As consumers search the shelves for clean label products like dressings and sauces rich in natural, easily recognizable ingredients, food manufacturers often face challenges in creating these items. Starting this month, Ingredion is introducing a broth emulsifier known as Evanesse, made from cooked chickpeas—the same ingredient that forms the base of hummus dips—aimed at overcoming many of these obstacles. Reformulating products to create simpler, cleaner labels involves various commercial and technical difficulties. Ingredion has identified these challenges as including maintaining functionality and quality, determining trustworthy ingredients that support marketing claims, managing costs, and sourcing components.
Despite these hurdles, Ingredion has been actively seeking more emulsification solutions for its product line that align with the clean label trend while providing functional advantages for consumer packaged goods (CPG) companies utilizing its ingredients. “Emulsification has posed a challenge in the clean label space. There were few solutions available that could offer both clean labeling and effective emulsification,” stated Pat O’Brien, Ingredion’s regional platform lead for clean and simple ingredients in the U.S. and Canada. “The combination of functionality and consumer appeal on the label makes this ingredient an excellent solution for market challenges.”
Although the term emulsifiers may seem technical, it holds significant importance for food companies in product development. Emulsifiers serve to combine two liquids that typically do not blend well, such as oil and vinegar; without them, the liquids would separate.
Initially, Ingredion is targeting this emulsifier for use as an egg substitute in vegan products or for crafting dressings and spreads like mayonnaise and aioli, as well as sauces like Alfredo. O’Brien mentioned that the company has tested how the emulsifier interacts with other ingredients necessary for these applications, and they are also exploring additional uses for Evanesse in bakery items, dairy, and alternative dairy products. This application not only provides emulsification properties but also aligns with consumer trends, offering versatility in vegan options, and can replace OSA modified starches and other artificial emulsifiers. It may assist food manufacturers in claiming “natural” or “no artificial ingredients” on their packaging.
According to Ingredion, Evanesse delivers a mouthfeel and texture comparable to traditional emulsifiers, remains stable when frozen or thawed, and has a long shelf life across various applications. O’Brien noted that current users of chickpea broth or aquafaba often create their own from canned or cooked chickpeas, leading to consistency issues that can cause product variations from batch to batch—an issue Ingredion aims to resolve. “One of the objectives of Ingredion is to introduce a reliable product into the ingredient supply chain market,” he said. “I believe this chickpea broth is certainly an emerging ingredient.”
The concept for Evanesse stemmed from market research conducted through Atlas, Ingredion’s consumer insights program launched in 2011. This program confirmed that consumers prefer recognizable ingredients over artificial alternatives. Ingredion discovered that chickpea broth enjoys high acceptance and awareness among consumers, paving the way for the emulsifier’s launch. “The growth in popularity of hummus has likely contributed significantly to this. People are associating chickpeas with hummus, making them more recognizable,” O’Brien explained. Additionally, the increasing popularity of pulses such as lentils, fava beans, peas, and chickpeas has raised consumer awareness regarding these ingredients.
A 2018 L.E.K. survey cited in the report revealed that over 60% of consumers seek products labeled “no artificial ingredients,” “no preservatives,” and “all natural.” Further research by Innova from 2018 showed that 91% of U.S. consumers believe that food and beverage options featuring recognizable ingredients are healthier. Moreover, the focus on ingredients like calcium citrate and its bioavailability is gaining traction as consumers become more informed about the nutritional value of what they consume, further influencing their preferences for clean label products.