Novel Products

The possibilities for developing and producing new tasty and healthy rye products are limitless. Rye is an excellent raw material for new types of functional foods. The Nordic cereal industry is enthusiastically taking advantage of the results of rye research and new technologies, and developing novel rye products for the market.

Increased consumer awareness and interest in the health-improving effects of foods have induced the Nordic cereal industry to research the benefits of whole meal rye products and improved processing. Rye is an excellent raw material for a variety of products; it may even be utilized as a major ingredient in many functional foods.

Rye bread mix with sourdough is an interesting new innovation, which makes baking traditional rye bread easier both at home and in catering kitchens. Rye bread mix contains sourdough in a dried form, and sourdough rye bread can be baked in a couple of hours, thus omitting the long fermentation of traditional sourdough.

Interesting rye novelties are pasta products that contain both wheat and rye. In addition, a mixture of rice and steel-cut rye is available to be served as a side dish, or used as an ingredient in casseroles and salads. Rye adds colour and taste in a similar way to wild rice. In Finland, two fast-food chains offer hamburger buns made of a wheat and rye flour mixture, "rye burgers".

Bakeries have developed new breads and buns that contain, in addition to whole grain flour, crushed rye grains and groats. The amount of added salt may be reduced, because the sourdough acids increase the perceived intensity of saltiness. Taste continues to be the number one priority when food selections are made. Also, the interest in ethnic recipes is increasing. Both of these trends provide opportunities for the development of new and revised rye products.

Karelian pastries are now available deep frozen, and oven-ready, which makes their use at home and at catering kitchens easy and popular. Prebaked rye bread is also available to be used in bake-off facilities.

Cereal-based snack products are a growing business area. Rye could be utilized to add flavour and taste in this area as well. Crispbread sandwiches with tasty fillings are already available, and a demand for these types of products is clearly emerging.

Today's busy consumers utilize more and more ready-to-eat -products. Home meal replacement is a major trend in the United States supermarket industry, and it is also emerging in Europe. Supermarkets try to find new ways to attract customers to buy value-added products from supermarkets instead of buying take-out-meals from restaurants. To meet this demand, rye processors could find new solutions by developing ready-to-eat rye sandwiches, puddings, salads with rice-rye, etc.

Weight Watchers® in Finland have "freed" whole meal rye bread in their diet. This means that a person following a Weight Watchers' diet in order to lose weight is allowed to eat rye bread during breakfast, lunch and dinner as an extra dish, which does not count in the basic diet. This is a very interesting new utilization of rye bread, and it will no doubt change attitudes towards rye bread in the diets of those watching their weight.