Struggling to achieve the perfect indulgent taste and texture in your confectionery? As the demand for more natural, delicious treats rises, balancing taste, texture, and affordability can be tricky.
In the world of sugar confectionery, indulgence is king — people want to feel instant and intense satisfaction from the products they choose.
To deliver on such pleasurable promises though, a product’s taste and texture needs to be just right. Beyond this, producers need to find a way to keep products affordable, while also accommodating the latest consumer trends. Such as the growing demand for more animal-free, natural confectionery ingredients.
Ticking all of these boxes can feel like a never-ending challenge for confectionery producers. Because unfortunately, every ingredient has it’s pros and cons in terms of texture or processing. Particularly, achieving impressive textures and flavours with alternative ingredients, and delivering such products at scale is not easy.
If producers are serious about appealing to the sweet tooths of tomorrow, they will need to find natural confectionery ingredients that push customer’s indulgence buttons in all the right ways.
Here, Stefan Wessel, Customer Application Specialist at Avebe, explores this issue in more detail and shares his insights on how to create confectionery that delivers 100% indulgence in a more natural, affordable way
Stefan Wessel: “Cost issues, changing consumer preferences, misconceptions about alternative solutions. The confectionery industry is facing several challenges right now, and many producers are struggling to adapt without compromising product quality.’’
One of the biggest challenges is the volatile cost of traditional gelling agents like gelatin and gum arabic. For many years, these ingredients have been used to create the chewiness, elasticity, and stability that consumers crave in confectionery products. But for various reasons — fluctuating supply chains and increased demand from other industries to name a couple — prices are unstable. Producers are finding it harder to maintain cost efficiency.
And although consumers are increasingly demanding more plant-based confectionery ingredients, substituting such ingredients for the costly traditional gelling agents isn’t always very simple. Achieving the right balance of firmness and chewiness in plant-based gummies, jellies and pastilles can be challenging. Gelatin tends to provide that unique ‘elastic texture, which can be very difficult to replicate with plant-based ingredients. That’s also why there is a large category of hybrids. Gum Arabic plays a crucial role in stabilizing certain confectionery coatings and fillings. Finding an alternative that performs just as well without introducing unwanted processing challenges is not always straightforward.
As an added challenge, sometimes when a viable solution does present itself, misconceptions about its attributes can prevent producers from embracing it. For example, although starch-based alternatives require certain processing adaptations, new developments and innovations in both ingredients and textures are ensuring that such adaptations are an ever more attractive option.
One such cutting-edge starch-based innovation is PerfectaGEL®. And as the industry navigates numerous challenges moving forward, PerfectaGEL® provides some real game-changing advantages.
PerfectaGEL® is a key brand for confectionery potato starches we’ve developed at Royal Avebe.
When it comes to creating cost-effective (vegan) sugar confectionery without compromising on taste and texture, PerfectaGEL® starches are the ultimate solution. By offering the following advantages, these solutions enable maximum indulgence, multiple textures with minimum cost and processing advantages.
PerfectaGEL® starches offer great taste and texture as a cheaper alternative to gelatin and pectin. In addition, some PerfectaGEL® starches have fast-setting properties and low viscosity, allowing producers to reduce energy costs or increase factory output by up to 50%. Safe to say that a boost in efficiency like this will inevitably facilitate much more competitive product pricing.
Crucially, this cost-effectiveness does not come at the expense of quality. PerfectaGEL® also consistently achieves the firmness, chewiness, and elasticity consumers expect in premium confectionery. So the end-user gets all the indulgence they crave in an affordable, sustainable, natural, (more) plant-based way.
PerfectaGEL® starches make all of this possible without any added hassle for the producer. With easy-to-use drop-in solutions, it integrates seamlessly into existing production processes, requiring no new equipment for producers that are already used to making starch-based gummies. Although for some gelatin producers, new equipment might be necessary.
All-in-all, if used correctly, PerfectaGEL® can help producers stay competitive in an ever-evolving industry.
As well as the common confectionery challenges I’ve already discussed, PerfectaGEL® also helps producers align their products with other important trends that are re-shaping the industry.
There is a growing demand for sustainable and ethically sourced ingredients. Both individual consumers and businesses are starting to scrutinise supply chains more closely, and are favouring confectionery ingredients that have a lower environmental impact. Neither gelatin, which relies on animal-derived raw materials, nor gum arabic, which is linked to concerns around deforestation and unstable supply chains, really align with this growing demand. PerfectaGEL® however, as a plant-based, starch-derived solution, offers a more sustainable and ethical supply chain. This is because potatoes are a widely available, renewable crop, with a relatively low environmental impact.
In a nutshell, consumers increasingly want natural, sustainable, (vegan) confectionery treats that still taste incredible, and don’t break the bank. If producers can deliver all those things in one package, they will more than compete; they will stand out.
But don’t take my word for it. Have a look at the case study below, and you’ll see how effective PerfectaGEL® can be:
Just a few months ago, a renowned confectionery producer was having to cope with long drying times for their starch-based gummies, limiting their production capacity. Their energy costs were too high, and factory output was down due to the increased drying time compared to the gelatin gummies they used to make. As a result, the company was looking for a way to reduce drying time without making investments in the production process. They also wanted to achieve a firmer texture in their gummies, without having to change the recipe.
By adding PerfectaGEL® FS on top of their current recipe, the company was able to reduce drying time by 25%. This allowed them to simultaneously increase factory output, and lower energy costs per gummy. While also producing firmer, more sustainable gummies.
In an evolving confectionery market where cost-efficiency, sustainability, and product quality are more important than ever, PerfectaGEL® offers a natural solution that can meet these demands without compromise.
Consumers want — and deserve — a way to indulge in delicious tastes and textures that give them a real sense of satisfaction. With PerfectaGEL®, you can provide that for them.
Whether you’re looking to enhance texture, streamline production, or future-proof your formulations, PerfectaGEL® can help you stay ahead of the curve.
If you’d like to discover how PerfectaGEL® can transform your own confectionery production, please feel free to contact me today for a consultation or sample.
