This Sustainable Protein Powder Is Made From Air

The previous twenty years have witnessed rising innovation in various protein sources within the seek for a extra sustainable meals system to help a quickly rising international inhabitants. Plant-based meat corporations like Past Meat have made performs to switch burgers, manufacturers have explored protein powder constructed from bugs, and efforts to develop lab-grown meat have confronted backlash.

Not each sustainable protein supply checks all of the packing containers that buyers and the surroundings want. One would possibly style nice however be overly processed, or come from crops however trigger deforestation by means of mass manufacturing. Maybe essentially the most troublesome side of all is discovering one thing that really appeals to shoppers, who are sometimes postpone by the flavour of meat options. However there’s a brand new protein possibility within the sustainable meals panorama that hopes to resolve all these points — and it isn’t constructed from crops or animals. As an alternative, it’s crafted with air.

Solein is a product that markets itself as “protein out of skinny air,” however for those who’re imagining consuming bites of actually nothing, that’s not fairly the case. In actuality, this powdered, mustard-colored substance comes from a naturally occurring, single-cell microbe that feeds on air. For anybody unfamiliar, microbes are microscopic residing organisms, and there are billions of all of them round us. They’re naturally present in air, water, and on human pores and skin, to call only a few locations. (Micro organism or algae are some varieties of microbes you is perhaps extra acquainted with.)

Photo voltaic Meals, the Finnish meals know-how firm that found this particular microbe and developed it for consumption, refers back to the cultivation of Solein as “fermentation.” 

Photo voltaic Meals co-founder and CEO Pasi Vainikka explains that “Solein is produced in a fermentor akin to those utilized in breweries and wineries… Within the fermentor, we feed the microbe such as you would feed a plant, however as an alternative of watering and fertilizing it, we use mere air and electrical energy as the principle assets. The microbe is fed carbon dioxide that may be gotten from air, and hydrogen, which we cut up from water utilizing renewable electrical energy.” This fermentation course of produces a thick liquid, which is then handled with warmth and dried to yield a yellow powder. That is the ultimate type of Solein that Photo voltaic Meals hopes to finally convey to the lots.

Not like crops or animals, Solein doesn’t require arable land to develop. Its manufacturing is rather more environment friendly than that of different proteins, requiring fewer assets. This eliminates or reduces lots of agriculture’s environmental points, resembling deforestation, massive portions of greenhouse gasoline emissions, and reliance on excessive quantities of meals and water.

Based on Vainikka, “Producing Solein makes use of 100 instances much less water than plant protein manufacturing. Land use of Solein is 20 instances extra environment friendly than for plant protein manufacturing,” and “Primarily based on a lifecycle evaluation examine by the College of Helsinki, Solein’s environmental influence is about 10% of most plant-based proteins and about 1% of meat.” So long as there’s a prepared supply of renewable power, Solein might be created with a a lot smaller environmental influence than even plant-based protein choices.

Fortunately, the protein content material of Solein is corresponding to many different protein powders on the market. 100 grams of Solein incorporates 75 grams of protein, whereas 100 grams of Optimum Vitamin Gold Customary Whey Protein Powder (one of the widespread manufacturers out there) has about 78.95 grams of protein. So you do not have to eat notably extra Solein to accumulate the identical protein worth as different merchandise.

As somebody who cares quite a bit about how my meals tastes, what strikes me essentially the most about Solein is its style — or slightly, the shortage of it. The yellow powder has little or no taste or aroma, in contrast to many widespread protein powders that impart a chalky and bitter profile to no matter they’re blended into.

I tasted a number of dishes that included Solein final November, all ready by Greg Baxtrom, a James Beard Award semi-finalist and the chef-owner of 2017 Meals & Wine Restaurant of the Yr, Olmsted. Undoubtedly due in equal elements to Baxtrom’s ability and the impartial flavors of Solein, every of the meals I sampled — starting from the chef’s well-known carrot crepe to a traditional chocolate mousse — was flawlessly executed and scrumptious, with the flavour profile unaltered by the protein powders. 

What is perhaps essentially the most difficult side of Solein is the way it behaves chemically in meals. It would appear and feel like one other protein powder, however it doesn’t at all times act like them when mixed with moist substances. Vainikka says, “We now have been discovering completely different strategies to make use of Solein, and generally it really works precisely like present protein sources, and generally it has fully completely different functionalities. For instance, Solein can type a gel within the presence of an acid, which makes it a helpful ingredient in merchandise like various yogurt and cheese.”

This unpredictability implies that cooks can’t essentially substitute Solein for different substances in the best way they could count on, and Baxtrom needed to experiment with the powder first with a view to produce the ultimate outcomes he wished. 

As a result of shoppers may not have the ability to scoop Solein into their shakes the very same approach they’d with different protein powders, it is perhaps difficult to promote it on to people — a minimum of with out additionally offering training on the best way to use it. However this powder grown on air does current a brand new alternative for packaged meals manufacturers, who can use it so as to add protein to merchandise which are missing in dietary worth.

And on the alternative finish of the meals spectrum, progressive cooks like Baxtrom can proceed taking part in with Solein to be taught extra in regards to the energy of this new protein.