19/01/09 SunOpta Grains and Foods Group has announced the addition of Sunzipan Sunflower Paste to its extensive sunflower offering serving the food industry. This unique bakery condiment is a lower cost alternative to other nut pastes on the market while still providing a power packed nutritional profile and that highly desired nutty flavor. It is naturally high in protein, fiber, folate, phytosterols, and is the BEST whole foods source of Vitamin E! 

Sunflower also has fewer allergen concerns compared to tree nut based products.  Sunzipan Sunflower Paste is made from roasted high oleic kernel providing excellent stability and extended shelf life properties while adding texture, flavor and value to your final product.  It can be used in a wide variety of pastries, fillings, cookies, bars and candy applications in the bakery and confectionary markets.  The possibilities for use are delicious as well as endless.

“Our interest in making a Sunflower paste condiment  was for the purpose of delivering this great nutrition into a new bakery condiment that had widely accepted usage, like Almond Paste,” Christine Hirschey at SunOpta told NutritionHorizon.com. “Sunflower kernel would also be less costly than a tree nut product (like Marzipan as an Almond based product), have fewer allergen concerns (like tree nuts contain), and also maximize the shelf life high oleic kernel can provide.  Attached is a good overview of the nutritional benefits of Sunflower.  It is nutritionally equal or superior to Almonds, so we went to work to develop a great tasting new bakery product”, Hirschey added.

Sunopta is in the process of trademarking Sunzipan as a hybrid name which salutes "Sunflower" as the key component and also to give credit to "Marzipan" for it's delicious and well known condiment attributes, Hirschey explained. “There has been early interest for Sunzipan for all the reasons in your line of questions to us.  It is less costly, plentiful with great nutrition and relatively low allergen concern, and it tastes great.”

For over 45 years, SunOpta Sunflower, a division of SunOpta Grains and Foods Group, has been a worldwide supplier of sunfl ower products for the snack, confection, baking, cereal, and food ingredient industries. As an industry leader, we offer a complete range of sunfl ower kernel an inshell products. The company specializes in SL 80 High Oleic sunfl ower kernel an XL inshell. We also offer value-added processing such as oil roasted, dry roasted, honey roasted, and flavored sunflower products.

www.sunopta.com