Baking & Snack - May 2016 - 59

with sucralose, which is about 600 times
sweeter than sugar. Blends of the two are
available for ease-of-use in the baking
environment. A blend of ace-K, sucralose
and natural flavor can replace the sugar
in fruit preps used in some baked goods.
It can cut calories in half and reduce added sugars by more than two-thirds.
The two most recently approved additives - advantame and neotame - have
the greatest sweetness intensity. Approved
in 2002, neotame is approximately 7,000
to 13,000 times sweeter than sugar.
Advantame was approved in 2014 and is
almost 20,000 times sweeter than sugar.
"Advantame also has a clean, sweet
taste with no off-tastes," Mr. Bishay said.
Plus, it enhances many flavors, such as
vanilla, chocolate and fruit, which are
commonly used in bakery products.
"It can be blended with sugar or highfructose corn syrup for partial sugar replacement to reduce cost and calories or
with other high-intensity sweeteners."

Plant extracts
The two GRAS high-intensity sweeteners
- stevia and monk fruit - are the ones
many bakers are pursuing because of their
natural, clean-label reputation. Both are
based on plant extracts and are heat stable.
Stevia-based sweeteners are the more
widely known of the two. Based on extracts (steviol glycosides) from leaves of the
Stevia rebaudina plant, stevia-based sweeteners are 200 to 400 times sweeter than
sugar. FDA has received many GRAS noti-

fications for use of high-purity (95% minimum purity) steviol glycosides including
rebaudioside A (also known as reb A), stevioside, rebaudioside D and steviol glycoside mixture preparations with reb A and/
or stevioside as predominant components.
FDA has not questioned any of the notifiers' GRAS determinations. The use of stevia leaf and crude stevia extracts is not considered GRAS, and importation into the
US is not permitted for use as sweeteners.
The other GRAS high-intensity sweetener is monk fruit, also known as luo han
guo (Siraitia grosvenorii). This small, vinegrown, subtropical fruit gets its zero-calorie
sweetness from naturally occurring antioxidants called mogrosides, which are up
to 300 times sweeter than sugar.
Thaumatin is a plant extract recognized
for its taste-enhancement properties. Used
by West Africans for hundreds of years to
sweeten corn breads, sour fruits and also to
make palm wine palatable, thaumatin is a
natural protein that is water-extracted from
the katemfe fruit (Thaumatococcus daniellii) harvested from the West African rainforests, rendering it a natural ingredient.
In the 1970s, great emphasis was placed
on thaumatin's sweetening properties, and
for some time, this defined its regulatory
and marketing path. Today, thaumatin has
GRAS status as a flavor enhancer, but does
not have approval as a sweetener. It appears
on ingredient statements as "natural flavor."
Being approximately 2,000 to 3,000
times sweeter than sucrose, this natural
flavor is water soluble and stable to heat

Still sweet, still popular
Honey, mankind's first sweetener, continues to exert its sweet power
today, with 93% of consumers viewing it as a natural sweetener and
43% actively seeking food products made with it, according to an
independent study of consumers nationwide, commissioned by the
National Honey Board (NHB).
"This study confirmed our assumptions that consumers love honey,"
said Catherine Barry, NHB's director of marketing. "Many consumers
think the ingredient is natural, look for it on labels and pay more for a
product that is made with honey."
Another key finding was that nearly 60% of consumers would pay
5% more for bread primarily sweetened with honey. About half would
pay that upcharge for food bars similarly sweetened.

Award Winning Pastry Chef
Takes Wedding Cakes To A
Ro c k y M o u n ta i n H i g h
Dennis Meyer started in the pastry business
as a clean-up kid at age 15. Who would have
guessed that 40 years later, this same
hard-working kid would become an award
winning pastry chef with the best place in
Denver to get a wedding cake?
Meyer, an Indiana native, is the proud
owner of Das Meyer Fine Pastry Chalet in
Arvada, Colorado-voted best wedding cakes
in a Denver poll several years in a row.
Though Das Meyer offers a variety of
pastries and cakes for all occasions, they
specialize in wedding cakes, and make over
1,000 wedding cakes per year.
"The whole family is involved in the
wedding business," said Meyer. "My wife
Elaine and two daughters, Hillary and
Rachel work with the customers; son
Zachary works as a cake decorator; and two
granddaughters have joined the business as
well. Meyer stated that his success starts with
great personalized service, high quality and
attention to the details. It has helped the
business gain the great reputation it has today.
Each Saturday, future brides can come to an
open house to sample a multitude of
wedding cakes, and can watch every aspect of
a cake's creation. "With all this variety, taste
is everything," said Meyer. "I use B&V®
flavor from International® Bakers Services
(IBS) in most of our cakes. The BLOV®
flavor is excellent in our home-made butter
cream." He also uses the CINNA-BUTTER
in their cinnamon rolls and a whole
spectrum of flavors in their gourmet cookies.
Meyer likes to use IBS flavors because they
always offer a natural tasting flavor with no
artificial edge. "In this business, a good
name is earned-not purchased," said
Meyer. "You have to earn repeat business in
the service and quality you provide."
If you want flavors that keep your customers
coming back time after time, turn to
International® Bakers Services. We have the
flavors your customers deserve.
Contact us toll-free at , by
fax at , or visit our website at:
XXXJOUFSOBUJPOBMCBLFSTDPN.
International Bakers Services, 1902 North
Sheridan Ave., South Bend, Indiana 46628.

http://www.internationalbakers.com

Baking & Snack - May 2016

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