Solein is a groundbreaking experimental product designed to replace conventional food. Not to be confused with another "miracle food" under the similar name Soylent.
Solein is trying to promote Solar Foods, a Finnish startup based in Helsinki, emphasizing that the product is very high in protein and therefore suitable even for vegans. And not just protein, but the most environmentally friendly protein in the world.
Solein is made by passing electricity through water to create bubbles of carbon dioxide (carbon dioxide) and hydrogen. After that, special microbes are added to the liquid, which feed on these bubbles and produce the same product, which is then dried to a powder state. This powder can then be added to various foods or fed into food 3D printers.
In the finished form, Solein contains 50% protein, 5-10% fat and 20-25% carbohydrates. At the same time, the production of 1 kg of salt costs only 5 euros. It tastes like wheat flour.
Solar Foods is so confident in its product that it predicts that it will be on sale in European supermarkets in bags alongside regular wheat flour in two years time. Which, by the way, is more expensive than Solein.
Solar Foods has also contacted the European Space Agency to convince those that Solein will be excellent food for astronauts who will one day fly to Mars.
Project Director Pasi Vainikka told The Guardian that Solein "offers a one-stop solution that can be applied to any food and any diet and that also creates opportunities for new products of the future."
Promotional video:
The process by which high-calorie food is produced from carbon dioxide and hydrogen is surprisingly simple and can be obtained anywhere in the world. Solar Foods says it's 10 times more efficient than photosynthesis and 10 to 100 times more sustainable than plant or animal farms.
Solein also proved to be more ergonomic than the production of meat protein and soy protein. To create 1 kg of Solein, you only need 10 liters of water. For comparison: to create 1 kg of meat protein (beef), you need more than 15 thousand liters of water, and for soy protein, 2.5 thousand liters.
