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How Do We Make Huel?

Huel powder being added to a shaker

Have you ever wondered how the raw ingredients make up Huel? Here, we’ve given you an insight into the processing steps of Huel Powder, but they’re similar for all of our products.

We ask a lot of questions when determining where the raw materials are sourced:

  • Does the nutritional composition and quality meet our high standards?

  • Can the supplier match demand?

  • What safety and quality controls are in place?

  • Are the workers treated fairly?

  • Is there clear traceability of the supply chain and does this fit our mission?

  • How far away are the facilities and customer from where the raw material is grown?

  • What happens to the by-products created during processing?

Processing

Each raw ingredient must go through some processing so the quality, consistency, safety and nutritional value is maintained. Find out more information about the processing of food.

Processing generates by-products which contribute to food waste and negatively impact the environment[1]. Often, their impact is overlooked in favour of lower transport mileage, but our suppliers and manufacturers make use of them to minimise product waste and production cost, reducing the final cost of our products for our Hueligans.

We need to make sure the ingredients are exactly what we expect, the supply chain is sustainable, and workers are getting a fair deal, so traceability of the ingredients and materials is key.

During transportation, optimising logistics and liaising with suppliers is crucial. A limited amount of materials are used to protect, pack and ship full containers of Huel.

Oat Powder

Oats (Avena sativa) are a uniquely nutritious food with high amounts of soluble fibre. Without milling, the oat kernel isn’t fully digestible and would be passed through our digestive system without us receiving its full nutritional value[2].

These are the steps we take to process the oats used in Huel:

  1. The whole oat is dehulled to expose the digestible dehulled kernels (groats).

  2. Next, the bran is removed to stabilise and prevent rancidity, and the groats are heat-treated.

  3. The groat is steel-cut for a consistent flake size, then rolled and milled into flour.

  4. Finally, the flour is sieved through a fine mesh to keep consistency in taste, digestibility and looks.

Pea Protein

Pea protein is low in fat, high in protein and has low allergenic properties, making it a popular choice. It has low environmental impact compared to alternative protein sources[3]. The pea protein isolate from the yellow split peas (Pisum sativum) we use in Huel Powder contains a high protein content of over 80%.

The steps for processing the pea protein in Huel are below:

  1. The peas are harvested, sieved and then dehulled, removing the fibre component and leaving a mixed starch and protein liquid.

  2. The weights of the starch and protein are different, which causes the starch to sink to the bottom and the protein to rise to the top.

  3. After the separation, the protein liquid still contains a little fibre and starch so is run through a few more steps to purify. This includes centrifuging, filtering and ion-exchange chromatography.

The pea starch that isn’t used for pea protein is used to make vermicelli noodles; also, any water produced is recycled, so wastage is reduced.

Brown Rice Protein

Brown rice (Oryza sativa) protein is a great protein source that is widely regarded as more sustainable and environmentally-friendly compared to animal-derived proteins[3].

This is how we process the brown rice protein in Huel:

  1. The rice is weighed and calculated so the correct protein amount can be extracted from within the grain and bran.

  2. It goes through deionising to remove unwanted compounds, and is ground and turned into a liquid via hydrolysis. This breaks down the starchy carbohydrates into simple sugar components (saccharification).

  3. Once the components are separated, the protein is extracted through filtration and sterilised via ion-exchange chromatography so the powder can be dehydrated.

The main by-product is dehulled rice, which is packed and sold. As the rice can break during processing, it’s sometimes not up to the specification required (e.g. incorrect size, colour, texture), so is thrown away or used for animal feed. This broken rice can be used to produce brown rice protein to minimise product losses. The starch can be further processed to produce brown rice syrup which is used in a variety of food products, such as Huel Bars.

Flaxseed Powder

Flaxseed (Linum usitatissimum) is available in brown and golden varieties. They’re almost identical nutritionally, but we use brown flaxseed for its taste[4]. Flaxseed are a popular source of omega-3, fibre and protein, as well as several vitamins and minerals.

The flaxseed used in Huel Powder have been milled to prevent clumping, improve mixability and increase the bioavailability of the nutrients.

These are the steps we take to process the flaxseed powder in Huel:

  1. The flaxseed are cleaned, sieved and milled at room temperature (cold milling). This makes sure they’re free from nutrient degradation or damage caused by extreme heat treatments.

  2. The roughly cut seeds are then put through quality control.

  3. Once passed, they’re further milled and sieved through a mesh to a fine texture.

Any by-products from the milling process are used for animal feed.

MCT Powder

Medium-chain triglycerides (MCTs) are a type of saturated fat with several benefits[5]. The MCT powder in Huel Powder is sourced from coconut oil.

This is how the MCT powder is processed for Huel:

  1. First, a spray-drying (encapsulating) production starts with mixing, dissolving and homogenisation of the MCT oil with a maltodextrin-starch carrier solution.

