Protose was an early vegetarian-friendly meat analog. It was invented by John Harvey Kellogg, the inventor of Corn Flakes and an early American health food nut. Kellogg was trying to make a beef-like, meatless compound he could mould into steaks for his patients at his Battle Creek, Michigan sanitarium. Kellogg made protose from nuts (primarily peanuts) and wheat gluten. When Kellogg died, the protose patent was sold to a company called Worthington Foods which still makes and sells protose today.

Below is a rough home-brewed approximation of protose:

1 cup peanut butter
1 cup mashed and cooked beans
2 cups potato or vegetable water
2 tablespoons cornstarch
1 teaspoon chopped onion
1 teaspoon sage
Pinch of salt

Mix the ingredients and then steam them for three hours over top a pot of boiling water. Stir occasionally. Let it cool and congeal in a pan and then slice like meat.

Log in or register to write something here or to contact authors.