If you’re wondering how to grow vegan eggs, you’re not alone. In fact, there are several reasons to try. You will be eating plant-based products, but you’ll also be reaping the health benefits. In this article, we’ll explore the Plant-based process for growing vegan eggs, the Ingredients in vegan eggs, and the health benefits of these products. It’s never too late to become a vegan!
What are Vegan Eggs?
Just Egg was created to mimic the texture and flavour of real eggs by combining turmeric with mung bean protein. People were pleasantly pleased by the product’s closeness to chicken eggs in texture, fragrance, and taste.
Vegan eggs are the simplest alternative, but if you don’t want to cook, eateries have begun to serve their vegan concoctions. Homemade versions commonly rely on fried eggs because they create different white and yellow ingredients, with tofu and blendable orange veggies being used, and squash is a popular option. Vegan eggs are usually sold as liquids, which can easily be scrambled, converted into omelettes, or baked into baked products. Although the ingredients differ between manufacturers, many prefer black salt for an ‘eggy’ taste and fragrance.
Apart from liquid eggs, vegan options include folded omelette patties, pre-scrambled, and even authentic boiled eggs.
Are Vegan Eggs Good for you?
Is it true that these egg substitutes are as healthful as the real thing? The answer is yes.
Everyone tells Runner’s World that regular eggs and Just Egg are “very similar.” “A conventional egg and Just Egg, for example, both have 70 calories and 5 grammes of fat per serving” (one large Egg versus 3 tablespoons). Just Egg offers 5 grammes of protein, similar to regular eggs, which have 6 grammes.”
How to Grow Vegan Eggs?
VeganEgg is so successful in the United States that it launched in the United Kingdom earlier this year as the country’s first algae-based egg. (And if you think algae-based eggs are strange, look in your cabinet for spirulina protein supplements – yes, it’s an alga!)
But, honestly, what’s in those eggs?
Whole algal flour is the major component of VeganEgg. A family of algae produces whole algal flour, a mixture of fibre, ash, protein, fat, and sucrose. Chlorella protothecoides, a type of microalgae, are gathered and fermented.
Pasteurization inactivates the cells, which are then collected from the culture liquid and cleaned. With potassium hydroxide or sodium hydroxide, the pH is corrected to neutral, and food-grade antioxidants, such as mixed tocopherols, may be added at this point. After homogenization, drying, and packaging, the final product is ready to use.
Algal protein is high in key amino acids, including leucine, valine, phenylalanine, and lysine, and it’s also very easy to digest. NASA astronauts have even investigated algae for use in orbit. However, if algae aren’t treated properly, it might have a poor nutritional profile and can cause sickness.
What About Making Homemade Version of Vegan Eggs?
For years, vegans have been replacing eggs in baked goods and hearty breakfast burritos. This means that there are many tried-and-true recipes to choose from. In baking, the following ingredients have worked well in place of one Egg:
Sauce made with apples
An egg can be replaced with 1.4 cup apple sauce, but be cautious of the extra sugar. This won’t be a problem in sweet cookery, but you might want to use something else in savoury meals.
Flax
Flaxseed A simple mixture of three tablespoons of warm water and one tablespoon of ground flaxseed. The mixture should be prepared first to have time to sit and amalgamate correctly.
Chia
This recipe uses one tablespoon of chia seeds and two and a half tablespoons of warm water, and it will take at least five minutes to thicken at room temperature.
Aquafaba
Aquafaba, made from chickpea water, has shippable properties and provides a tasteless, fluffy egg white alternative that has proven to be helpful in baking. Vegan macarons exist because of this magical liquid that can be whipped into soft peaks.
Try the following savoury ‘eggy’ dishes:
Tofu
Tofu, a hero ingredient for many vegans, rises to the occasion. Use silken, rather than extra firm, to achieve a texturally comparable end result, then season with turmeric and black salt to taste. It works well as part of an English breakfast.
Mung beans are a type of legume.
Many home cooks have attempted to manufacture their own mung bean-based ingredients due to the popularity of JUST Egg. Softened beans can be combined with coconut milk and nutritional yeast to make fluffy scrambled eggs.
Why are Chicken Eggs Being Substituted?
Egg manufacturing is bad for the environment, but it also has specific links to animal suffering. Thousands of animals are packed into dangerous and unclean circumstances on battery farms, necessitating antibiotics to keep the birds flying. When eating commercially produced chicken eggs, you run the danger of swallowing hormones, dyes, and antibiotics. Salmonella is, of course, a major issue for many individuals. To avoid sickness, eggs must be carefully stored and processed.
For every individual who cites the fat and cholesterol content of eggs to avoid them, there will be another who will point to the high protein content as a cause to store up. Eggs are generally regarded as the next best health food or a significant contributor to major illnesses, making people suspicious and perplexed.
Why have vegan eggs become so popular? Because as people’s interest in plant-based eating has grown, so has the desire for like-for-like substitutes that provide them more choices. According to research performed by The Vegan Society, 98 percent of non-vegans would be willing to try an egg substitute, indicating that demand will continue to rise and more brands will enter the market.
Comparison of Vegan Egg Nutritional Information With Genuine Egg?
VeganEgg’s whole ingredients list is as follows: modified cellulose, cellulose, gellan gum, calcium lactate (plant source), carrageenan, nutritional yeast, black salt, whole algal flour, whole algal protein, modified cellulose, cellulose, gellan gum, calcium lactate (plant source), carrageenan, nutritional yeast, black salt.
