Revo Foods Ferments Apricot Kernels Into Cottage Cheese Alternative for EDEKA and REWE
Austrian food tech company Revo Foods has moved into the chilled dairy category with COTTAGE PROTEIN+, a fermented cottage cheese alternative made from apricot kernels. The 150 g cup reaches EDEKA and REWE stores in Germany this month.
“Texture, acidity and flavor develop in the fermenter, not on the ingredient list”
“Texture, acidity and flavor develop in the fermenter, not on the ingredient list”
The formulation contains four ingredients: soft apricot kernels, water, salt and vegan cultures. Kernels account for 40% of the product, and live cultures generate the acidity, flavor and grainy texture in place of the starches, thickeners and coconut or palm fat common in plant-based fresh products.
Protein content is 11.5 g per 100 g, working out to roughly 17 g per cup, which Revo Foods says is higher than many dairy cottage cheeses. All fat comes from oil naturally present in the kernel, with none added. In a blind tasting conducted by the company, 60% of participants preferred the apricot kernel version to a dairy equivalent.
A different production route
COTTAGE PROTEIN+ uses neither mycoprotein nor the 3D extrusion system that Revo Foods built its portfolio around, including EL POLLO, THE KRAKEN and the black cod-style EL BLANCO, all produced at its Taste Factory in Vienna. The connection to the existing range is fermentation rather than hardware.
“We stand for healthy proteins. That is the thread running from our fungi protein through to COTTAGE PROTEIN+: We use fermentation as a tool to turn natural raw materials into foods that deliver real nutrition and taste great,” said CEO David Petuzzi.
Apricot kernels as a raw material
Apricot kernels accumulate wherever apricots are processed into jam, juice or dried fruit, and are typically discarded or incinerated. Revo Foods positions the ingredient as circular-economy sourcing, since the raw material requires no additional farmland.
Fellow Austrian company Kern Tec has built a B2B ingredients business on the same sidestream, supplying apricot kernel bases for dairy alternatives including the ZUM GLÜCK! range produced with German dairy group Bauer. Processing matters for this raw material: kernels contain amygdalin, which the body converts into cyanide during digestion, and Kern Tec developed proprietary extraction technology to address it. Revo Foods describes its input as soft apricot kernels and has not disclosed its processing method.
Chilled protein demand
Revo Foods points to cottage cheese as one of the fastest-moving segments in the German chilled aisle, stating that sales have nearly doubled over the past three years to the point of shelves selling out. The company also says dairy prices have risen by almost 50% in the past year, an argument it uses for the price stability of plant protein inputs in industrial applications.
“Most plant-based fresh products aren’t fermented, they’re formulated: coconut fat, starch, thickeners, and usually no protein to speak of. We do it the other way around. With COTTAGE PROTEIN+, the fermentation cultures do the work for us. Texture, acidity and flavor develop in the fermenter, not on the ingredient list,” said Niccolò Galizzi, Head of Food Tech at Revo Foods.
