Plant-based Goodness
It’s all-in the truffle
When Lina and her husband Johan were on a trip, he and some friends arranged a truffle hunt. During this trip, they met true artisans who were making genuine products in an outdated process for a very local market. According to Lina, when the tasting part began, "they told us that about 80% of all truffle oils in the world are made with only artificial flavorings." That's unfortunate because the truffle has a wide range of flavors. Today, up to eight out of ten truffle products in a supermarket have a truffle flavor that has been artificially produced in a lab. “The truffle flavor you taste is not real because it has only one - yes, you read that right - flavor compound. Whereas a white truffle can have as many as eighty.” When Lina added this new knowledge to what they already knew about other artificial aromas and additives, she wanted to be part of a change. “I wanted to create natural and authentic add-ons in terms of seasoning, flavoring, and condiments. Add-ons that are viable, real, and packed in a contemporary way."
This excursion became the starting point of Lina and Johan's journey. “Using only natural ingredients and real truffles as part of these ingredients, [it is a] very tricky thing to achieve because truffles are very volatile and deteriorate quickly." Fortunately, they both were already active within the food-tech sector, and a friend of theirs had developed a technique to create an excellent truffle flavor, with fresh truffles included in the ingredient list. Besides offering a genuine product with respect to craftsmanship and traditions, the look and feel of the packaging also played a key role in the development of the products. “The presentation is highly fashionable, and the bonus of these [MIRON] containers is that they are produced with exceptional protective glass that ensures the longevity of the content. That really completes the package!” All of the above contributes to offering you a taste as close to the authentic products as possible without utilizing artificial aromas.
Food system
As members of the Food Innovation Network of Skåne and Blekinge, Lina and Johan are part of a growing network of food producers working in more innovative categories. “Many of us are looking for solutions to problems in our current food system related to sustainability and resources, for example, alternatives in proteins or other functions.”
& our friends incorporated their innovation and processes of working naturally without unnecessary food processing, while still creating genuine taste and applications through new techniques instead of using any artificial elements, as part of their Foodtech solution. “This is a part of our intentions to solve issues in our food system. We work exclusively on a plant basis and use every element of the plant in different parts of our production, thus completing a zero-waste policy.”
All of & our friends’ products are vegan and dairy-free. Many are gluten-free, some KETO-friendly, low in carbohydrates, and others functional. As all of & our friends’ products are natural, “they are more volatile than any artificial, chemically, and industrially processed stuff! The UV glass ensures that we can maintain the product quality all the way and keep the genuineness of the products.”
Who said vegan couldn’t be premium?
When it comes to the packaging, Lina did a lot of research on containers. “To be perfectly honest, when I started looking for the contemporary design, I first and foremost fell in love with the design.
They would look so beautiful in any kitchen, at any dinner table, or as the perfect gift when you go to dinner parties.” Second, their development team wanted their products to be used as much as possible. They realized that by putting them on the dining room table as a showpiece or using them as everyday products when cooking, the products are probably exposed to sunlight daily. Therefore, "the packaging must protect the uniqueness of the product, which is very important. A tin box may be protective in a sense, but how many of us like to display a tin can at a dinner party or at the table in a restaurant? MIRON glass solved that problem for us, both technically and design-wise! For us, the design aspect is essential to allow customers to try a natural product and compare it to an artificial or industrially manufactured one.”