{"id":34261,"date":"2020-11-05T22:14:26","date_gmt":"2020-11-06T06:14:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/closedloopcooking.flywheelsites.com\/?post_type=culture&p=34261"},"modified":"2022-11-27T12:50:59","modified_gmt":"2022-11-27T20:50:59","slug":"honoring-the-husk-with-caroline-cotto-of-renewal-mill","status":"publish","type":"reads","link":"https:\/\/closedloopcooking.com\/reads\/honoring-the-husk-with-caroline-cotto-of-renewal-mill\/","title":{"rendered":"Honoring the husk with Caroline Cotto of Renewal Mill"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Illustration by Hawnuh Lee<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Most of us are familiar with the nutritional benefits and endless flavor potential of the humble block of tofu. But did you know that after processing soybeans to make it, you\u2019re left with a wonder ingredient with just as much to offer? This tofu byproduct is called okara, and in Japan it\u2019s considered a superfood. In the U.S., however, tons and tons of perfectly usable okara go straight from the tofu factory to the trash every day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Enter Renewal Mill<\/a>\u2014an upcycled flour and baking mix company that\u2019s turning would-be wasted okara into delicious and good-for-you treats. Talk about closing the loop! I spoke to Caroline Cotto, one of Renewal Mill\u2019s founders, about upending food waste with upcycled ingredients, contending with venture capital culture, and why you should never call her the \u2018trash cookie lady.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Can you start by telling me a bit about who you are and how you got interested in food?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

I like to joke that I was always destined to work in food. I grew up on Cape Cod and my parents had an ice cream store named after me, so I was really engaged in the food scene early on. I\u2019m from the town of Sandwich, MA, and my last name means cooked in Italian. I\u2019ve always loved to cook, and I spent a lot of time in college focused on the nutrition side of food. I interned for Michelle Obama\u2019s \u2018Let\u2019s Move<\/a>\u2019 initiative, focused on childhood obesity and food access issues in Washington D.C. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I spent some time in Asia working on rice fortification with the U.N., and when I came back to the U.S. I thought I wanted to continue in academia. I quickly learned that was not actually what I wanted to do, so I pivoted into tech and ended up running the women\u2019s diversity program at a large company. Working there for a few years confirmed that food really is my first passion, so I transitioned to a job at a food tech accelerator working on their \u2018farm to fork\u2019 program, and that\u2019s where I met my co-founder Claire. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Claire had previously founded Boston\u2019s first organic juice company, and was appalled by the amount of juice pulp going to the trash every day in that process. She happened to have a meeting with the owner of Hodo foods, which is the third-largest tofu company in the country, and he was like, \u2018You think you make a lot of pulp waste in your tiny juicing business? I\u2019m making 50 tons a week in my tofu plant.\u2019 That\u2019s how the idea for Renewal Mill got started. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Wow! So that\u2019s what okara is?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Yes\u2014okara is the pulp byproduct of tofu. Making tofu involves boiling and blending soybeans, then siphoning off the liquid and curdling it. You\u2019re left with pulp, the same way that you would have pulp from juicing a carrot.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In Japan, okara would never be thrown out. \u2018O-\u2019 is an honorific and \u2018kara\u2019 means husk, so okara means \u2018honoring the husk\u2019 or \u2018honoring the whole bean.\u2019 Traditionally it\u2019s used in its wet form, which has an oatmeal-like consistency, to make okonomiyaki (savory pancakes), pound cake, soup, and lots of other things. It\u2019s a super nutritious product full of fiber and protein, and it\u2019s arbitrarily being labeled as waste here in the U.S.\u2014either being added to animal feed or taken directly to the landfill.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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In Japan, okara would never be thrown out. \u2018O-\u2019 is an honorific and \u2018kara\u2019 means husk, so okara means \u2018honoring the husk\u2019 or \u2018honoring the whole bean.\u2019<\/h6>\n\n\n\n
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When we started playing around with okara, we encountered two problems with using it in its wet form. One is that wet okara is about 80% water so it\u2019s extremely heavy to transport, and the other is that it starts spoiling very quickly. So we worked with the USDA and came up with a process that eliminates both of those issues. We \u2018co-locate\u2019 our technology inside of the manufacturing plants of the partners that we work with, so we\u2019re able to capture and process the byproducts onsite before they ever leave the factory floor. And <\/strong>by dehydrating it, we\u2019re able to make it shelf stable. We turn okara into a high fiber gluten-free flour and sell it as an ingredient, and we also use it to make baking mixes and ready-to-eat vegan cookies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Is it hard to explain what you\u2019re selling to your customers?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

I would say 99% of people who come across our product for the first time think it says okra <\/a>flour. There\u2019s a lot of education that goes into explaining what okara is specifically, and that\u2019s why we never set out to be a straight retail business. One of the benefits of selling ingredients to other food companies is that we\u2019re not not reliant on consumers fully understanding what okara is. We try to show the versatility of okara across products, and educate the research and development folks on using this ingredient. We also talk to the marketing folks about how to communicate upcycling to consumers. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

