The secret to low calorie chocolate
3 July 2012 – Cadbury owner, Kraft Foods has filed a patent for the manufacture of low calorie chocolate. This new method is claimed to preserve quality and texture while prolonging shelf life.
Chocolate and other confectionery products are high calorie products. It is thus not surprising that many attempts have been made by the confectionery industry to lower the sugar, fat and calorie contents of such confectionery products.
Examples of such attempts include the use of sugar replacers such as polyols and/polydextroses, the use of special fats or the use of special emulsifiers. However, no attempts have provided a low-calorie confectionery product having both a rich flavour and a good mouthfeel.
The method, from Kraft, uses a ‘structured liquid’ that allows increased moisture in the product, permitting a reduction in sugar and fat, and consequently a reduction in calories. Despite the increased moisture content, the water is entrapped in a thermodynamically and kinetically stable state. This leads to very beneficial properties such as little or no agglomeration when incorporating the structured liquid into chocolate type products. A low water activity can also contribute to prolonging shelf life.
The structured liquid is said to contain a thermodynamically stable mixture of water, surfactant, co-surfactant and a non-aqueous component.
