Myceliation: An Alternative Approach to Naturally Solving Taste Defects

Myceliation: An Alternative Approach to Naturally Solving Taste Defects

By Jue Jin

When it comes to handling taste defects, such as a bitter taste in coffee or chocolate, most of the industry has either introduced masking agents or resorted to genetic engineering. Alternatively, myceliation is a natural process that uses mushrooms to consume certain unwanted compounds in foods like bitterness and add beneficial nutrients of mushrooms like beta-glucans which can stimulate your immune system. This process can naturally create smoother bitter-free coffee, better tasting chocolate with no added sugar, stevia with no bitter aftertaste and almost gluten-free wheat.

As the pioneer in this technology, MycoTechnology has developed two key processes: the MycoZyme process and the MycoSmooth process. The MycoZyme process uses mushroom-derived enzymes to interact with food materials to eliminate unwanted compounds in leaves, extracts and powders. The MycoSmooth process involves a fermentation method to inoculate an agricultural substrate with mushroom roots, known as mycelium, to eat bitter or undesirable compounds during their growth and harvest the myceliated agricultural product with enriched nutrients. HPLC testing has been performed to confirm what molecules have been eliminated in the myceliated products and sensory testing has also been conducted. These processes can be instantaneous in a couple of hours or 7-21 days, depending on the compounds needed for the mushrooms to digest. They claim that the process is extremely scalable and has a uniform effect throughout a batch by maximizing surface area and controlling the temperature.

MycoTechnology has recently had its first major deal with Nascent Health Sciences to produce a high purity stevia extract with no bitter aftertaste by utilizing one of the MycoTechnology’s processes. Besides the stevia market, MycoTechnology is also in different stages of entering the market of coffee, chocolate, tea and gluten-free wheat. It has filed over 400 patents for different agricultural products and is continuing the journey of discovering all the incredible things mushrooms can do.

References:

http://www.foodnavigator-usa.com/Suppliers2/Myceliation-A-mushroom-fueled-process-with-gamechanging-applications

http://www.mycotechcorp.com/index.html

http://www.google.com/patents/US20140065263

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