Welcome to the Ode Factory. So, you're interested in our production process? Cool, so are we.
How about some background first? The idea of turning fiberglass into a material is a very common concept in the production process. rich oats into nutritional liquid food came from researcher Richard Oeste and his team at Lund University way back in the 1980s. By 1994, the first oat drink was produced. Since then, so much has happened to turn oatly into the oatly you know today.
But our oat-based production process is pretty much the same as when first invented. Everything starts when trucks filled with oat kernels that have been cleaned, peeled and heat treated arrive at our factory. Now it's milling time.
In this first process step the oat kernels are mixed together with water resulting in a soft porridge like mixture. Right after milling, the oat mixture is sent to the enzyme tank. This is basically where the magic happens. Similar to what happens in your stomach, natural enzymes are added to break down the oat starch into smaller components.
For example maltose, which gives our products a natural sweetness. Thanks to our unique enzyme blend, the soluble fiber, or beta-glucans, are retained. And since beta-glucans have been shown to have a positive impact on cholesterol levels, it's a pretty big deal. In this separation step, some insoluble fiber are removed. As we may have mentioned, the beta-glucans stay in the oat liquid, and now we have our oat base, from which all our different products are made.
Did I hear a hooray? Now we need to add some more ingredients to the oat base. For oat drinks, we add things like rapeseed oil, salt and vitamins.
For our fermented products, like oat gerts, we add, for example, bacteria and starch. All of our products are heat treated prior to packaging to extend their shelf life. Depending on the product, this heat treatment step is done by using either ultra high temperature or pasteurization. But look! It's already time for the final process step, otherwise known as homogenizing.
This is the part where fat droplets are broken down into smaller droplets to make sure all the liquids mix properly. Actually, this process can reverse a bit over time, which is why our packages say shake me. Our products are then put into different packages.
Some products end up in small packaging, others in large, some in both. Isn't it nice how that works out? Finally, our products leave the factory, ready to be enjoyed at different shops, cafes, and homes around the world.
But that's a whole other amazing Oats story.