Product Review: Quorn Vegan Burgers (Plus a strange question)

[WillParkinson]

Last edited Sun Feb 19, 2012, 12:40 PM - Edit history (1)

Yesterday we found these at Outpost (local health food store). Because it's the first vegan item to come from Quorn we decided to give them a try.

We were pretty disappointed by the taste. It definitely did not live up to the hype of Quorn products that we had heard previously (at least not to us).

But when Paul was putting the information into the SparkPeople website he noticed something interesting. He handed me the box and asked me to see if I noticed anything weird.

So I started reading. And then I saw it. The nutrition label says 1 burger, 100 calories, 35 Calories from fat. 4 grams of fat. 5 mg of cholesterol.

Then I stopped and re-read that line.

5 mg of cholesterol? I had never heard of a vegan product with cholesterol in it.

I searched the web and found many sources that say vegan products do not contain cholesterol so I'm rather confused by this one.

On edit: Here is the information from their website:



http://www.quorn.us/Products/Vegan_Burger.aspx

[quakerboy]

1. I dunno

Not a vegan, so its never been something I really looked up before.

A quick look at the Quorn website revealed their claim that their products have "0 cholesterol"
under Products>burgers>nutrition facts, it does not list cholesterol one way or the other.
Under ingredients. Second ingredient is "Rehydrated Free Range Egg White". Further down the list is milk protein. If there was cholesterol, i would guess one of those two ingredients to be at issue.

If they are claiming to be Vegan, than either they or I misunderstood what vegan means.

[HopeHoops]

2. Well egg white wouldn't be vegan, but it also isn't a cholesterol source. The yolk is.

I thought they were all vegan too. No clue.

[Chan790]

3. That's the ingredients for the classic burger...

not the vegan burger. Both contain 2% of DV of Cholesterol oddly.

The ingredients in the vegan burger are:
Mycoprotein (35%), water, textured wheat protein (wheat protein, wheat starch), onion, potato protein, sunflower oil. Contains 2% or less of rusk (wheat flour, ammonium bicarbonate), palm oil, natural flavoring from non meat sources, salt, sugar, tapioca starch, sodium alginate, smoked paprika, pectin, potato maltodextrin, barley malt extract, smoked yeast, potassium chloride, smoke flavoring, citric acid, gum arabic, silicon dioxide, tricalcium phosphate.

Discounting that I have no idea what "natural flavoring from non meat sources" are, I don't see an obvious source.

[quakerboy]

4. Ah.

Didn't realize there were 2 sorts of burger. My mistake.

I was mentally speculating as to what it could be. In bio classes, cultures like yeasts always seemed to me to have some slightly animal characteristics along with plantish characteristics.

However, further research reveals more. Wikipedia just this in its entry on Cholesterol: "Cholesterol is the principal sterol synthesized by animals, predominantly in the liver; however, small quantities can be synthesized in other eukaryotes such as plants and fungi."

So, given the predominant ingredient is "mycoprotein", Which Wikipedia says is "protein from fungi", that seems to be the most likely answer.

[obamanut2012]

5. It's from the mold (aka fungi) it's made from

Also, not all of their products are vegan.

[freshwest]

6. Never tried those, but have tried Quorn's Cranberry & Goat Cheese

Last edited Sat Mar 24, 2012, 01:23 PM - Edit history (1)

And while it was interesting, it had too much salt in it for me, 25% of NDA.

http://www.quorn.us/products/Cranberry__Goat_Cheese_Chik%27n_Cutlet.aspx

I thought about your wanting a veggie burger and found something for you to make at home. Guess they could be frozen, too, like the food products. It is not vegan though, but there are egg substitutes in some stores:

I went to his website for ingredients:

http://foodwishes.blogspot.com/

I snagged this, in case you don't want to watch the video:

Mushroom Veggie Burger

(Mix together, the video shows how)

4 tbsp olive oil, divided
1 1/2 lb mushrooms, sliced
1/2 finely chopped onion
4 cloves minced garlic
2/3 cup rolled oats
1/2 cup shredded Parmesan
3/4 cup breadcrumbs
2 eggs, beaten
1/2 tsp dried oregano
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp black pepper

But I always keep some of these on hand in the freezer:

http://www.gardenburger.com/product.aspx?id=11750

Unfortunately neither of these are vegan, but they are quick and satisfying.

[deucemagnet]

7. I'm not a fan of imitation meat in general.

I find it's usually highly processed and high in fat. However, I used Field Roast italian sausage in a recipe this weekend and it's pretty good. Still rather high in fat (38% calories from fat), but basically just ground wheat gluten, veggies and spices with no strange food additives. My sister ate some of my pasta and didn't realize the sausage was meatless until I told her. I'll buy it again, and I'll try the other flavors, too.

http://www.fieldroast.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/Field-Roast-Saus-SL-6-08.pdf