Ferré & Consulting Blog (English Version)

A new range of cold swelling starches are designed to deliver texture and stability to baked goods without the need to declare them on an ingredient label.

The flagship product in the range, developed by Ulrick & Short, is a starch derived from wheat, which can be declared on a product label as ‘wheat flour’.

“We’ve got the right level of proteins in there so you can call it a flour, but equally we’ve retained all the properties of starch,” explained Adrian Short of Ulrick & Short.

Friendly starch

The ingredients, part of the firm’s Synergie range, work like any other starch to deliver body, texture, stability and mouthfeel to a range of food products.

However, because they are ‘cold swelling’ they do not require heat in order to deliver their functionality. This in itself is not uncommon in starch ingredients, but Short said the ingredients are also “process-friendly” in that they do not require high-speed mixing or high water content.

“Many cold starches on the market require a lot of mixing as they get quite hungry for water, and this often results in lumping issues. The way we dry our starches means they are easily dispersed, so they can work just as well with varying water levels or mixing speeds,” Short told FoodNavigator.com.

The firm uses a combination of three drying methods: spray drying, extrusion and a process called ‘fluculation’, which is a gentle drying method on starch that has not been too finely milled.

Shelf-life extension

The company’s wheat-derived starch ingredient is particularly suited for breads and other bakery products made with wheat flour, as this would allow for a cleaner label, said Short. Usage levels would vary between 2-5 per cent.

As well as delivering desired texture and stability, the starch could also help extend shelf-life by up to 1.5 days on a loaf of bread, explained Short. Together with its clean label status, this results in a slight price premium over modified starches, but prices remain “very competitive” compared to other clean label products, he said.

Other cold-swelling starches in the range are derived from maize and tapioca, which can be declared on labels as ‘cornflour’ and ‘tapioca starch’ respectively. These ingredients can be used in applications such as dairy, condiments, dips and sweets.

The new range is being rolled out in the UK market.

Source:  Bakeryandsnacks

Ingredients Ingredients, labeling regulations

Following EU Novel Foods approval, British food manufacturers and retailers can now obtain baobab, the exotic fruit from Southern Africa, as an ingredient for their products. Baobab has extremely high nutritional qualities including twice as much calcium as milk and more magnesium than spinach. The Organic Herb Trading Company (OHTC) has been appointed as the UK distributor for both the conventional and organic fruit pulp powder.

A number of products containing baobab are already starting to hit shelves across the UK. Early products include Baobar snack bars, Yozuna Fairtrade African Baobab Fruit Jam, Baobab and chocolate spread, Baobab and banana spread, Baobab lemonade and Baobab powder for use in home cooking.

The off white, powdery fruit pulp can be blended with anything though is better suited as an ingredient rather than eaten on its own. The fruit powder has a tangy taste described as ‘caramel pear with subtle tones of grapefruit’ and also acts as a flavour enhancer.

Baobab is supplied through a unique partnership between PhytoTrade Africa, the Southern African Natural Products Trade Association dedicated to helping low-income, rural communities by developing ethical and sustainable trade in natural products and Afriplex, a leading South African manufacturer of plant extracts.

Ingredients baobab, new ingredient

Chocolate sales in China reached Chinese Yuan 7.7 billion (€846m) in 2009 according to Euromonitor, after growing by a compound annual rate of 10 per cent since 2004. The market is still relatively undeveloped, with average per capita consumption a tiny 90 grams – well behind developed world rates, says the research firm, but this means that strong potential for growth remains.

Prior to the 1990s, few Chinese had ever tasted chocolate, except those who had contacts abroad, says Shao Feng, marketing director of the snack foods division at Chinese food conglomerate Cofco. Now, sales are being driven by rising incomes in the major cities and an increasing desire for Western products.

“Women now have higher salaries and can afford to buy themselves snacks,” says Shao. Cofco bought a registered Swiss brand – Le Conté – and imported Swiss manufacturing equipment and know-how to start the country’s first chocolate factory in the Shenzhen special economic zone near Hong Kong in 1991.

Yet it has struggled to compete with international confectionery heavyweight Mars. The company was one of the first foreign firms to enter China, setting up a manufacturing facility in 1993. Aggressive advertising and a wide distribution network has turned its Dove brand into China’s best-known chocolate, and also established the taste profile for chocolate in the market, explains Lawrence Allen, a former executive at Hershey’s and Nestlé, “This was virgin territory. There was a willing consumer who wanted to try a foreign, exotic product. And Dove was everywhere. It was classic mobile warfare.”

Dove had a 9.4 per cent share of the market in 2008, well ahead of Le Conté’s 5.7 per cent, according to Euromonitor. Dove is marketed as a ‘silky, smooth taste’, often accompanied by an image of a beautiful woman. Cofco is now trying to rival Dove’s position with a new slogan – ‘The richest, purest, and most beloved Le Conté’. “Their chocolate is sweeter, while we have a higher cocoa content. Our chocolate is more pure,” explains Shao.

But Allen, author of the China business book ‘Chocolate Fortunes’, doubts that Cofco can rival foreign brands, “The Chinese first tasted chocolate when they received it as a gift from abroad. It is still seen as a foreign indulgence.”

However, Shao claims that the Chinese consumer is more interested in quality than the origin of the brand. His view is perhaps supported by the surge in dark chocolate products entering the market. They accounted for a third of all new product launches in 2008, according to market research firm Mintel, although the trend slowed last year.

