China may have seen a surge in plant-based proteins over the past few years with ingredients such as nuts, soybeans or wheat at the forefront, but thus far chickpeas have not been a major part of this equation.
“Chickpeas have seen more advancement in China as a superfood product and not so much a plant-based protein product,” Peasup Founder Owen Wang told FoodNavigator-Asia.
“In comparison with other beans, chickpeas are not particularly stronger in terms of one single nutrient but have the distinct advantage of being rich in a wide variety of nutrients from fibre to carbs to protein and more.
“This is what has earned chickpeas the nickname ‘king of the beans’, and its high nutritional value is also strongly complemented by its cost effectiveness and versatility to be used across many types of dishes and product formats.”
Wang added that in China, Peasup has put its chickpea innovation through three major phases of growth in its mission to firmly establish this as a national superfood, and this innovation has lent testament to just how versatile chickpeas can be.
“Phase one was the development of chickpea snacks to appeal to a wider consumer bracket – chickpeas are usually roasted to get that crunch, but the challenge with this is that these roasted chickpeas can be too tough or dry for some consumers, so we developed steamed chickpea snacks instead to cater to elderly and younger consumers as well,” he said.
“Phase two was to use chickpeas to develop healthy meal replacement foods, including items like cookies and milk – the challenge with this was overcoming the beany smell, and for this we included other superfood ingredients such as chia and oats into our formulations which also helped to improve the taste overall.
“Phase three is where we have also developed chickpea-based meal kits – this is a relatively niche market here and we had to work around short shelf life issues, but we quickly realised that packaging the hummus or other chickpea items into individual 25g packs enabled us to both increase the storage to 12 months and improve on convenience for consumers.”
Targeting the nation
Peasup’s products are suitable for general consumers, but the firm’s phased development has also been strategically implemented with particularly health-conscious groups in mind.
“All of these phases have been very important to us as some of our main target groups include weight management, light sports athletes and vegetarians,” he said.
“These consumers all place strong focus on good protein and nutrition but also convenience and versatility.
“Our research has shown that in China there are around 73 million consumers focused on weight management, 76 million focused on light sports activities, and about 50 million vegetarians – so we do have our work cut out for us to reach all these groups.”
Wang added that the post-pandemic plant-based and wellness trends have indeed helped Peasup in terms of marketing, but that the firm will be focusing more on innovation to grow.
“There was definitely a push due to increased plant-based interest after COVID-19, and the rise in health awareness has also meant that less education has been needed, which is good,” he said.
“That said, we will be focusing strongly on product innovation in China, particularly in terms on localised product innovation to suit local tastes as currently a lot of chickpea items are still quite Mediterranean-focused, and the industry needs localisation to grow further.”