Rejoice, theres a new vegan butter for you to try.
While traditional butter, made from cows milk has been around for donkeys years, margarine – made from vegetable oil – has increased in popularity.
But, not everyone is into the way margarine tastes or cooks, though, so vegan aficionados and others have started using a newer alternative, dubbed aquafaba.
Made with water from the universally loved chickpeas, aquafaba is an emulsifier so it binds fats into a spreadable, butter-like substance.
And good news all around; its said to be pretty close to the taste and texture of dairy butter.
How did aquafaba begin?
A vegan French musician, Joël Roessel, discovered that water from canned chickpeas can create foam. He then made a meringue from its liquid, using sugar, cornstarch and guar gum to demonstrate its foaming capabilities.
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Around the same time, others in France began to experiment with using chickpea foam in desserts, which caught wind in America too.
People realised that the cooking liquid can be made and used to completely replace egg white on its own without the need for stabilizers.
Due to its ability to mimic properties of egg whites in cooking, aquafaba can also be used as a replacement for them in some cases, including meringues and marshmallow.
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Aquafaba gained popularity after plant-based food company FabaButter put it together as a butter.
They make the stuff using recycled chickpea water sent to them by hummus manufacturing communities, plus a coconut oil cream base, and a little salt.
The creators said their product is still pretty high in fats (80%), but it has slightly less sodium per serving than dairy butter.
Its all still relatively new and aquafabas properties were only discovered in 2014.
The good news is, people have already compiled a list of recipes you can create with the vegan alternative.
So free up some space in the fridge.
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