Nestlé set to deliver no added sugar chocolate ranges
Nestlé is claiming a product breakthrough with plans to produce a chocolate made entirely from the cocoa fruit, resulting in no refined sugar being added to the finished confectionery.
As the company revealed, its latest process involves using beans and pulp as the only ingredients, with the new range set to be released in Japan this autumn through its KitKat Chocolatory.
From there, the business said it planned further products for global release next year through its wider portfolio of confectionery products.
Nestlé said that its approach to the use of natural ingredients allowed it to extract the pulp and use it in chocolate, claiming that there would be no compromise on taste, texture and quality.
Last March, the company released its Milkybar Wowsomes, which were a 30% reduced sugar option from its standard bars, which came in the wake of UK body Public Health England’s call for a 20% cut in sugar within a wide range of products including confectionery by 2020.
The process for the Wowsome bars was said by the company to have been inspired by candyfloss, in which its research teams in Switzerland, UK and the Czech Republic were reportedly able to transform the structure of sugar using natural ingredients, which the company said involved creating porous particles of sugar that dissolve more quickly in the mouth.
Speaking on its latest development which promises an even more substantial breakthrough, Patrice Bula, head of strategic business units, Marketing and Sales at Nestlé, said: “We’re proud to bring chocolate lovers a new chocolate made entirely from the cocoa fruit without adding refined sugar. This is a real innovation which uses the natural sweetness of the cocoa pulp to provide a pure, novel chocolate experience.”
The cocoa fruit contains cocoa beans and cocoa pulp. The pulp surrounds the beans, it is soft, sweet and white in colour. Some of the pulp is used in the fermentation of the cocoa beans after they are harvested, but a significant proportion is usually removed and the value is lost. Until now it has not been used as an ingredient to naturally sweeten chocolate.
With the announcement today, Nestlé reaffirms its leadership in the confectionery category by driving innovation and creating new, natural and exciting products. Nestlé was the first to bring Ruby chocolate to market in 2018 with KitKat, first in Japan and then across Europe.
One of the main reasons that chocolate is avoided by (some) people is because of its sugar content. Now with the introduction of this sugar-less chocolate, it seems that Nestle has got it covered. With the cocoa beans industry doing well, and expected to show promising growth in the coming 5 years according to a Grand View Research report, hopefully, companies will have more opportunities to grow in this sugar-less direction.