DuPont Nutrition & Health has filed an international patent application covering a stabilising ingredients solution for vegetable whipping cream, otherwise known as non-dairy or imitation cream.
“We are planning to launch a new version, called Grindsted WP 300 Flexwhip, which is sugar-free and protein-free, aligning to growing health trends like sugar reduction,” DuPont Nutrition & Health global business development manager, Linda Friis, told FoodNavigator.
“The launch will be first to the European market, outside Russia, and we hope to extend that offering to the US and Asia in the future as well,” she added.
This latest offering joins the company’s existing range of Danisco brand ingredients solutions for vegetable whipping creams – a market that DuPont says is on the rise.
This is in part due to the vast applications of non-dairy whipped cream, which can include vegan soft serve ice cream, mayonnaise, cake decoration, and salad dressing, writes the firm in its patent application (available here).
Other benefits include the low seasonal variations in the final product, compared to those of dairy whipping cream. “This is a benefit in many applications of the product,” DuPont continues.
Further, manufacturing costs are significantly lower than for dairy whipping cream.
“There is a wish in the industry to reduce the cost of the whipping cream,” according to DuPont, who said that one of the more costly ingredients is protein.
“Protein-free whipping cream – or vegetable whipping cream with low levels of special proteins, like gelatine and acid tolerant protein, is becoming more and more popular. Also for the vegan market, protein-free vegetable whipping cream is requested.”
Overcoming the ‘whip-ability’ challenge
The ideal imitation cream has firm and stable foam, short whipping time, good mouth-feel and good ‘overrun’ or ‘whip-ability’ – the technical term that describes the percentage volume increase attained during the whipping process.
However, according to DuPont, producing a good imitation cream with these attributes “is not easily accomplished’.
In particular, ensuring cream stability while retaining whipping properties is a major challenge. “Whipping cream stability in the bottle and good whipped cream properties have hitherto been conflicting properties, improving the one leading to impairment of the other,” writes the firm in its patent submission.
DuPont’s invention therefore aims to provide an efficient whipping agent additive that offers protein-free vegetable whipping cream good storage stability, with “excellent whipping properties”.
In addition, vegetable whipping cream made with DuPont’s solution remains stable even after temperature fluctuations and vibrations.
Other benefits include its versatility – the vegetable cream can be whipped using a whisk, industrial aeration methods, or with an aerosol can – and its ability to improve the stability of reduced-fat offerings, such as vegan soft serve.