Whether it’s candies, lollipops or gums, there is a rapidly growing demand for sugar free products. It is now possible to produce them all on depositing plant, with the same wide variety as conventional candies and lollipops, tapping a huge market for products perceived as acceptable within a healthy diet and lifestyle.

One, two, three or four colours; multi-component solid, centre-filled, layered and striped candies; popular flavours such as milk and crème – there’s vast potential for new product development.

The market for sugar free confectionery is growing rapidly as consumer concerns about diet and lifestyle lead them to seek alternatives to conventional candy. It is not just in highly developed markets in North America and Europe that this trend towards sugar free confectionery has taken hold. In recent months companies in the Middle East, Latin America, Africa and the Far East have invested in sugar free production equipment from Baker Perkins.

The use of low calorie sweeteners that don’t cause dental caries and are suitable for diabetics, provide significant marketing advantages.

Most new candy or lollipop depositing plants supplied by Baker Perkins now have a sugar-free capability, and it’s a simple matter to add a retrofit package to existing lines.

Sugar free production involves blending and cooking a sugar free material, or polyol, as a sugar replacement. Isomalt from Palatinit is a typical polyol used successfully by Baker Perkins customers: this has a lower solubility, higher boiling point and higher specific heat capacity than sucrose, and therefore requires cooking to a higher temperature.

A vacuum evaporator is added to a conventional Microfilm cooking system in order to achieve the level of viscosity necessary for depositing. The Microfilm cooker is regarded as the industry standard for high boiled candies and lollipops. Its rotor has hinged blades that sweep the inner surface of the tube: the product is spread in a very thin film, and moved through the cooking tube by a combination of gravity and the design of the hinged blades.

The only sugar replacer made entirely from real sugar, Isomalt has physical properties similar to sugar, resulting in confectionery products that have a texture and flavour similar to those made with sucrose. Palatinit has more than 20 years experience in manufacturing and developing Isomalt, and in processing confectionery applications.

Manufacturers can choose an Isomalt variant tailor-made for each sugar free application. Isomalt ST is widely used as a sugar replacer in hard candies: due to its low solubility (24g in 100g solution at 25 C), it is the most suitable for this application since the final product will dissolve slowly. This gives active ingredients more time to be released and remain in the mouth.

The very low hygroscopity of Isomalt ST results in confectionery products with excellent storage stability – an important concern with ingredients sensitive to moisture. This makes Isomalt ST suitable as an ingredient in hard candy, as wrapping is not necessarily required – candies can be packed loose, for example in flip-top boxes.

The low hygroscopity also means that the ingredient itself has anti-caking properties: a major requirement for powder fillings, granules and other effervescents.

The vacuum evaporator used in sugar free cooking was proven in the Baker Perkins Innovation Centre at Peterborough, where customers from around the world use production scale equipment for trial and development work.

From multinationals with specific ideas, and needing batches for test marketing; to newcomers to the industry with an open mind about the type of confectionery they might market, the Innovation Centre provides an unrivalled resource of ideas, process expertise and experience.

Every variety of sugared and sugar free deposited confectionery can be made here, from ingredients through to the wrapped product – if necessary, customers use their own ingredients to achieve an exact match in end product.

Sugar free candy is one of a series of innovations from Baker Perkins to provide new end-product possibilities. These have included multi-colour depositing with unique colour and flavour combinations, including centre-filled, layered, striped products and 3D shapes.



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