Time-Travelling Milkman Rebrands to TTM Ingredients As Next-Gen Sunflower Fat Expands Horizons

Dutch startup Time-Travelling Milkman has changed its name to TTM Ingredients to reflect its future ambitions as a supplier of dairy fat alternatives made from sunflower seed oleosomes.

Six years after its inception, Dutch food tech player Time-Travelling Milkman has rebranded to TTM Ingredients as it expands its mission to replace planet-harming fats with plant-based alternatives.

The company’s flagship ingredient, Oleocream, is made via a process that uses only sunflower seeds and water, and can replace dairy fats in a range of applications.

“The mission has not changed. We are still working to bring real creaminess and rich, rounded mouthfeel to plant-based products, powered by Oleocream, our sunflower-based cream system,” the startup said.

“What has changed is how ready we are for what is next: a name and identity that reflect who we have grown into, and the ambition we have for the years ahead.”

Oleocream can be used in various inclusion rates

Founded by Dimitris Karefyllakis and Saskia Tersteeg in 2020 as a spin-off of Wageningen University, TTM Ingredients has developed a patented method that preserves the naturally occurring oil bodies in sunflower seeds.

Called oleosomes, these are microdroplets for oil storage that are surrounded by a layer of phospholipids and proteins to keep the oil stable during emulsions. Instead of disrupting oleosomes to produce liquid oil, the startup keeps these oil bodies intact during extraction, a process linked to lower processing levels and resistance to digestion.

Oleosomes offer a stronger emulsion than man-made alternatives and deliver a creamy texture similar to dairy fats, making them an ideal clean-label ingredient to enhance the texture of an array of dairy alternatives. TTM Ingredients’s Oleocream is also free from allergens and rich in unsaturated fats, while being highly compatible with high-heat, fermentation, and low-acidity applications.

Its rebrand reflects an expanded portfolio of end products built on Oleocream, from plant-based cream cheese and ice cream to sauces, juices, smoothies, and fruit drinks.

The ingredient can help achieve a cream-like body and round acidity in fruit-based drinks, offer a rich and indulgent texture in ice creams, and provide a creamy texture and heat-stable whitening effect in sauces.

It’s available in three specifications, based on inclusion rates. Oleocream Pure is designed for use as the sole fat in applications for maximum creaminess and the biggest reductions in saturated fat, Oleocream Blend can be combined with another fat at levels between 30-70%, and Oleocream Tech is a targeted addition of up to 20% to boost creaminess and emulsion without rebuilding recipes from scratch.

‘There’s much more possible’ with oleosome-based fat technology

Karefyllakis called the rebrand “a fresh identity” to match the company’s mission of providing “healthy, natural and indulgent ingredients for the future”. “We believe there is so much more possible with the natural technology at the heart of what we do,” he said in a LinkedIn post.

TTM Ingredients’s technology can help companies move away from unsustainable tropical fats like palm and coconut oil, which are widely used in the plant-based food industry – the latter is a common base ingredient in vegan cheese, for example.

These fats are linked to large-scale tropical deforestation, wildfires, and threats to Indigenous populations and wildlife. Within the EU, the upcoming deforestation regulation will ban the import of products with deforestation-linked palm oil, putting manufacturers in a scramble for cheap and effective alternatives.

The Dutch startup claims its zero-waste production process helps Oleocream replicate the texture and functionality of dairy cream with 80% fewer emissions and a fraction of the cost.

Last year, it raised €2M ($2.3M) in pre-Series A funding and said it was scaling up production to 1,000 tonnes annually, which would enable it to supply commercial volumes of Oleocream to both the plant-based and dairy sectors.

And in January it teamed up with the VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland on a $700,000 EU-backed project to create a plant protein from the byproducts of its sunflower-based fat production.

That initiative, titled Sunflopro, is poised to open new market opportunities for the startup, with customers in both bulk and high-value sectors, including plant-based creamers, hybrid dairy, sports nutrition, condiments, infant formula, natural flavour encapsulation, and pharmaceuticals.