Accurately recreating flavor, texture, and nutritional values in dairy milk analogs with plant-based alternatives creates significant challenges, stated the company. Many plant proteins on the market have bitter or off flavors, low protein content, and grainy or chalky textures. Even with the use of multiple masking agents, added sugar, or flavor modifiers, the results lack the appearance and organoleptic characteristics of real, creamy milk.

“Plant-based barista drinks set new challenges,” explained Liat Lachish Levy, CEO of ChickP. “Consumers want a holistic, better-for-you, yet full flavor experience. Our technologists took full advantage of our new state-of-the-art application lab to overcome organoleptic and technical challenges in creating creamy, dairy-free ‘milk’ for the perfect cappuccino.”

ChickP’s IP-protected technology extracts this pure protein while removing bitterness and many non-nutritional factors. The resulting ingredient has a neutral flavor, mitigating the need for sugar or flavor additives in the final product, and enabling beverage formulators to significantly shorten ingredients list to deliver an all-natural product, the company noted.

“Consumers are looking for plant-based milk, but they also demand great taste and texture,” said Maor Dahan, application manager of ChickP. “Our chickpea S930 and  G910 isolate are the most refined form of protein with the advantage of matching color, flavor, and functional properties to food and beverage applications. This protein has great solubility, exhibiting excellent water dispersion properties across a wide range of pH. It has a low viscosity and an optimized flavor.” Chickpea is not listed as an allergen and is not genetically modified.

ChickP is currently developing more than 20 plant-based applications with food and beverage companies with its pure ChickP protein. “Our customers turned to us to solve major challenges of plant-based products and we were able to provide comprehensive solutions in terms of flavor, complete nutrition profile, and functionality. Together with our customers and partners, we are unlocking the potential of our ChickP protein to offer the best solutions across multiple applications. Our customers confirm that ChickP isolate offers the best dairy-like solution on the market today," said Levy.