Ferré & Consulting Blog (English Version)

A new theme park made entirely of chocolate has just opened in China’s Shanghai.

Shanghai’s World Chocolate Wonderland welcomed visitors through its doors on Friday (December 16), into a theme park of lifelike chocolate exhibits.

According to Reuters, everything on display was made from chocolate, including a replica of ancient China’s famous Terracotta Warriors and the traditional Chinese symbol of the dragon.

Organisers say that the choice of delectable items on display was made based on an effort to unite the East and the West.

Tina Zheng, manager of the Beijing Artsource Group that is behind the mouth-watering project, said that the exhibit is the result of a ‘clever combination’ of both cultures.

‘The truth is, Western and Eastern cultures together can make a clever combination. So here at the exhibition, you can see that we have used Western chocolate, which has more than 3000 years of history. But Chinese culture has a history dating back over 5000 years. So blending both Western and Eastern cultures to make a clever and creative combination has brought about a creative spark.’

The exhibition has attracted visitors of all ages, young and old. 19-year old Chen Aobo (pronounced Chen Ow Boh) said that he was impressed by how lifelike the chocolate articles were.

‘I feel that it’s quite cosy here, plus most of the exhibition was extremely lifelike, and the dragon and terracotta warriors were so vivid and so well-made, so I think it’s all pretty good.’

Also on display were chocolate models of Chinese porcelain vases.

As much as adults may enjoy the novelty of being surrounded by chocolate objects, it is much more of a dream come true for sweet-toothed children.

‘I want to play here for a long, long time. I want to buy a huge box of chocolate here. If they have cakes I want to buy a huge cake too,’ a five-year old said.

A chocolate fashion show, in which models strut down the catwalk in fancy chocolate outfits, was hosted earlier on Thursday (December 15) ahead of the grand opening.

Entrance fee starts at 100 yuan ($16 US Dollars). The wonderland will remain open until February 19, 2012.

Chocolate, Events China, Chocolate, World Chocolate Wonderland

Recently, consumers are more and more consciously looking for products free from certain ingredients such as additives, preservatives or refined sugars. They are constantly balancing their desire for something natural and healthy with something tasty. Barry Callebaut now offers an alternative: Sweet by Fruits. This chocolate is sweetened by all natural fruit sugars, derived entirely from fruits. It functions as an alternative sweetening solution, thus replacing the refined sugar in chocolate.

“We are very excited to launch Sweet by Fruits, the first chocolate on the market with only sugars 100% derived from fruits”, stresses Hans Vriens, chief innovation officer at Barry Callebaut. “This chocolate does not contain any added refined sugar and no added artificial sweeteners. It is made from selected cocoa and sweetened by sugars from fruits such as apples and grapes without compromising in the exquisite taste of our high-quality chocolate.”

Sweet by Fruits is the first chocolate that combines the entire and complex sugar profile of selected fruit and thus forms an answer to the increasing demands for chocolate with ingredients from natural sources, and also excludes potential side effects of some other alternative sweetening solutions. Fruits contain by nature different sugars such as glucose, fructose, sucrose, polyols and complex sugars. Whereas for existing fructose chocolate the fructose is being isolated, and purified, Sweet by Fruits uses the entire sugar profile of the selected fruits.

Source: Confectionery Production

Chocolate Barry Callebaut, Chocolate, Sweet by Fruits

Lecithin is indispensable in the making of chocolate. A natural emulsifier, with just short conching it gives a homogeneous, low viscosity chocolate mass that is relatively easy to work and melts gently. Lecithin reduces fat blooming, increasing the product’s shelf life. It also offers cost benefits, since with lecithin up to eight percent less cocoa butter is needed. Sternchemie, an international supplier of lecithins, has now once again shown in trials that sunflower lecithin is a viable alternative to IP soy lecithin for chocolate manufacture.

Sunflower lecithin is similar to soy lecithin in terms of phospholipid composition. To find out if sunflower lecithin has the same functional properties as soy lecithin in chocolate manufacture, Sternchemie ran practical tests in cooperation with sister company Herza Schokolade. According to Janine Binder, applications technician at Sternchemie, “First we made samples of dark chocolate, with and without added cocoa butter, and milk chocolate. The cocoa butter content was 27% and 34% with the dark chocolate, and 29% with the milk chocolate. We processed some of the samples with our Yellothin 100 IP soy lecithin, and the rest with our LeciStar S 100 sunflower lecithin. We then tested the samples for viscosity, flow moisture point and taste.”

