Olam Coffee, part of Olam Food Ingredients (OFI), has developed a range of coffee cherry cascara products for beverage infusions and concentrates across several applications, from teas to bars. The launch comes amid a piqued interest in upcycled ingredients and the ongoing trend for healthy indulgence.

Cascara – translated from Spanish as “husk” – is the coffee cherry fruit’s pulp and skin. Its flavor is very different from coffee, often described as sweet and fruity with cherry, raisin and even caramel notes. 

Coffee farmers have used cascara for years to make tea infusions. Still, it’s typically regarded as “an unusable byproduct by the coffee industry” and composted for use as crop fertilizer or discarded altogether. 

Beyond the bean
However, there is much more potential for cascara within the F&B industry, particularly within the booming coffee sector. 

According to Siva Subramanian, vice president of innovation at Olam Coffee, the growth and demand of coffee consumption has sparked a greater focus on innovation “beyond the bean,” with a new emphasis on the value of the fruit itself.

“The greater the supply of coffee, the greater the supply of cascara,” he tells FoodingredientsFirst. 

The seed of the coffee cherry – the bean – is usually the only part of the plant that is used. 

“After the coffee cherry fruit is picked, it is pulped to extract the seeds and the outer skin is a byproduct of this process, meaning large quantities are produced during post-harvest processing,” Subramanian continues. 

Currently, few coffee farmers collect the pulped skins to process cascara for consumption. Olam’s single-estate coffee plantations in Brazil, Laos, Tanzania and Zambia, with integrated processing capabilities, provide a year-round certified supply of quality cascara. 

“As demand for this superfruit grows, then more farmers from our sourcing network will have the opportunity to benefit from an additional source of income.”

A sustainable food source
Today, there is a growing awareness of cascara as a sustainable superfood. It has several times the antioxidants of blueberries, acai, pomegranate and other known superfruits.

“Upcycling is coming through as a key trend as part of the sustainability agenda. Agriculture and food production are both a cause and casualty of climate change, and generate large amounts of biomass residues,” Subramanian explains. 

“There is an urgent need to change the way we produce and consume to reduce pressure on natural resources. Upcycling is one way of creating added value from byproducts and at the same time reducing waste.”

In addition, bioactive food compounds such as polyphenols and chlorogenic acid present in coffee cherry cascara have promising potential to help patients with obesity. The caffeine content can also be considerably lower than coffee.

“There is also the environmental benefit of utilizing the skin and pulp that’s otherwise discarded as a byproduct in the primary processing stage,” adds Subramanian.

“As demand for this superfruit grows, upcycling cascara will provide more coffee farmers with an additional source of income.” 

Their teams have carried out multiple trials of “husk” and “pulped” cascara production, experimenting with coffee varieties, cherry ripeness and harvesting and processing techniques to define suitability for specific food ingredient applications, such as teas or natural confectionery flavorings. 

Cascara varieties
Two main processing methods produce different flavor profiles. 

During the wet processing method, the fruit pulp is collected and dried slowly on raised beds in a controlled environment. 

The resulting “pulped” cascara has a sweeter, fruitier flavor and deeper color than the “husk” variety – produced using the dry or natural method – and lends itself well to fruit concentrate applications and extracts. 

Ripe opportunities ahead
Olam Coffee can offer a range of cascara products, namely dry cascara for tea infusions and flour, liquid cascara concentrates for jams, jellies, dessert toppings and bakery fillings and soluble cascara powder for use in hot and cold RTD beverages and mixes. 

Cascara will also be available for nutraceutical and cosmetic use as an antioxidant supplement. Olam Coffee will work with companies and brands directly to co-create bespoke cascara products, it says. 

At the company’s innovation center in Fresno, California, Olam will develop cascara offerings derived from various processing conditions in partnership with external laboratories and customers.