3D Vegan Meringue Aims to Change Sugar Industry

Israel-based company Lampados developed a new vegan sweetener concept, meringue-shaped Liteez. The sweetener is meant to be placed on top of hot beverages such as coffee and allowed to melt as the drink cools. Liteez only has one calorie per meringue “kiss,” and can also be eaten alone as a meringue-like, egg-free treat. “Our strategy is [to] develop sweeteners that can target not just the mass market, but also vegan consumers and kids who suffer from allergies,” Lampados CEO Noam Kaplan told VegNews. Kaplan says the company is using a patent-pending proprietary vegetable protein and prebiotic fiber formulation to create the sweetener’s unique structure—effectively mimicking the foamy texture of whipped egg whites, but without animal products. This new sweetener is proof that innovation in this corner of the vegan world—which was rocked by the 2015 discovery that bean water (“aquafaba”) can also be used to mimic egg whites—continues to grow. Liteez will begin production in April, and will be available in Europe and the United States by October 2017.