The demand for plant-based meals has risen astronomically. It’s a development being pushed by the rising variety of shoppers adhering to a flexitarian-style weight loss program, in addition to these with meals sensitivities and intolerances.
For some, the phrases “plant based mostly” would possibly evoke photographs of one-for-one swaps, however Richard Hoelzel, company government chef at Idahoan® Foodservice, sees one thing else coming into focus.
“Customers are discovering that there’s extra to creating plant-based options higher for you,” Hoelzel says. “Slightly, clean-label merchandise are one thing individuals are actually beginning to prioritize, together with plant-based options.”
To fulfill the demand for clean-label, plant-based meals, cooks are turning towards potatoes. Potatoes are a nutritious vegetable that can be utilized in quite a lot of dishes, dayparts, and cuisines. They are often served mashed or shredded in conventional sides, or used as a comforting, wholesome base in artistic bowls or salads.
“The potato is a car,” Hoelzel says. “That’s how I have a look at it. While you speak about innovation, there are such a lot of choices if you end up working with potatoes.”
The draw back of uncooked potatoes, nevertheless, is their comparatively brief shelf-life and the excessive labor prices related to preparation. That’s why cooks love Idahoan’s Trustworthy Earth® line of fresh label merchandise, that are created utilizing a proprietary cooking methodology to supply Recent-Dried™ potatoes. The cooking methodology “honors the integrity of the potato,” Hoelzel says, whereas including a bunch of operational benefits. Included in these benefits is the truth that the merchandise carry a 12-month shelf life and subsequently scale back meals waste.
In contrast to potatoes which have undergone conventional dehydrated methodologies, Idahoan’s Recent-Dried™ potatoes stay structurally sound. That’s why Trustworthy Earth merchandise are thought-about speed-scratch elements—they carry out and style the way in which a potato ought to. Better of all, cooks get the credit score for this whereas chopping again on labor in any other case spent prepping potatoes.
Hoelzel makes use of the Trustworthy Earth Creamy Mashed Potatoes or the Trustworthy Earth Rustic Mashed Potatoes in globally impressed bowls, like a Mashed Potato and Tofu Curry Bowl, or a Candy Chili Pork Bowl with Creamy Mashed Potatoes. Trustworthy Earth Hash Brown Shredded Potatoes open up a world of prospects on each single menu—they are often made into Hash Brown Latkes or served as the bottom of a Cajun Crawfish Creole Bowl, for instance.
Every Trustworthy Earth product accommodates easy, acquainted elements. The Trustworthy Earth Creamy Mashed Potatoes and Trustworthy Earth Rustic Mashed Potatoes include Recent-Dried™ potatoes, and a touch of sea salt and butter for taste and texture. Trustworthy Earth Shredded Potatoes include Recent-Dried™ potatoes, sea salt, and cracked black pepper. Cooks solely want so as to add water, or another liquid—Hoelzel even recommends coconut milk, or inventory—to refresh the potatoes and allow a world of plant-based innovation.
“No person out there may be doing potatoes the way in which we do them,” Hoelzel says. “These are clean-label potatoes that carry out precisely the identical as for those who made them in-house. It’s really a scratch-quality, foodservice-friendly, plant-based ingredient.”
For extra on Trustworthy Earth, go to idahoanfoodservice.com/honestearth.
By Charlie Pogacar
