Sweeteners

Ingredient Brothers

© Ingredient Brothers
Ingredients

Ingredient Brothers: Shaping Plant-Based Supply Chains with Cassava and Coconut Ingredients

Founded by Aalap Patel and Eran Mizrahi in 2021, Ingredient Brothers is a supplier specializing in sourcing and importing specialty raw ingredients. Headquartered in New York, the company serves a wide range of industries, with a core focus on the food and beverage sector.  The company notes its strong advocation for plant-based alternatives, especially with its focus on cassava and coconut-based products. Cassava’s versatility—from flour and tapioca starch to its use as an alternative sweetener—has been pivotal for clients developing vegan products. Similarly, the range of coconut derivatives offered, such as coconut milk, oil, sugar, and aminos, continues to benefit the plant-based space. Patel and Mizrahi met in 2017 while working at Nuts.com, where they gained expertise in the specialty ingredients market. Their shared vision …

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© Sweegen
Ingredients

Sweegen Develops Sugar Alternatives Made With Novel Sweet Protein Technology

US-based natural sweetener company Sweegen has used novel sweet protein technology to produce sugar alternatives claimed to have better properties than regular sweeteners. The company’s Sweetensify Flavors range is made with brazzein, a protein sourced from the West African oubli fruit. Brazzein is calorie-free, 500-2000 times sweeter than sugar, and has excellent heat stability. Most importantly, the protein’s taste is not “one-dimensional” like many artificial sweeteners; instead, it can expand and intensify other tastes such as umami, as it hits a different taste receptor than ordinary sweeteners. Furthermore, since brazzein is synthesized as a protein by the body, it does not affect blood sugar levels. Sweetensify products combine brazzein with other unique sweet proteins such as thaumatin II, helping to reduce the sugar content of …

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New series helps manufacturers harness stevia

© Ingredion
Ingredients

Ingredion Video Series Helps Manufacturers Harness Stevia to Reduce Sugar in Plant-Based Foods

Ingredion has launched a five-part video series to help food and beverage manufacturers harness stevia in order to reduce the sugar content of their products. The series explores how stevia provides a natural alternative to artificial sweeteners, meeting consumer demands for healthy foods and enabling claims such as “plant-based” on product packaging. It also explains how the discovery of new steviol glycosides allows for a more balanced, sugar-like sweetness without bitter off-notes. Additionally, the videos describe how ingredients such as polyols and soluble corn fibre — both offered by Ingredion — can replace the bulking and texture properties of sugar. The increasing affordability of premium stevia molecules, driven by new innovations, is also discussed. Ingredion’s stevia and sweetener brand, PureCircle, offers solutions for numerous applications …

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Business Wire

Odyssey Wellness Completes $6.3M Series A Private Equity Funding

Odyssey to Exhibit at Natural Products Expo West in Booth N842 FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Odyssey Wellness (Odyssey), makers of Odyssey Elixir, the first sparkling energy drink infused with functional mushrooms, announced today that it has completed a $6.3M series A capital raise bringing the total funding since inception to $8.3M. The funding will enable the acceleration of Odyssey’s growth across all distribution channels. Odyssey is disrupting the energy beverage category and is meeting a demand for consumers seeking better options, a burgeoning trend on a global scale. Odyssey is exhibiting March 8-10 at the largest natural products industry trade show in Anaheim, CA at Booth N842. “We appreciate the infusion of capital and trust from our investors who bring incredible expertise and will be valuable …

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Watermelon

©Elo Life Systems
Investments & Finance

Elo Life Systems Closes $24.5M in Series A for Zero-Calorie Sweetener Made from Watermelons

Ingredients company Elo Life Systems announces the completion of its Series A financing round, which raised a total of $24.5M. The funding will enable the company to accelerate development of its fruit-derived sweeteners by advancing US regulatory approvals, building pilot-scale processing capabilities, and begin market-testing its sweetener with consumers.  Described as a next-generation ingredients company, Elo uses molecular farming (similar to precision fermentation) to produce commercially valuable ingredients that are traditionally difficult to source and extract. Through its processes, Elo says it can make these ingredients more readily available, sustainable and affordable. One of its first innovations, a plant-based sweetener that is 300 times sweeter than sugar with no calories, has the potential to become more popular than Stevia, Elo states, and can be used …

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