The concept of targeted enjoyment is top of the agenda for today’s consumers. This is happening in a time when people are increasingly concentrating on promoting their overall wellbeing, with the result that integrating sweets into their day-to-day lives has become a balancing act.
Many bakery and confectionery brands use plant-based proteins to upvalue and improve their products and to meet the demands of consumers. It’s notable that 52 percent of consumers worldwide regard themselves as flexitarians. This prompts confectionery manufacturers to use plant-based proteins and wholesome ingredients like chickpeas and quinoa in their recipes to adjust their portfolio to the individual wellness goals of consumers.
While some plant-based proteins can trigger sidetones or bitterness and negatively influence mouthfeel, these concerns can be swept aside by using quality ingre-dients. Using clean-tasting soy and pea proteins can contribute to mastering the challenges posed by not using dairy products in vegan recipes. They provide a similar functionality to that of dairy proteins and ensure creamy, silky sweet experiences that consumers know and love. In addition, protein isolates and concentrates are an excellent alternative to eggs.
For optimum taste and texture, healthy ingredients are a novel solution featuring fascinating visuals and an exciting dining experience. From black and navy beans to seeds from pumpkins, sunflowers, linseed and hemp, these ingredients help product developers create multisensory experiences while simultaneously ensuring nutritional value in clusters, bars, muffins, biscuits and more.
A balanced relationship between supporting individual wellness goals and an extraordinary taste experience is decisive in grabbing and holding onto customers’ attention. Along with plant-based proteins, many product developers rely on botanical extracts in support of wellness wishes and upvaluing products.
From acerola through to natural caffeine sources like green coffee and guarana, there are several botanical extracts that can provide popular properties to formats including gum candies, hard caramels and more. At the same time, there are numerous botanical ingredients that are used specially to give depth and com-plexity to confectionery with plant-based nutty, floral, spicy and citrusy flavour tones. Things like lychee-ginger chewing gum, lavender-lime gummies or vegan chocolate muffins with a hint of timut pepper come to mind. Mint also continues to be presented prominently in this sector, as it refreshes the senses and works great in combination with hibiscus and matcha.
Many consumers pay attention to the values of products they buy and think about what’s best for themselves, their community and the planet. Conscientious consumers take a very close look at product packaging. Many have realised that simple, trusted ingredients influence their purchasing decisions. Botanical ingredients along with plant-based proteins and healthy ingredients are generally recognisable to consumers and are viewed as being “close to nature”, which can contribute to achieving clean label goals.
