BRB w/ Nathan P – Precision Fermentation, Mapo Tofu & Medicinal Mushrooms
The potential and challenges of biomanufacturing, a deliciously vegan take on the Sichuan classic, and my go-to manual on all things fungi (#46).
Welcome back to BRB w/ Nathan P, your 5-min weekly dose of information to inspire climate action.
My mission is to make it fun, easy, and delicious to make more sustainable decisions.
Each Wednesday, I share 💥1 Breakthrough, 🥘1 Recipe, and 📚1 Book on food & climate.
💥 Breakthrough: Precision Fermentation
I’m halfway through my Food & Climate Advent Calendar on LinkedIn (check it out if you haven’t already!).
The post that garnered the most interest this past week is on Pichia pastoris, a precision fermentation workhorse used by many SynBio start-ups.
After working at AB InBev’s BioBrew for the past year, I want to share my perspective on this technology after experiencing first-hand both its potential and challenges.
Let’s dive in – this post will cover:
PF’s Potential
How It Works
What Start-Ups Are Making
Challenges To Commercialize
The Innovations We Need
1. PF’s Potential
Agriculture and manufacturing each account for 20% of global emissions, which products made from precision fermentation can reduce.
This technology can reduce our reliance on animal- and petroleum-based products. It can also create biodegradable alternatives to current products and scale the production of molecules we cannot otherwise obtain at scale from nature.
There is also a strong sustainability component: dairy proteins made from PF require 20X less land and produce 3X fewer emissions than their counterparts.
2. How It Works
Precision fermentation is a biomanufacturing technology, using biology to turn microorganisms into ‘cell-factories.’
Microorganisms are genetically engineered to secrete a targeted molecule in a controlled fermentation process in a bioreactor.
At a high-level, here is how it works:
Product selection: a target molecule (like a protein) is identified
Host selection: a microorganism (like Pichia) is chosen
Strain engineering: the microorganism is given the DNA blueprint for the protein, then given the instructions on how to produce it
Fermentation optimization & upstream processing (USP): with a feedstock (carbon energy source) and media (nutrients + salts), a liquid fermentation is run to grow the microorganism and produce the target molecule
Purification & downstream processing (DSP): the molecule is purified, and can then be formulated in a final product
Of course, the actual steps are more involved, and there are development cycles within each (especially within 3 and 4).
3. What Start-Ups Are Making
Precision fermentation is not new: it is currently used to make MSG and rennin, an enzyme used in >90% of cheese production.
However, advances in synthetic biology are democratizing this technology to make it possible to produce a whole slew of new bio-products.
Many companies are already launching and scaling nature-identical products like:
🍼 HMOs
🧬 Enzymes
♻️ Bioplastics
👖 Textile dyes
🧈 Healthier fats & oils
🩸 Hemoglobin for patties
🥛 Cow-less dairy proteins
🍳 Chicken-free egg proteins
🕷️ Spider-free silk proteins (phew)
The difficulty of doing so is very molecule-specific. There are two scenarios:
Homologous expression: the microorganism already produces the molecule and it needs to be overexpressed
Heterologous expression: this is a new molecule the microorganism must be engineered to produce (this tends to be trickier)
4. Challenges To Commercialize
While you may have heard the news of novel bio-products in market – most recently the EVERY Company’s hen-identical eggs at Eleven Madison – a few challenges remain to commercialize.
Price parity: given that submerged fermentation costs are high and yields are low after purification, the unit economics remain quite high and will come down with scale. It is hard to compete with subsidized ag or fossil fuel products that are artificially cheap.
Lack of fit-for-purpose facilities: most of the infrastructure used for production is meant for pharma, not food. The cost structures are different and the right equipment line-up is rare.
Expensive construction projects: to tackle the two problems above, new fit-for-purpose facilities are needed. They require high capital expenditure (CapEx), which few start-ups have and few investors are willing to back.
Demand: even if the three prior techno-economic problems are resolved, the wide acceptance of novel ingredients remains a question for both consumers and corporates.
5. The Innovations We Need
I believe most manufacturing in the future will be with biology.
Precision fermentation can produce some superior alternatives, make molecules we cannot get from nature at scale, and offer food security in an uncertain climate.
The SynBio space is still in its early days, and here are a few innovations I would love to see:
(Read: free start-up ideas!)
