Baking & Snack - June 2017 - 72

HONEY AND MALT

Color is another factor in
formulating that both honey
and malt extracts contribute
to - one of their biggest
contributions, actually.
Non-GMO, organic bring challenges
While it might be easy to assume that the
introduction of the added sugars line to
the Nutrition Facts Panel would be driving
conversations about sweetener alternatives, that doesn't seem to be the case. At
least not in the experience of Jim Kappas,
vice-president, sales and marketing, Malt
Products Corp.
"At this time, non-GMO and organic
claims are probably the biggest driver,"
he said. These claims are just another
dimension of consumers' quest for clean
label ingredients. Barley, the grain source
for malt, is a non-GMO grain, so this falls
in nicely with the trend toward non-GMO
ingredients.
For honey to be considered organic, no
GMO crops are allowed within a twomile zone of the beehives producing the
honey. That eliminates much of the US as
available to produce organic honey. For
non-GMO, the regulations are even tighter. "For third party non-GMO certification, there is a four-mile exclusion zone,"
explained Jon Bodner, vice-president
of food technology, Sweetener Supply
Corp. That further eliminates many supply
sources outside of the US and leaves,
according to Mr. Bodner, places as remote
as the Amazon Rainforest as a source for
non-GMO honey.
"The two-mile regulation is still doable
for parts of Mexico, Brazil and a little bit
of Canada and India," Mr. Bodner said.
"Some of the countries that don't allow
GMO crops in the first place can source
non-GMO honey, but those have smaller
bee-keeping communities, so they're not
usually large exporters."

72 Baking & Snack June 2017 / www.bakingandsnack.com

ing well with honey. It has always been used in baking
since ancient times, and its use is only growing."
Honey and malt fall into the category of ingredients
that consumers recognize when they see it on a label.
Each one brings its own identity to the finished product: honey as premium and natural and malt as indulgent. And both ingredients go through limited processing, making them more than just perceived simple
ingredients.
"Honey is about as simple as you can get," said Jon
Bodner, vice-president of food technology, Sweetener
Supply Corp. "The Food and Drug Administration's
rules don't allow you to add or take too much out of
honey and still call the ingredient 'honey'. It's mostly just
some filtration to get rid of particulates that were present in the beehive."
Malt extracts also don't require much in the way of
processing. "Time, temperature and water are the only
variables in making malt," Mr. Kappas said. Barley is
steeped in water and germinates to release enzymes.
After germination, the sprouted barley is kilned to develop a range of flavors and colors, milled into malt flour
or ground into a grist, and more water is added to create a mash. The liquid part of the mash is then separated
from the husks of the grain and concentrated. The resulting extract contains maltose, dextrins and enzymes,
which allow for its multifunctionality as an alternative
sweetener, flavor and dough conditioner.
As long as their identifying flavors aren't an issue,
malt extracts and honey can be used to replace artificial
sweeteners, which have fallen out of favor with today's
consumers. "Fructose and glucose are the primary sugars in honey like in HFCS, so in many cases you can replace most of the HFCS in a formulation with honey,"
Mr. Bodner said.
Malt extract can also be the sole sweetener used
in a bakery or bar application where its flavor can be
used to complement a range of flavors including nuts,
grains, fruits, spices and even savory profiles. In other
instances, malt can be used in tandem with other natural sweeteners like stevia to balance the flavors out.
"We've had some customers combine stevia and malt
to reduce added sugars, while the malt helps mask and
round out some of the bitter, astringent and licorice
notes that some consumers experience with stevia,"
Mr. Kappas said.
While the honey and malt flavors are strong in a formulation, there are ways to work around these overwhelming flavors.

Flavorful considerations
As sweeteners, malt extracts and honey contribute to
the finished product's sensory profile. This contribution

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