To date, the plant-based category has almost exclusively been focused on making meatless versions of meat with long lists of ingredients that are hard to pronounce and find in nature. That’s changing as more product developers are turning to whole foods to drive innovation and give consumers what they want: flavor, texture and a clean label.
Walnuts are the whole food answer for three innovative companies: KOMO, Nutcase Vegan and Hella Nuts. In their plant-based products, walnuts play a starring role. We talked to each company about the process to create plant-based meat alternatives in a market that has struggled to find long-term success stories. For more information on the benefits of using walnuts as plant-based ground meat, visit our website.
Sofi Award Winner Puts Meat Alternative Category in the News: Nutcase Vegan Walnut Meats — Monica Randles, M.D.
Nutcase Vegan’s Specialty Food Association sofi Award put walnut ground meat on the map like never before. The husband and wife medical doctor team of Andrew Maternowski and Monica Randles started developing its flagship product a couple of years ago, when the sofi’s didn’t even have a meat-alternative category. Randles said that they were looking for a healthy, fulfilling meat alternative that would fit with a clean eating type of diet.
“I did an elimination diet. Pro-inflammatory foods, eliminated gluten, refined sugars, etc. for three weeks,” she said. “In just four days I was feeling better; in three weeks the back pain I was having went away. So, the proof was in the pudding, so to speak. In medical school they don’t teach avoidance, or subscribing to a pro-inflammatory food diet. We went vegan later that year.”
Randles wanted to keep the lifestyle change going, and in her list of dietary needs, the grocery store was lacking in terms of meat alternatives. They tried homemade seitan, but it was too water heavy. Then she read a book that said tree nuts were helpful as well as brown rice and quinoa.
“We love breakfast sausage, chorizo and sweet Italian blends, but we wanted to make some sort of a nutty loaf,” Randles said.
The physicians finally found their perfect formula, but friends and family weren’t convinced: In fact, Andrew’s father said they had to be “nuts” to leave their careers as physicians and start this business. But, they knew they had to make the leap and help people by selling a product that encouraged people to adhere to a more plant-based diet.
“Andrew was working in the hospital almost always, and it was always in crisis mode. People were super stressed, having heart attacks, and we weren’t hearing much about plant-based diets — even the hospital menu wasn’t. We knew we’d be helping people,” she said. “There’s definitely something unique about this product, especially for me in terms of wanting it to be approachable.”
Nutty Loaf, Nutty Burger, Breakfast Sausage, Chorizo and Sweet and Hot Italian Sausage can be cooked or microwaved, and it even appeals to vegetarians who may be opposed to sausage. Nutty Loaf is pre-cooked, an even more convenient step. It’s just California walnuts, quinoa and brown rice, part of a decision to have great mouthfeel, a heartiness and of course great taste.
“We also want to focus on being sustainable. We use silicone packaging, which is less waste,” Randles said. “We also choose the next product based on what’s driving consumers. That’s how we chose our Sweet Italian. But, what makes us unique in the plant-based sector is that we’re organic, we’re oil free, we’re kosher. We also wanted to reduce saturated fats — a move closer to where we wanted to be for contributing to this space.”
A Vegan Product for the Community: Hella Nuts — Mieko Scott
Mieko Scott and her daughter, Kami, noticed something was “missing” on store shelves in the plant-based meat alternative sector. Both are chefs who are passionate about providing plant-based meals that are soy-free, non-GMO and organic, and the main reason why Hella Nuts Ground Meat came to be was because there were no alternatives to soy in the market, according to Mieko.
Most vegan establishments used soy oil or soy-based proteins. Mieko said that the Hella Nuts Ground Walnut Meat focus is a clean label vegan product with walnuts, tomatoes, mushrooms and onions. Customers can look at the front of the bag to see all of the ingredients. Hella Nuts is pre-seasoned, frozen and easily pops right into the skillet, a simple option for people who may not enjoy cooking or didn’t have time to make a huge meal.
The duo started selling Hella Nuts at pop-up events, and leaning into the convenience, tacos were the go-to entrée at first, but then new customers started asking for the product at parties.
“Then we had to pivot because of the pandemic. When we dropped it on social media at the time there was a lot of injustice in America, so people were looking for Black-owned companies. And it blew up from there,” Mieko said.
Previous to the creation of Hella Nuts, Mieko and Kami worked hard on bridging the gap of having an appealing vegan plant-based eatery in their community. The eatery itself serves as an opportunity for the community to try the walnut meat or other vegan dishes before customers go to the store. It helps with a progressive eating movement of a Black community that may be more open to trying vegan foods.
“That’s why we have a Black man on the package. He’s a local recording artist in Oakland, and he’s very popular here. He always offers people food; he’s always nice and smiling; and we want people to relate to our community,” Mieko said. “He also isn’t vegan, so we want to share that you don’t have to be vegan to love vegan options.”
Taste is certainly king with consumers, and the versatile walnut helps combat the stigma of flavorless vegan food. Mieko and Kami also use California walnuts, supporting the local farmers in the area who have been growing walnuts for years.
“Walnuts aren’t super hard, so when you’re eating them, they almost melt in your mouth,” Mieko said. “They pair well with the flavors that we incorporate in the dish — spices and vegetables — and we ground the walnuts down so the texture isn’t too crunchy or mushy.”
The Secret’s in the Walnut-Based Sauce: KOMO Plant-Based Walnut Bolognese Sauce — Jeffrey Ma
Komo’s hearty vegan Bolognese sauce is made with walnuts and is one of the only products of its kind on grocery store shelves. It’s hearty, comforting and convenient — three product attributes that Komo’s founder and product developer Jeffrey Ma insisted on with the launch of the product.
Ma helped start Komo, which produces plant-based ready-to-eat sauces, lasagna, shepherd’s pie and more, all with wholesome, clean label ingredients.
“A lot of plant-based foods on the market today are moving away from wholesome ingredients, whereas we think consumers really care about wholesome ingredients,” Ma said. “So we use a lot of walnuts, lentils — we don’t try to stay away from allergens or whole foods, instead we really lean into them.”
For the Bolognese — an obvious comfort food and one of Ma’s favorites — the idea was to make something easy for consumers to use, whether it was used as a pasta topper or in a sloppy joe sandwich as a meat alternative.
“We always wanted to add texture. Texture is really important, and that heartiness is really important, so in our Bolognese we use chopped walnuts to add healthy fats, a protein, as well as texture,” Ma said. “That gives our Bolognese a bit of bite, which consumers really love. We love to call out the product as a walnut bolognese upfront because we know consumers are looking more toward whole foods, and calling out walnuts gives that feel to the product.”
Ma said the meatless bolognese tastes like a traditional Bolognese, which was one of his goals when developing the product. To date, the response has been very positive, especially when consumers notice the ingredient list.
“We’re leveraging the walnuts and the legumes. There’s a lot of hype around cultured meats, and our brand is really going back to real food and real ingredients,” Ma said. “We’re focused on that. That’s a trend that will never go away.”
These products are mentioned for informational purposes only and inclusion does not imply an endorsement.
Ready to continue the walnut ground meat conversation? Contact kseiz@walnuts.org for more information on formulating an innovative plant-based product.