🌽 Alternative feedstocks: many fermentation processes still rely on sugars from monocultured crops, which kill soils. Feedstocks are also a main cost driver. There are plenty of food-grade waste streams to explore here, noting purity is a challenge.
🤖 Better sensors & IoT: some of the hard tech used to run fermentations is old. Better sensors, UI/UX, and data exchange is needed. Definitely a few AI / ML opportunities here as well.
🍺 Waste stream valorization: after purifying the target molecule, there are still proteins, fats, prebiotics, and other nutrients left over from the microorganism. This is not the main focus for start-ups, though it could help their business case.
Even with these innovations, I also want to note that fermentation will not eliminate – nor that it should attempt to – food production in soil. It is an enabling technology to create alternative bio-products that have their role.
What bio-products are you most excited about? Reach out with any questions.
🥘 Recipe: Mapo Tofu
Mapo tofu (麻婆豆腐) is a tongue-numbing, mouth-watering, rice-not-optional Sichuan dish featuring the region’s signature peppercorn.
It is usually made with pork, which I swap here with Impossible to make a vegan-friendly version. I made it for my recent dinner guests with rave reviews.
This recipe also lowers the meat-based GHG emissions of this dish by 90%, and it’s hard to taste the difference. Scroll down for the recipe.
What are some of your other favorite recipes with Impossible?
PS: if you make it, please send pictures!
📚 Book: Medicinal Mushrooms
I get many questions about medicinal mushrooms. This book is my go-to suggestion.
Medicinal Mushrooms: The Essential Guide by Christopher Hobbs is an approachable read that breaks down different mushrooms and their benefits, from the popular lion’s mane to humble fu-ling.
You will learn:
🍄 How to grow mushrooms at home & in your garden
🍄 How to recognize edible mushrooms in the wild
🍄 How to make tinctures as supplements
Many of the mushrooms mentioned in this book contain powerful compounds that reduce inflammation, enhance memory & focus, improve cardiovascular health, promote sleep, and much more.
It’s fun to flip through as you’re sipping coffee and have 10 minutes to spare (or maybe that’s just me).
Disclaimer: please do not eat wild mushrooms you do not know without the right precautions or expert guidance.
🥘 Recipe: Mapo Tofu
Adapted from Woks of Life
Ingredients:
2 blocks of silken tofu, cut in 1” cubes
1 lb of Impossible meat
1.25 cup vegetable broth (or water)
1 red bell pepper (finely cubed), or 6-8 Thai bird chilis
1 tablespoon Sichuan peppercorns (powdered or finely chopped)
6-8 dried red chilis (finely chopped), or 2 tbsp of red chili flakes
3 tbsp ginger (minced)
3 tbsp ginger (minced)
1 tbsp Chinese Five Spice
2 tbsp spicy bean sauce (or, non-traditionally, gochujang)
1 tbsp cornstarch with 4 tbsp
4 tbsp cooking oil
1/2 tbsp sesame oil (optional)
Instructions:
First, toast the chilies. Heat a medium saucepan over low heat, and add in the peppers with 2 tbsp of cooking oil. Cook until fragrant (~3-4 mins), stirring occasionally. Remove from heat and set aside.
Add the 2 other tbsp of cooking oil and increase to medium heat. Add the ginger, then the garlic. Fry for a minute, and add the Impossible. Break up into a crumble and fry it until browned. Add your ground Sichuan peppercorns and stir for about 15-30 seconds.
Add the spicy bean sauce (or gochujang) and stir. Add the vegetable broth or water and mix. Let this simmer for a minute or so. Ready your tofu and combine the water and cornstarch in a small bowl.
Add the cornstarch mixture to your sauce and stir. Let it bubble away until the sauce starts to thicken. (If it gets too thick, add a little more water.)
Then add your chili oil from before—peppers and all! Stir the oil into the sauce, and add the tofu. Gently toss the tofu in the sauce and let everything simmer for 3-5 minutes. Add the sesame oil (optional).
Serve with a last sprinkle of Sichuan peppercorn powder and Chinese Five Spice as garnish.
Thank you for reading – BRB next week ✌️
About Me
Hi there! My name is Nathan Paumier – I’m a climate optimist, food enthusiast, and avid reader. I started this newsletter after frequent questions on food tech, reading recommendations, and my secret recipes.
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