A small group of four students has developed an impressive vegan version of the hard-boiled egg, appropriately named V-egg-ie, which will be a big step in opening the market for more vegan products to appear.

With the rapidly expanding food market supporting growing interest in organic food and vegan food products, there’s been an endless number of creative experiments in product development: veggie burgers, soy milk, and egg substitutes, among others.

At the Italy-based Udine University, a team of four students developed a vegan egg which has all the characteristics of a real egg yet has much lower cholesterol levels. Named the V-egg-ie, it came as the result of the students’ desire to create a completely vegan version of the hard-boiled egg.

As would be expected, the egg was developed using completely meat- and dairy-free products. Essentially through combining various vegetable oils and a gel created using protein extraction methods, the egg was born.

Believing in the success of the product, the students also revealed that a patent had already been fully secured for the vegan eggs, which means that food companies in the market cannot be too far off as a possibility.