How Mushrooms Can Erase Bitterness From Coffee

Coffee or arugula without a hint of bitterness — it may sound improbable, but sugar has found a new rival in mushrooms.

With several patents issued, MycoTechnology, a Denver startup, is using proprietary strains of mushrooms to remove the bitterness from foods and improve the flavor of all manner of products, from coffee to tea to chocolate.

In a recent announcement, MycoTechnology says this mushroom-based, food-grade powder can be sprinkled into anything to inhibit the reception of bad tastes to make them more palatable.

If a legitimate scientific discovery, this new product would be the first universal bitter blocker of its kind.

The company recently closed upwards of $8 million in a combination of Series A and previous funding.

When you picture a mushroom in your mind, you probably think of the cap and the stem, but the portion that MycoTechnology uses is only the part found underground, the vegetative portion called the mycelium.

Mycelium can decompose plant material in the soil, distribute nutrients as needed and break down biological polymers into smaller units. MycoTechnology discovered it does the same thing when applied to various unwanted constituents of food.

Using all manner of mushrooms (shitake, maitake, reishi, etc.), the company found initial success when it grew the mycelium in a liquid culture and then introduced ingredients into the aqueous matter to eradicate the unwanted elements, like chlorogenic acids, hydrolyzing gluten, metabolizing glucose and nitrogen. Once complete, the food item could be finished and sold in its new, more universally palatable form.

When it comes to bitterness, there are 25 variations of the bitterness taste receptor. MycoTechnology has “identified seven different molecules that contribute to bitterness in coffee that we can modify,” says James P. Langan, MycoTechnology’s vice president of innovation.

MycoTechnology’s biggest claim is its ability to produce a version of stevia without the bitter and metallic aftertaste, which is something beverage makers, and stevia makers, have been struggling with since the FDA approved it as a food additive in 2008.

When it comes to bitterness, there are 25 variations of the bitterness taste receptor. MycoTechnology has “identified seven different molecules that contribute to bitterness in coffee that we can modify,” says James P. Langan, MycoTechnology’s vice president of innovation.

MycoTechnology’s biggest claim is its ability to produce a version of stevia without the bitter and metallic aftertaste, which is something beverage makers, and stevia makers, have been struggling with since the FDA approved it as a food additive in 2008.

Typically, low-calorie sodas made with stevia also include sugar, which is used to mask the unwanted flavor. This added sugar increases cost and calories, two things soda makers would give anything to ditch.

MycoTechnology has a patent filed for its ability to remove the aftertaste from the stevia plant. The product, named MycoZyme, works by “inhibiting bitter taste receptors from binding with a bitter tastant.”

The tastant, steviol glycoside, is both bitter and sweet, which poses a challenge: To mask one you generally lose the other.

Not so with the MycoZyme version, which maintains full sweetness (300 times greater than sugar).

Other than a better taste, the MycoTechnology version of stevia will be cheaper because it doesn't have to be processed as much as competitor versions.

When asked who its competitors were, MycoTechnology gave a one-word answer: sugar. While there are patents filed for agents that behave like some of those of MycoTechnology, most, if not all, need to be blended in the lab to create the desired result: erythritol, crystalline fructose, fructooligosaccharides or magnesium carbonate, to name just a few.

“Most people would be healthier eating less sugar, but artificial sweeteners don’t fix the problem. Everything we eat does not have to be sweet, and it would be terrific if people could learn to enjoy other tastes as well,” says Marion Nestle, professor of nutrition and food studies at NYU.

It may sound like the startup is claiming its mushrooms are magic, so we reached out to chemists and food scientists to see what they thought.

When broached with the notion of a universal bitter blocker, Dr. John Coupland says, “Many drugs and healthful ingredients (for example, nutraceuticals) are quite bitter, and bitter tastes are usually aversive. If this technology can usefully reduce bitterness, it will be a huge advantage in formulating foods.”

Dr. Kent Kirshenbaum, a chemist at NYU, is leery on the “haziness in their science,” but says, “I guess if it works on stevia, it is a major step forward.”

Langan is confident in their technology. “There are silent antagonists that can completely block the ability for a receptor to transduce a signal. And we believe we’ve found that,” he says.

As the company quickly files patents, pulls in funding and hires more scientists, one can imagine the next steps for its food processing platforms might be towards functional foods, a growing field of products that an all-natural claim would only benefit.

And you thought mushrooms were magical before.

Originally published at Mashable.

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