Debut of sweet protein bars

December 17, 2022

Oobli, formerly Joywell Foods, has announced the debut of Oobli chocolate bars, a sweet protein-powered product now brought to market.

Produced with less sugar and a great taste, the bars are gut- and diabetic-friendly. The bars come as the result of eight years’ worth of research and development, and contain microbes produced to mimic the flavour of brazzein – a sweet-tasting protein extracted from the West African fruit and climbing plant Oubli. Oobli currently lists it in its ingredient list as ‘Oubli Fruit Sweet Protein’.

Other ingredients include unsweetened chocolate sourced from Barry Callebaut, chickory root fibre, coconut sugar, cocoa butter and ground vanilla beans. The purpose of producing sweet proteins to mimic sweet proteins derived from fruit, the company explains, is not only to create bars made from natural ingredients but because sweet proteins pack a punch: they are up to 5000 times sweeter than regular sugar, so the company can use a lot less in the creation of their bars.

“We are on a mission to transform the world with healthy sweetness, and we’re very excited to announce the sweet-protein-powered products in the form of decadent, delicious chocolate bars,” said Ali Wing, CEO of Oobli. “Oobli sweet proteins are good for your health and climate-friendly, but it’s the taste that keeps people coming back for more.”

Oobli, formerly Joywell Foods, whose new name was inspired by folklore stories revolving around sweet fruits and berries, uses a precision fermentation process to brew the sweet proteins and produce proteins similar to that found in nature. It defines sweet proteins as novel proteins that can be used for sweetening purposes but digest like proteins.

The company recently raised US$25 million in Series B funding, with the aim of bringing its sweet proteins to the market – which it now has done, with the launch of its chocolate bars.

The company’s first commercially available product will be chocolate bars that can be enjoyed in three flavours: 70% silky cacao, sea salt flakes and raspberry bits. They contain 70% less sugar compared with other chocolate bars and are manufactured in a dairy-free and nut-free facility in California.

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