Plant-based cheese alternatives have experienced a significant rise in popularity in recent years, riding the wave of the vegan trend and seeing major new product development investment from forward-thinking manufacturers. Here, Louisa Parrillo, EMEA strategic marketing lead for dairy and alternatives and emerging markets at Ingredion, discusses how manufacturers can tap into the growth of plant-based cheese by focusing on indulgent texture in their formulations.
The rise of vegan cheese
A decade ago, vegan cheese was regarded as a relatively niche food that most consumers had not heard of, and even fewer had eaten. This has now changed following years of strong growth. In 2023 for example, 28% of European consumers increased their consumption of non-dairy cheese alternatives, and overall volume is projected to grow by 18% over the next three years.
This period of growth has been driven by the development of new vegan cheese products that get ever closer to the eating experience delivered by traditional cheese products. The biggest challenge here lies in creating the unique textures and rich protein content required. As manufacturers strive to make the incremental improvements that can differentiate their offerings, the key is likely to be finding new formulations that can cost effectively deliver these attributes.
The texture challenge
An undeniable hallmark of dairy cheese is its indulgent texture, and characteristics such as ‘stretch’ are highly sought after when looking across the cheese category as a whole. This characteristic comes from the casein family of proteins. Casein proteins behave in a unique way when exposed to heat, retaining their chemical structure and creating that unique elasticity in melted cheese as the fat around them liquifies. Casein is exclusively found in milk, and nothing similar exists in the plant kingdom, making this property especially difficult to replicate using plant-based ingredients.
Creaminess is another desirable feature of cheese, and the different types of fats used in vegan analogues can often create a brittle texture rather than the smooth creaminess of traditional products.
Firmness and elasticity at ambient or chilled temperatures allows for the shredding and grating that consumers expect from harder cheeses. While firmer non-dairy cheeses that grate well have been developed, achieving the required texture for this typically results in a trade-off with how they melt.
The search for satisfaction
Protein is not only key to the taste and texture of dairy cheese, but it is also an important nutrient that delivers the satiety consumers have learned to expect from eating it. While plant-based proteins offer nutritional value, they are often regarded as inferior to dairy-based proteins in terms of protein quality. With protein rich ingredients also forming a key cost component, this becomes a key issue in formulating vegan cheeses with consumer appeal.
Crafting vegan cheeses with greater indulgence value demands a range of expertise, and manufacturers may not have all this in-house. This means that new product development can be slow, often taking over 18 months to complete the technical work to reach commercial viability.
In working with the right partner, manufacturers can access up-to-date consumer insights, state-of-the art pilot plant facilities, analytical sensory evaluation services and perhaps most importantly, collaboration with top experts.
Ingredients for success
With the right expertise, new formulations that can help to improve the indulgence value of non-dairy cheese are waiting to be discovered. Thanks to continuing research and development, there are a number of new ingredients that can be combined to achieve this.
Starch has a key role to play in replacing the textural properties of casein, and different starches can be used depending on the style of cheese alternative desired – from parmesan and cheddar to cream cheese and mozzarella.
The latest clean label starch innovations can also be listed as simply ‘starch’ or ‘corn starch’ and can replace modified starches, giving manufacturers the bonus of a simpler ingredients list that consumers of vegan products are likely to prefer.
Where protein is concerned, there are now a growing number of plant-based proteins on the market. Pea and fava bean concentrates are well suited to vegan cheese with high protein levels, and natural flavour modifiers can reduce bitter off-notes that plant proteins inevitably suffer from.
The importance of partnership
As vegan cheese rises in popularity, the gap between the taste, and especially texture, of plant-based alternatives and the traditional products they seek to mimic, presents big opportunities for manufacturers.
Working with a specialist partner can help develop better products that get to market quicker. In a growing market like vegan cheese, with untapped demand for more indulgent products, this could be a very profitable move.
