Cargill: Reducing sugar by cutting bitter tastes in cocoa
26 Jul 2023 | Cargill
Chocolate beverages can now contain less sugar while still maintaining the same perception of sweetness. Nick Gauger, technical services innovation consultant for cocoa and chocolate at Cargill, explains how Gerkens Sweety cocoa powders are processed to achieve a darker, richer color and taste with less bitter notes.
This is Missy Green with Food ingredients first.
I'm here with Nick Gower.
He's the technical services innovation consultant for cocoa and chocolate at Cargill.
So Nick, what is Cargill showcasing here today?
So today we have our new gherkins sweetie cocoa powders.
These are customly designed for low reduced sugar beverage applications.
They are made to reduce sugar in a simple way that is without added sweeteners or flavor modulators, but still keep the consumer liking that people want in their cocoa and chocolate beverages.
So how is that?
So we've done it by reducing the bitterness in these cocoa powders.
Typically one of the reasons you add sugar to a beverage is to counteract the bitterness in the cocoa.
So by reducing that bitterness by keeping the level of chocolate at a high level, we're allowing formulators to use this powder to reduce their sugar but keep their flavor at the same level that they've been used to.
So what makes it stand out on the market?
So there really isn't anything out there that has a little bitterness but the strong chocolate flavor.
That's a really neat trick with these powders and that is a really nice tool for formulators to have in their sugar beverages.
How is it listed on the label?
So it's just like a cocoa powder.
Processed alkali, so nothing new, so it can be a drop and replacement for a lot of applications.
So just say cocoa powder, yeah, it is alkali, so it does have that parenthetical afterwards.
OK.
What does alkalized mean?
So that means when the cocoa is processed to make the powder, it is treated with a base, so.
An item we'll say like baking soda, it'll be a little different, but something like that.
The purpose of it is to change the color and the flavor.
That's one of the tools we have to customize our products for different applications.
So that's how you go to get your strong red tones, your really strong browns, and it gives.
More of that brownie like flavor or kind of like a darker chocolate flavor and what's next?
So later this year we'll be introducing powders that are for use in plant-based beverages, oat and almond, and then we will have more work in the future on sugar juice products.
So keep a lookout for a cocoa space with us.
