New Multifunctional Pea Ingredient Now Available from A&B Ingredients

Swelite binds water much like a sponge and releases it under strong mechanical actions such as chewing, thereby providing excellent juiciness to a multitude of foods.

18 Aug 2009 A&B Ingredients, a leading solutions supplier of natural-based products and value-added ingredients, announced the availability of Swelite, a new multifunctional, non-genetically modified (GMO) pea ingredient containing both dietary fiber and starch. Particularly well-suited for meats and vegetables as a water and fat binder, Swelite also improves both texture and yield.

Harvested from yellow peas, Swelite is an allergen-free, label-friendly ingredient free from gluten and lactose.

In making the announcement, Gil Bakal, Managing Director of A&B Ingredients said, "The pea, as a raw material, has been gaining much notoriety of late as a natural, normal part of our everyday diet. Swelite, is extracted from a natural, reliable source - yellow peas. As a result, it is a GMO-free, label-friendly ingredient free from gluten and lactose, making it an excellent alternative to soy products. We are particularly pleased to add Swelite to our line of natural food ingredients."

Bakal further noted Swelite provides excellent water-binding properties. "Swelite binds water much like a sponge and releases it under strong mechanical actions such as chewing, thereby providing excellent juiciness to a multitude of foods," he said.

Swelite provides exceptional water and fat-binding capacity through capillary uptake, yielding in stable emulsions upon cooking. In cold emulsions it stabilizes 5 parts of water and 5 parts of fat. In hot emulsions results are even greater, stabilizing 1/6/6 with meat fat emulsions.

Swelite also provides excellent texture and yield improvement, forming a matrix within meat, poultry or vegetarian paste. Acting as a shape retention agent, Swelite controls cooking losses and keeps the product in its original form.