Härkis is the brand name of processed

fava beans ''Vicia faba'', commonly known as the broad bean, fava bean, or faba bean, is a species of vetch, a flowering plant in the pea and bean family Fabaceae. It is widely cultivated as a crop for human consumption, and also as a cover crop. Varieti ...

by the

Finnish Finnish may refer to: * Something or someone from, or related to Finland * Culture of Finland * Finnish people or Finns, the primary ethnic group in Finland * Finnish language, the national language of the Finnish people * Finnish cuisine See also ...

company Verso Food. Härkis is a vegetable protein product, whose product consists of Finnish fava beans and pea protein. Härkis is ready to eat out of the box, and it can be used in cooking in place of minced meat or

textured vegetable protein Textured or texturized vegetable protein (TVP), also known as textured soy protein (TSP), soy meat, or soya chunks is a defatted soy flour product, a by-product of extracting soybean oil. It is often used as a meat analogue or meat extender. I ...

. The name "Härkis" is a colloquial form of the word ''"härkäpapu"'' (literally "bull bean"),

for "fava bean".

History

Härkis appeared on the market in September 2016. As the popularity of vegetable protein products increased, Härkis started appearing in many restaurants as well as grocery stores. In late January 2017, two ready-seasoned version of Härkis and three kinds of Härkis steak appeared on the market. In late March 2019 Härkis expanded on the

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

ese market. Three Härkis products were launched in Japan: Härkis Plain (Härkis Original), Härkis Mexican (Härkis Tex Mex) and Härkis Ethnic Curry, which had been developed specifically for the Japanese market. Four hundred stores in

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.468 ...

Osaka is a designated city in the Kansai region of Honshu in Japan. It is the capital of and most populous city in Osaka Prefecture, and the third most populous city in Japan, following Special wards of Tokyo and Yokohama. With a population of 2. ...

and

Nagoya is the largest city in the Chūbu region, the fourth-most populous city and third most populous urban area in Japan, with a population of 2.3million in 2020. Located on the Pacific coast in central Honshu, it is the capital and the most pop ...

started selling Härkis products. In March 2019, the

Norwegian Norwegian, Norwayan, or Norsk may refer to: *Something of, from, or related to Norway, a country in northwestern Europe *Norwegians, both a nation and an ethnic group native to Norway *Demographics of Norway *The Norwegian language, including the ...

company

Kavli Kavli () is a Norwegian brand of soft cheese, caviar, mayonnaise, crackers and milk. The company sells products in 30 countries, with plants in Norway, Finland, Sweden, Denmark, England and Scotland. In 1914, Olav Kavli founded Kavli Holding ...

announced it would be acquiring Verso Food, the producer of Härkis. In 2019, a new Härkis factory was opened in

Kauhava Kauhava is a town and municipality of Finland. It is part of the Southern Ostrobothnia region, northwest of Helsinki and by the main railway from Helsinki to Oulu. The town has a population of () and covers an area of of which is water. The pop ...

. In summer 2019, Verso Food launched a new striped fava bean product under the Beanit brand. The product comes in three flavours: plain, lemon and garlic with herbs. The bean stripes are made of ground beans. Other Härkis products are ground from whole fava beans. The food industry corporation Raisio Oyj acquired Verso Food from Kavli in spring 2021.

Competing products

In the late 2010s, other vegetable and insect protein products have appeared on the Finnish market to serve as replacements for minced meat, such as Nyhtökaura from Gold & Green Foods,

Elovena Elovena is a Finnish food brand by the Raisio Group. The Elovena product line includes oat flakes and other cereal products. In 2020 the product line included prepackaged porridges, flakes, bran and germ, vegetable protein products, snack drinks a ...

Muru kaurajauhis from Raisio and Sirkkis from Entomophagy Solutions Oy.

Valio Valio Ltd ( fi, Valio Oy) is a Finnish manufacturer of dairy products and one of the largest companies in Finland. Valio's products include cheese, powdered ingredients, butter, yogurt and milk. It is Finland's largest milk processor, producing 8 ...

has also brought the milk protein product Mifu onto the market.Vääräniemi, Annakaisa
"Näyttää vähän koiranruualta" – testasimme uuden sirkkavalmisteen! Ötökkäkilpailija nyhtikselle, härkikselle ja jauhelihalle
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Me Naiset ''Me Naiset'' (Finnish: ''We the Women'') is a Finnish language women's magazine published in Helsinki, Finland. It is one of the largest weekly women's magazines in the country and has been in circulation since 1952. History and profile ''Me Na ...

'' 31 August 2018. Accessed on 3 November 2018.

References

Meat substitutes Finnish cuisine