Sustainable chocolate uses cocoa hulls rather than sugar, and some alternatives make do without cocoa altogether.
Vanillin, meanwhile, is often made synthetically from oil-based materials. Vanilla pods are expensive and their natural habitat threatened by climate change, yet the popular scent is in high demand for many sweets and fragrances.
Now, a California-based startup is using biotechnology to produce an organic version of the compound. Ferulic acid is extracted from corn fibres and converted into natural vanillin using bacteria.
Both the corn and the bacteria are non-GMO. Patents have already been granted and more are in the works. A pilot project is planned to manufacture at scale.
A fat-free cream alternative could be great with vanilla pudding.
