Earlee Products continue to build a reputation for developing innovative new solutions for food manufacturers looking to value add with premium elements without a huge capital investment.
Butter discs are uniformly shaped components mainly consisting of butter that can be used on a variety of proteins and vegetables. These discs can be provided in various flavour profiles and can have many inclusions such as chilli flakes, herbs, garlic granules.
Stuffing cores are extruded shapes mainly consisting of butter and crumb and various inclusions such as fruits, seeds and grains such as rice, polenta, cous cous. Stuffings cores are traditionally used inside poultry products and beef and lamb roasts.
The benefits of the discs and stuffing cores is to value add, introduce new and exciting flavours and offer flexibility. Each solution and recipe is bespoke to every client’s needs.
Juju Chen, food technologist at Earlee Products, is a member of the development team who develop the solutions and recipes. She said “the flexibility it provides is a key selling point.”
“It’s a range where the product is formed in various shapes, sizes with ingredient inclusions which provides many opportunities of value add, particularly with meat products. It’s an easy way for manufacturers to value add and introduce new flavours.”
“The butter discs are additions to steaks, fish portions and vegetables, whilst the stuffing cores are suitable as a value add to roasts or whole chickens.
“It’s not just for proteins but also for vegetables and roast potatoes, seafood is another great option.”
Brett McMullen, group general manager at Earlee Products, echoed Chen’s comments.
“We can also add additional protein to the butter discs and cores to achieve macro-nutrient targets of the end product, particularly in products that don’t have high protein values to start such as vegetable dishes,” he told Food & Beverage Industry News.
“We can also add to the overall texture with ingredients such as seeds and nuts, creating textures you might not normally experience in meat and some vegetable products.
“The solution can work interchangeably, which means we can add several different inclusions into the product. Anything from fruits to seeds, nuts, spices, vegetables, grains, we can even put meat pieces into our products.”
McMullen said traditionally stuffing cores are made from bread crumbs and mostly for the purpose of just filling the cavity in a meat product, such as a chicken for roasting, ultimately soaking up some of the juices being cooked out.
“With Earlee’s stuffing cores, we have tried to make the stuffing the feature of the product,” he said.
“This introduces new flavours and textures, ultimately making that the reason people choose to buy the chicken rather than something that just fills
up space.
“It allows the protein processing companies to make their products stand out and it’s an easy value add, you don’t need high-tech machinery. The discs and cores are portion controlled which makes it easy to handle and ease with access to nutritional data, and costing is straight forward as well,” said McMullen.
Earlee Products have food manufacturers at the forefront of their minds when designing the butter discs and stuffing cores, particularly with their manufacturing capabilities.
“Both the discs and cores are sold frozen with a 12-month shelf life. The products are individually quick frozen (IQF), making it is very easy for the manufacturer to handle, with no mess” Chen added
“The flexibility of the butter discs and stuffing cores is endless,” said Chen.
“The stuffing cores can be designed with various melting properties which can actually act as a sauce for the protein when cooked. For example, a self-saucing disc on a steak such as a gravy or a jus base,” said McMullen.
“The disc or stuffing core can be designed to be totally solid when cooked, or it can have any degree of melt required for the finished product
after cooking”.
“Our technologists do a lot of work and can manipulate the melting characteristics of the product.”
“We also have the knowledge and technology in the ingredients to control the texture at different temperatures. For example, the core can be designed to be consumed the next day in the meat as a cold sliced meat product with a solid core centre as opposed to a soft texture after cooking”
Chen said being able to adapt each solution to a customer’s needs results in a huge variety of outcomes.
“It’s important in this day and age to be on top of trending new flavours with everyone looking for the next big thing,” she said.
“So, in a familiar format we can give a wide range of different flavours and profiles. Whatever the customer is dreaming up or wanting, or is trending, we can do it.”
Lea Reid, research, and development manager at Earlee Products, reiterated the importance of being able to cater the solution for each customer.
“We have very few products that are off the shelf, with the majority of products bespoke and developed specifically to customer requirements,” she said.
“We don’t sell the same recipe across the board, it’s what our customers would like to see on the shelves or the trends they want to follow.
“They share that vision with us and our food technologists and chefs, whose role is to turn that dream into a reality and make sure it works in combination with the customer’s end product providing ultimate flavour, texture, and experience for the value add.”
Chen said the dedicated food technologist team at Earlee Products takes pride in developing the perfect solution for each customer and works very closely with them to achieve their desired result.
The ease of applying the solutions to the manufacturing process was also brought into stark contrast during
the pandemic.
“The COVID-19 pandemic really put a spotlight on production capacity and how to do things more efficiently,” said McMullen.
“Because the butter discs and stuffing’s can be used in various ways, sauce bases, fillings, coatings, and so on, they are actually an efficient way of adding a high level of sophistication and advancement to the protein with a limited number of people needing to
be involved.”
Reid reiterated the goal of Earlee Products’ butter discs and cores for roasts was to benefit their customers being the manufacturers and ultimately the end consumers.
“Earlee Products goal is to help our customer achieve better food outcomes, every time.” she said.
“Earlee Products butter discs and stuffings core range are a fantastic opportunity for the manufacturer to increase their margins by value adding with something simple, like a butter disc, without any capital investment or a major draw on resources.