Bodec has been working on processing residues for years. Because of sustainability concerns, this has become a hot topic in the foodstuff industry. About a year ago, we came into contact with a grower who had a specific residue from processing vegetables. Since then, we have developed a unique plant fibre with a nice fibrous structure. The potential applications for this fiber seem endless.
Friso van Assema is the man who “discovered” Vlezel. “Following my initial contact with the grower, I checked out the base product myself and felt there might be something in it”, explains Friso. “After that, I started to experiment with it, baking and cooking. I very quickly noticed that it has a naturally fibrous structure. In your mouth, the product feels like the shredded meat used in a Mexican burrito, but it was totally vegetarian. This made it special.” To see what other people thought of it, he cooked dishes for his own family that included the fibre for three nights, ranging from a stewed Moroccan dish to a Russian salad. “When nobody reported any stomach or digestive issues, I knew that it was OK,” chuckles Friso. “That was the moment to go public.”
Minimal processing
The production process is relatively simple. “Just one bit of minimal processing is needed to create Vlezel from the raw material, with minimal supplements and/or chemical processes. You really only need to heat the product to make it keep for longer, after which you check for potentially undesirable (metal) particles. Then it can be packaged. As a comparison: to make pulled pork sandwiches you need to cook the meat at high pressure for at least one hour. You can add Vlezel straight out of the packet when you warm up a dish. This reduces the processing costs significantly. And you need less of it. For a dish where you would normally use, say 250 grammes of meat, just 150 grammes of Vlezel is enough to get the same volume of product. Plus Vlezel does not includes any known allergens, and it is a sustainable product.”
Local and circular
This last point is an important differentiator from most of the meat substitutes that are currently on the market. “Manufacturing them consumes a relatively high amount of energy because a lot of pressure and heat is needed to arrive at the desired fibrous structure. Another difference is that meat substitutes are very often textured proteins, which do not always have a clear provenance, while Vlezel does not contain any proteins and is made from pure plant residue from Dutch and German growers. This fits perfectly into the model of the future – local and circular – that the food industry is seeking. The growers with whom we currently have contracts collectively produce 500 tonnes of vegetable residue per year, so this has plenty of potential.”
Many possible applications
The potential applications for Vlezel are wide-ranging. “It helps that the taste is completely neutral. You can use it in stews, lasagne, Mexican burritos and salads. If you dry it, you can also mix it with dough, which means you can also use it for things like cookies and granola. For the moment, Friso is targeting companies that produce vegan, vegetarian and hybrid products. “The smaller, specialised companies are the most interested. They are enthusiastic, because it really is an innovative product that they can further develop for themselves, because we have approached them at an early stage. For example, I know that some companies would love it if we were able to produce chunks rather than strands, and that is something we will be able to look into.
Plans for the future
“Before the summer holidays I went to visit a number of different people and now it is down to their own creativity to see what things they can use Vlezel for, and set up small-scale test production. For the moment, I will keep on approaching more companies. Yet another option is to launch Vlezel directly onto the consumer market. That is actually harder, because Vlezel is not an instantly recognisable product, like a vegetarian burger or vegetarian mince. I don’t think that consumers are ready for this right now, so that is something for the more distant future!”
Companies who would like to know more about Vlezel, can contact Friso van Assema, vanassema@bodec.nl.