Production testing at Herza Schokolade showed that in milk chocolate the standardised sunflower lecithin LeciStar S 100 gives properties that are essentially identical to soy lecithin. In dark chocolate, the flow moisture point was slightly higher. However, adding about 0.1% more sunflower lecithin gives the same flow moisture point as with soy lecithin. To test the flavour profile, the chocolate samples were blind-tested. With both milk chocolate and the pure dark chocolate, there was no significant difference in taste between sunflower and soy lecithin. “In summary, you can say that you need to use a little more sunflower lecithin in chocolate to get the same flow moisture point as with soy lecithin. In terms of taste, there are no significant differences,” says Binder.

Soy lecithin has a host of uses as an emulsifier and homogeniser. However, the rapid rise in cross contamination between GMO and non-GMO soy is a problem. This creates fertile ground for speculation even before the harvest, which has a significant effect on market prices. For the food industry, this is very disadvantageous. As a result, demand is rising for sunflower lecithin as an alternative. “We are seeing a trend where big supermarket and discount chains are increasingly demanding alternatives to soy lecithin,” explains Michael Heidland, in charge of lecithins at Sternchemie. “One reason is that there is currently no risk of genetic modification with sunflowers or products made from them. Another reason is that sunflower products are hypoallergenic.” Unlike soybeans, each sunflower seed has a shell that must be removed in a separate processing step. Raw sunflower lecithin also contains more by-products that influence the quality, which varies greatly depending on production methods. This makes it necessary to process the lecithin before use. Sternchemie removes by-products from the sunflower lecithin it receives from oil mills by a special cleaning process at its own facilities in Poland and Holland. “With our process technology, we attain such a high product quality that we can use the sunflower lecithin in our oil separators to derive a pure lecithin,” says CEO Andreas Reith.

Source: Confectionery Production

Chocolate, Ingredients Chocolate, lecithin, soy lecithin, sunflower lecithin

Following the divestment of its European consumer business, Barry Callebaut is further strengthening its footprint in Region Europe. Over the next few months, the company will invest nearly €22 million to upgrade and expand existing facilities. The majority of these investments is planned for 2011 and will be fully operational as of spring 2012.

Massimo Garavaglia, president of Barry Callebaut Western Europe, says, “With the planned investments, we will not only strengthen our industrial footprint in Western Europe, the company’s largest business region. We are also investing in our network of Chocolate Academies to support the further growth of our Gourmet business.”

In order to further optimise the factory network, increase customer proximity as well as to respond to increased demand for solid products, Barry Callebaut is expanding its chocolate moulding capacities by building a new line in Banbury (United Kingdom) and in Meulan (France). In addition, the company is also upgrading the chocolate factory in Banbury, incorporating latest technology and improved service capabilities.

In line with the aim to accelerate the expansion of its Gourmet & Specialties Products business, led by the two global brands Callebaut and Cacao Barry, Barry Callebaut will build a new Callebaut Chocolate Academy in Wieze (Belgium) and is refurbishing its Cacao Barry Chocolate Academy in Meulan (France). At its speciality and decorations plant in Zundert (The Netherlands), the company is establishing a new centre of competence for chocolate decorations, adding to the current Chocolate Academy there.

Source: Confectionery Production

Companies Barry Callebaut, Chocolate, cocoa

There is growth potential for dark chocolate in the functional food sector, with the product carrying most of the heart health claims in the confectionery segment, says Leatherhead Food Research.

In its new report Future Directions for Functional Foods, Leatherhead values the international functional food and drink market (products making specific health claims) at $24.2bn and predicts a 4 to 5 per cent annual growth rate over the next few years

In the confectionery market, dark chocolate is performing well, mainly due to its high antioxidant positioning, with an increasing emphasis on the high antioxidant content of cocoa polyphenols driving up sales in many countries, said the UK-based market analyst.

Dark chocolate now accounts for 38 per cent of the US chocolate market and is bought in up to 40 per cent of UK households, they said.

Despite the fact scientific substantiation for chocolate’s heart claims is still mounting, they have contributed to the growth in global demand for the product, often at the expense of milk chocolate, according to Leatherhead.

Although there has been activity for dark chocolate in this area, overall, the heart health confectionery market is still too small and fragmented to quantify, said the analysts.

