Stead sisters developing a pasta made from locally-grown pulses

TWO sisters have big plans to develop a pasta made from ­locally grown pulses.

Pasta leg-up: Melbourne-based sisters Ingrid and Sally Stead are developing gluten-free legume pasta in their business Wilderbean. Picture: Dannika Bonser

TWO sisters have big plans to develop a pasta made from ­locally grown pulses.

Ingrid and Sally Stead have set up a business to ­develop a legume-based pasta range they hope will double the protein and have four times the fibre of traditional wheat-based pasta.

Sally said her passion for pulses started when she studied agriculture science at Melbourne University and later worked in soil science.

She said learning pulses “provide (benefits) to the soil in terms of fixing nitrogen and fertilising future rounds of crops, plus feeding the soil microbiome” encouraged her to focus on the crop.

“I’m pretty excited to use legumes, they are a good food source, are sustainable and good for your health,” she said.

“We were excited to find a way to incorporate them into a product that people could fall in love with.”

Confessed foodie ­Ingrid, who has worked in marketing and business development, said she thought pulse-based food had a big future.

“We have seen the rise and fall of a lot of food trends. I’m excited at the moment as there is a real buzz around plant-based protein and a lot of potential,” she said.

Ingrid said their market ­research showed lots of people liked eating legumes, such as lentils and chick peas.

“But they were not always sure how to prepare them or what recipes to use,” she said.

The Melbourne-based daughters of a mother who hails from a Western District farm have been working on the idea for about two years.

Sally said current pasta products with legumes ­included ingredients such as potato starch and did not ­always use Australian-grown legumes.

After “quite a bit of leg work” they now have their commercial-scale production equipment and plan to launch the new product under the Wilderbean brand this year.

To help kick start their business, the sisters have taken part in a three-month food and ag start-up accelerator program, run by Rocket Seeder.

Rocket Seeder managing director Jeffrey Bourne said his company helped entrepreneurs across the value chain “so they can start-up fast and grow rapidly”.

“We provide business planning structure and high-performance coaching ­designed to help food and ag entrepreneurs achieve in months what other start-ups take years to achieve,” Mr Bourne said.

Sally said this program gave them guidance and support with aspects including their pitch to potential investors, financial structure and customer relationships.

Applications for the next Rocket Seeder program close on February 18, information at www.rocketseeder.com.

For information on Wilder­bean visit wilder bean.com or follow them on Instagram.