When we first introduced you to JUST Eggs, we were talking about a Liquid Egg substitute that came in a bottle, right beside the regular Eggs and ‘standard’ liquid Eggs in the refrigerator case. Now they’ve evolved into a new, more-convenient form which may well make them more acceptable to the masses…
A typical home-use application for JUST Eggs Folded.
But I still can’t get over the toaster angle…
My first thought when I heard about JUST Eggs veggie-protein Egg substitute would be a boon to the commercial cooking arena, and the food processing sector. Food processors use millions of gallons / litres of beaten liquid Eggs annually in their recipes and processes. The pre-cracked stuff is so much more convenient to use; it takes much less time to deploy and it’s more consistent in quality, colour and texture that it would be crazy not to use it.
But there’s been a would-be controversy in the Fast Food sphere lately over whether to use ‘real’, freshy-cracked eggs or pre-cracked, pre-cooked Eggs for applications like breakfast Sandwich Egg Patties. Most Fast Food outlets have been using pre-fabbed REAL-Egg Patties (with one or two exceptions. No names here, today; this is not a post about fresh vs. ‘instant’.) And I don’t think any has been using any kind of veggie-protein substitute to serve the vegetarian/vegan market slice.
Bottom line: JUST Eggs is an ideal solution for Fast Food purveyors to enable the almost-immeditate deployment of a veggie-vegan Egg substitute to its customers. Just watch the Fast Food menus sprout JUST Eggs-based ‘Egg’ dishes, now that this new product is available.
JUST Eggs is truly different
And, as s8uch, it fills a big market niche that has here-to-fore gone unserved. The product they’re getting ready to début in more than 1,000 Canadian supermarkets is similar in concept to the ‘pre-fabbed’ Real eggs we discussed above, but it’s not only completely animal-product-free, but remarkably sustainable for the environment.
JUST Eggs proudly points out that it requires 98 percent less Water, and has a 93 percent smaller carbon footprint to make than Real Eggs. That’s far and away a sustainability record among protein substitutes (at least, up until now).
Taste testers who’ve reported on the internet say the flavour, colour and aroma of Just Eggs is comparable to that of ‘Real eggs.
What is JUST Eggs, then, anyway?
It’s based on Mung Bean protein (an Asian-derived legume) that provides the protein and the texture, and features the spice Turmeric for colour. Turmeric is already well-known to dietary supplement aficionados and experienced cooks as a key ingredient in many Asian foods, predominantly Yellow Curries, and those who value it as a natural anti-oxidant.
The formulation remains secret, of course, but whatever it involves, it must be simple to achieve, if there are so few principle ingredients.
No word – on the public web site, anyway – about how much the new product will cost. But it should be less expensive than the original Liquid Eggs format, since production has been scaled up so massively to serve a 1,000 store retail market plus a how-many-knows outlet Fast Food demand.
My take
The official promo info stresses that Just Eggs Folded is supposed to be warmed in the toaster before serving. Okay. Seems to me a little strange. I’ll admit, I’d have to actually use the product for a week or two (at least) before I felt totally comfortable putting Eggs in my toaster. It would all depend on how enticing the product was to me and whether it really did perform like REAL Eggs. and I’d need to know what the current price differential is between JUST Eggs and REAL eggs.
But whether or not I, personally, would switch to JUST Eggs is not the question, here. The point is, it’s a remarkable step forward in Animal Protein substitutes and could fill many roles in the home and commercial Egg markets. Not to mention including the veggie-vegan market, which (I’ll admit) is ultimately where we are all heading in a few decades, as it becomes less and less sustainable to produce Animal Protein products.
~ Maggie J.