If you love cheese but can’t digest dairy, an Australian man has found a way for you to safely enjoy one of your favorite foods. He claims he can create cheese…out of potatoes.
Andrew Dyhin is the founder of a company called Potato Magic, which makes a product called CHATO (CHeese potATO). [1]
CHATO products are not only dairy-free, but vegan- and gluten-free, too.
The CHATO cheese, which Dyhin says both melts and looks like real cheese, is made from vegetable liquid which uses 100% of the potato and all of its nutrients.
But exactly how he does it is a closely-guarded secret. All Dyhin will say about the process is that the potatoes are peeled, liquified, and processed with no added ingredients into a basic product that can be melted, sliced, turned into cubes or mixed with water and other ingredients.
He says that his potato-made cheese tastes better than the other vegan cheeses on the market right now.
He spent 12 years perfecting CHATOs, and his main roadblock is getting the public to willingly try them. Dyhin says:
“I can really only get people to trust the product when they can actually taste it, feel it and look at it.” [2]
Dyhin hopes he’ll also be able to use potatoes to market milk, custard, and ice cream. He boasts:
“The ice cream that comes out of the churn using the CHATO is to die for. I make a fantastic coconut cream custard myself.
You can add whatever you want to it to make different flavors. You can bake with is to thicken your cakes and keep them moist. It tastes like potato or not at all, just depends what you do with it.”
Dyhin is currently trying to woo investors so he can start commercializing CHATO. If he gets enough financial backing, he could get a pilot plant up and running within 3 months.
He says:
“We need to find alternatives to animals and intensive agricultural practices. With CHATO we can take any potato, especially the ones that will just be thrown away, and make something that’s delicious and versatile. We can make the most of what we have.
Food security is a very important issue and we need to look at products that have more yield per hectare, like potatoes. And also how we use that yield. Something like 25% of all potato that is grown doesn’t make it to the plate, mostly because it’s not pretty enough for the shelves.” [1]
Food security is declining in the United States. However, about 15.8 million U.S. households don’t have enough food to lead healthy lives.
No word on how much CHATO might cost if it reaches the market.
Sources:
[1] Metro
[2] Mashable