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Cookies à la Chickpea Students’ innovative dessert earns silver in national food development contest
A meringue cookie called Trinipea, which a team of food science students developed using aquafaba, the leftover liquid from the chickpea cooking process, earned second place at the International Food Technology Student Association & MARS Product Development Competition in May 2019.
Photo courtesy of the Trinipea team
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elicious desserts may not be the first thing that comes to mind when you think of chickpeas, but a team of food science students have whipped up a recipe to change that. Last May, recent graduate Emon Ali Khadem BS’19 led a team of fellow students to compete with a product called Trinipea at the International Food Technology Student Association (IFTSA) & MARS Product Development Competition. Trinipea is a shelf-stable vegan meringue cookie that the students developed in vanilla, dark chocolate, and cacao nib flavors. Whereas traditional meringue cookies rely on whipped egg whites to achieve their light, delicate texture, for Trinipea, the students turned to aqua-
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faba, the leftover liquid from the chickpea cooking process. Aquafaba has a high protein and carbohydrate content, allowing it to be whipped into a foam just like egg whites. It took more than 56 trials and recipe adjustments to arrive at the finished product formulation. Early versions were too fragile to ship. With each iteration, the team worked to increase hardness, density, foam stability, and crunch. “The Trinipea meringue is dry but quite aerated, so it melts in your mouth,” Khadem says. “Think Halo Top, but instead of ice cream, a dried sweet treat.” The meringue was tasty and creative enough to earn second place at the competition. More than 25 university teams submitted proposals to be a part of
