Organic Processing Vo1.5 #3

used in applications where robust flavor is called for; coffee, chocolate, and sauces are examples.

Label-Friendly Fats

The trouble with fats is that the ones that are good for you are usually the most unstable. For the sake of ease and shelf life, many processors have used unhealthy saturated fats or partially hydrated trans-fats. The latter has not really been developed in organic, and hopefully never will, considering the fact that it lowers your good cholesterol and raises bad cholesterol at the same time. Plus, it’s one of the top ingredients consumers look to avoid.

On the opposite end of the spectrum, omega-3s are a fat that consumers actually want in a product. Shown to be especially important for the brain and the heart, omega 3s are

Chia is not just for growing on
found in hemp, flax, fish oil (a organic _{terracotta animals anymore; it}compliant ingredient) and algae. Chia ^{has high levels of omega 3s.}seed, an Aztec superfood, is another high omega 3 ingredient that
has been getting more attention. Navitas Naturals just launched the
first sprouted milled chia seed powder, which is stable (without refrig-
eration) and gels up nicely in food like hot cereals.

Although omega 3s are the most susceptible to oxidation, many processors are still finding ways to incorporate them successfully. New flax and hemp baked products are coming out all the time, and many functional beverages are being fortified with spirulina and chlorella algae. While heat is an omega’s worst enemy, there is a new omega oil blend that can even be used for frying and in aseptic packaged and retort products.

Because soybeans are about 7 percent omega 3, (linolenic acid), they are somewhat unstable and thus soy oil is often hydrogenated. Although newer, more stable forms of soybean oil from low linolenic soybeans have been cross-bred for standard applications, they have not reached the organic market. With linolenic acid most likely to oxidize and produce off flavors, the organic solution is to turn to oils with a different fatty acid profile, ones rich in monounsaturated fatty acids. Because olive oil is strong-flavored and relatively expensive, canola and high oleic versions of sunflower oil are becoming preferred choices where the applications call for liquid oils.

Expeller-pressed canola and soybean oils can have the stability equal to or better than partially hydrogenated soybean oil. Their unique properties are due to the method of refining that shuns the typical hexane solvent extraction. Both oils are ideal for a variety of commercial purposes, including, par-frying and IQF, snack foods, dressings, sauces, mayonnaise, and other foodservice applications.

Filling Up With Fiber

A popular alternative to avoiding calories from fats and sugars is to increase the fiber content of foods. There are several ways of getting

fiber into the diet, most of which we are all familiar with—whole grains, beans, fruits and vegetables. Seeds such as flax, chia and hemp are also high in fiber. Americans recognize

the need for fiber, but don’t want to taste it. So manufactures have made fiber into a more attractive and versatile ingredient.

Stonyfield Farms’ organic dairy adds inulin, a fructose polymer, to its fat-free yogurt as both thickener and source of fiber. Inulin functions much like soluble fiber, slowing the entrance of sugar into the blood and acting as a prebiotic, the food for friendly gut bacteria. The taste of inulin tends to be either bland or slightly sweet. As a food additive, inulin can replace sugar, fat and flour to drive down the calorie content of the food, with the side benefit of increasing the absorption of calcium.

Resistant starch, the portion of starchy food that reaches the colon undigested, also acts as a prebiotic. This comes from starches that are high in amylose, the more straight chain of the starches, or rich in retrograde starch—starch that has cooled after gelatinization.

At present, there is no organic high amylose corn from which resistant starch is produced, but it is a product to watch for in the future, as it has many of the same properties of inulin.

A form of fiber used in food bars is the gum of the acacia tree. Gums tend to swell with water and slow small intestinal transit time, which has the effect of reducing the absorption rate of sugars. Escaping digestion, gums migrate to the colon to act as a prebiotic, the same as any other soluble fiber. Acacia fiber, however, may hold down colonic fermentation, which decreases gas and bloating.