A California start-up called Savor is making butter from carbon dioxide instead of animal fat. According to the company, the process starts with a source of carbon—like carbon dioxide pulled from the air—and they then "use a little bit of heat and hydrogen to form chains which are then blended with oxygen from air to make the fats & oils we know, love and drool over."
Bill Gates is an investor and he was impressed. "I couldn't believe I wasn't eating real butter," he recently wrote. (That almost sounds like a great product name! Oh wait….)
From Smithsonian:
A team of researchers, including Alexander, published a report in the journal Nature Sustainability in December, exploring the possibility of food production without agriculture. They suggest this technique has the potential to drastically shrink the environmental footprint typically involved with food systems[…]
By creating butter by using carbon rather than emitting it, the Savor team hopes to hit two birds with one stone. According to the Nature Sustainability report, the synthetic fat's carbon footprint is less than 0.8 grams of CO2 equivalent per calorie. On the other hand, real unsalted butter with 80 percent fat produces 2.4 grams of CO2 equivalent per calorie, writes the Guardian.
Synthetic foods that don't require agriculture could also free up land for conservation efforts and carbon storage. Gates claims Savor's thermochemical process uses less than one-thousandth of the water used in traditional agriculture.
Next on Savor's research recipe list are fake fat substitutes for palm oil and coconut oil.
Previously:
• This Spanish steakhouse serves 3D-printed vegan meat
• France bans use of meat words like 'steak' and 'sausage' on fake meat products
• Vegan restaurant will serve meat to keep doors open
