Speaking exclusively to Food Navigator, the company’s global director wholesome ingredients, Aaron Edwards said: “The product is targeted specifically at tomato based sauces to help companies take advantage of productivity gains.”
Depending on the food application, the texturiser can replace between 10 to 30 per cent of the tomato component of concentrate in recipes while delivering the texture, appearance and sensory qualities of tomato paste, he added.
Food applications
The more tomatoes are taken out of the recipe, the less their taste and visibility in the final product. But for some food applications, tomatoes can be replaced without compromising taste or visual appearance, according to the company.
For example, for pizza topping sauce, up to 20 per cent of tomato paste could be replaced with 1.3 per cent to 1.5 per cent of Precisa Pulp 01.
When making pasta sauce, between 10 – 25 percent of the tomatoes could be replaced with 1.25 per cent to 1.5 per cent of the texturiser.
“Replacing up to 30 per cent of tomato solids could lead to significant savings, particularly now when prices are high,” said Edwards. “Companies producing 10,000 tonnes of sauce could easily save 500,000 euros depending on their recipe and individual requirements.”
In addition to cost savings the texturiser is also said to improve the consistency and pulpiness of tomato recipes. Since tomatoes don’t always provide enough stability of viscosity in processing, tomato recipe manufacturers often add a starch base thickener.
Precisa Pulp 01 delivers that stable viscosity and also contributes to the recipe’s pulpiness, said Edwards. “When you remove tomatoes from recipes, you lose the grainy texture or pulpiness. But the potato fibre (in the new texturiser) delivers the pulpiness than would normally come from the potatoes themselves.”
Said to perform in the harshness of processing conditions, including high shear and intense heat, the texturiser is made from modified tapioca starch and potato fibre.
As well as pizza and pasta toppings, applications include: Wet cooking sauces, and ketchup.
Apple and strawberries
A number of tomato paste manufacturers started using the new product in September and National Starch has even been asked about additional uses. “Although positioned for the tomato sauce market, we have been contacted by other companies with regard to using it to replace other ingredients such as apple and strawberries,” said Edwards.
Meanwhile, higher tomato prices this autumn, after a less than ideal harvest, has left food manufacturers hungry to make cost savings, he said.
Lower-cost tomato supplies from China are leading some manufacturers to move away from their traditional suppliers in Spain, Italy and Turkey.
Precisa Pulp 01 is being marketed in Europe, the Middle East and Africa.