Four years ago, Tom Cronje was introduced to Professor Vijay Jayasena from Curtin University by the WA Department of Agriculture to discuss the use of lupin in breakfast cereals. Cronje’s wife had just been diagnosed as being coeliac, so he had a personal interest in developing the gluten-free legume.
In terms of nutrition, lupin certainly has impressive credentials. It is high in dietary fibre and protein, low GI, low fat and contains no cholesterol. Independent studies in Australia and overseas have shown that the consumption of lupin-enriched foods can reduce obesity and the risk of type II diabetes, lower blood cholesterol, improve bowel health and lower hypertension. At the time of Cronje and Jayasena’s meeting, there were already breakfast cereals on the market containing lupin, however, these only included three to five per cent lupin. The challenge for the pair was to create a cereal with a high enough lupin content – a minimum of 20 per cent – to really reap these health benefits.
“We wanted to come up with the most nutritional cereal we could,” says Cronje. “We wanted to bring something totally new to market, because there are so many other cereals out there.”
Cronje explains that traditional cereal grains are extruded – think puffed rice in Rice Puffs – in order to give them a light, crunchy texture. However, it is much harder to extrude lupin because of its extremely low starch levels of around two per cent. Additionally, Cronje freely admits that lupin by itself doesn’t taste particularly nice.
“It’s bland and it has a rubbery taste because of the low starch levels,” he says.
Following two years in development and a large number of taste tests, the pair came up with Super Lupin cereal, which contains 30 per cent lupin and combines it with cornflower, buckwheat and apple juice for sweetness. The cereal, which was launched in March, is manufactured in-house at Lupin Nutrition Foods’ facility in the Margaret River area using special extrusion equipment from Europe. Currently there are four varieties: plain; blueberry; blueberry with fruit and nuts; and tropical. A banana variant will soon be added to the range.
Super Lupin is available from IGA, independent retailers and health food stores in Western Australia. A large number of online orders for the cereal come from the east coast. Cronje says that he approached Coles when it was first launched, however, the supermarket said Super Lupin would need a better market share before it would consider stocking the cereal. With negotiations currently underway to distribute the product throughout Australia, Cronje is focusing on the local market before looking to expand overseas. Despite this, he’s already had enquiries about the product from the US and Canada, particularly from the New York area where the market for gluten-free products is strong.
Lupin Nutrition Foods sources its lupins from a prominent local supplier in Western Australia, which grows around 70 per cent of the total global production of lupin. Cronje says his supplier would have the capacity to meet demand if the company were to scale up its business for both nationwide and international distribution.
While it’s early days for Super Lupin, the cereal fits well with the current trend for superfoods, from which fellow WA company The Chia Co has benefited greatly.
Market research specialist Datamonitor recently predicted that cereals and snack bars containing superfoods such as chia, quinoa and spelt would perform well in the global market as consumers shift away from ‘slimming’ products and towards ‘wholesome’ healthy eating.
Other food products are also being developed in Australia using lupin. Bodhis Bakery sells lupin bread and biscuits and Jayasena has almost completed commercial trials with another Australian food manufacturer Food IQ for lupin-based chips and flat breads.
In Germany, lupin seeds have been used in sausages to create a high protein, reduced fat product, which scientists from the Fraunhofer Institute believe could help deal with obesity.
While it might seem like a hard task to elevate something that’s predominantly been used to feed chicken and sheep into the next big superfood, Cronje points to the macadamia nut to prove it’s possible.
“Macadamia is an indigenous plant from Australia that was used to feed cattle and it wasn’t until it was planted in Hawaii that it was even considered for human consumption,” he says. “Now macadamia [nuts] are popular worldwide and I believe the same thing will happen with lupin.”
It seems the humble legume may be going places.