Anti-aging claims

As well as heart health, dark chocolate is also promoted on anti-ageing claims and there has been a rising number of skin health and beauty chocolate launches in recent years, particularly in the US, said Leatherhead.

An example is Barry Callebaut’s Acticoa ingredient, which has an anti-ageing platform based on antioxidants in cocoa bean. It is used by in major brands such as Guylian and Thorntons, said the analysts.

But there were high-profile failures, like Mars’s CocoaVia range,launched in 2003, which has been discontinued.

Mood foods

Dark chocolate and mood claims are growing in popularity, said Leatherhead, with suggestions that chocolate contains ‘drug-like’ constituents such as anandamines, caffeine, phenylethylamine and magnesium.

There are also claims that it can boost serotonin and stimulate the secretion of endorphins.

Leatherhead said that although work remains to be done to substantiate some of these claims, the consumer perception of chocolate as a good mood food is growing.

Probiotics

The global chocolate market has also carried probiotic-enriched lines. Although probiotics and prebiotics feature particularly strongly in dairy, a 2009 study from University of Ghent in Belgium claims that chocolate may represent a better carrier for probiotics than traditional dairy products.

For confectionery, Barry Callebaut is a pioneer in this area, according to the analysts, launching a functional chocolate bar containing probiotics in 2007.

However, Leatherhead said there have been relatively few confectionery entrants into the market, with major suppliers limited to US companies such as Maramor Chocolates and Attune Foods.

General growth

For confectionery, activity has been limited for functional confectionery according to the report, which applies even within the well developed Japanese market.

In this region, most products launched carrying anti/aging beauty claims have been within the confectionery sector.

Elsewhere in the US and western Europe the category remains in its infancy, despite launches from mainstream food manufacturers such as Kellogg, Mars and Barry Callebaut, said Leatherhead.

In western Europe, most functional confectionery products are competing in the specialist dietetic sector rather than mainstream food market, said the analysts.

Source: Confectionery News

Chocolate Chocolate, heart health

Leading pod-to-pallet chocolate supplier, Barry Callebaut, is targeting manufacturers in the Americas with a stevia-based dark chocolate for use in multiple applications, including moulding, enrobing and inclusions.

The company said it has replaced sugar in the chocolate with an all-natural sweetener solution consisting of dietary fibres, the polyol erythritol and stevia extract, and added that the formulation has been customised to suit the taste preferences of region Americas.

A spokesperson for Barry Callebaut told ConfectioneryNews.com that the main formulation challenge was finding the right ingredient blends to ensure equivalence in stability, texture and taste:

“We use the fibres and erythritol in a combination that optimizes the sweetness profile of stevia. Only adding stevia extract to chocolate would not work properly.”

Using this combination, it is possible to have a sugar reduction up to 90 per cent in the final product, he added.

Stevia, a South American plant in the sunflower family, has attracted massive interest in the last two years following FDA GRAS (generally recognised as safe) for high purity Reb A as a sweetener in the US in late 2008.

Last October saw Barry Callebaut announce the development of a stevia-based chocolate for Belgian confectioner Cavalier for a tablet product, saying the no sugar-added chocolate was based on a sweetener solution (1/1 replacement of sugar) and the Reb A extract from the stevia plant (Stevia Rebaudiana Bertoni).

Swiss confectionery maker, Villars, has released a stevia-based chocolate tablet product and Japanese companies have been manufacturing chocolate products containing the sweetener for many years.

Barry Callebaut said that it intends to target European manufacturers with a stevia-based chocolate ingredient once the regulation allows it.

The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) has published a positive safety opinion on all steviol glycosides extracts with a high purity, and approval is expected from the European Commission towards the end of 2011.

Source: Confectionery News

Chocolate Barry Callebaut, Chocolate, stevia

Enzymatic treatment of cocoa almonds may improve flavour profiles by up to 50 per cent, leading to improved chocolate flavours from low quality almonds, according to new research.

The study, published in the Journal of Food Science, outlines a method for an enzymatic treatment for poor-quality cocoa almonds (known as slate), which may result in a better chocolate flavour.

“This result is very encouraging because it indicates that microbial enzymes, which are cheaper and more readily available than animal enzymes, can be used to enhance chocolate flavour,” said the authors, led by Hilana Salete Silva Oliveira from State University of Feira de Santana (UEFS), Brazil.

