You’re always aiming to supply more nutritious options for your customers— and looking for clever ways to one-up your competitor’s nutrition panel.
Many food manufacturers achieve higher nutrition, easily, by fortifying their products with extra vitamins and minerals. Because functional foods are in high demand, these added benefits appeal to both your consumers and your profitability, as a win-win for pleasing both your market and your company’s bottom line.
But did you know that mushrooms are the secret ingredient many food scientists are using to boost their nutrition panel?
That’s right. Fresh mushrooms and mushroom powder are steadily growing in popularity within the retail market for how easily they can be incorporated into food products without compromising flavor.
What Nutrients Can Mushrooms Supply?
Mushroom varieties all carry different nutritional properties, all of which are also influenced by growing conditions, serving size and heat when cooking. Generally, mushrooms carry a diverse offering of nutrients, such as selenium, fiber, potassium and B-vitamins—and boast many antioxidant-like properties.
Mushrooms exposed to ultraviolet light or grown in the wild also may contain vitamin D, a highly desired nutrient for its connection with strong bone health, immune system support and more. Consumers are blending fresh mushrooms with meat to reduce their caloric intake and enjoy the added nutritional benefits. Similarly, High Vitamin D mushrooms can also be made into a mushroom powder that blends unnoticeably into many types of products.
It’s easy to change the 0% Daily Value for vitamin D on your nutrition facts tables to an eye-catching 20% with the simple and natural addition of High Vitamin D mushroom powder.
Will Mushrooms Affect My Product’s Flavor?
Mushroom powder can be easily blended into many popular food products to enhance your nutrition panel. If you are concerned about how this might affect your product’s taste— don’t be.
“While fresh mushrooms can boast a distinct taste— often referred to as ‘umami,’ resembling the robust, savory taste of meat— mushroom powder can integrate quite unnoticeably when using proper blending ratios,” we explain in another post. “For instance, when mixed into smoothies or shakes in small portions (say, one half to one teaspoon), it provides full nutritional benefits with a hardly-detectable flavor.”
In other instances where you actually want to utilize mushrooms’ robust, savory flavor profile, blending ratios may be adjusted to use more powder. This is an excellent way to add a “meaty” taste to vegetarian pasta sauces, gravies and more.
Ideas for Blending Mushroom Powder into Popular Products
1. Smoothies & Shakes
Consumers turn to smoothies and shakes often for a surge of protein before or after a workout, but that’s not the only use case.
Many use smoothies and shakes as nutritious meal substitutes. Mushroom powder integrates easily and untraceably flavor-wise into many drinks to pack a powerful nutritional punch.
2. Soups, Broth, Sauces & Gravy
Consumers want flavorful soups and sauces without high sodium. Fortunately, for those watching their salt intake, mushrooms are extremely low in salt… but they sure don’t taste like it!
Those who eat mushrooms often describe them as boasting a savory, rich taste. Oftentimes, foods can be enhanced with the “meaty” flavor of mushroom powder, as opposed to a teaspoon or two of sodium. Using High Vitamin D mushrooms powder is also a great way to sneak the vitamin into vegetarian options, lower sodium content, and appeal to that growing market.
3. Breakfast Products
Mushroom powder is hitting the shelves in other sneaky forms, like in the breakfast aisle and dairy section. Popular brands mix nutritional ground mushrooms into their cereals, snack bars and bites as well as into granola.
Yogurt is already a big contender in the healthy food market, and by blending mushroom powder into your yogurt, you can add more vitamins to your nutrition panel per serving than your competitors.
4. Chocolate Products
While not traditionally marketed as health-conscious products, chocolate treats can provide nutritional value if fortified with mushroom powder. Chocolate superfoods of any type, such as breakfast bars and protein drinks, easily pair with mushroom powder’s flavor profile, making adding vitamin D a no-brainer decision.
In other instances, the powder flavor can be completely unnoticeable. Brownie mixes, for instance, can mask the flavor of the powder quite excellently while still providing a pop of nutrients. Hot chocolate mixes, since already processed in powder form, are also a clever product to fortify with mushroom powder.
5. Coffee
You’ve already discovered that mushroom powder can pair quite nicely with chocolate, so it shouldn’t be a surprise that mushrooms are also blended into java. Mushroom powder can actually lessen the bitter impact of certain coffee beans, smoothing out the taste. Plus, the earthy, robust profile of mushrooms pairs excellently with rich roasts— complementing subtle notes and improving the mouthfeel of each sip.
Coffee boasts many nutritional benefits, containing B3, potassium, phosphorus and offering antioxidant-like properties. These nutrients can help to enhance the nervous system, aid in deeper focused thinking and much more. When paired with mushroom powder, this already stimulating drink is a force to be reckoned with.
Request a Mushroom Powder Sample
Curious to experiment with blending mushroom powder into your best-selling products? Fortify your foods with Monterey’s mushroom powder.
Our conventional and organic powders can be selected in a variety strengths, from no-D to up to 15,000 IU/gram vitamin D, and can be made from your choice of White, Baby Bella and Portabella varieties.
We only use fresh mushrooms sourced directly from our finest California farms, promising top-class purity in every ounce of powder. We provide only the highest quality powder for your innovative products. Major brands are already using our mushroom powder in their products to enhance their dietary benefits. Request a vitamin D sample, today.
Want to explore more about the power of High Vitamin D mushrooms? Download our ebook, Everything You Need to Know About High Vitamin D Mushrooms for Food Manufacturers.
Learn More About How to Get Our High Vitamin D Mushrooms On Your Shelves:
