Unlocking the true potential of culinary nuts

OUR BUSINESS IS BOOSTING THE YIELD OF CULINARY NUTS

Unshelled whole nuts are our raw material, getting more out of them is our expertise. Instead of separating the shell from the kernel, our RE-NUT® method boost the yield of nuts by processing them with their outer hard shells. We provide licenses and all the required know-how on our patented manufacturing process to our clients. This enables nut processors, nut ingredient providers and food companies to produce nut flour, paste or butter which not only contain the known ingredients from the kernels, but all the valuable fiber and antioxidants of the nutshells.

OUR STORY IS ABOUT RE-INVENTING

During a visit to hazelnut plantations in Turkey in 2016, Roland Laux and Tilo Hühn came up with the idea of processing hazelnuts with their outer hard shells. This idea, which at first glance seemed as simple as it was crazy, sparked their motivation to learn as much as possible about the potential of nuts with shells.

Over the past 20 years, we have observed that through large scale manufacturing methods, much of the original goodness of raw materials like fruits, herbs, cocoa and coffee beans or nuts is lost through heating, drying and oxidation.

Precisely because of this, we have been fascinated by the idea of bringing ‘more of the goodness’ of raw materials into finished food products. More flavors, more vitamins, more fiber, more polyphenols.

This nut adventure continues seamlessly.

It all began in 2006 with an idea from Roland and Tilo on their visit to a chocolate factory in Venezuela: instead of dry-processing cocoa beans at high pressure and temperatures, they had the idea of wet-milling unroasted beans with cold water to get a slurry, which then is separated in the different extracts cocoa butter, solids and liquids by phase separation technology. This way, all the wonderful, complex aroma of cocoa beans can be captured in the final chocolate. Roland Laux and the Zurich University of Applied Sciences (ZHAW) sold the patent in 2014 to Dieter Meier, who now industrially produces «Oro de Cacao»-Chocolate in Switzerland. Further implementations of this technological principle followed for cold-brew coffee and whole coffee cherries (RE-COFFEE) as well as spices and herbs.