KOCHI: Milk from Bambara seeds from Africa, jackfruit as a meat substitute, and vanilla extract from rice bran! Pancode, a sleepy village near Kochi, is fast becoming the supplier of a new range of vegan products across the globe, especially to markets in the US and Europe.
The edibles are being developed for mass consumption by Kochi-based Synthite Ltd at its newly-established Taste Park, a 19.68-acre facility in Pancode where it has set up an agro-processing cluster at a cost of Rs 175 crore.
As per the firm, around 1,500 tonnes of milk can be extracted per year from Bambara groundnuts imported from contract farms in Ghana and Nigeria. The firm is sourcing jackfruit from Kerala and Tamil Nadu to produce jackfruit-based burgers, sausages and others to cater to the rapidly-growing global vegan market, which is estimated to touch $8.3 billion by 2025.
“There is growing popularity for traditional meat substitutes such as jackfruit, mushroom, banana flower and others. Of these, jackfruit enjoys wider acceptance due to its nutritional and ecological quotients,” said Aju Jacob, joint managing director, Synthite.
Synthite is making the products through its arm Symega Food Ingredients. Jacob said Symega sources jackfruit from farmers across Kerala and Tamil Nadu through approved primary processors. Annual volumes, currently 50-80 tonnes, are likely to go up to over 150 tonnes in the coming years, he said.
“Jackfruit-based meat substitutes are one of the highest-selling product categories among Symega’s plant-based foods portfolio. The range varies from jackfruit bits and shreds to jackfruit-based burgers and sausages, available in ready-to-cook and ready-to-eat formats,” Jacob said.
10k African farmers to supply Bambara seeds to Synthite
Though Synthite works prominently with Indian-origin brands, it started exporting jackfruit products in December 2022. BamNut milk is another interesting product of the firm. “It’s non-dairy milk,” explained Jacob, adding that the company is importing Bambara groundnut from its contract farms in Ghana and Nigeria. He said Synthite targeted 250 farmers from five districts and 25 communities in and around Tamale in Ghana, but was surprised when 2,000 farmers expressed their intention to join.
“Harvesting went well but some farmers received the seeds too late, and hence it was well past the right time to sow them,” he said. This year, it will be different. “Early estimates suggest we have about 10,000 farmers lined up to join us this year,” Jacob said. “We process the seeds in our plant and sell the processed product to clients in Singapore and elsewhere, who convert it into milk.
We are not making the milk directly. We are preparing its base,” said Jacob. Synthite has developed two more products, celery salt that can replace chemical nitrites used for meat curing and a vanilla extract from ferulic acid found in rice bran. “Vegetables like celery are rich in nitrates that are converted into nitrites through fermentation.
The fermented extract is turned into powder to get the final product,” Jacob said. He said vanillin, the vanilla extract, is produced from ferulic acid through fermentation by using non- GMO (genetically modified organisms) raw materials and can be labeled a natural flavour.