From ‘like milk’ to great foaming: give consumers what they want.
What do people want from oat drinks? The answers are as varied as your consumers and markets. Some want oat drinks to be ‘milk-like’, or as close to milk as possible. Others want a more cereal taste or creamier texture. Oat beverage drinkers in some regions enjoy a sweeter taste, while others prefer little to no sweetness. But all consumers agree that in milk alternatives for barista coffees, good foaming is a must. And most consumers want oat-based milk with a high protein content and as few ingredients as possible.
Whatever your consumers are asking for, all the answers are inside the oats, waiting to be found. And you can find them with the Vertera® Oat biosolutions toolbox.
The non-soy beverages market is booming and oat is one of the fastest-growing segments. But giving consumers everything they want from oat drinks can be a challenge. Turn the challenge into an opportunity with our biosolutions.
Flavor is top priority for almost 75% of consumers when choosing an oat drink1. But they also care about nutrition and ingredients.
In dairy alternatives like oat drinks, high protein levels are essential to win over health-conscious consumers. Our enzymes break down large, insoluble oat protein to smaller, more soluble peptides. That means you can get more soluble protein from oats and develop drinks with higher protein levels.
Whatever level of sweetness you’re aiming for, enzymes can help. One of our enzymes delivers a prolonged reaction which leads to maltose formation, creating oat-based drinks with a mildly sweet taste. Another converts maltose into glucose, which is ideal for producing sweeter drinks. With our tailored blends, you can get exactly the sweetness your consumers demand. And you could potentially unlock no/low added sugar claims.
Our enzyme technologies are natural processing aids. That means they’re not functional in the final products. They’re the consumer friendly-choice to help you meet market demand for less processed oat drinks.
With our guide to tailoring oat drinks to your consumers’ preferences, you can find the answers inside the oats. Whether you're working with a beverage manufacturer or a dairy company, the guide outlines key questions you need to answer when starting up oat drink production.
How can you get high-quality, long-lasting foam, a flavor to complement coffee and shorter, simpler labels? The answers to all these questions and more are inside the oats.
Proteases, amylases and glucoamylases are three enzymes used for oat drink production. They all work by breaking down oats through a process known as hydrolysis. Each enzyme plays a specific role in getting the exact protein and sensory profile your consumers want.
You can develop your ideal oat drink by using different enzymes at different parts of your process, whether you need higher protein, varying sweetness levels or barista-type foaming.
Introducing Vertera® Oat Toolbox
How can you develop delicious plant-based spreads, drinks and vegurts with great texture and nutritional profiles as well as shorter ingredient lists? The answers to all these questions and more are inside the plants.
Sources:
¹Novonesis via Conjointly: Oat beverage consumers insights (2023)
