Case Study - Atkinson's Parched Peas

Atkinson's Parched Peas

Carole Brook, the founder of start-up business, Atkinson's Parched Peas sought the expertise of the Scottish Centre for Food Development and Innovation (SCFDI) to develop her product concept range. Carole proposed the creation of three products using the Carlin Pea, a whole cooked pea pot, a pea pate/dip and a pea salad. The Carlin Pea is a sustainable nutritious UK crop, it is high in fibre and low in fat. The SCFDI are experienced in developing innovative products, sourcing local ingredients in the correct quantities for manufacturing, achieving nutritional targets, food labelling and food manufacturing.

The project was funded by Scottish Funding Council’s .

Throughout the project, the company provided feedback on product samples and was given advice on how to manufacture the products. The project resulted in development of the three products and the SCFDI provided all essential information to trial and launch on to the market.

"Initially, I was seeking support to achieve the best texture, flavour balance and shelf-life using natural ingredients. I feel we achieved it and much more. I came away with a wealth of business advice, personalised costing spreadsheets, specific nutritional information, scaled up recipes for production, links to suppliers/distributors, market research and improved knowledge on current and forthcoming trends, not to mention numerous new contacts and support networks within the food industry"

Carole Brook, Founder

The Brief
The Research
The Outcome

According to a report carried out by the Anderson Centre¹, there is a gap in the UK snack industry for high quality, high value snacks using pulses. The Carlin Pea is an underutilised sustainable crop grown in the UK and is a similar texture to chickpeas. There is an environmental issue with chickpeas production, it is negatively impacted by drought caused by global warming. The Global Pulse Confederation reported in April 2023, there were estimated yield losses of 50% as a result of drought². Chickpeas are also mainly imported from India, Australia and Turkey. Whilst chickpeas are being grown in the UK, trials have proven difficult to produce, whereas the Carlin pea has been cultivated in the UK successfully for over 200 years with better yields.

Atkinson’s Parched Peas identified a gap in the market for a sustainable pea snack. The company required the assistance of the SCFDI to create formulations with the desired flavour and texture profiles and provide a scalable methodology for three products: whole cooked peas, pea salad and a pea pate/dip, similar to houmous.

The three products developed during this project had to meet the following criteria;

Utilise the Carlin Pea
Additional ingredients should be sourced from Scotland
Allergen free
Vegan
Achieve a high in fibre claim
Within Public Health England’s Salt Reduction Targets 2024
Achieve the company’s desired cost target

A critical path was created for the 4-month project, setting out key deliverables and deadlines, mutually created by the company and SCFDI.

The project team trialled various permutations to create the ideal Carlin Pea texture for the cooked pea product, pea salad and the pea pate/dip. When creating the small-scale kitchen methodology, the SCFDI considered how this would be upscaled to production.

Throughout the development of the products, nutrition was calculated by SCFDI to ensure the products are within Public Health England’s Salt Reduction Targets 2024 and achieved desired nutritional claims.

During the project the company attended a product development day at Queen Margaret University to facilitate tasting samples, providing real-time feedback, recipe development and to observe the cooking methodology. The company decided to focus development on the cooked pea and the pea pate and pause development on the pea salad.

The company approved formulations for two products: the cooked pea and the pea pate/dip. The finalised formulations were sent for nutritional analysis at a UKAS accredited lab to determine nutrition declaration for on-pack labelling.

The SCFDI provided information packs for Carlin Pea pate and cooked pea pot. This pack included information on; formulations, kitchen methodology, upscaling methodology, nutrition declaration and claims, ingredient declaration and ingredient suppliers. The SCFDI provided invaluable advice on how to progress to the next stage of their business, either self-manufacturing or co-manufacturing.

Using the information provided, the company can run production trials and carry out microbiological testing to determine product shelf life, alongside product quality organoleptic assessment. Once completed the products will be ready to launch.

References

¹ The Anderson Centre – Revealing the Opportunities for Growing Peas and Beans in the UK March 2015 – G Redman et al

²Global Pulse Confederation February and April 2023

³Salt reduction targets 2024 –