For our retail customers, we emphasize that okara isn\u2019t just a sustainable product, it\u2019s also a product that tastes delicious. And from there, we lean into the larger story of how their purchase is helping to fight food waste, which is one of the largest drivers of climate change. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Are you looking to expand into other upcycled ingredients?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Ultimately we do see ourselves having a large portfolio of upcycled ingredients at Renewal Mill. We are really trying to be the go-to upcycled ingredient supplier for food companies. Our next product will be an upcycled oat flour made from the oat pulp leftover when you make oat milk.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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We also saw the need to educate consumers about upcycled ingredients\u2014that it\u2019s food that\u2019s perfectly clean and healthy, and should<\/em> be eaten.<\/h6>\n\n\n\n
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There are folks working to upcycle all types of ingredients\u2014spent grain<\/a> from beer brewing<\/a>, fruit and vegetable pulp<\/a> from large scale juicers\u2026 We banded together to form the Upcycled Food Association<\/a> last fall because we all have this mission of reducing food waste and we know that no company can do it alone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We also saw the need to educate consumers about upcycled ingredients\u2014that it\u2019s food that\u2019s perfectly clean and healthy, and should<\/em> be eaten. Early on when I was presenting about Renewal Mill, the person introducing me was like, \u2018This is Caroline, the trash cookie lady!\u2019 And we were like \u2018Nope, that\u2019s not what we do.\u2019 <\/p>\n\n\n\n

UFA is working on a product certification program that would allow products to be certified upcycled the way that they are certified organic or non-GMO. We convened a working group of experts to make sure the certification is scientifically backed and won\u2019t become just another form of greenwashing. It\u2019s about auditing the supply chain and making sure that the material being used would have otherwise gone to a food waste destination, and that it\u2019s instead being kept in the human food supply chain.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What are some of the great parts of running a small food business?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

I love the autonomy and the daily problem solving I do with my team. I\u2019ve worked at big tech companies where you have to stay in your lane, but with Renewal I get to touch every part of the business, and every day is super different and dynamic. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

There is also so much support and innovation happening in this space. Meeting fellow founders and learning about their products and how we can support them is one of my favorite parts. We really lean on other founders and food forums for support, resources, and partnerships. It has been crucial to our growth.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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It\u2019s about auditing the supply chain and making sure that the material being used would have otherwise gone to a food waste destination, and that it\u2019s instead being kept in the human food supply chain.<\/h6>\n\n\n\n
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We just launched a co-branded grain-free tortilla with Tia Lupita<\/a>\u2014a better-for-you Mexican foods brand. Their founder Hector came to us and said he wanted to make the most sustainable tortilla. He\u2019s featuring okara in his new grain-free tortilla, which is super exciting. We\u2019re also about to launch a co-branded cookie with Fancy Pants Baking Co<\/a>, which is a huge supplier of cookies for stores like Whole Foods. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Any not-so-great things about it?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Fundraising as a women-run business is very challenging. I\u2019ve been on hundreds of investor calls by this point where people just don\u2019t really listen to us or seem to only want to hear themselves talk\u2014a lot of older white men that don\u2019t take us seriously. Someone on a call recently flat out asked me, \u2018When did you graduate from college?\u2019 and I had to be like \u2018That\u2019s really not relevant to what we\u2019re talking about here.\u2019 We\u2019ve definitely experienced misogyny and ageism in the process.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I think it\u2019s mostly that investors aren\u2019t willing to take as much risk on you as a woman. This is Claire\u2019s third company, but Renewal somehow still is not held in the same regard as comparable companies founded by men. Male founders can push investors more and that\u2019s accepted, whereas when we push back at all it\u2019s not usually well received. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

There is a lot of momentum building in the upcycling space. Over the last few years we\u2019ve seen more understanding of what it is. So hopefully there will be more investment in the space, but to date, no upcycled company has had a big exit. We\u2019re launching an equity crowdfunding campaign soon to make it so that anyone can invest in Renewal Mill and we\u2019re not beholden to this traditional model of CPG investors. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

What can you share with readers who want to get into the world of upcycled food?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

There are infinite ways to upcycle in your own kitchen. If you make your own plant milk there are so many creative ways to use the pulp. Often upcycled ingredients can be a pretty easy one for one swap for things you can buy conventionally.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And for folks that are in the food space, we\u2019re always looking to partner by finding ways to use byproducts or incorporating upcycled ingredients into formulations. Get in touch! <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thank you so much for chatting with us, Caroline! We can\u2019t wait to see Renewal Mill ingredients in every aisle of the grocery store. <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Head to <\/em>renewalmill.com<\/em><\/a> to up your upcycled baking game and try their products for yourself. You can also <\/em>become an investor<\/em><\/a> in Renewal Mill starting at $50 to help them build the new circular economy of food.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Caroline Cotto from Renewal Mill spoke to us about upending food waste with upcycled ingredients, contending with venture capital culture, and revolutionizing the startup food space.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":34263,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","article_category":[559],"article_tag":[733,638,732],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/closedloopcooking.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/reads\/34261"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/closedloopcooking.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/reads"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/closedloopcooking.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/reads"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/closedloopcooking.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/closedloopcooking.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=34261"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/closedloopcooking.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/34263"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/closedloopcooking.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=34261"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"article_category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/closedloopcooking.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/article_category?post=34261"},{"taxonomy":"article_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/closedloopcooking.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/article_tag?post=34261"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}