Sensorial, texture and taste: Puratos launch soft beads for bakery applications

27 Jan 2020 --- Puratos, a manufacturer of ingredients for the bakery, patisserie and chocolate sectors is launching Smoobees, a creation which taps into the importance on texture. Smoobees are soft beads that offer a creamy texture while ensuring rich taste. They come in different flavors and allow bakers to add a soft and smooth texture to baked goods without injection equipment,. Building on consumer preferences, the smooth texture and rich taste profile of Smoobees offers a new sensorial, visual and taste experience to discover, Puratos highlights.

“As taste is a key driver in how consumers appreciate a product, we work hard to ensure that our products taste perfect,” Sara Louwagie, Product Manager for Smoobees at Puratos, tells FoodIngredientsFirst. The new inclusions are set to launch in different flavors, lemon, blueberry, and caramel, across select European countries as of this month.

“We co-created the flavors with both customers and consumers (involving our Sensobus) taking into account preferences in different markets and applying it in different finished products,” Louwagie continues. “Flavors, aromas and texture were optimized and tailored to these preferences. Our flavor experts collaborated with external partners to select only natural flavors. Their work was then confirmed by our internal sensory panel who validated the selection of flavors,” she explains. 

The concept of Smoobees finds its origins in molecular gastronomy, where chefs have long experimented with capturing different flavors in spheres, resulting in new sensorial experiences for their customers, she notes. “The product is designed to be easy to use, process and bake,” Louwagie adds. Smoobees took a few years to grow from idea to launch. 

“Our innovation processes are based on a commonly used methodology: the stage-gate innovation funnel. Smoobees can be seen as one of our most complex projects as its objective was to create a disruptive innovation, a game-changer for our industry. We developed the product concept but also a totally new production process,” Louwagie comments. 

“We are dedicated to anticipating and responding to these changes through a process of constant innovation, and why we involved customers to integrate their feedback into the product development and adapt it to their needs,” she states. Puratos will keep researching and developing Smoobees, Louwagie further notes. 

A boost of fun, taste and texture 
Through Taste Tomorrow, the world’s largest bakery, patisserie and chocolate consumer survey, Puratos identified the latest consumer trends to hit the market. 

“One trend which emerged from the survey was the growing importance of texture. For consumers, texture is now the new taste,” Puratos CEO Daniel Malcorps, explains. “Through Smoobees, we have transformed this trend into a real-world innovation that can easily be used in a professional baking environment.” 

“Existing inclusions often fail to deliver the desired flavor intensity or the wanted natural flavor profile patissiers are looking for. With Smoobees, we can now imagine including any kind of flavor inside cakes, opening the creative potential for new creations,” says Boris Willo, Head of Patissiers at Puratos and French schooled patissier.

Adding fillings, fresh fruit or other inclusions to cakes can often be technically challenging for producers. Moreover, while other inclusions can dry out produce over time, Smoobees add extra indulgence, freshness and moist, flavorful pockets to every bite of cake, the company notes. 

By Elizabeth Green