheeses, such as gouda, cheddar or gruyere, thereby ensuring equal enjoyment and satisfaction for consumers.

A dairy-free solution for cost-optimization
Due to its specific composition, consisting of a combination of three starches, a galactomannan and a gelling carrageenan, Lygomme™ACH Optimum functional system is not liable to price volatility, eliminating fluctuations in recipe cost. Even when taking into account falling dairy prices, it remains highly attractive with up to 60 percent cost reduction compared with a standard analogue cheese (which on average contains 15 percent dairy proteins) and over 200 percent when compared with traditional cheeses such as mozzarella or emmental.

A dairy-free solution for performance
Furthermore, Lygomme™ACH Optimum functional system overcomes the technical challenges associated with the total replacement of dairy proteins, providing the same key physical and rheological properties as those of analogue pizza cheeses: taste, firmness, appearance, shreadability and melting behavior.

Each component has been carefully selected by Cargill’s expert team to play a specific role: allow and stabilize the emulsion, bring sufficient viscosity during processing, absorb the water phase, avoid oiling out and syneresis, create a strong network in order to allow the finished cheese product to be shreadable/sliceable, and have a remelting profile.

A dairy-free solution for health
In addition to the important cost and performance benefits, Lygomme™ACH Optimum functional system also offers health advantages as it contains reduced calories (less fat and no saturated fats) and reduced phosphate intake (no melting salts used). It offers a cheese alternative for people with lactose intolerance and a unique opportunity for vegans to enjoy a product that has the characteristics and taste of cheese but without any animal-derived ingredients. Last but not least, Lygomme™ACH Optimum functional system provides the opportunity to make analogue cheese without allergen labelling, and eligible for Halal and Kosher certification.

When will this be miracle goo be appearing on real-life pizzas? You have to ask the hard questions, don't you? I have no idea. At least somebody out there is thinking of you.

Coconut Craziness Scales Another Mountain

I've posted so many times about agave-sweentened coconut milk non-dairy products over the past year that Planet Coconut is a possible spin-off. Or would I get sued by Jimmy Buffett?

You must be loving it out there. I see as many coconut products as I do coconut trees on desert islands in cartoons. Watch out for your heads! They're falling everywhere.

Let's start with Turtle Mountain. In January I posted Turtle Mountain Goes Coconut Crazy, about the company lines of So Delicious Coconut Milk Yogurt and Purely Decadent Coconut Milk "Ice Cream." (They don't use quotes around the "ice cream," which drives me crazy. Ice cream is made from milk. Real dairy milk from animals. You can't have non-dairy ice cream. It's confusing and wrong. But they make more money than I do so they get to set the rules.)

What are they doing now? Kefir!

NEW! A world's first, coconut milk kefir is now So Delicious!
We have taken an old world classic and combined it with the delightful richness of coconut milk to create a new age beverage designed to enhance your overall sense of well being.

Coconut milk is naturally rich in medium chain fatty acids (MCFAs). Two of the primary MCFAs found in coconut milk, lauric and capric acid, are known for supporting the body’s immune system. MCFAs combined with ten live and active cultures make our coconut kefir a great dairy free alternative. Drink it alone or splash it over your favorite fruit or cereal. Also makes for a wonderful addition to a variety of home recipes.

And it comes in Vanilla, Strawberry, and Original flavors.

More stuff's coming from them, too, but I'll wait until you can find it on their web site.

Or you can be like all hip and modern and cool and young and follow them on Facebook and get up-to-the-minute announcements. Which spoils the secret about their new Coconut Milk Creamer, announced on GoDairyFree.org. Just pretend you haven't seen it yet.

Non-Dairy Sources of Calcium

While I'm thinking about non-dairy sources of calcium, I should take you to the source of sources, the USDA's Food Sources of Selected Nutrients page.

There's a plenitude of good information on that page and you may want to bookmark it for the future.

In the meantime, I've copied the table on non-dairy sources of calcium.



Blogger tends to reduce photos even at their largest size, so let me emphasize what appears in the fine print. Not all foods that have good amounts of calcium are good sources of calcium because other chemicals in those foods block its absorption. That's what I wrote about yesterday. Even so, that list will give you a head start on foods you should be including in your diet if you are avoiding dairy completely.

Non-Dairy Protein Drinks

Last month I talked about lactose-free whey protein drinks. The lactose in those drinks is removed by a filtration process. The underlying protein is still dairy whey, however, so I can only recommend them for those with lactose intolerance, not for others who are trying to avoid dairy.

Patricia Biesen on examiner.com does a review of Dairy-free protein shakes, including some made with hemp and pea proteins.

Her short article is labeled "part 1" and she wrote that "In my next post I will post some tips and tricks to disguise the taste [of the protein drinks]", so I'm going to assume you'll be able to see some follow-up pages by the time you click over there.