Cultured meat is absolutely ready to expand its presence in our diet exponentially. We’ve already seen the success of companies that make in vitro burgers and other types of pork products, like Impossible Foods and Beyond Burger . But where is the chicken? Planted is a Swiss startup that claims its chicken meat is almost indistinguishable from real but more efficient and will soon be cheaper too.
How is the meat of Planted?
It is made solely from pea protein, pea fiber, water, and sunflower oil. The company’s first product, which they call ‘planted chicken’ , faithfully mimics the texture and flavor of chicken meat.
There are no exotic substances or techniques involved , which directs this simple production towards the vegan community as a potential audience to start with. How is it created? Is it planted? Planted chicken is created by making a kind of stringy dough using the aforementioned ingredients, and then using a carefully configured extrusion machine to essentially recreate the structure of the muscle fibers that make up most of the meat . These are reassembled into larger pieces with a texture similar to a chicken breast fillet.
Of course, it has different properties than real chicken: as it does not have fat, collagen or other complex animal substances, it does not cook in the same way , but if, for example, on a grill or griddle it would be ideal. So for the countless dishes where a simple grilled chicken breast is required, it is proven that the planted product is excellent.
Oddly enough, it all started with the -perhaps- most unpleasant substance that can come to mind (don’t worry, it’s not on the menu): witch fish slime or Myxini. This strange substance secreted by the creatures of the deep has interesting properties that attracted the attention of Lukas Böni and Erich Windhab of the food science laboratories of the Federal Polytechnic School of Zurich (Switzerland) who shared an interest in reducing waste and the ecological costs associated with meat production.
“This incredible natural hydrogel and Lukas’ biomimetic approaches contribute greatly to our understanding of today’s meat-like structures and how they can be mimicked and eventually even improved from a biomaterial perspective,” says Pascal Bieri, co-founder of Planted. .
Although they are not fundamentally opposed to meat consumption, they deplore the huge amounts of land required for it, the unethical production methods and other unhealthy by-products of the industry. His hope is to convince meat eaters to choose less toxic alternatives to the planet without asking them to compromise on food quality.
Planted began selling its planted meat in May this year, although the team has been working on its first product for a year and a half.
Although talking about a substance similar to that of chicken may not seem very attractive to the palate, the important thing , experts say, is the tasting , and the tests in that regard have gone very well.
In tests carried out in restaurants throughout Switzerland, the reception has been excellent, they clarify, since some consumers have not been able to distinguish the planted chicken from the real one.
“We researched the product a lot to make it extremely chicken-like ,” Bieri said. “We see great potential to produce our product in the medium term at a lower cost, given the strong economies of scale.”
Getting there in the middle is the problem, of course, but given the frenzy in demand around cultured meat and the growing investment in alternative proteins, it probably won’t be hard to find investors.
Currently, substitute chicken Planted is only available in a handful of Swiss restaurants. The company plans to expand its commercial presence internationally early next year, so until then if you are not in Zurich or Bern you will have to wait a bit to try this exquisite planted chicken.
Reference: ETH Zurich / Image Credit: Planted / ETH Zurich
