Courtesy of Unsplash Close Authorship Mycoprotein, from mushrooms, can be used to make a variety of substitute meat products. Fungi-focused food startups are starting to sprout almost overnight. New producers are finding innovative ways to supply the growing market for alternative proteins, alongside plant-based burgers, sausages and “chicken” nugget substitutes made from soy, pea or other proteins. Fermenting the root-like spores of specific mushrooms (using the same, age-old process that creates beer and bread) produces a protein rich, flavorless foodstuff called mycoprotein . Once processed, mycoprotein can be used to make a variety of substitute meat products, and its naturally meat-like structure gives both a cost and texture advantage over plant-based proteins, which have to go through an additional process to reproduce the texture of meat. Fermented fungi proteins have been in supermarkets since the 1980s, when U.K. brand Quorn patented its mycoprotein production processes. But now that the patents have expired, a new breed of food innovators have big plans for the humble mushroom. Next wave of mushroom mania Swedish company Mycorena plans to use mycoprotein as an ingredient to help partner food companies produce vegan food products. Rather than sell directly to consumers, the aim is to […]
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