Netanya, Israel-based start up The Mushroom Benefit Ltd says it wants to redefine the soups, stock, and sauces retail market with the roll put of its innovative line of ‘cuisine bags’.
Each mesh sachet (about twice the size of a tea bag) contains a proprietary blend of exotic mushrooms and natural seasoning and flavours intended to endow any savory stew, soup, sauce, or marinade with a gourmet touch in a single easy step.
The startup will launch the new product line at the Summer Fancy Foods Show, in New York (June 23-25).
The patent-pending cuisine bags offer a plant-based, clean-label alternative to traditional powdered soup stocks. They’re also positioned as a convenient ‘quick-fix solution’ for preparing sophisticated cuisine that demands minimal expertise and that can readily conform to the time constraints of modern life, with promise of “turning home cooking into a gourmet experience in just fifteen minutes of infusion in boiling water”.
“As consumers we are exposed daily to a glut of cooking TV shows, chef blogs, and restaurants,” says Mira Weigensberg, CEO and co-founder of The Mushroom Benefit and a natural sciences graduate. “Is it any wonder that we all want to cook like chefs and receive compliments from our family and friends, as well as benefitting from all the health advantages of using natural ingredients and herbs?”
The company says it carefully selected a choice mix of exotic mushrooms – principally shiitake and black truffle – to deliver “maximum taste enrichment”. The Shiitake mushroom was chosen as a base due to its rich umami characteristic that imparts a meaty, savoury sensation to foods.
Each Mushroom Benefit cuisine bag package contains five sachets. The bags themselves are made of 100% natural and wholly biodegradable corn fibre, reflecting the company’s commitment to careful utilization of natural resources and reducing packaging footprint.
“Preparing a sophisticated and healthy meal requires effort, knowledge, and time spent pre-planning, cutting, soaking, filtering, spicing, and preparing a stock,” adds Tal Leizer, CEO of Practical Innovations Ltd., a key innovation engine behind the development of the Mushroom Benefit cuisine bag. “That’s too much trouble and time consuming for many of us in a life that is overly crowded with other demands. These small sachets are designed to bring the mushrooms’ essence to the dining table with minimal effort and maximum