Company: Nutriati and PLT Health Solutions

Website: nutriati.com, www.plthealth.com

Ingredient Snapshot: Nutriati, Inc. (Richmond, VA) and commercialization partner PLT Health Solutions, Inc. (Morristown, NJ) have announced that they are introducing a premium quality chickpea flour solution to the North American food market. Called Artesa Chickpea Flour, the new ingredient addresses a number of issues that have prevented other nutritionally desirable pulse/legume flours from gaining widespread adoption – including taste, sensory characteristics and formulating functionality. Featuring a raw material sourcing and manufacturing process custom-designed for the project, Artesa Chickpea Flour delivers a taste profile similar to premium wheat flours, along with similar mouthfeel and texture characteristics. From a formulation functionality standpoint, it offers similar, if not improved, performance compared to wheat flours in a variety of applications. This makes Artesa Chickpea Flour an ideal ingredient for developing consumer-pleasing gluten-free food products such as breads, baked goods and pasta. From a nutritional standpoint, Artesa Chickpea Flour contains a minimum of 12 percent protein. It is a source of resistant starch – and compared to wheat and other pulse flours, has a lower glycemic index. Artesa Chickpea Flour is wholly manufactured in the United States, with chickpeas drawn from select farms in the U.S and Canada. Nutriati will support the development of new food products based on the ingredient from their Applications Technical Center in Richmond, VA.

According to Devin Stagg, chief operating officer of PLT, Artesa Chickpea Flour is an ingredient designed for the future of the food marketplace - that first had to conquer the issue of taste. “Flours made from pulses and legumes have a great deal to offer consumers from a health standpoint – and yet they have failed to become mainstream, primarily because of organoleptic issues – chief of which is taste, Today, taste – or sensory experience - continues its reign as the number one driver of consumer food choice. The Artesa project has had as its goal bringing the nutrition and sustainability of pulse flours to a broad public by directly addressing the issues of taste and final product quality. Our initial work with leading companies in the food industry has demonstrated that we have achieved these goals, he said. “Nutriati chief innovation officer Michael Spinelli – with his long background in consumer product development at Ben & Jerry’s and his leadership in the development of the Sabra Hummus brand - is a food and consumer products expert. Every aspect of ingredient development, from the sourcing and selection of chickpeas to the manufacturing of this flour has been re-imagined in Nutriati’s drive to the current Artesa Chickpea Flour. It is important that people understand the values that underscore this ingredient,” he added.