One Clever Carrot
Food science researchers are testing how the humble carrot could become the star of snacks and main courses across America.
By Robyn Kontra Tanner // Photos by Joe Johnston
Share this article:
Food science graduate student Jack Madden works with an extruder in a culinary lab.
Carrots are orange. Carrots are crunchy. But do they have what it takes to become a Cheeto?
For years, food science professor Samir Amin and teams of students have been working on product development research involving carrot pomace and mash, byproducts left over when making carrot juice and baby carrots. Previous teams experimented with making paper out of the material, in addition to other food concepts.
Now, graduate student Jack Madden is using dried carrot pomace to make a high-fiber snack similar to a Cheeto through an extrusion process that transforms the ingredients with water, heat and pressure.
First image: dried carrot pomace and bean starch. Second image: the final snack product.
Of all the produce California grows, why research the potential of the humble carrot? Amin says it starts with proximity.
“Within three hours of Cal Poly are the two largest carrot processors in the world,” he says, referring to Bolthouse Farms and Grimmway Farms, both headquartered in Bakersfield. These industry partners have big questions about food products of the future — questions that Amin and his research team are helping them tackle.
“Is there a way we can show these companies how they can utilize [food byproducts] so we can get it back into the food supply?” Amin wonders, noting that using carrot byproduct also helps offset costs and efficiently use water.
Madden’s research builds off a previous student’s work: In 2023, graduate student Julia Zoe (Food Science ’24, M.S. Food Science ’24) refined the mix of dried carrot pomace, bean flour, rice starch, calcium carbonate and an emulsifier to achieve the texture of familiar crunchy snacks.
Madden is now focusing on perfecting the processing parameters for Zoe’s formula. For the last two years, he has run multiple tests per week in a culinary lab adjusting the extruder’s die temperature, water flow rate, extruder barrel temperature, material feed rate and screw speed to see what yields the most satisfying result. The carrot and bean mixture “cooks” via heat and pressure as it travels through the extruder. Once it exits the machine through the die, the hot water flashes off, creating steam that puffs up the final product.
I’m really putting the ‘re’ in research.
Madden chronicles the results on a massive spreadsheet that will support his goal of publishing peer-reviewed research on the best production method. One of his most memorable learning experiences has been wrestling with the temperamental settings of the extruder to achieve a steady state for efficient production.
“I’m really putting the ‘re’ in research,” he jokes. He believes it will be worth it to see an innovative, healthy snack hit store shelves.
This carrot-based snack has a lot of nutritional value, Amin says. Carrot pomace contains as much as 57% dietary fiber and a good amount of carotenoids, such as beta-carotene.
And if revolutionizing the snack aisle wasn’t exciting enough, the researchers are finding even more ways to use the orange veggie. The team has continued to test how carrot pomace can be incorporated into beef hamburger patties. Carrot pomace can enhance the flavors and juiciness of leaner ground beef, according to Amin.
“Carrot pomace can offset the amount of beef and fat in patties, while holding onto the water and fat in the patty,” Amin says. “So, if we do a lower fat beef patty, it can potentially have the same eating experience as regular 80/20 ground beef.”
Madden adds dried ingredients to the extruder as he tests processing parameters.
As if those weren’t enough to keep them busy, Amin and Madden are searching for ways to use carrots in a consumer’s burger, crunchy snack and a drink. They are investigating if extruding carrot pomace can break down the fiber and create a carrot-based syrup that could function like a corn syrup in beverages.
The irony in all of this work: Madden doesn’t like carrots, and he will not willingly eat them outside of his research.
“Part of it is because I’ve had so much of it,” he says, “but another part of it is I’ve seen the possibilities with what you can do with a carrot. So at that point, why eat a plain carrot when you can put it into a Cheeto or you can put it in your burger?”
More From Madden’s Kitchen
Turducken: a chicken stuffed in a duck that’s stuffed in a turkey. Jack Madden is recreating the iconic dish his grandfather, alumnus John Madden, made famous during his NFL broadcasts. Hear Jack talk about his passion for food, his family traditions and his faculty mentor in this feature video, filmed in the Frost Center’s Oreggia Family Foundation Culinary Lab.
Not seeing the video above? Watch it on YouTube.
