The cultured milk product substitutes, based on coconut milk, address two ongoing trends; demand for vegan and flexitarian food, and coconut based products.
Milk-free yogurt cultures
Dr. Dorotea Pein, product manager, Hydrosol, said more consumers are opting for vegan foods instead of animal products. Not just for meat and sausage, but dairy as well.
“Fermentation is accomplished with milk-free yogurt cultures,” she added.
“The stabilizing system is flexible, allowing the fat content and texture of the final products to be individually adjusted. The resulting vegan dessert features authentic yogurt flavor and a creamy consistency.
“The subtle coconut flavor harmonizes well with the yogurt cultures. Just like traditional yogurt, the vegan alternatives can be refined with fruit preparations. Familiar textures in combination with new ingredients open up extra market potential.
“In addition to functional systems for dairy-free desserts, Hydrosol offers ingredient combinations for making sour cream and cooking cream based on coconut milk. The range is constantly being expanded.”
According to Innova Market Insights, the demand for plant-based alternatives to dairy products has expanded dramatically around the world in the past four years.
The concept is also of interest to people with lactose intolerance. Lactose-free milk products are often very sweet, due to the enzymatic splitting of the lactose. Coconut yogurt avoids this problem.
The milk-free final products can also be vitamin-enriched to suit a vegan diet.
Dairy products, ice cream and desserts
Hydrosol, based in Ahrensburg, Germany, is an international supplier of food stabilizers, specializing in tailor-made stabilizer systems for dairy products, ice cream and desserts, ready meals, meat, sausage and fish.
The company recently launched a stabilizing system that makes it possible to create fermented whey desserts using yogurt cultures, replacing milk entirely.
The Stabisol JOC 2 whey is mixed with fat, sugar, stabilizer and yogurt cultures, and fermented. The fat can be animal fat like cream or butter, or vegetable fat like oils, depending on availability. Instead of fresh whey, whey powder and water can be used.
This whey dessert is an attractive concept for European dairies focusing on the export market.
“With our stabilizing system we give cheese makers a double benefit. They can profitably market their excess whey, and they can take low-cost yogurt-like desserts to market,” said Sebastian Barsch, product developer, Hydrosol.