A bitter-less chocolate-A dream come true?

Who does not like chocolates and chocolate flavored products? Unfortunately its consumption is self limiting because of the high degree of bitter taste associated with pure chocolates. The chocolate that is in the market to day contains only a fraction of the cocoa components and is loaded with sugar and fat to make it smooth and tasty. During the last 2-3 decades tons of research papers have been published proclaiming the health benefits of phytochemical substances like antioxidants in cocoa, creating fresh demand for chocolate products containing more and more cocoa solids and less and less fat and sugar. There are technological constraints in making a good quality chocolate without fat and sugar though the so called bitter chocolate versions boasting of up to 90% cocoa are marketed by some companies, especially in the US and Europe, though they are severely bitter to taste, accepted by many consumers as an avoidable necessity to derive the health benefits of cocoa. Now comes the news about a private initiative to prepare high cocoa content chocolates with practically no bitterness which is a welcome development, if the reports are true. Read further about the emergence of this new avatar of chocolate.   

"According to The Independent, a researchers have announced a "medicinal chocolate"; a variety cuts fat and sugar levels down from an average of 75 per cent to a mere 35 per cent. We have long known the benefits of cacao, a superfood rich in antioxidants. It can lower blood pressure, improve health of the liver, protect the nervous system, reduce risk of a stroke, prevent artery clogging, and even diminish excess appetite. It can often be found in weight loss supplements for this reason. However,it's also incredibly bitter.Most chocolates you buy will balance this out with fat and sugar, which effectively cancels out many of these benefits. Until now. Kuka Xoco, the firm that developed this new chocolate, have used an obscure herb from the Andes as a de-bittering agent. The Independent reports that even a few micrograms of the plant can completely remove the bitterness from large amounts of cacao. Gregory Aharonian, the firm's chief scientist, said this discovery "eliminates the need for sugar, sweeteners and much of the fat in chocolate, unleashing the medical benefits of cacao". He said the company's longer-term goal is to get the fat and sugar levels down to just 10%. By removing the unhealthy aspects of chocolate, it could actually be transformed into a medicine, turning chocolate into a health food industry. If chocolate manufacturers can remove as much fat and sugar as they can, Mr Aharonian believes the chocolate industry could double its profits by becoming a health food industry".

What is not clear in this development is whether use of a de-bittering agent as being reported will have any adverse impact on the healthiness of the product.. After all most anthocyanins which have antioxidant properties are supposed to be bitter to taste and hence this question. Probably the action of the secretive herbal ingredient discovered by the innovators needs to be elucidated further before coming to any conclusion regarding the true potential of this discovery. Enzymes like Naringinase are known to be deployed for debittering of citrus juice commercially but here the processor is not too much concerned about the fate of Naringin decomposed by the enzyme. But in the case of chocolates if debittering using the herb destroys procyanidins and flavanoids present in cocoa, will the resulting final product be as healthy as its original counterpart? Further detailed studies are called for before one talks of commercialization of this technology.

V.H.POTTY
http://vhpotty.blogspot.com
http://foodtechupdates.blogspot.com

IMPROVED STEVIA-A NEW DEVELOPMENT

Though 80% of total sweeteners produced in the world comes from sugarcane, sugar beets and corn starch, the so called non-caloric sweeteners, both synthetic as well as natural are rapidly catching up with the former, growing at a frenetic pace. This multibillion industry boasts of a few well established synthetic sweeteners like Aspartame, Saccharine and Acesulfame, besides semi synthetic ones like Sucralose and Erythritol  while Stevia and Monk fruit represent the natural ones. Of all the non-caloric sweeteners, Stevia glycosides extracted from the leaves of Stevia plant seem to have created a sustained interest among the consumers, probably because it is truly natural. What is holding back Stevia glycosides from overwhelming the food processing industry so far is the bitter and licorcie like after taste noticed in most commercial preparations available in the market. This drawback is reported to have been neutralized by recent development of technology to separate the sweetest component of the glycoside cocktail present in the crude extract, viz Rebaudiside A glycoside (RebA) which has practically no after taste. Here is a take on this new development with some implications for the food industry world over, trying to create products with low sugar to cater to diabetic and weight watching consumers.

"Tate & Lyle (TATYY.PK), the British $5.7 billion market cap global ingredients and food solutions provider recently introduced Tasteva ™, a stevia product the company had been developing for over two years. Tate & Lyle tested over 80 stevia extracts to understand the sensory profile and characteristics. It then isolated certain steviol glycosides to optimize the sweetness that did not have any of the bitter or licorice aftertaste that has been associated with early stevia products. The company claims that feedback from customers who have tried Tasteva shows that the product delivers a clean sweetness and a clear taste advantage over Reb A 97 and other stevia ingredients. According toJeremy Thompson, Director of Natural Sweeteners Product Management at Tate & Lyle, these advantages had been demonstrated across a wide range of food applications, including beverages and dairy. The company also found that Tasteva can cut the sugar levels in colas by 50% with no bitter aftertaste and no need for masking agents. This is a big step in the evolution of stevia because up till now cola manufactures were only able to reduce the sugar levels 30% before the taste was affected. Tate & Lyle sees Tasteva not just for beverages but for food manufacturers that are seeking sweetness from a natural source. Tate and Lyle introduced Tasteva Stevia Sweetener in Latin America, as part of Food Ingredients South America in São Paulo, and plans for more regional roll-outs in 2013".

With the metabolic syndrome disease, diabetes spreading like a wild fire and more than half the population in the developed countries being either obese or over weight, time has come to sideline the nutritive sugars, if possible, in favor of non-caloric counter parts and Stevia and Monk fruit fit into this bill. Of course whether natural sugar as known to day, will ever be replaced completely by one or more of the alternative choices is a question begging for an answer. However considering that no perfect match has been found so far to match natural sugar in terms of its chemical, physical and functional properties, it is unlikely that sugarcane, sugar beets or corn derived sugars will disappear from this planet for the next 100 years! At best industry may switch to blends of natural sugars and non-nutritive sweeteners for developing new products with untainted sweetness and the proportion to day is 50% to 70% of sugar in such blends which may come down progressively in the coming years with renewed research efforts.

V.H.POTTY
http://vhpotty.blogspot.com/
http://foodtechupdates.blogspot.com