Vegan confectionery is not just a trend – it’s the future of the industry.
Rising consumer demand for vegan confectionery has manufacturers scrambling to keep up. But replacing a key ingredient like gelatine with a plant-based alternative isn’t easy. Most solutions require a compromise between taste, texture, and production efficiency. Potato-based starch offers a better way.
“At Avebe, we provide potato starch and potato protein to the food industry. For confectionery applications, starch delivers a jelly-like texture, while potato protein foams, enabling the creation of aerated, marshmallow-style gummies. When it comes to gummies, switching to potato-based starch addresses two critical production challenges: stickiness and drying time,” says Stefan Wessel, customer application specialist at Avebe.
Plant-based starch for rigid molds
There are two ways to shape a gummy. Fluids can be gelled in a rigid mold or molded in a bed of powdered (oiled) starch. Starch-molded gummies dry evenly by depositing excess moisture into the mold’s starch. Gelatine-based gummies dry within hours. Most vegan gummies need days in drying cabinets before reaching sufficient structure to demold.
Rigid molds speed up production and reduce the risk of cross-contamination – a prerequisite for fortified and sugar-free sweets. Excess moisture evaporates from the uncovered top of these Teflon-coated metal molds. This process requires faster structure development than starch mold production.
Until recently, the slow-setting behavior and high stickiness of conventional plant-based starches made rigid molds impractical for vegan gummy production. Potato-based starch does not have the limitations of other plant-based starches, making it the first vegan ingredient suitable for rigid-mold gummy production.
“Our starchless moulding starch accelerates the formation of a gel network. It reduces the drying time of vegan gummies to just a few hours and gels reliably in rigid molds. This increases production capacity and lowers energy consumption to the point where starch-based vegan gummies become competitive with their gelatine-based counterparts,” says Wybren Bakker, customer application specialist at Avebe.
Switching to potato-based starch is relatively easy. “From a processing standpoint, the switch to a potato-based solution tends to be surprisingly straightforward and almost identical to ‘regular’ starch. The production runs largely as you would expect – except for one major detail: the drying time is much shorter from plant-based starch,” says Bakker.
Adjust bite, texture, and taste to your needs
Speeding up production time is good, but the end goal for confectionery manufacturers is happy customers. They demand quality products. Gummies are judged by their bite, texture, and taste. Manufacturers need quality ingredients that help them meet customer expectations.
“Our goal is not to create one standard vegan gummy. We offer a toolbox that allows you to adjust attributes like texture, elasticity, and drying time – matching them to your needs,” says Bakker.
One of the tools in Avebe’s confectionery toolbox is PerfectaGEL® ISET. “PerfectaGEL ISET allows you to use rigid moulds and drastically reduces drying time. But there’s more to it than that. If you want vegan gummies with a gelatine-like bite, we can deliver. Our potato-based starches and proteins let you play with texture, elasticity, and mouthfeel,” says Wessel.
It isn’t hard to find use cases for fast-setting starch with low stickiness and high adaptability. “Drying times tend to be the major bottleneck when it comes to starch-based gummies. Our potato-based starch allows gummies to develop enough structure much earlier. That means cleaner demoulding, less time in the drying cabinets, and a line that runs more predictably,” says Bakker.
Reliable production despite altered pH
Fortified gummies are increasingly part of customer development discussions, but also among the most challenging to produce. For many manufacturers, adding vitamins, minerals, or functional ingredients introduces new complexity, particularly around cross-contamination, pH sensitivity, stickiness, and process stability.
Rigid molding makes it possible to produce fortified vegan gummies at scale. Another property of potato-based starch further expands those options. Potato-based starch is not affected when added vitamins or minerals alter the pH. This stability allows manufacturers to formulate gummies with a wide range of actives without risking gelling failure or inconsistent texture. In practice, it means fewer formulation constraints and more reliable production when developing fortified products.
“We recently helped a manufacturer solve serious production problems. Fortifying gummies shifted the pH in their formulation just enough to interfere with gelling, making the process unstable and difficult to control. By switching to potato-based starch, they were able to maintain consistent setting behaviour, even as the formulation evolved. That gave them the freedom to fortify their gummies without compromising shape, texture, or process reliability,” says Bakker.
Sustainability comes naturally
When it comes to gummy production, sustainability is often seen as a separate objective. In the case of potato-based starch, it is a bonus advantage. Better processes with shorter drying times reduce energy use and improve both production output and sustainability.
Avebe adds its own commitment to environmental stewardship to that mix. Its starch potatoes are grown by a cooperative of growers who work with certified sustainable agriculture programmes that emphasise healthy soil, lower greenhouse gas emissions, and higher yields with fewer crop protection agents.
“Replacing animal ingredients with potatoes improves sustainability in multiple ways. You shift away from high-impact animal agriculture to renewable, plant-based resources. Speeding up production and lowering energy use are good incentives from a business perspective, but when you bring it all together, you realise that sustainability can come naturally,” says Wessel.
The future of confectionery is vegan
Vegan is the future of confectionery. There’s no need to balance efficiency, quality, and reliability – potato-based starch lets you add all three to one vegan sweet. It enables rigid-mold processing, shortens drying times, supports fortified formulations, and provides control over texture and bite. Rather than forcing manufacturers to adapt their processes around the ingredient, potato-based starch fits real production environments and meets real product demands.
Exploring plant-based starch for (fortified) gummies is no longer about what has to be sacrificed, but about what becomes possible. If you’re looking for scalable, predictable and sustainable plant-based production – without compromising on taste, texture or performance – or exploring how potato starch can be applied in processes, contact Avebe for technical details, formulation support or help addressing specific production challenges.
Meet Avebe at ISM Ingredients 2026
At ISM Ingredients 2026, Avebe will showcase its starch-based confectionery solutions with a strong focus on reducing drying time in vegan gummies without compromising texture or product quality.
Whether you are working on classic, foamed, or fortified gummies, in starch-based or rigid molds, Wesser and Bakker will be available to discuss how PerfectaGEL and the new ISET variant can support your process and product ambitions.
Meet Wesser and Bakker:
📍 Hall 10.1 – Booth G29/H28
📍 Koelnmesse, Cologne
