Baking&Snack - April 2013 - 50

WHOLE GRAINS

to new grains being brought into
consumer consciousness and new
foods incorporating whole grains.
Bread and other baked goods
categories continue to lead the
whole grain movement. However,
healthful ingredients have started
showing up in other segments trying to help their nutritional profiles.
Companies are experimenting with
whole grains in snack chips, crackers, cookies, brownies and bars to
continue to capitalize on healthconscious consumers. “The puff
corn makers who have been making
puff corn forever are using whole
grains,” Ms. Mansur said.
Frito-Lay North America, Plano,
TX, jumped on the whole grain
trend with its launch of Sun Chips
in 1991. Made with whole wheat
and brown rice flours, these chips
contain 18 g of whole grains per
1-oz serving. Recently in response
to consumer demand, the nation’s
largest snack producer expanded its
whole grain offerings with two new

Baked around whole grains

Frito-Lay started delivering whole grains through
its SunChips line in 1991. Recently, the company
expanded its whole grain offerings to include
popped chips, popcorn and tortilla chips that can
make a whole grain claim.
Frito-Lay

lines of products: Tostitos Artisan,
developed in 2009 and launched in
2010, and Smartfoods Selects, developed in 2011 and launched in 2012.
While the original Tostitos line
does not have enough whole grains
to make a claim due to processing
techniques, the Artisan line contains
8 g of whole grains per serving. The
Smartfoods Selects brand includes
popped chips and popcorn and
carries 12 to 14 g of whole grains in
every serving.
Dancing Deer Baking Co.,
Boston, saw an opportunity to provide whole grains in a decadent
way. In the past year, the company launched six new flavors of
brownies, cookies and bars made
with 100% whole grains. Rooting
formulas in whole wheat, barely or

Flourish Baking Co., Scarsdale, NY,
strives to be different than the average
bakery. “When people think of a bakery, they think of white flour, butter and
sugar, said Diane Forley, who owns
”
the bakery with her husband Michael
Otsuka. “It’s important to us to be different. For Ms. Forley and Mr. Otsuka, that
”
Flourish Baking Co. approaches baking from a new
means focusing on the savory rather than direction, baking savory pies with whole grain crusts.
the sweet, using organic ingredients and Flourish Baking Co.
centering the bakery on whole grains.
“Most of our products revolve around an innovative use of whole
grains, she said. The bakery’s creative applications for whole grains in”
clude pie crusts for its savory pies, cookies and even puddings. Ms. Forley
is currently experimenting with a savory granola snack.
Flourish Baking doesn’t limit itself to wheat flour either but incorporates
rye, quinoa, oats, millet, chia seeds and teff. Ms. Forley said it’s challenging keeping all these different organic grains fresh, portioned correctly
and cooked just right, but people seem to be open to the grain variety.
“People are trying to get healthy and sneak in grains, so I have been
seeing more variety, she said. “People are more comfortable with these
”
ingredients now.
”

/ Baking & Snack / April 2013

oats, Jennifer Shelley, master baker
and product development chef for
Dancing Deer, created brownies
and cookies that deliver whole grain
nutrition. “It’s evident that whole
grain in your diet is healthy, and that
inspired us to offer our customers a
way to get whole grains in their diet
through their dessert,” she said.
While wheat and oats remain
the dominant whole grains in the
bakery, companies continue to offer
more adventurous consumers with a
greater number of choices. “People
are starting to branch out in grains
like they’re doing with veggies,”
said Diane Forley, owner, Flourish
Baking Co., Scarsdale, NY.
Amaranth seems to be the latest
and greatest grain to take the whole
grain spotlight. According to Ms.
Mansur of WGC, the grain is found
in every segment. “Its nutrition profile is very high in protein, and it’s
gluten-free. It’s showing up in flakes
in cereal and granola. It’s being
puffed for snacks and incorporated
into chips, baking mixes, pie crusts
and tortillas,” she said. Compared
with whole wheat, it’s lighter and
sweeter to the consumer palate,
making it an easy grain to use.

Maturing consumer palates
Despite whole grain’s nutritional
superiority to refined wheat, consumers still put taste and price ahead
of health when it comes to purchases, and whole grains definitely have
their own distinct flavors.

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Baking&Snack - April 2013

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