Chia + garbanzo beans = neat egg

Pennsylvania-based neat Foods has unveiled its latest innovation: neat egg, a combination of ground chia seeds and garbanzo beans shoppers can mix with water and use to replace egg in everything from cookies to pancakes.

The shelf-stable product, which will be unveiled at the Natural Products Expo East trade show next week, will be available nationwide online and in select grocery stores throughout the country later this year, said neat VP of sales and distribution, Gavin Mutter.

An all-natural egg replacement with clean and simple ingredients has been one of the most requested items from the consumers we meet during in-store product demonstrations, as well as buyers representing our distributor and retail partners.

“There is an egg or vegan egg step included within our current preparation instructions to make neat meat substitutes. We started using ground chia exclusively, but soon discovered the addition of garbanzo beans aided in the leavening process, allowing baked goods and other foods to rise. The neat egg did very well in at-home consumer concept testing.”

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neat Foods co-founders Phil and Laura Lapp and their children Kaitlyn (left) and Morgan (right)

Just add water...

Each 4.5oz pouch will retail at $5.99 - $6.99 and makes the equivalent of 18 eggs (shoppers add 2 tbsp of water to 1 tbsp of neat egg to yield the equivalent of 1 egg), says the firm, which designed the product for use in recipes where eggs serve as binders and leavening agents.

neat Foods’ products don’t contain soy, and are instead based on a combination of protein-packed garbanzo beans and pecan nuts - plus gluten free whole grain oats, organic whole grain gluten free corn meal, sea salt and spices.

Click HERE to read our interview with Phil Lapp, co-founder of neat Foods, which is also developing a new line of frozen ‘neatballs’ set to launch in 2015.