They added that further optimisation of the enzyme treatment is necessary “to obtain better results and thus establish a process that can be used for industrial purposes for manufacturing cocoa and chocolate.”

Cocoa flavour

Cocoa almonds are the raw material used in the production of chocolate. They are fermented and dried seeds of cocoa fruits.

The authors noted that the commercial value of cocoa is based not only on the melting characteristics of its fat, which melts in very narrow range that is close to body temperature and provides a unique mouth-feel, but also on the chocolate flavour, “which is developed in properly processed seeds.”

They noted that fresh beans, extracted from the ripe cocoa fruit, have no chocolate flavour and are in fact “extremely bitter and astringent.”

“For the desired flavour to develop, the seeds must go through a curing process that involves a stage of fermentation and drying, which leads to the formation of flavour precursors,” explained Oliveira and her colleagues.

However, they said that a “recurring problem” in the chocolate industry is the poor quality of the some almonds, which leads to reduced fermentation and poor flavour formation.

“Because the fermentation and drying processes still take place on farms, without any controlled condition, a significant percentage of cocoa almonds from each batch do not undergo the necessary changes (acidification and temperature increase) for the necessary enzymatic reactions to occur,” said the researchers.

“As a result, a significant portion of the roasted almonds do not develop the characteristic chocolate flavour, which reduces the quality of the chocolate produced,” they added.

Oliveira and co-workers said that one possibility to remedy this problem is the use of commercial enzymes with similar activity patterns to help in the fermentation process.

“These enzymes should hydrolyze proteins present in the almonds, releasing the flavour precursors that were not produced during the fermentation period … Thus, it would be possible to standardize the quality of cocoa produced, ensuring the quality of the chocolate,” said the authors.

Study details

The researchers tested three commercial enzymes for their ability to improve the flavour attributes of cocoa slate. The team tested swine pepsin, carboxypeptidase A (purchased from the Sigma-Aldrich), and Flavorzyme (Novozymes), against enzymes extracted from unfermented cocoa beans (vegetable enzyme).

The enzymatic treatments were evaluated by chemical analysis (hydrolysis efficiency), and sensory analysis of the treated material compared to good-quality cocoa almonds.

The researchers reported that almonds treated with microbial enzymes (Flavorzyme) developed better chocolate flavour. They added that Flavorzyme, which contains aspartic proteases and carboxypeptidases of microbial origin, provided an improvement of 50 per cent in relation to the chocolate flavour.

“Although the hydrolysis achieved was similar for all tested enzymes … microbial enzymes were able to produce more of the desired precursors that, after roasting, lead to the formation of the chocolate flavour,” said the authors.

“These results indicate that it is possible to use microbial enzymes to improve the quality of cocoa almonds, which is advantageous because microbial enzymes are low in cost and can be supplied in significant quantities, making them more viable for industrial applications,” concluded Oliveira and colleagues.

Source: Journal of Food Science

Chocolate Chocolate, cocoa flavour, enzymes

In time for the chocolate-giving and chocolate-noshing fest on Valentine’s Day, scientists are reporting discovery of how this treat boosts the body’s production of high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL) — the “good” form of cholesterol that protects against heart disease. Just as those boxes of chocolates get hearts throbbing and mouths watering, polyphenols in chocolate rev up the activity of certain proteins, including proteins that attach to the genetic material DNA in ways that boost HDL levels. Their report appears in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, one of 39 peer-reviewed scientific journals published by the American Chemical Society.

Midori Natsume, Ph.D., and colleagues note that studies have shown that cocoa, the main ingredient in chocolate, appears to reduce the risk of heart disease by boosting levels of HDL, or “good” cholesterol, and decreasing levels of low-density lipoprotein (LDL), or “bad” cholesterol. Credit for those heart-healthy effects goes to a cadre of antioxidant compounds in cocoa called polyphenols, which are particularly abundant in dark chocolate. Until now, however, nobody knew exactly how the polyphenols in cocoa orchestrated those beneficial effects.

