The rediscovery of lupins: they’re now a superfood thanks to their plant-based protein
Having only recently hit the supermarket shelves, sales currently stand at 15 million, having risen by 8 per cent over the past year. Thanks in part to these products, Madama Oliva has grown by 10 per cent
From a humble staple of the rural tradition of the past to the perfect superfood for modern healthy eating. Lupins are enjoying a renaissance, fuelled by interest in foods rich in plant-based protein and discoveries regarding their functional benefits (they promote a feeling of fullness and help control blood cholesterol levels) and driven further by product innovation, which has made them easy to find and convenient to eat.
Traditionally sold by street vendors and retailers, lupini beans have only recently entered the modern retail sector and remain a niche product, but have already reached €15 million in sell-out value and recorded an annual increase of 8 per cent in 2025 (source: Niq).
By contrast, the market leader Madama Oliva (19 per cent market share by value) recorded growth of 10 per cent, closing its 2025 financial year with over 55 million euros in revenue and more than one million packets of lupini sold. “We have focused on innovation, introducing shelled lupins and snack packs for on-the-go consumption, and working to expand the ways in which this legume can be used, including in cooking. Thanks to our collaboration with a chef, we have created new recipes and begun offering them as ingredients in vegetarian or vegan versions of many traditional Italian dishes,” explains Sabrina Mancini, marketing director at Madama Oliva.
Rising demand, including at an international level, has spurred a recovery in domestic production. After years of gradual decline, the area under cultivation in Italia has exceeded 1,000 hectares, 75 per cent more than five years ago but still a long way from the approximately 40,000 hectares of the first half of the 20th century, when lupins were used as a rotation crop to improve soil fertility and reduce the use of fertilisers.
The land currently used to grow lupins, mainly concentrated in central and southern Italy, yields around a thousand tonnes of dry product. This quantity increases 2.5-fold once these pulses reach the market. In fact, between harvest and sale, the lupins undergo several rinsing stages to reduce the presence of lupanin, a substance that gives them their bitter taste. In this regard, CREA has launched specific projects to introduce lupin genotypes free from the alkaloids responsible for their characteristic bitter taste, thereby promoting their organic cultivation in southern Italia with the aim of producing pulses for use as feed for beef cattle and the Sicilian Black Pig.
