Most nutrition experts these days recommend eating a plant-based diet, but for many people that seems like a big challenge. You may feel that you don’t have time to cook fresh food every day, or maybe you don’t want to have to shop in one of those expensive organic grocery stores. One company, however, is hoping to make it easier for people to make healthy choices in the grocery store. Hampton Creek is a food technology company that uses healthy ingredients derived from extensive research on plant proteins to make processed foods.
Hampton Creek started out by making an egg-substitute called Beyond Eggs. After researching and collecting data on thousands of species of plants, they identified a type of pea that, in combination with other ingredients, would work in a recipe as a binding agent. This development led to the creation of Just Mayo, an eggless mayonnaise made with Beyond Eggs. Currently Hampton Creek sells four varieties of Just Mayo: original, garlic, sriracha, and chipotle.
Hampton Creek’s food scientists found that a protein in sorghum, one of the cheapest grains to cultivate, can also mimic the properties of an egg. They used sorghum to make Just Cookie Dough. Sorghum has the added benefit of contributing sweetness to the recipe, thus decreasing the amount of sugar required. Hampton Creek currently offers two flavors of Just Cookie Dough, chocolate chip and peanut butter.
Although they started out with only a handful of products, Hampton Creek is a fast-growing company with plans to greatly expand both its product line and its market reach. They recently announced plans to introduce 43 more products, including pancakes, brownies, more salad dressings, and more baking mixes. They’ve also got more than 500 products ready for development.
Hampton Creek products are currently carried by many large grocery store chains in the U.S., including Walmart, Costco, Target, the Dollar Store and Whole Foods. Through the food service company Compass Groups, Hampton Creek foods are also available in many restaurants, cafeterias, and stadiums. They are looking to expand worldwide.
To keep up with new facts about Hampton Creek, you can check out their website or follow them on Facebook.