Laura Hindson is supervising manufacturing of plant-based milk at a small manufacturing facility in Melbourne’s south-east.
The white liquid is comprised of tiger nuts, (not really nuts however a root vegetable), each the dimensions of a chickpea.
The title tiger nut derives from its look. The dried brown gadgets look slightly like nuts and have stripes a bit like tiger stripes.
Tiger nuts on the manufacturing facility, prepared for processing. Supply: SBS / Scott Cardwell
Hindson‘s manufacturing facility can produce as much as 40 thousand litres of tiger nut milk per day. Most of that’s destined for cafes and specialty shops Australia-wide.
“The flavour is kind of distinctive,” mentioned Hindson, 39. “It is very creamy, very clean, and it is barely candy ever so barely nutty.”
Tiger nut milk is amongst a rising variety of plant-based alternate options offered in Australia, corresponding to oat, almond and soy milk.
Why demand for non-dairy milk is rising
Australia’s non-dairy milk market is price greater than $600 million yearly and is rising quickly, consistent with a worldwide development that’s projected to succeed in $150 billion by 2030.
Round 40 per cent of all Australian households now have plant-based milk within the fridge, with individuals more and more switching from dairy for well being, environmental, and moral causes.
Laura Hindson holding unprocessed tiger nuts. Supply: SBS / Scott Cardwell
“Tiger nuts are a flexible ingredient to make plant-based milk,” Hindson mentioned scooping a handful of dried nuts from a white bag.
“They’re excessive in fibre and a great supply of plant-based iron, plus nutritional vitamins together with C, E, and minerals like magnesium and potassium.
“So, they’re fairly a nutritious meals supply.”
Tiger nuts as meals
Tiger nuts have been round for hundreds of years. Historic Egyptian tombs have been discovered to include tiger nuts, often known as chufa nuts, earth almonds and earthnuts.
Tiger nuts are literally tubers, or the bulbous root of a stem. They develop underground and supply vitamins to a grass-like plant known as yellow nutsedge generally present in Africa and Spain.
Girls develop tiger nuts in Burkina Faso. Supply: Equipped / Laura Hindson
Tiger nuts are additionally a meals staple in West Africa together with Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso.
And that’s the place Hindson sources her uncooked supplies, importing 60 tonnes in 2024, the complete harvest of a Burkina Faso growers’ group.
“We get our tiger nuts from a feminine farming collective known as Mousso Faso which implies ‘land of the wholehearted girl’,” mentioned Hindson.
Mousso Faso was arrange in 2017 in Burkina Faso’s capital, Ouagadougou.
It goals to assist tiger nut farming households enhance their lives.
Bagging tiger nuts in Burkina Faso. Supply: Equipped / Laura Hindson
By shopping for the tiger nut harvest at honest costs, Hindson’s startup — Madame Tiger — has modified the lives of greater than 600 girls and their households in Burkina Faso.
“Once we first met these girls, they’d been badly mistreated and the pay that they have been getting per kilo of tiger nuts was actually not okay,” Hindson mentioned.
“So, we’re paying about three to 4 instances what they have been provided beforehand for his or her tiger nuts.”
Easing the burden of poverty
Burkina Faso is among the poorest international locations on the planet. Of just about 14 million inhabitants, solely 22 per cent are literate, and life expectancy is under 62 years outdated.
Farming tiger nuts is exhausting, exhausting work, principally carried out by girls who’re susceptible to monetary abuse.
“Up to now, exploitation has not solely occurred with tiger nuts, but additionally with sugar, with espresso, with cocoa,” mentioned Maria Marquez, who’s a part of the Mousso Faso collective.
Marquez can also be a volunteer with CIM Burkina, a non-profit based mostly in Spain that focuses on the event of girls and kids.
“Girls of Burkina Faso have usually fallen prey to scams and to unfair business relations, and that has been actual ache and an actual damage for these households,” she mentioned.
“So, constructing moral commerce relationships helps these girls to enhance their day by day lives by incomes an revenue and that helps to maintain their youngsters in class,” mentioned Marquez.
“So, it is extremely, essential for them.”
Terror threats rising
Nonetheless, safe revenue will not be the one concern for these girls. Final yr Burkina Faso topped The Institute for Economics and Peace (IEP) International Terrorism Index.
“In 2024, Burkina Faso reported 1,532 terror-related deaths, and that’s about one-quarter of all terror-linked deaths globally,” mentioned IEP founder and government chairman Steve Killelea.
“The rise in terrorism and dying has been fairly astronomical. And it’s a part of a broader battle raging by way of the Sahel,” he mentioned.
“In 2019, the variety of deaths linked to terrorism [in the Sahel] was solely 10 per cent of what it’s now. And final yr, [the Sahel] accounted for greater than half of of all terrorist deaths globally.”
On a single day in August 2024, jihadists affiliated with al Qaeda killed tons of of civilians in Burkina Faso, in a city two hours from Ouagadougou.
“There’s growing violence with armed teams attacking and civilians dying,” mentioned Marquez.
“Total, the state of affairs within the nation may be very, very exhausting.
“It’s why this tiger nut undertaking with Madame Tiger helps girls. They maintain a good job and earn a good revenue that helps to enhance their lives.”
Enterprise giving again
Hindson is a former meals advertising and marketing government who was first launched to tiger nuts by a relative from Mali. She shortly noticed a enterprise alternative.
“In our first yr in 2020, we purchased six tonnes of tiger nuts. Within the subsequent yr we purchased seven tonnes, then 15 tonnes, then 30 tonnes, after which final yr’s harvest was 60 tonnes,” she mentioned.
“So, we now purchase 10 instances the amount we purchased in 2020.”
Nonetheless, she mentioned growing the manufacturing course of was sluggish and took a number of years.
Dan Hindson and Laura on the Melbourne manufacturing facility. Supply: SBS / Scott Cardwell
“We began with a recipe on the kitchen bench and scaled that as much as produce tiger nut milk in a manufacturing facility,” she mentioned.
“First, we wash the tiger nuts, then we soak them to melt them after which we mill them with water after which we filter out any fibre that’s left within the milk after which we mix it with the opposite elements and bottle it.”
Overcoming challenges
Hindson now employs her brother Daniel, 35, full time.
“Establishing a enterprise the place you’re employed with worldwide growers and also you’re shopping for merchandise straight from the farms in West Africa definitely has its challenges,” she mentioned.
“We’ve had some actually exhausting days and so it has been superb to have somebody as supportive as my brother working alongside me.
Nonetheless, she mentioned the rewards as a result of influence the enterprise has achieved far outweigh the challenges.
“This yr, the ladies of Mousso Faso are constructing sorting shelters in order that they don’t seem to be as uncovered to the solar, they’ve constructed wells and higher amenities for laundry the tiger nuts.
“They usually constructed a warehouse and pipelines as nicely. So, it has made a extremely massive influence on the lives of girls and the farmers.”
Laura Hindson with a carton of tiger nut milk. Supply: SBS / Scott Cardwell
Tiger nut milk gross sales are rising in Australia and Hindson hopes to broaden steadily to fulfill rising world demand.
“We’re very proud to have labored with Mousso Faso for 5 years and seen them develop steadily,” she mentioned.
“And we’re additionally actually proud to provide one thing that folks in Australia are loving.
“So, we hope quickly to share that with the world.”
