Baking & Snack - October 2017 - 60

SUGAR REDUCTION

Solutions of the past
If clean label isn't a goal, bakers can always rely on the
long-accepted standards for sugar reduction: polyols,
erythritol and maltitol. "A lot of people don't like to go that
route because these ingredients don't sound natural, and
most of them aren't very natural, other than erythritol,"
said Tim Christensen, certified master baker, Cargill.
While these ingredients may not be the most labelfriendly alternatives to sugar, they can have their place.
Maltitol is 90% as sweet as sugar and erythritol is 70% as
sweet. In the 1980s, polyols were the standard for reducing sugar. Today, they are simply out of fashion, but not
because they are ineffective at reducing sugar.
"One of the easiest ways to replace sugar and reduce
added sugars is to use polyols, or sugar alcohols," said Eric
Shinsato, senior project leader, Ingredion, Inc. "Maltitol
would be the first choice as its physical properties most
closely resemble sugar, mainly in terms of sweetness,
crystalline form and processability."

potato-based clean-label sweetener, adds neutral sweetness and a high water-holding capacity.
ADM has a wide range of plant-based natural sweetening alternatives, including honey powder, dry molasses, dried fruits and Fruit-Up, which delivers sweet flavor from fruits.
Naturally derived high-potency sweeteners can work
in tandem with other bulk and functional ingredients
to create a label-friendly system. "Sugar creates a lot of
volume," said Thom King, president and CEO of Icon
Foods, formerly Steviva Ingredients. "This volume can
be compensated for by using bulking compounds such
as soluble corn fiber and inulin. Additionally, a blend of
stevia and erythritol or monk fruit and erythritol can
make for an excellent plug-in replacement for sugar."
Icon Foods offers two such products: Erysweet plus stevia erythritol blend and MonkSweet plus Monk FruitStevia Sweetener.
"The strategy we employ is to use a high-intensity
sweetener such as PUREFRUIT Monk Fruit Extract,
which is highly effective in muffins, brownies, cookies,
sweet breads and baked cereal bars that are typically
high in sugar," Ms. Scholl said of Tate & Lyle's sugar replacement methods.
Tate & Lyle also offers DOLCIA PRIMA Allulose, a
low-calorie sweetening ingredient. Allulose is a sugar
found in wheat, figs and raisins that delivers much of
the same taste and texture of sucrose with only 10% of
the calories and improvements in shelf life over time.
It works well in rolls, cakes, pies, pastries, cookies and
frostings due to its similarities to sucrose.
Cargill's Versyra reduced-sugar corn syrup is another
plant-based sweetener. It can be blended with corn syrup solids and inulin chicory root fiber to lower sugar.
"It's label-friendly," said Bill Gilbert, certified master
baker, Cargill.Versyra appears on the label as corn syrup
and glucose syrup, he continued. Versyra is 25% as sweet
as sugar so may need to be used in tandem with a highpotency sweetener. This reduced-sugar corn syrup, however, is easy for processing in a plant because it has the
same flowability characteristics as high-sugar corn syrups.
Sucromalt is another clean-label alternative from
Cargill, one originally intended for the beverage industry but has found use in bakery as well. This low-glycemic index syrup is 70% as sweet as sucrose and can
replace corn syrups one-to-one.

Extra fiber solutions
A common way to put the bulk and functionality back
into a bakery formulation is to add fiber. Fiber can
Some fiber ingredients enable bakers to reduce sugar without adding to the
"added sugar" in a formulation while also delivering functionality.
Sensus America

60 Baking & Snack October 2017 / www.bakingandsnack.com

http://www.bakingandsnack.com

Baking & Snack - October 2017

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Baking & Snack - October 2017