Whether it’s vegan diets, lactose intolerance or simply the classic desire for a healthier beverage, milk alternatives are here to stay. But with almond, soy, cashew and a whole slew of other dairy-free options, it’s hard to find an “alt-milk” that captures that same feel as cow’s milk.
But at BevNET Live last week, Ripple Foods co-founders Adam Lowry and Dr. Neil Renninger discussed their quest to create a tasty plant-based milk that does contain the same mouth feel and texture of the lactose-laden norm. The result is a sugarless and calcium rich pea milk that the pair say delivers on the health benefits other alt-milks lack, particularly in terms of protein. The Ripple brand has now brought in more than $40 million in investment to fund growth and Whole Foods, Target and Sprouts have been quick adopters of the market-disrupting drink, which launched earlier this year.
Lowry, a former climate scientist and a co-founder of personal care brand Method, and Renninger, an engineer and inventor, both wanted a business that was environmentally and socially conscious, they told the BevNET Live audience in Santa Monica, Calif. on Dec. 6. Using their backgrounds in science, the team looked to not only create a healthy product, but one that would limit contributions to climate change.
“When it comes to climate and our food system, dairy is the largest carbon emitter,” Renninger said. “23 percent, 24 percent of all carbon emissions from our food system come from the dairy industry. That’s more than beef, that’s more than chicken, that’s more than eggs.”
According to Lowry, alt-milk was ripe for a shakeup, as innovation in the space has, for a long time, been what nut the next new milk will be made from.
“You can make a milk out of any kind of nut you want,” he said. “But none of them are nutritious. Everybody knows they’re thin and watery and don’t taste anything like the creamy deliciousness of milk. And the dirty little secret is that nearly all of them don’t have any protein, the number one nutritional benefit of dairy.”
In order to replicate milk, Renninger said, Ripple broke down the elements of milk and rebuilt them using plant-based ingredients. For creaminess — which normally comes from fat — Ripple uses sunflower oil. For the sweetness provided by lactose, Ripple uses certain plant carbohydrates.
Ripple also contains 8 grams of protein. But how to solve pea protein’s notorious flavor issue? According to Renninger, it’s a matter of filtration. Protein itself is actually flavorless, he said, and the foul taste comes from other elements of the plant that are extracted alongside it. Ripple has instead put resources into developing its own filtering process that gets rid of the unwanted taste molecules.
While Lowry and Renninger are bringing new innovation to the dairy alternative market, they say there’s plenty of room for other dairy alternatives and they’re in no rush. But in the long run, they’re confident Ripple will live up to its name as the brand grows.
“Consumers going from dairy to non-dairy right now, they sacrifice protein, they sacrifice taste and they sacrifice the texture,” Lowry said. “At the end of the day, good food wins. And if you make good food that’s of going to have a tendency to rise to the top over time.”