aMaMa® is the company trade name derived from ammamma, an endearing term referring to a maternal grandmother in South India and in deference to the founder's childhood memories of the enticing and delicate aromas emanating from her own ammamma's kitchen.  The concept to develop high-end vegetable purees and flavor bases actually occurred early in the nineties when the founder confronted a mealtime challenge to surreptitiously enhance and prepare nutritious and balanced meals for her four-year old grandson.  Blending select vegetable purees with yogurt proved to be a great success not only with him but subsequently also with other grandchildren, the whole family, friends and neighbors.  Formal research began soon thereafter to commercially manufacture aMaMa® Flavor Bases with homemade goodness.

aMaMa®, Ltd. is a Virginia Corporation formed on January 27, 1998 to develop nutritionally rich ingredients to help enhance delivery of the intrinsic minerals, nutrients and vitamins contained in select colorful and mildly sweet vegetables.  And to introduce these specialty ingredients for applications in adding value to dairy, deli, bakery and gourmet foods making them nutritionally synergic and naturally colorful with delicate aromas and flavors.

Research and development began in 1998 after receiving positive sensory evaluation reports from Mississippi State University. The yogurt samples used in the evaluation were fermented, blended and evaluated in the lab under the close supervision of Dr. Charles H. White, Department of Food Science and Technology Head and Graduate Coordinator at Mississippi State University.  aMaMa® sample products with proprietary processes were also submitted to the US Agricultural Research Service in Beltsville, Maryland.

Yogurts flavored with aMaMa® Flavor Bases were test marketed briefly in the Northern Virginia area under the Vege'Yo'® and SpicyYo'® brand names. Under a Confidential Non-Disclosure Agreement, extensive research was done on various applications using approved proprietary scheduled processes along with shelf life testing, and nutritional analyses at Cornell University Department of Food Science in Ithaca, New York and Cornell University New York State Agricultural Experiment Station in Geneva, New York.

Research also was undertaken in designing a processing system to maintain high quality in commercial manufacturing.  Patent No. US 6598515 was issued on July 29, 2003 for an 'Apparatus for Processing a Product' and Patent No. US 7101583 was issued on September 5, 2006 for a 'Method for Processing a Product.'  aMaMa® is granted a non-exclusive license for the use of both patents to manufacture aMaMa® Purees and Flavor Bases.  A 50-gallon micro-batch apparatus was fabricated and tested, under a Confidential Non-Disclosure Agreement, by APV at their facilities in Wisconsin, U.S.A.