NuCicer, a crop improvement and design company, today announced Nuchi™ , a whole new class of high-protein chickpeas. Nuchi (“new + chickpea”) is the product of foundational plant genetics research accelerated by NuCicer’s AI-driven genomic modeling and speed-breeding technology. By mining the natural diversity of ancient wild varieties, NuCicer has developed a non-GMO ingredient that outperforms conventional chickpeas across the dimensions that matter most to food manufacturers, with the nutritional profile, flavor and functionality to compete at the center of the plate as a staple crop for the global food system.
UNPRECEDENTED PROTEIN DEMAND
Nuchi enters the commercial market as protein demands strain existing supply chains and whey protein concentrate prices have risen more than 50 percent since January 2026, forcing food manufacturers to search for functional, clean-label alternatives. Concurrently, consumer demand for protein driven by dietary adjustments and the growth in GLP-1 medications has reached new highs. Seventy-one percent of Americans are now actively trying to consume more protein, up from 59 percent just three years ago. The global protein ingredients market is projected to reach $84 billion by 2033, growing from a base of $55 billion in 2025. Plant-based protein is the fastest-growing segment of that market.
Nuchi is designed for this moment, with the unique product-market fit to meet growing manufacturer and consumer demand for environmentally friendly and low-process protein.
NOT YOUR AVERAGE CHICKPEA
Nuchi delivers 50 percent more protein and 25 percent less fat than a standard chickpea. The improved protein-to-fat ratio eliminates the costly defatting step that has long made chickpea protein processing difficult and expensive. It features a mild, naturally neutral flavor that reduces the need for masking agents, and performs across a wide range of applications, from high-protein flour to protein concentrate to isolate without solvent extraction. In addition to being non-GMO and gluten-free, Nuchi flours and protein concentrates pack the added punch of high fiber.
“This is not your average chickpea,” said Kathryn Cook, Co-Founder and CEO of NuCicer. “The food industry has spent years processing around the limitations of standard chickpeas and compensating for what it couldn’t deliver. We tapped into the natural genetic potential of this crop to create a better starting ingredient. Better food starts with better crops.”
Four ingredient formats are available:
High Protein Flour: naturally higher protein, improved flavor, stronger performance and cleaner labels than conventional chickpea flour.
Low Fat Flour: neutral flavor, improved processability, optimal for texture and expansion applications.
Protein Concentrate: simply milled, solvent-free and an all-in-one protein and fiber ingredient.
Protein Isolate: maximum protein concentration, precise functionality for applications that demand both.
NuCicer has validated Nuchi’s performance across multiple food formats, including crackers, pancakes, waffles, pasta, snacks and cereals, demonstrating that high-protein, clean-label formulation does not require a compromise on taste, texture or processability. Nuchi is also compatible with existing pea protein processing infrastructure, reducing the capital investment required for manufacturers to transition.
Nuchi is the first commercial output of NuCicer’s speed-breeding platform, which runs five generations of chickpea per year and compresses a decade of traditional breeding into four years or less. The platform enables NuCicer to bring new crop varieties to market faster than any conventional breeding program and to address complex, multi-gene traits that gene editing and marker-assisted selection cannot reach.
“Nuchi proves we can deliver elite nutritional traits directly into the seed and at speeds traditional methods can’t match,” said Sean MacEachern, CTO of NuCicer. “By pairing our proprietary genetic library with our AI-guided breeding platform, we are engineering a climate-resilient crop designed to drop directly into existing processing infrastructure.”
10,000 ACRES OF NITROGEN-FIXING CHICKPEAS PLANTED
Nuchi chickpeas are grown by partner growers in North America, with 10,000 acres planted for 2026. As a legume, chickpeas draw nitrogen from the air and replenish it in the soil, naturally providing the benefits of synthetic fertilizer at a fraction of the cost and environmental impact. At a moment when fertilizer prices have spiked due to global supply disruptions, NuCicer’s Nuchi chickpea delivers a practical agronomic advantage.
