Mission ImPULSEible

Did you know that the United Nations have declared 2016 the International Year of Pulses? Well you do now and rightly so! Pulses are fantastic in so many ways; they're economical to purchase and incorporate into dishes, especially on a student budget (see my easy puy-sy coconut and butternut squash bake it's delicious); they're a high quality protein alternative to meat; and they can be sustainably grown in a variety of climates that do not cost the earth.


I've become so captivated in pulses and nutritious credentials that I decided to focus my Honours Research Project in conjunction with the Global Pulse Confederations LovePulses competition. The competition required team across the world to create a healthy, nutritious, and convenient to eat; which had to showcase one or more pulses. Here's a link for more information on the competition iyp2016.org.


Perhaps it's the illusory effect that Stephen Fry spoke of on QI, but I am noticing more and more food products featuring the power of the pulse. Take a look below at some of my findings.
 

Kettle Bites Mozzarella & Pesto (rsp: £1.89 for a pack of 5 x 22g)

A recent focus group of mine (as part of my dissertation) concluded that the texture was pleasant, but the pesto was somewhat overpowering and too strong to eat a whole pack. My thoughts were similar, I also found the mozzarella hard to detect.

 

Burts Lentil Waves, Lightly Salted (rsp: £1.99 for a pack of 6 x 20g)

The focus group compared these to bite size poppadums with more substance. Their plainness lends themselves well as an accompaniment to dips or salsa. I found these completely moreish although they were slightly oily more my liking.

Lupinesse, Germany

I discovered a great website on food futurology called futurefood2050. Here you can discover an exciting array of technologies, innovations and topical issues, such as Food Fraud. One of their favourite themes is FrankenFood in the form of lab grown meat, but that is for another pulse. It’s on this website I discovered research scientist Stephanie Mittermaier, who believes protein produced from sweet blue lupine seeds has big potential as an alternative to soy. German food technologist Stephanie Mittermaier and her colleagues Peter Eisner and Katrin Petersen have developed an interesting array of new product development harnessing the excellent credentials of lupins. They believe that lupins will one day be the alternative for protein instead of conventional meat centric options. I'd love to try their lupin mayonnaise! Watch this space for my own lupin creation (hint hint)!