2018 E-zine Coverage What Makes Premium Cassava Flour Special?

Manufacturers of baked goods with the development of adopted starch manufacturing and snack foods differentiate delicious, high-quality baked technology and since produced in the crowded marketplace goods and snack foods. and sold only tapioca starch by offering specialty products and a number of them that speak to today’s FBN: What is cassava? continued to refer to this consumers’ wants and needs. new ingredient as tapioca Some of the most frequently Mr. Festejo: Cassava, also flour. Tapioca flour, or more requested products are those commonly known as yucca or appropriately, cassava flour, is with gluten-free, grain-free and manioc, is a perennial woody still produced and consumed non-GMO claims. shrub with an edible root that in tropical countries where the grows in tropical and subtropical cassava plant is indigenously Food Business News spoke with areas of the world. While many grown. However, the quality and Mel Festejo, COO of AKFP to food professionals are familiar characteristics of the flour are learn how Premium Cassava with and have used tapioca adapted only to native dishes Flour, alone or in a mix, assists starches and like derivatives, few in these countries. These local know that tapioca’s raw material cassava flours are not well is the root of the cassava plant. suited for use in gluten-free Tapioca or cassava starch is baked goods and snack foods. produced by the extraction of Our proprietary technology is only the starch component of making cassava flour a highly the root. Tapioca or cassava suitable functional, nutritional, flour, on the other hand, requires clean-label ingredient for gluten- the processing of the whole free and even grain-free baking peeled root. Too many people applications. erroneously believe that these starch and flour ingredients are FBN: How is something old like one and the same. cassava, now a new ingredient for product innovators to FBN: Is cassava readily explore? available in the U.S.? Mr. Festejo: We developed Mr. Festejo: Cassava Premium Cassava Flour, which processors and vendors, delivers baking performance mostly from Asia, produced characteristics that closely and sold tapioca flour up until mimic the structure, texture the late 1970s. They then and taste of numerous

SmartSolution: Acrylamide Reduction. Acrylamide, a known Group 2A carcinogen, is formed in food when asparagine reacts with reducing sugars under high temperature/low moisture conditions. Consequently, many baked goods and snack foods contain this compound. This is particularly true of extruded snacks based on dehydrated potatoes, which are often used because of their excellent extrudate properties. The challenge is that potatoes contain high levels of reducing sugars. Premium cassava flour, on the other hand, has similar extrudate properties while having much lower levels (not exceeding 0.5%) of reducing sugars. Premium cassava flour can be used in baked and fried extruded snacks, providing a smart approach to addressing the acrylamide reduction challenge.

AKFP_Ezine_April2018_REV.indd 4 11/1/2018 10:43:40 AM wheat-based products. We invested more than a year in developing and perfecting the specialized manufacturing process that produces this ingredient from cassava root, which is naturally gluten- free. It’s an AKFP proprietary bland or product exclusively sold by the neutral flavor company. It is very different and is relatively from the various flours freeze-thaw stable. It has indigenous to cassava-growing low levels of reducing sugars, countries. It is designed to which helps to minimize work well in gluten-free baking acrylamide formation. Our muffins, and extrusion applications. proprietary process yields pancakes, Now consumers can enjoy flour with about 7% dietary tortillas, breads, buns gluten-free baked goods with fiber content, which positively and pizza crusts. This flour all of the satisfying taste, contributes to the nutritional allows for high-quality gluten- moistness and texture they profile of foods. Our Premium free and grain-free baked expect in high-quality baked Cassava Flour has been products with minimal need goods. And bakers can tested to perform well for for other flours and baking offer these products with cookies, brownies, cakes, aids in the recipe. the confidence that they meet the same quality standards as their regular wheat-based products.

FBN: How is Premium Cassava Flour special?

Mr. Festejo: Premium Cassava Flour takes on most of the desirable characteristics of tapioca starch, including low- gelatinization temperature, paste clarity, good viscosity,

Smart Solution: Extruding with Plant Proteins.

Plant proteins are increasingly being used to boost the nutritional value of breakfast cereals and snack foods. Formulating such high-protein extruded products, however, can be challenging, as proteins generally do not extrude well. Premium cassava flour has been shown to be an ideal extrusion aid when used to complement a high-protein grain, such as quinoa flour. A study performed by Rutgers University’s Department of Food Science showed that cassava flour helped in the expansion and textural quality of ready-to-eat breakfast cereal based on a cassava-quinoa blend. Premium cassava flour is a smart solution to assist with the protein fortification of extruded grain-based foods.

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