Mushrooms Make Gluten-Free Wheat

MycoTechnology Inc., a progressive food technology company, announces a new process that removes the gluten from wheat with its mushroom technology. The process is all-natural, non-GMO and chemical-free and works by harnessing the purification properties of mushrooms, which are trained to consume the protein gluten.

Independent third party testing confirmed that the total gluten content from certain mushroom strains were able to remove 99.9998% of the total gluten content.

“The challenge in the growing gluten-free movement is formulating products that have similar flavor profiles and mouth feel to products that are wheat based,” said Alan Hahn CEO and founder of MycoTechnology. “Our technology allows consumers the ability to introduce wheat back into their diets with great tasting products.”

Dr. Brooks J. Kelly, MycoTechnology’s chief scientist and co-founder, says that through their extensive studies they have found that certain mushrooms perform exceptionally well at removing the offensive protein. The patent-pending MycoSmooth™ process uses the mycelia, or root structure, of mushrooms to consume the offensive gluten in the wheat berry. The 8-to-10-day procedure starts with preparing the wheat for the introduction of the mycelia. “Then we inoculate the substrate and let it grow for a number of days,” Kelly says. This stage is key––it’s when the fungi are eradicating the gluten from the whole wheat. Then they “stop the process by drying down the grains.” According to Kelly, different mushroom types are used, based on what they’re targeting, and their formulations vary “from substrate to substrate.”

After being processed, lab tests revealed the concentration of gluten in MycoTechnology’s wheat to be 30 ppm (parts per million). To meet FDA requirements, gluten-free flour needs to come in at or less than 20 ppm, which will happen once their wheat gets additives to help replace the loss of gluten, which is the magic that makes bread light, chewy, and crunchy. Those ingredients––like guar gum, tapioca and sorghum––will help give the resulting products their elasticity and shape.

MycoTechnology’s unique ability to remove gluten from wheat opens up new opportunities create gluten-free options. Breads, crackers, soy sauces, beer and several other products that are currently formulated with wheat can now offer new gluten-free products while still containing wheat. Several large manufacturers have already begun formulating products with the gluten-free grains.

Source: Newhope360.com