Feed to Food, BOON sausage rolls from field beans

The Dutch company BOON develops vegetable food products made from, the name says it all, beans. They not only look at the possibilities to make a tasty product of it. The innovation team is continuously studying different beans. Recently, they have taken a thorough look at the field bean, among other things. These beans are mainly ued in the Netherlands as cattle feed. A shame, according to BOON. After intensive research they found out that the protein-rich field beans are a very good alternative to soybeans. With their 2 newest products they succeeded in converting feed into food. They introduce: BOON sausages and BOON sausage rolls, made from field beans.

Field beans, protein source of the future

The team of BOON, consisting of Elke Donkers (Innovation Manager), Jill Olfers (Product Developer) and Michael Luesink (Founder), has been busy over the past six months with the new developments around field bean products. They wanted to work with these beans, because they believe that this is the protein source of the future. The beans can play a nice role in crop rotation, because they bind nitrogen from the air. Real soil enrichers. They are also full of proteins and the amino acid composition of these proteins is very promising. This is also the reason why they are already widely cultivated in the Netherlands as animal feed. In addition, they are a good alternative to imported soy. 

From Feed to Food

In order to clearly demonstrate that field beans do not need to be fed to animals first in order to make tasty end products, they chose to make meat-like products: sausages and sausage rolls. BOON is based in Den Bosch and wanted to provide the locals with a vegetable variant of their favorite snack. By making tasty and recognizable products, they change the field bean from feed to food. In this way, the nutritious beans can be consumed directly by humans, without feeding them to animals first.

Challenge

Structure and taste experience is always a challenge with meat substitutes; developing a recognizable bite and taste was difficult because the basic product (field beans) is completely different from meat in taste and texture. In addition, the dough of the sausage roll also had to become vegan. With the right combination of techniques and recipes they succeeded. 

Future of vegetable food

The plantbased market is developing rapidly. More and more consumers choose not to eat meat for one or more days a week. Michael Luesink and his team see that the vega category is maturing. Luesink believes that innovations in other categories will be necessary to accelerate the transition. There also needs to be more diversity in plant sources. BOON is going to seduce more consumers to eat plant-based food by constantly coming up with tasty, new and diverse innovations. At the same time, their goal is that in 5 years' time, the bean will be well represented in several categories.

For more information visit www.boonbonen.nl or contact [email protected]