The scientists analyzed the effects of cocoa polyphenols on cholesterol using cultures of human liver and intestinal cells. They focused on the production of apolipoprotein A1 (ApoA1), a protein that is the major component of “good” cholesterol, and apolipoprotein B (ApoB), the main component of “bad” cholesterol. It turns out that cocoa polyphenols increased ApoA1 levels and decreased ApoB levels in both the liver and intestine. Further, the scientists discovered that the polyphenols seem to work by enhancing the activity of so-called sterol regulatory element binding proteins (SREBPs). SREBPs attach to the genetic material DNA and activate genes that boost ApoA1 levels, increasing “good” cholesterol. The scientists also found that polyphenols appear to increase the activity of LDL receptors, proteins that help lower “bad” cholesterol levels.

Source: American Chemical Society

Chocolate, Health Chocolate, Cholesterol, heart disease

Cargill is expanding its cocoa and chocolate business in Europe through the acquisition of the business of Schwartauer Werke GmbH & Co. KG Kakao Verarbeitung Berlin, (“KVB”), an integrated chocolate company based in Germany.

KVB has two production plants, both in Berlin, Germany. The two plants have a capacity of over 75,000 tonnes of chocolate per year and employ around 180 people. Upon completion of the deal, after clearance from the regulatory authorities, KVB and its employees will become part of Cargill‘s global network of cocoa and chocolate businesses, and benefit from the greater scale of the integrated operation.

“This acquisition marks a significant step in Cargill’s chocolate growth strategy in Europe and our ability to better serve our existing and future customers” commented Jos de Loor, head of Cargill’s cocoa and chocolate business. “The acquisition will strengthen Cargill’s position in Germany, the largest chocolate market in Europe, and create opportunities to expand our chocolate business into new markets.”

KVB’s two Berlin plants will complement Cargill’s existing German cocoa and chocolate facilities in Klein Schierstedt and Hamburg. Once integrated into Cargill, the business and its customers will fully benefit from Cargill’s deep knowledge in cocoa and chocolate and its broad expertise in food ingredients and technologies.

Combining KVB’s expertise with Cargill’s consistently high standards in chocolate, its access to high quality beans at origin, and its ability to manage ingredient price risks will stimulate further growth.

De Loor added: “The integration of the KVB chocolate assets and people into Cargill will strengthen our ability to deliver efficient and innovative solutions for our customers. We plan to invest significantly in KVB’s facilities to create a superior chocolate house that will enable us to offer customers greater choice, higher quality and extended market reach.”

Hermann Hauertmann, CEO of KVB, commented: “This transaction provides the basis for continued growth of KVB, both in Germany as well as internationally. The global network of Cargill opens up new opportunities in terms of supply chain and optimized cost structures to the benefit of our customers. We are confident that our people and our operations will deliver significant value to Cargill’s existing Cocoa and Chocolate business and look forward to develop innovative quality products for our valued customers.”

Completion of the acquisition is expected in the first part of 2011.

Companies Cargill, Chocolate, cocoa, KVB

Carbon infra-red mould heating systems from Heraeus Noblelight are helping a chocolatier maintain the quality of its premium products, as well providing savings in space and energy costs

The production of moulded chocolate involves depositing liquid chocolate into suitable polycarbonate moulds. However, it is important that the moulds are pre-heated to a specific temperature before the chocolate is deposited.

If the moulds are too warm, the chocolate can change its characteristics and de-temper, as it is deposited, and if they are too cold, they will set to quickly, loose shape and possibly crack.

Previously, mould heating on the three moulding plants had been carried out by long wave, infra-red ceramic and metal element heaters. However, these were proving increasingly energy-inefficient, difficult to control and the growing brittleness of the ceramics was starting cause safety issues.

In an effort to solve these problems, the company contacted Heraeus because of the Neston company’s acknowledged expertise in infra-red in general and chocolate mould heating in particular. As a result, PID-controlled carbon infra-red heating systems have been installed on all three moulding machines.

Two of these machines run at around 2.5 m/min (12 moulds/minute) while the third runs at 3.5 m/min (also 12 moulds/min.). All three machines feature a pyrometer which regulates the energy of the infra-red emitters to ensure that all mould temperatures are around 30ºC when filling takes place.

The installation has proved particularly successful, providing better temperature control of the process and achieving energy savings of around 60%.

Heraeus specialises in the production and application of high quality energy sources covering the electro-magnetic spectrum from ultraviolet to infra-red. It has over 40 years experience in infra-red technology and offers the expertise, products and systems to provide efficient and effective solutions to drying, heating and curing problems throughout industry.

Chocolate Chocolate, infra-red heat