Cargill to launch new stevia sweetener for chocolate and candy

Cargill told ConfectioneryNews at IFT in Las Vegas recently that EverSweet was created through fermentation, and it can be used in a variety of confectionery applications for the purpose of sugar reduction, including chocolate, chewing gum, as well as hard candy and mints.

“What we noticed is that, to derive Reb M and D from the [stevia] leaf, it’s actually going to have a large impact on cost,”​ said global commercial manager of Cargill’s stevia unit, Alyssa Leyva.

She mentioned that fermentation is a more cost effective way for manufacturers using stevia as a sweetener.

Cargill’s current sweetener portfolio includes the standard Truvia products with 95%, 80%, and 50% Reb A respectively, and ViaTech, a stevia leaf-based product.

“We tasted and studied them independently as well as in combinations, and we developed a model to predict tastes,”​ she said.

Leyva said Cargill will continue to invest in its growing stevia-based sweetener portfolio in 2017.