Alchemy Foods: the Tucson meat alternative made for people who love to cook

Grace Hees started with a recipe, a curious mind, and a partner whose enthusiasm turned a casual idea into a business.

Today, Alchemy Foods produces more than 100 pounds of mushroom and pea protein-based meat alternatives every week out of a Tucson commercial kitchen. The products sell at Heirloom Farmers Markets, Food Conspiracy Co-op on Fourth Avenue, Barista del Barrio, and Café 54, with more restaurant partnerships in progress. A new product, Free Form Ground, is in development.

Hees, a UX designer by profession, built Alchemy around a straightforward premise: home cooks and restaurant kitchens deserve a plant-based protein that behaves like an ingredient.

How it started

The business began with an experiment. Hees was developing a recipe in her home kitchen when the combination of ingredients surprised her. "The very first time I made the recipe, it felt alchemical," she said. "I was experimenting with a handful of completely different ingredients and somehow they transformed into something entirely new."

She floated the idea of turning the recipe into a product to her partner Bryan.

"Without missing a beat, he lit up with enthusiasm and told me he thought it was a great idea," Hees said. That encouragement gave her the confidence to keep going.

She acknowledged the ambition required some willful optimism.

"Looking back, it's kind of a cockamamie thing to think you can invent your own meat alternative in your home kitchen," she said.

The creative outlet was part of the appeal. She wanted something tangible to build alongside her UX design career.

Why mushrooms

Before landing on the final recipe, Hees tested a wide range of mushroom varieties.

"I was enchanted by all the different varieties I could use," she said.

Shiitakes, chanterelles, oysters, and portobellos all went through her kitchen. Cost and availability eventually narrowed the field.

As a result, organic crimini mushrooms became the foundation. They offer a meaty texture when cooked, a rich but not overpowering flavor, and consistent availability, Hees said. Alchemy also uses shiitake powder, which adds what Hees describes as a deep layer of umami. Non-GMO pea protein crumble rounds out the base, bringing texture and the ability to absorb any seasoning added to it.

Hees chose not to build around soy as a primary ingredient. Alchemy does use gluten-free tamari for its umami depth, so the product is not completely soy-free, but the formulation avoids soy as a structural foundation. Making the product gluten-free and nut-free was a priority.

"Every ingredient choice is a tradeoff," she said. "For me, versatility and flavor always come first."

Mushrooms also aligned with the sustainability values she wanted to build into the brand.

"Mushrooms require significantly less land and water than livestock, and they can be grown efficiently with a relatively small environmental footprint," she said. Alchemy packages its products in paper and plant-derived compostable materials.

A blank canvas

Hees designed Alchemy's Original recipe specifically for people who like to cook. Before starting the company, she surveyed the plant-based market and found it limiting. Most products pointed toward a single outcome: burgers, nuggets, or sausages. She wanted something different.

"Everything I found seemed designed to make one specific meal," she said. "I wanted an ingredient, not a pre-determined product. I wanted something I could season, experiment with, and make my own."

The Original is savory and umami-forward, intentionally built as a starting point. It cooks and behaves like ground meat, which means it works in tacos, pasta sauce, dumplings, lettuce wraps, chili, or anything else that calls for a ground protein.

Hees currently favors Asian-inspired lettuce wraps with crunchy vegetables, rice noodles, and fresh herbs. She also uses the Italian variety to make a hearty Bolognese.

The chorizo, the boldest and most spiced product in the lineup, has become the bestseller.

"It's bold, packed with spicy flavor," she said. "Developing the chorizo was probably the most fun."

The customer who surprised her

Hees expected her core customers to be vegan or vegetarian. The farmers market taught her otherwise.

"Many are meat eaters, people who simply want to eat a little less meat without sacrificing the meals they love," she said. "That's exactly where I started, too."

Hees herself eats meat and considers that a feature of the product's identity.

"I actually think it makes some of the biggest skeptics a little more curious to try Alchemy," she said. The common thread among customers is a genuine interest in good food.

From five-pound batches to a commercial kitchen

The development process took about a year and a half from the first kitchen experiments to a finalized recipe. Hees said she is still refining it. The production side has changed considerably. Alchemy moved from five-pound batches in a home kitchen to more than 100 pounds per week in a commercial space.

"Every stage has taught me something valuable," she said.

What comes next

Hees is working on a new product called Free Form Ground, a savory blend with a plant-based binder already incorporated into the mix. The binder allows it to hold shape when formed into patties, meatballs, or the kind of craggy, browned sausage bits that work on pizza. It sears and browns while maintaining its structure.

"We felt it was the missing piece in our lineup, and we can't wait for people to get their hands on it," Hees said.

Alchemy is also expanding into new restaurant and retail partnerships throughout Tucson. The company already appears on menus at Barista del Barrio and Café 54. Hees said the goal is to grow thoughtfully and keep quality consistent as production scales.

Tucson was never in question as the place to build the company, she said. Bryan was born and raised here. She has lived in the city on and off for about a decade, originally from New Mexico.

"Tucson has a way of championing its local businesses," she said. "People genuinely show up for one another, and there's a real sense of community that you can feel, especially in the food world."

Alchemy Foods products are available every weekend at Heirloom Farmers Markets at the Rillito Park and Oro Valley locations, and anytime at Food Conspiracy Co-op at 412 N. Fourth Ave. Follow Alchemy on Instagram.