Upcycled food company Renewal Mill has partnered with Miyoko’s Creamery, a plant-based “dairy,” to create a new line of climate-friendly, vegan and gluten-free cookies.
The new soft-baked cookies tap into the “massive consumer shift toward plant-based alternatives” and the growing appetite for F&B that can reduce food waste,” Caroline Cotto, Renewal Mill’s co-founder, tells.
“The two biggest things we can do to fight climate change right now are reduce food waste and eat more plant-based diets – a vegan cookie with upcycled ingredients accomplishes both of these goals.”
The new Salted Peanut Butter cookie was designed by James Beard Award-winning chef Alice Medrich, who will expand the line into Chocolate Chip and Snickerdoodle varieties later this spring.
Leveraging every last bit
Renewal Mill’s latest cookie line is sourced from two upcycled ingredients. Miyoko’s brings its European Style Cultured Vegan Butter to the mix, utilizing what’s left in its churning equipment at the end of production.
The vegan butter is palm-oil free and crafted to melt, brown, spread and bake exactly like dairy-derived butter.
Renewal Mill’s meanwhile contributes its upcycled okara ingredient, derived from soy pulp considered a “waste” product following soymilk production.
“In Japan, if you made soymilk at home, you would never throw away the okara. You would sautee it with vegetables to make a side dish or use it in baking, such as savory pancakes,” notes Cotto.
In an added point of synergy, Miyoko’s Creamery founder and CEO, Miyoko Schinner, used okara as a key ingredient in her first company in Japan.
Upcycling nutrients
Okara flour is packed with fiber and protein, it’s grain-free, gluten-free, low carb, keto-friendly, and bakes comparably to traditional flours, underscores Cotto.
Renewal Mill’s organic okara flour contains 3 g net carbs, 20 g of fiber and 7g of protein. It is versatile for baking and cooking with a natural white flour taste.
Besides okara, Renewal Mill also works with oat milk producers to turn the pulp leftover from making oat milk into a high protein flour.
“Our process can be applied to many of the billions of tons of byproducts produced each year. We’ve worked with everything from carrot pulp to vanilla bean pulp in our R&D kitchen,” says Cotto.
The company uses a proprietary co-location model where it installs equipment inside of the manufacturing facilities of its partners to capture and process byproducts before they leave the factory floor for the first time.
Partnerships to widen reach
Renewal Mill’s latest cookie line marks the first co-branded, upcycled product using Miyoko’s Creamery ingredients.
Cotto explains that partnerships are instrumental to building the upcycled food movement and are a key part of the company’s business strategy.
“Our main mission is to reduce food waste, so the more companies using our upcycled ingredients in their products, the more impact potential we have.”
Besides Miyoko’s, the company has partnered with brands like Salt & Straw for upcycled vegan ice cream, Burlap & Barrel to use their ethically sourced single-origin spices in custom cookie mixes and Seconds Crackers, which uses Renewal Mill’s upcycled oat milk flour in their upcycled carrot crackers.
Upcycling gaining traction
Innova Market Insights notably named “Upcycling Redefined” one of its Top Ten Trends for 2022, a manifestation of its number one trend: “Shared Planet.”
This comes as the Upcycled Food Association released the first upcycled certification program last year, of which Renewal Mill is a founding member.
“Now products can be upcycled certified the way they would be certified organic or certified non-GMO,” says Cotto.
“We’re hoping that this certification will incentivize more food manufacturers to make their supply chains and production processes more circular.”
She adds that some of the largest food manufacturers, like Mondelēz, Del Monte and Barry Callebaut, have gotten products certified under the new upcycling labeling scheme.