Cocoa percentage

Many brands highlight the percentage of cocoa clearly on their packaging. Mars launched a 66 per cent cocoa product last June (called ‘Chun hei qiao ke li’, which means pure dark chocolate), one of the highest on the Chinese market. Ferrero followed a few months later with the introduction of Ferrero Rondnoir in two test markets, Guangzhou and Nanjing. Meanwhile, Cadbury’s and Lotte offer 45% cocoa content products in China, while Lindt has introduced a 99% cocoa content bar and reports good demand from older women.

“The growth of dark chocolate is very noticeable,” said Kevin Zhu, analyst at Euromonitor. “These products are positioned as a premium and target females who care about their figure.”

Health concerns in China are creating some niche categories. Beijing Yili Food specialises in sugar-free chocolate. “Our target consumers are young girls who don’t want to gain weight and people with diabetes. There are more and more diabetics in China,” said spokeswoman Zhang Bin. Nestlé says it is adapting its successful Wafer range to meet growing needs for ‘healthy snacking’. A strawberry yoghurt wafer, launched this year, contains added calcium.

Bite-size packaging

Chocolate packaging is also evolving in China as consumers in major cities become chocolate lovers. Packs containing bite-sized chocolate pieces are popular, particularly among consumers still developing a chocolate-eating habit. “Many Chinese won’t eat a bar in one go. You often see an open chocolate bar sitting on an office desk, with the top folded over with a paper clip,” said Allen.

Hershey’s Kisses proved popular for this reason and their pouch packaging has been copied by others. Manufacturers are increasingly targeting upwardly mobile women with more handy packets, however. Lotte’s cocoa-rich Dreamy Chocolate comes in a plastic bottle, the kind more commonly known to contain chewing gum. Dove has recently launched Xin Sui, which consists of different flavours of chocolate drops sold in plastic containers even smaller than Lotte’s chewing gum bottle. Both packs are well-suited to carrying in handbags.

However, such products are rarely found beyond Beijing, Shanghai and other major cities. In those regions, gift-giving remains the major driver of chocolate sales. Boxed assortments made up about 40 per cent of total sales in China in 2009, according to Euromonitor, as wealthier consumers sought to show off their rising status by lavishing chocolates on business relations. Weddings, Chinese New Year and Valentine’s Day are increasingly important for chocolate makers too.

Ferrero has done well out of this trend, taking a number three position in the market thanks to its boxes of gold-wrapped Ferrero Rocher. “This is the perfect product for China,” says Allen, pointing to the traditional Chinese belief in gold as an auspicious colour.

Nonetheless, Shao claims that Le Conté is ahead of Ferrero in sales thanks to Cofco’s much wider distribution network. Unlike most foreign firms, its reach extends into the ‘second-tier’, or smaller, Chinese cities. Allen believes that Cofco’s chocolate brands will benefit as these cities develop, tapping into desires of the upwardly mobile population who no longer want to buy the cheap compound chocolate made by some of the domestic brands. “When the middle section of the market opens up, Le Conté will be there. You’ve still got a billion people out there who have never tasted chocolate.”

Meanwhile, in the top-tier cities, brands that nurture an image of exotic luxury will continue to win sales. One such name is Belgium-based Senz, which has recently introduced its Art of Expression range. “Chocolate produced in Belgium has a good image,” says Euromonitor’s Zhu. The product also contains macadamia nuts, another exotic ingredient. Indeed, chocolate with nuts is expected to be a growing trend in new chocolate launches in China, according to Helen Zhao, research manager at Mintel in Shanghai.

Source: Confectionery Production

Chocolate China, Chocolate

Air inclusion is a wide-spread practice in the confectionery and bakery industry.

Aerated confectionery can be defined as an aerated gelled product containing a mixture of carbohydrates, mainly sugar and different types of glucose syrup, whipping and/or stabilizing agents, flavor and color.

Advantages of the process include an increase volume, together with a decrease in density, modification of the viscosity and fluidity of the aerated mass, leading to better stability and a modification of the texture and organoleptic characteristics of the finished products. In products, it also leads to a shorter texture, modification in the mouthfeel, reduction of stickiness and cold flow and a decrease in sweetness.

Sometimes, aeration is just one of a number of techniques available for improving appearance, texture and consistency. In other cases, aeration is essential for providing the food with its characteristics properties. Typical examples are baked goods, some desserts such as ice cream and certain confections, such as nougat and marshmallow.

Confectionery Aerated confectionery, aeration, Air inclusion

Toffees, caramels and fudge have a predicted global growth of six per cent over the next four years, according to Euromonitor. The optimal product is naturally a combination of ingredients and equipment.

It is the dairy ingredients that make toffees, caramels and fudge so special. Other additional ingredients such as fruit pieces, nuts, special flavorings and chocolate coatings can take the basic creamy mix to new heights of luxury – but the texture of the foundation must be optimal to start with.

Toffee and fudge confectioneries are complex, not only due to their specific combinations of ingredients – dairy components, sugar, fats etc. –but also due to the different processing methods and final textures involved. In toffee and caramel the sugar is fully solubilised, whereas in fudge the sugars are processed to a crystallized form.

The correct balance of sugar, glucose syrup and dairy ingredients, therefore, is vital to produce the ideal confection in terms of sweetness, texture, and of course shelf life.

In caramels it is often desirable to reduce stickiness while maintaining the ideal texture (thickening or gelation), melting properties and milky perception.

Confectionery caramels, fudge, Toffees