Barry Callebaut develops reduced sugar products
Chocolate and cocoa products manufacturer Barry Callebaut has developed a range of solutions to reduce sugar in confectionery products without compromising on taste.
The company has developed a range of five sugar solutions for chocolate and has a toolbox of sugar substituting technologies for customer-specific developments. The solutions include sugar reduction, free of added sugar, without added sugar and no potential laxative effect, sugar free and gradual reduction.
Market research, it says, confirms the declining sugar intake trend: 49% of global consumers try to limit their sugar intake, while 23% try to eat a moderate amount of sugar and 14% avoid it entirely.
Bas Smit, global and EMEA marketing director at Barry Callebaut, says, “Nowadays, consumers want to enjoy food without feeling guilty and without compromising on taste. It is all about healthy indulgence. This trend is spreading through Europe and the world.”
The company’s first solution is to reduce sugars by at least 30%. In general, a product should contain at least 30% less sugar than a similar product in the market to be labelled sugar-reduced. Its sugar reduced dark and milk chocolate contains a dietary fibre blend that replaces part of the sugar content. According to the brand, the chocolate keeps it sweet-tasting flavour even when a significant amount of sugar is taken out.
Barry Callebaut also offers a series of recipes that do not contain any added sugar. The range is available in a variety of dark, milk and white chocolates with maltitol as a one-on-one sugar replacer. Maltitol is a polyol: a sugar alcohol that is used as a bulk sweetener that contains fewer calories, but preserves 90% of a product’s sweetness.
In addition, it provides chocolates without added sugar and without the requirement to declare the laxative effect, which can be caused by a polyol such as maltitol. The declaration of the laxative effect is not required for recipes using maximum 10% polyols combined with dietary fibre. The range consists of dark, milk and white chocolates with sweeteners, stevia for a great tasting profile, and an added unique fibre blend.
The range was patented in 2009. The blend contains inulin, a fibre of natural occurrence that is most present in the chicory root and that brings intestinal health benefits, Barry Callebaut says. Stevia, in turn, is a high intensive sweetener: sweeter than sucrose and a natural replacement containing zero calories. This means only a small quantity of it is needed.
The company also has a series of recipes that contain zero sugar. For these sugar free chocolates, Barry Callebaut uses maltitol and stevia as sweeteners and takes all sugar out. The result is a zero-sugar chocolate, with maltitol and stevia that keep the chocolate taste and texture.
And a last option is to gradually reduce sugar in your chocolate year-on-year by 10-20%, without adding polyols.
