According to recent research by food anthropologist Caroline Hobkinson, sensory experiences will be vitally important to consumers over the coming 20 years. Here, Rudy Wouters explains how innovative ingredients can overcome technical challenges in order to tap into this trend. The Vice-President of the Beneo Technology Center shows the potential of isomalt for new confectionery coatings.

With four out of five consumers worldwide saying that eating and drinking needs to be an “experience” and seven out of ten consumers globally now agreeing that “texture makes food and beverages a more interesting experience”, the sensory satisfaction provided by confectionery is key. Increasingly, manufacturers are looking at ways to provide consumers with new and exciting confectionery experiences. Products need to deliver in terms of visual appeal, while also targeting the other senses.

Experimenting with new confectionery colours, designs, packaging and textures is crucial to truly tantalize consumers’ senses. At the same time, there are always food regulatory challenges that necessitate the rethinking of ingredients – this has also been prompted by EFSA’s decision earlier this year. Now, several major food companies are looking towards Beneo’s rice starch as a natural alternative to undesired food additives in confectionary coatings.

To create moments of sensory indulgence, experts at the Beneo Technology Center have been working on a range of unique candy and gum applications to demonstrate the potential of isomalt for new confectionery coatings. These include ReMix, a translucent coated chewing gum, Mellow Moments, a chewy candy, and Rush, a soft, chewable mint with a sanded isomalt coating. “Thanks to isomalt’s unique technical characteristics, the sugar replacer can help manufacturers overcome various challenges in the production process”, Rudy Wouters, Vice President of the Beneo Technology Center, is convinced.

Example of translucent coated chewing gum: traditionally, creating gums with different colours, textures and flavours requires a lot of resources in terms of materials, energy, time and cost. Furthermore, if using a sugar replacer that does not crystallize translucently like isomalt, each different gum would need to be coated individually. “However, thanks to the technical properties of isomalt, it is possible to develop unique, sugar-free gum cores that deliver different taste, texture and colour sensations”, Rudy Wouters explains. “Then, all that is needed is just one translucent coating, allowing the colourful core to be visible – as demonstrated by Beneo’s new ReMix concept”.

As isomalt comes from sucrose (sugar), it has a sugar-like, mild taste that enhances subtle flavours but, importantly, no aftertaste or cooling effect. In development trials, different grades of Beneo’s isomalt were used in the range of coloured and flavoured gum cores to create various texture and crunch experiences. As isomalt is the only polyol that is translucent when crystallized, it was ideal for coating all of the different chewing gum cores simultaneously, using just one single syrup coating process. Finally, no gum arabic was needed, as isomalt has good elasticity and flexibility after coating. As a natural product, gum arabic is subject to variations in quality and price, and can also contribute to a yellowing of the coating.

Example of translucent coated chewy candy: creating a hard coating with an even surface on a soft chew can also be challenging. The team at the Beneo Technology Center experimented with isomalt to overcome this issue, and the new recipe concept Mellow Moments was created. Extruded, formed and sugar-free, the chewy candy pellets were created using Beneo’s isomalt, which also stabilized the candy’s core texture. This was then coated with Isomalt GS, ensuring that the resulting chewy candy delivered both a pleasing crunch and excellent shelf life. “Furthermore, as a result of isomalt’s good stability, the coating layer does not absorb water, which prevents softening and eliminates the need for individual confectionery wrapping”, says Rudy Wouters. In addition, the high solubility of Isomalt GS results in shorter coating times and requires lower temperatures, therefore allowing for savings on energy costs as well.

Soft mint chewables with sanded coating: confectionery with a sanded coating provides a natural-looking, artisan-style product. Experts at the Beneo Technology Center created Rush, new recipe concept, to show that creating soft mint chewables with a sanded coating is straightforward when using Beneo’s isomalt. Isomalt was used within the Rush chewables to help create the sugar-free chewy candy, as well as to coat the candy core and provide the sanding effect. “The end result is a stable, chewable candy with very good shelf life,” notes Rudy Wouters. In addition, the sanding process used on the soft mint chewables can be applied to gum and sugar-reduced chewy candies, too.

Isomalt, in a patented combination with rice starch, is also a natural alternative for brilliant white, sugar-free coatings. Until now, in order to achieve a brilliant, stable white, additives such as titanium dioxide were required for pastilles, coated sugar pills, sugar-shell coated chocolate buttons or chewing gum. Here, isomalt and rice starch are technologically convincing with very high stability, even at high solving and coating temperatures. From a sensory point of view, the coating scores with a brilliant white colour, with no yellow or grey tinge, a good crunch and a smooth surface without marbling, edges or chipping.

“As demonstrated by Beneo’s new confectionery concepts, versatile and exciting sensory candies and gums can be created using existing equipment, saving manufacturers both time and money”, Rudy Wouters assures. “As consumer demands continue to shift and influence buying patterns across the confectionery sector in both the short- and long-term, it will be the manufacturers prepared to push the sensory boundaries who will give shoppers the excitement they crave”.