Is alternative cocoa replacing traditional chocolate? Summary
- Cocoa prices surged last year driving demand for ingredient alternatives
- Manufacturers and suppliers develop substitutes mimicking cocoa taste and functionality
- Bunge creates cocoa butter alternatives using shea and sustainable palm oils
- ABF Ingredients reduces cocoa by 30 percent using yeast extract for flavor
- Cocoa volatility keeps pressure on firms to innovate and diversify formulations
Since cocoa prices shot up last year, supply of the treasured ingredient has been at the forefront of manufacturers’ minds. Despite prices falling somewhat in recent times, the crisis remains very real.
In many instances, cocoa shortages have led to confectionery price increases for consumers. Yet even the largest FMCGs, such as Hershey and Mondelēz International, have struggled to balance price and consumer demand.
There is another way manufacturers are keeping abreast of the crisis: cocoa alternatives. Giants like Lindt & Sprüngli, Mondelēz and ingredients supplier Barry Callebaut have been dabbling.
Others in the ingredients space, too, have been hard at work developing solutions for confectioners. What kinds of innovations have they been working on?
Replacing the functionality in cocoa
Ingredients suppliers want to help manufacturers cope with cocoa price hikes by reducing and replacing this costly input. But mimicking the taste and functionality is paramount.
Functionality is a key focus for ingredients giant Bunge. It produces alternatives for cocoa butter, for example, using fats for both coating and filling in chocolate products. These are developed using natural fats and oils, such as shea butter and sustainable palm oil.
The company focuses on aspects of functionality such as the melting curve and how flavours are released. “If you understand that, you can mimic it,” says Feike Swennenhuis, marketing director for Europe at Bunge.
“The behaviour of the fat is exactly the same as cocoa butter. It releases the flavour,” adds Carina Ponne, director for innovation in EMEA at Bunge.
In order to be able to call a product chocolate, the ingredient must mimic the functionality, but only make up a maximum of 5% of said product.
Such ingredients have existed in the chocolate industry for some time, but demand for has skyrocketed since the cocoa crisis began. “We saw the whole market shifting,” says Ponne.
Getting the taste right
While functionality is important in chocolate products, so is taste.
Ingredients company ABF Ingredients has reduced the cocoa content in chocolate products such as chocolate spread, chocolate drinks, and baked goods by up to 30%. Using its yeast extract, the company aims to make this reduction less noticeable.
The yeast extract provides the roasted character of the cocoa, explains Aaron Rasmussen, head of global applications at Ohly, an AFB Ingredients company, as well as the body and mouthfeel.
It works with the cocoa that’s already in there, and would not taste the same on its own. “It’s playing off the chocolate flavour compounds that are already in there, and bringing those out more”, he explains.
While cocoa prices are currently lower than they have been, there is a significant possibility that they could come back up. Manufacturers want to be sure that if that happens, they won’t be left vulnerable.
The yeast extract provides Ohly’s customers with more security regarding their flavour profile, explains Rasmussen. Rather than experiencing constant fluctuations, due to the varying price of cocoa, the ingredient steps in for the lost cocoa to provide additional flavour.