  2. The solution is then passed through an atomiser to produce a fine mist that aids drying and equal particle size.

  3. The particles enter the drying chamber and are mixed with silica (SiO2), an anti-caking agent. The hot air removes all moisture, leaving the powdered encapsulated MCT.

  4. The powder is sieved to an even particle size. Spray-drying keeps the oil’s nutritional value whilst increasing its shelf life.

The MCT powder in Huel is sourced from coconut oil. MCT powder can also be sourced from the individual MCTs such as caprylic acid. However, sourcing the MCTs individually results in much poorer traceability as it’s impossible to tell where the MCTs have come from, and it could be from unsustainable palm oil.

Sunflower Powder

The sunflower powder used in Huel Powder comes from sunflower oil.

The steps for processing the sunflower powder used in Huel are below:

  1. The process starts with extracting the sunflower oil from the seeds through cold pressing.

  2. The oil is then filtered.

  3. It’s then encapsulated in a process similar to the MCT powder. This prevents oxygen degradation that is common in liquid oils high in polyunsaturated fats (PUFAs). Read more about the types of fat in our article.

The by-product is sunflower meal, which is used for animal feed.

Vitamin Mineral Blend

As well as the six main ingredients, Huel Powder contains a unique micronutrient blend. This provides the additional vitamins and minerals required to meet Nutrient Reference Values (NRVs), or higher in many cases, plus some phytonutrients. The vitamin-mineral blend in Huel Powder is on a corn starch carrier.

Vanilla Flavour

There are quite a few steps involved when choosing and creating our flavours. We’ve put together a more detailed review of flavour development here.

Thickeners and Food Stabilisers

We use xanthan gum as a thickener and to make sure the ingredients don’t separate. It also gives the creamy texture to our Huel Powder.

Xanthan gum is a naturally occurring soluble fibre, produced by the aerobic fermentation of Xanthomonas campestris with sucrose, glucose and lactose sourced from seaweed and corn.

Below are the processing steps for the xanthan gum in Huel:

  1. Once fermentation has taken place, the solution is sterilised and centrifuged to extract the sediment.

  2. The sediment is filtered several times before being dehydrated.

  3. The dehydrated sediment is ground into a fine white powder ready to be added into Huel.

Guar gum is a polysaccharide produced from the guar bean. Below are the processing steps:

  1. First, the guar beans are harvested.

  2. The beans are then dried and de-husked.

  3. Finally, they’re milled and dried to form a white powder ready to be added into Huel.

Sweetener

The sweetener used in our pre-blended flavour range is sucralose. Sucralose is produced from sucrose (table sugar).

  1. Sucrose undergoes a common chemical reaction method to produce sucralose. This method is also used in drinking water.

  2. The bonding of atoms within the conversion process prevents sucralose from being broken down in the body for energy, resulting in sucralose being almost calorie-free.

Due to the intense sweetness of sucralose, only a very small amount is needed compared to regular table sugar.

Mixing and Packing

  1. Once all dry ingredients have been converted into their powder form, they’re sent to our blending depot.

  2. The ingredients are sieved and assessed to meet our high quality standards before being calculated ready for blending.

  3. All ingredients need to be evenly distributed. We use a dry-blending method, viewed as the gold-standard process as it maintains the nutrient profile and product quality.

  4. The powder then goes through a final sieve and metal detector.

  5. Taste tests and quality control checks are made before packing.

  6. Once all tests are passed, the powder is transferred to our familiar pouches. Each batch is coded for traceability, and the Huel Powder pouches are boxed and added to the pallets, ready to be delivered to the fulfilment centre, and onto you.

References

  1. Sharma SK, et al. Utilization of Food Processing By-products as Dietary, Functional, and Novel Fiber: A Review. Crit Rev Food Sci Nutr. 2016; 56(10):1647-61.

  2. Decker EA, et al. Processing of oats and the impact of processing operations on nutrition and health benefits. BJN. 2014; 112(S2): S58-64.

  3. Gardner CD, et al. Maximizing the intersection of human health and the health of the environment with regard to the amount and type of protein produced and consumed in the United States. Nutrition reviews. 2019; 77(4):197-215.

  4. Nitrayová S, et al. Amino acids and fatty acids profile of chia (Salvia Hispanica L.) and flax (Linum Usitatissimum L.) seed. Potravinarstvo Sci J for Food Industry.

  5. Dean W, et al. Nutrition Review. Medium Chain Trigylcerides (MCTs). Date Accessed 02/02/22. [Available from: https://nutritionreview.org/2013/04/medium-chain-triglycerides-mcts/].

  6. Aksoylu Özbek Z, et al. A Review on Encapsulation of Oils. 2017.