In partnership with award-winning chef Greg Baxtrom and his acclaimed New York City restaurant Olmsted, Finnish food company Solar Foods unveils its groundbreaking Solein protein, which was discovered in nature and is produced with air and electricity, resulting in one of the most sustainable, nutritious and adaptable food ingredients ever discovered.
Discovered in Nordic nature, Solein is a nutritious protein-rich powder, made up of a single-cell organism that is grown with carbon dioxide and hydrogen, completely independent of land use and agriculture. Taking the form of a flour-like powder, the protein can be used as a nutritional ingredient in everything from pasta to beverages to ice cream, as it blends into both savory and sweet foods. Solein can be used to replace existing proteins in a variety of foods, for example in alternative dairy and meat, or in different snacks and beverages, noodles and pasta, breads and spreads. With its mild, umami flavor, Solein also enriches and deepens the natural character of different foods and products. It also has an unmatched nutritional profile, composed of 75% protein, along with dietary fibers, unsaturated fats, minerals and vitamins including iron and B12.
Unlike other comparable proteins, Solein does not rely on agriculture at all, and instead requires only renewable energy, airborne materials, and a small amount of minerals – the same ones a plant would take with its roots from the soil – for its production, offering an exciting answer to many of the food production problems humanity faces. As the first ever food ingredient at this production scale, whose production is disconnected from the limits of traditional agriculture, Solein has the potential to drastically transform what we eat and where food can be produced.
Solein’s US Debut
At his award-winning seasonal new American restaurant Olmsted (awarded one of Esquire’s Best New Restaurants in America; Bon Appetit’s 50 Best New Restaurants in America; Food & Wine’s 2017 Restaurant of the Year; and The New York Times “10 Best Restaurants in 2016”; among others), chef Greg Baxtrom is known for his seasonal and creative vegetable-forward menu. With prior culinary experience working on some of the world’s most exciting and innovative kitchens in the country including at Alinea in Chicago, Blue Hill at Stone Barns, Per Se and Lysverket in Norway, chef Baxtrom is perfectly positioned to introduce a novel ingredient in the US. He has incorporated Solein into a four-course menu, with two of his signature dishes included, which are available at Olmsted through the end of November:
- Solein Delicata Squash Rings with green tomato ketchup and ‘fallikake’
- Brussels Sprout Solein Spaetzle with Piave Vecchio and alfredo sauce
- Solein Carrot Crepe with carrot butter, sunflower and preserved lemon
- Old School Solein Chocolate Mousse with poached Italian plums and orange marmalade
In these dishes, Chef Baxtrom has replaced traditional dairy products such as milk and butter, as well as egg yolk with Solein, showcasing how Solein can make foods more sustainable and nutritious, without diners even noticing the difference.
“Sustainability has always been a core value for us at Olmsted,” says Baxtrom. “Whether it’s creating a robust composting program or working with purveyors to showcase underutilized cuts of meat, employing sustainable practices is an important part of the work we do at the restaurant. When Solar Foods approached us to partner with them to be the first to launch Solein, we were excited. Our mission is very much aligned as we both look to the future of food.”
The Future of Food with Solein
In the last year alone, Solein has made major advancements, though the potential for this groundbreaking new ingredient is still largely untapped. Solar Foods first unveiled Solein in Singapore last year at a private dinner cooked by Michelin-starred restaurant chef Mirko Febbrile, and soon after they opened the world’s first ever food facility, Factory 01, producing protein out of thin air, which now has the capacity to produce Solein on a commercial scale.
First consumer products containing Solein were launched in Singapore during this year, including a Taste the Future Snack Bar by the Finnish food company Fazer, and Mooncakes by the Japanese food giant Ajinomoto. An indicator of how truly innovative this discovery is, Solar Foods was selected by NASA as the international category winner of its Deep Space Food Challenge, an acknowledgement of Solein as a potential food source that can also be produced in space. As Solein now has obtained the self-affirmed GRAS status (Generally Recognized as Safe) in the United States, and as more chefs, food scientists and the food industry professionals begin to explore the possibilities of the ingredient and discover new applications, the flavor and food possibilities are immeasurable.