VeganEggs can be kept in the refrigerator or pantry, although I found them in the refrigerated aisle with other eggs and kept them in my refrigerator at home.
VeganEgg is advertised as a high-fibre, high-calcium, and low-sodium food. Let’s see how they stack up against the Grade A large brown vegetarian eggs I used, free of other animal byproducts, antibiotics, and hormones.
What Else can I do with Vegan Eggs?
VeganEgg’s packaging was quite appealing. I assumed I’d be getting four little odd “eggs” in a tiny carton (compostable, manufactured from recycled cardboard and water). Instead, it contained a bag of the mixture and a VeganEgg advice sheet and a recipe for gluten-free French toast!
I just followed the scrambled egg directions on the container’s top. However, VeganEgg recommends using a blender for fluffier “eggs,” having cold water in the fridge to easily add to the mixture, and using a little less water if you’re baking using VeganEgg. The packaging also included instructions for using only 14 cups of water per VeganEgg if producing 3 or more “eggs.” So, if you’re baking a large batch of vegan cookies for your coworkers, it might be a little tough, but most of the recipes I use for pieces of bread, cookies, and muffins only ask for two eggs.
Last but not least, the business claims that 100 VeganEggs can be manufactured with the same water required to make one chicken egg. So, if you like the taste and ingredients in VeganEgg, that’s another reason to smile.
What are Other Kinds of Vegan Eggs?
Customers can obviously purchase more than one sort of vegan Egg because there are so many alternatives today to dairy and non-dairy varieties of yogurt. When I did this taste test, VeganEgg was the only brand available at Whole Foods, but you can find numerous more brands on Amazon.com (which, coincidentally, now owns Whole Foods, so maybe there will be even more offerings shortly).
We looked at some of the most popular vegan egg brands on the market to see what you might receive and how they compare to VeganEgg.
VeganEgg
We’ve already covered VeganEgg in depth in this piece. Still, we appreciated this brand because of the taste and texture of the product and how well it scrambled compared to a traditional egg. VeganEgg, on the other hand, is the priciest of the popular brands on Amazon (despite being sold in a two-pack with free shipping). If you shop from a local specialty grocery store, you might be able to save a little money.
Bob’s Red Mill Egg
Because it’s prepared in a gluten-free environment, this vegan Egg is suitable for celiac disease sufferers. One Amazon reviewer remarked on the product’s long shelf life (over a year). Bob’s Red Mill Egg Replacer is one of the most cost-effective options for vegans wishing to substitute eggs in their diet – but just for baking. “Just don’t try to scramble it or make an egg white meringue – it’s amazing, but it’s not magic!” says the manufacturer on Amazon. Hmm. So VeganEgg is a kind of magic, right?
The Neat Egg
The major two ingredients in The Neat Egg are chia seeds and garbanzo beans, which should be known to anyone who has used several common at-home egg alternatives in baking. This could be a fantastic option if you’ve been looking into the health advantages of beans and want to add more to your diet. Neat also offers a line of healthy meat substitutes (ground beef choices) certified gluten-free and vegan. Customers on Amazon say the chickpeas have a gritty texture, so they’re not great for scrambled eggs, but they’re great for French toast and pancakes.
Ener-G Foods Egg Replacer
If you’re looking to feed an army (or have a few kids who choose to eat vegan), Ener-G Foods Egg Replacer comes in a 16-ounce box and creates a staggering 100 vegan eggs. It can entirely replace eggs in baking, but it can’t be used for anything else. Except for baking soda and psyllium husk fibre, the components are comparable to those used by Bob’s Red Mill. Because baking soda is required in some recipes, you may need to utilize these egg substitutes differently than another brand (even though it contains a separate leavening/raising agent, cream of tartar). Gluten-free, wheat-free, casein-free, yeast-free, sodium-free, and more are all features of Ener-vegan G’s Egg. It has a low protein content, which may not be what you want.
Organ Vegan Easy Egg
Orgran has the most VeganEgg equivalent of the bunch, claiming on Amazon that buyers would be able to “enjoy scrambled eggs, quiche, frittata, and omelette recipes.” We haven’t tried Orgran’s brand yet, but we’re intrigued. There aren’t many reviews, and one reviewer claims VeganEgg has a nicer texture. Another reviewer, on the other hand, claimed that after being extremely allergic to eggs ten years ago, she’s now found a vegan egg brand that she’s impressed with in terms of how
well it mimics the flavour and texture of eggs, with “no odd taste or aftertaste.” On Orgran’s website, there’s also a Vegan Easy Egg quiche recipe that customers might want to try.
Conclusion
Vegans have been utilizing egg alternatives in their cookery for a long time, mostly baking. To replace an egg in a dish, you can use mashed bananas or ground flax seed mixed with water. Applesauce, silken tofu, corn starch, soy protein powder, chickpea flour, and arrowroot are common egg alternatives.
Vegan eggs have a lot of appeals because, although being plant-based, they can be made to taste and look like ordinary eggs. VeganEgg, for example, employs algae protein (algal flour), which may “scramble” like a traditional egg. So, instead of disguising your egg substitute in baked muffins or pancakes, you may eat the Egg (allegedly) by itself.