Crystallised Xylitol with a distinctive taste and mouth feel
APV Baker has developed depositing technology to enable confectionery companies to take advantage of an exciting new family of products, featuring crystallised Xylitol, that have a highly distinctive taste and mouth feel.
The properties of crystallised Xylitol are a clear-cut cooling sensation, coupled with a distinctive mouth feel, and APV Baker is exploiting these characteristics in a range of unique new hard candies.
Xylitol is a long-established, tooth-friendly sugar substitute, now incorporated in high added-value, sophisticated products with considerable potential to reach new consumers, particularly in markets such as Europe and North America , and will provide a rapid return on investment.
They can be branded as totally sugar-free candies to match a healthy lifestyle, and as functional products with additives for purposes such as breath freshening or nasal decongestion.
These products have already achieved high-volume market penetration in Japan , with substantial demand in other parts of South East Asia .
Xylitol based confectionery consists of up to three separate deposited components, one of them crystallised Xylitol. The other one or two components are usually sugar-free syrups based around Isomalt or Maltitol combinations.
These components are deposited in various combinations including two or three layer. Colouring and flavouring to maximise the natural cooling and mouth-sensation properties of Xylitol are limited only by the imagination.
APV Baker has developed depositing technology specifically to handle Xylitol based confectionery, and with equipment already in production has considerable process knowledge.
The unique solution for Xylitol depositing is APV Baker's new 'Gemini' twin-headed depositor. Already in commercial operation, these machines achieve a clearly defined layered product, with complete separation of the Xylitol and conventional product stream. They do so through a time delay between deposits from each head, allowing the lower layer to settle before another is deposited, with no reduction in output.
These innovative Xylitol based products can only be made by the depositing process - traditional die forming processes are not an option for this style of combination product. Gemini depositors can also be used for the full range of hard and soft candies achievable on ServoForm depositors; the twin-headed principle means that very high throughputs can be attained.
This new technology is available to customers in the APV Baker Innovation Centre at Peterborough in the UK , where equipment and know-how for new product research, trials and development is available in a confidential environment.
The Gemini is built on the platform of APV Baker's new generation ServoForm depositor, which produces a wide range of high-quality, multi-colour and multi-component hard and soft candy and lollipops - in one, two, three and four colours, in stripes, layers and random patterns.
Xylitol offers well-proven health benefits. These include a reduction in tooth decay with long-lasting protection against caries; and suitability for diabetics because of a low glycemic index. For diet-oriented consumers, Xylitol has 40% less calories than other carbohydrates. Some consumers will experience a laxative effect from eating xylitol candy. |
