EDMONTON – Bean caviar and pea-a-beef sausage may not be on the menu anytime soon, but organizers of a food competition hope the ideas spark a passion for pulses.
The goal of Mission ImPulseible is to get the food industry thinking more creatively about how to use pulses, said Peter Watts, director of market innovation with Pulse Canada.
Students competing in a product development competition developed four new pulse foods:
Canadian farmers produced a record five million tonnes of pulses last year, a five-fold increase in the last 20 years.
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However, Watts said the increased production doesn’t translate into increased Canadian consumption.
A 2009 study found that 20 percent of the population is considered to be nonconsumers of pulses, while 60 percent are light consumers, eating pulses one to three times a month. Twenty percent are moderate to heavy pulse consumers.
Watts said encouraging students to use pulses in original ways may be the push food companies and restaurants need to try pulses in their cooking.
Last year’s Mission ImPulseible sparked interest in pulses by food companies, he added, and pulse groups are now looking for more ingenious ways to use the crops.
“Now when I go to a food company, I can say, ‘here is a great idea.’ Companies are really interested in new ideas.”
Stanley Townsend, chair of the culinary arts program at the Northern Alberta Institute of Technology’s School of Hospitality and Culinary Arts and one of the competition judges, said the ideas had excellent potential.
“I liked the way the students started with a common food and reworked it,” he said.
“The more believable is the food, the more shelf life the product will have.”
Townsend said the Pea-a-Beef or Pea-a-Pork sausage has the most practical application.
“This is an emerging market as the price of protein increases.”
Sabaratnam Naguleswaran, who developed the pea sausage, said adding pea protein concentrate cut the price of sausages in half and dramatically reduced the fat content.
Doug Wong, a University of Alberta master’s student, developed the pea protein-based drinkable yogurt because he wanted an alternative to the soy protein shakes he drinks after going to the gym.
“I wanted something to deal with muscle pain,” said Wong, who entered the competition for fun and won first prize for his YoPease.
“I wanted to show there is a fit for this product. It’s far from perfect. It’s one way of using peas.”
The win allows Wong to move on to the national competition held in Saskatoon during the Canadian Special Crops Association meeting in July.
Sheri Strydhorst, executive director of Alberta Pulse Growers, said there is a growing recognition of pulses’ health benefits, but few pulse products can be found on store shelves.
“Getting students to come up with new ideas of how to use pulses is a big benefit,” she said.
Strydhorst hopes making pulses more mainstream will encourage companies to turn pulses into fractions and flours.
“You can buy pulses whole or in cans, but that’s not what consumers are looking for.”
Gail Hall, an Edmonton food maven, said she hopes the competition will spur more creativity with pulses.
“To me, the excitement and possibilities are endless.”
