Why mushrooms will be a superpower food in 2022
(ETX Daily Up) - The New York Times named it Ingredient of the Year: Mushroom. In an omelet, in a veal blanquette, on your favorite pizza... In 2022, the star of autumnal pickings will not only be popular in our pans, but also in a whole host of new food products supposed to make us happy. good. There's even a name for it: "mushroom tech".
With peas, cashews, potatoes or even hemp. Vegetable milks compete in ingenuity with their basic ingredient to offer alternatives to the brick of cow's milk. At the high mass of tech (CES), which has just closed its doors in Las Vegas, a new recipe has been added: mushroom milk. No, it is not enough to squeeze a sheep's foot or a chanterelle to obtain vegetable milk! An American company has actually unveiled a formula based on water, sunflower oil, sugar cane, all mixed with mushroom powder rich in vitamin D2.
So much for the additional ingredients, because the major component of the recipe is a vegetable protein obtained after fermentation of mushrooms. To provide alternatives to food products containing the most common allergens, such as soy, nuts or milk, the company MycoTechnology has developed a vegetable substance that can be used in a wide range of foods, from steak to bread. In its plant in Aurora, Colorado, it extracts proteins from rice and peas to ferment them with the second most cultivated mushroom in the world: shiitake mushrooms. Welcome to "mushroom tech", the new technology that uses and abuses all the virtues of the mushroom to develop food products.
The mushroom, this food that wants you good
As essential in a recipe as it is discreet when we talk about "cooking" so much we can't imagine what we could have to say about it, the world market for mushrooms is however in full explosion. According to the bitannic research and analysis firm Technavio, its sales should increase by 18.78 billion dollars by 2025. Manufacturers have indeed decided to put it in all sauces, not in lambda recipes. , but in a host of food innovations dedicated to preserving our health.
Vitamin C, fiber, selenium, potassium... From the top of its hat, the mushroom hides a cocktail of good things capable of reducing inflammation and maintaining cardiovascular health by limiting hypertension. An analytical study by the international firm Data Bridge Market Research even mentions this commodity as a medicinal ingredient, which could feed a specific market, whose growth is estimated at 9.85% by 2027.
And innovations are sometimes unsuspected. In England, a young naturopath had the idea of brewing a range of beers using different mushrooms in order to take advantage of the medicinal properties of varieties such as reishi, lion's mane and chaga: the first would have anti- inflammatory, the second would have beneficial actions on the digestive system and the third is nicknamed the immunity mushroom. The London brand Fungtn has thus injected a low dose of these well-being boosters into an IPA, a lager and a final reference with a taste of tropical fruits; all of which are low in alcohol.
In the United States, the brand So Good So You has used so-called adaptogenic mushrooms, which are said to be able to reduce the effects of stress, to launch a new recipe for shots, these beverages packaged in small bottles, promoted as energy providers.
Latest find: a mushroom-based creamer. The plant-based alternative to cream that is poured into a cup of coffee becomes a functional product from the American brand Four Sigmatic. The Los Angeles brand promises that when you enjoy your next coffee break, you'll better control your stress and even make your skin glow thanks to this powder... Quite a program!
