New vegan alternatives for cultured milk products

WITH vegan foods becoming even more popular to consumers who wish to eliminate or cut down on animal products, companies can use a variety of vegan alternatives for their products.

Hydrosol recently announced new stabilising systems from its Stabisol line which allows manufacturers to produce cultured milk product substitutes based on coconut. The company has easily addressed two current trends at once – the ongoing demand for vegan and flexitarian food, and the strong demand for coconut based products.

Hydrosol's new vegan ingredients comes with the benefits of coconut

Like yogurt

The vegan desserts are produced using the same technology as regular yogurt. They are based on coconut milk, to which coconut water can be added if desired. Fermentation is accomplished with milk-free yogurt cultures. The stabilising system is flexible, allowing the fat content and texture of the final products to be individually adjusted. The resulting vegan dessert features authentic yogurt flavour and a creamy consistency. The subtle coconut flavour harmonises very well with the yogurt cultures. Just like traditional yogurt, the vegan alternatives can be refined with fruit preparations and the like. Thus, familiar textures in combination with new ingredients open up extra market potential. In addition to functional systems for dairy-free desserts, Hydrosol also offers ingredient combinations for making sour cream and cooking cream based on coconut milk. The range is constantly being expanded.

Lactose-free

Besides vegan, the concept meets the needs of lactose-intolerant consumers as well. Lactose-free milk products are often very sweet, due to the enzymatic splitting of the lactose. Coconut yogurt avoids this problem, to add delicious lactose-free alternatives to the menu.

Fortification

In addition, the milk-free final products can be vitamin-enriched without problems, to fit the special needs of a vegan diet. Animal foods are recognised as important sources of certain vitamins and minerals. For example, the German Nutrition Society recommends that vegans regularly take a Vitamin B₁₂ preparation, and choose enriched foods and foods with high nutritional density. Iron, which is of immense importance for women and children, is also a problem. To avoid deficiencies, it is advisable to enrich vegan products with iron and specific vitamins to complete the nutrition profile. In this area Hydrosol works very closely with its sister company SternVitamin, allowing it to offer customers individual all-in solutions.