Rootsii甜薯奶创业项目获资助并开发多种发酵食品

Rootsii由Fermentation Sciences Program的两位教授创立，开发甜薯奶替代乳制品，并希望促进营养改善、减少食物浪费。

Two professors in the Fermentation Sciences Program founded a sweet potato milk startup company, seeking to promote nutrition and combat food waste. Championed by Brett Taubman, the director of the Fermentation Sciences Program, and Daniel Parker, the program’s operations and facility manager, Rootsii seeks to create a dairy alternative derived from one of North Carolina’s staple crops.

Rootsii获得了1.82 million美元的NCInnovation资助，并拥有其甜薯奶配方专利。

With a $1.82 million NCInnovation grant on their side and a patented recipe for their milk, Taubman and Parker intend to limit food waste and create a versatile product that can be transformed into “creamers, ice cream, yogurt and other fermented foods such as sweetpotato- based miso and fermented hot sauce,” according to an Appalachian Today article.

项目计划把产品制成奶精、冰淇淋、酸奶及其他发酵食品。

With a $1.82 million NCInnovation grant on their side and a patented recipe for their milk, Taubman and Parker intend to limit food waste and create a versatile product that can be transformed into “creamers, ice cream, yogurt and other fermented foods such as sweetpotato- based miso and fermented hot sauce,” according to an Appalachian Today article.

Rootsii计划使用低于商店销售等级但仍健康可食用的甜薯，并正与North Carolina Sweetpotato Commission沟通获取这些甜薯。

In addition to lower water usage, Rootsii’s milk product seeks to solve the issue of food rot by using potatoes that are lower than store grade. Only the top grade of sweet potatoes, U.S. No.1, is allowed to be sold in retail stores. This leaves a large amount of potatoes to be thrown away, not because they are spoiled or rotten but because they look unappealing. “We estimate there’s upwards of 60 million pounds a year that are left in the ground to rot. Those are the sweet potatoes that we intend to use down the line,” Taubman said. The company is using the standard cured sweet potatoes but has plans to use sweet potatoes that are of a lower grade but still healthy and edible. The process of obtaining these sweet potatoes lies in communication with the North Carolina Sweetpotato Commission.

报道发表时，Rootsii仍处于早期阶段，产品尚未上架。

Though Rootsii is still in its early stages and the product has not yet hit shelves, Taubman and Parker continue to grow their company as they nurture connections with students involved in the Fermentation Science Program, the farmers of North Carolina and lovers of sweet potatoes.