{"id":4105,"date":"2026-07-07T12:36:28","date_gmt":"2026-07-07T12:36:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/durhammovinghub.com\/?p=4105"},"modified":"2026-07-07T12:36:28","modified_gmt":"2026-07-07T12:36:28","slug":"buttery-sweet-and-orange-this-milk-alternative-has-deep-north-carolina-roots","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/durhammovinghub.com\/?p=4105","title":{"rendered":"Buttery, sweet and orange: This milk alternative has deep North Carolina roots"},"content":{"rendered":"

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The humble sweet potato, long considered a North Carolina staple, is at the center of innovation as it\u2019s transformed into the latest plant-based milk.<\/p>\n

Read more Mayor: Raleigh considering youth curfew after shootings during \u2018teen takeover\u2019<\/a><\/p>\n

Appalachian State University researchers, backed by a $1.82 million grant, have found a new use for the vegetable, and with good reason.<\/p>\n

North Carolina grows more sweet potatoes than any other state<\/a>, but due to the U.S. Department of Agriculture\u2019s strict grading policy<\/a>, only the best sweet potatoes can be sold whole, while lower-quality potatoes are turned into other products.<\/p>\n

\u200bMany don\u2019t make the cut at all. Approximately 63 million pounds<\/a> of sweet potatoes are left to rot in North Carolina fields each year<\/a>, according to Brett Taubman<\/a>, director of the Fermentation Sciences Department at App State.<\/p>\n

\u201cLower grades\u2026 are already being put into baby foods, or purees,\u201d Taubman said. \u201cBelow that, you know, there\u2019s not even enough demand for those sweet potatoes currently to justify harvesting millions and millions of pounds \u2026 so they\u2019re just left in the ground right now to rot.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sweet potatoes used in the milk process have no cosmetic requirements, allowing these currently wasted sweet potatoes to be repurposed for plant-based milk.<\/p>\n

Taubman\u2019s company is called Rootsii<\/a>, and he has big expansion plans to make sweet potato milk the next plant-based hit and boosting farmers\u2019 business along the way.<\/p>\n

Taubman came to App State after taking an interest in brewing and fermentation during a research stint in chemistry. He began using brewing to teach students abstract chemistry concepts.<\/p>\n

During his research, he realized he was missing a major opportunity.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were working with sweet potatoes, we were working with plant-based milks \u2026 and it just kind of hit me, like, why is there no sweet potato milk yet?\u201d Taubman said. \u201cI did a quick search, and sure enough, there was no sweet potato milk. We decided to do a test run\u2026 and it turned out good enough the first time that we decided to roll with that.\u201d<\/p>\n

The project was still a long way from commercialization until NCInnovation<\/a> stepped in.<\/p>\n

NCInnovation, a nonprofit based in Research Triangle Park, connects public universities in North Carolina with private industry to turn academic research into commercial products and jobs.<\/p>\n

Read more ‘The Odyssey’ 1st Reactions Hail ‘Must-See’ Epic, Praise Robert Pattinson<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cIt essentially turned it from an interesting research project that we were working on into a full-scale, you know \u2026 company,\u201d Taubman said.<\/p>\n

Agriculture<\/a> is North Carolina\u2019s most valuable industry, accounting for $111 billion in economic activity and employing over 600,000 people. For Triangle residents, where food innovation<\/a> is a growing industry, the project presents a new example of how agricultural technology can benefit farmers, businesses and consumers.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is 100% a North Carolina product,\u201d Taubman said.<\/p>\n

Well, sort of. The milk is currently formulated with coconut oil, which cannot be sourced locally. Due to the lack of processing facilities in Eastern North Carolina, the potatoes also must first be shipped out of state for processing.<\/p>\n

The company, under the name Rootsii, plans to switch to muscadine grape seed oil since the seeds are a common byproduct of North Carolina\u2019s wine industry<\/a>, but this path faces hurdles.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are some people who are already pressing those seeds to make muscadine grape seed oil, but not for food purposes, \u201c Taubman said. \u201cOur idea is to use another agricultural waste product and convert that into a value-added product \u2026 and further localize the whole production chain.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rootsii intends to make the milk available in Western North Carolina within the next year, with expansion statewide slated for year two. Made for coffee, cereal, and everyday uses, the milk is slightly sweet with an orange tinge and creamy texture.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you tried it on its own and didn\u2019t know that it was derived from sweet potatoes, it would be difficult to pin down, which is what we want,\u201d Taubman said.<\/p>\n

The company is partnering with regional grocery stores to conduct consumer testing on different versions of the milk while also developing new products like creamers and yogurts. Roostii also plans to open a bulk processing facility in Eastern North Carolina to be closer to farmers and leverage its regional North Carolina branding.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s nothing more North Carolina than a sweet potato,\u201d Taubman said. \u201cIt\u2019s something we definitely are very proud of, and something that we want to use and lean on.\u201d<\/p>\n

Read more Patricia Richardson Calls Tim Allen ‘Last Man’ Reunion ‘Not My Best Work’<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

App State researcher has made Rootsii, backed by NCInnovation grant, to repurpose leftover North Carolina sweet potatoes into a nondairy milk alternative.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4103,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4105","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-read-todays-edition"],"yoast_head":"\nButtery, sweet and orange: This milk alternative has deep North Carolina roots - Durham Moving Hub<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/durhammovinghub.com\/?p=4105\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Buttery, sweet and orange: This milk alternative has deep North Carolina roots - 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