We all know that eating fruit is better for us than eating doughnuts. One is essential to keep us healthy, the other, perhaps, nearly essential to avoid. However, both doughnuts and most fruits are high in sugar, an ingredient widely considered to lead...
Morinaga America, a subsidiary of the 120-year-old Japanese confectioner, has capitalized on real fruit flavors, lively branding, and America’s obsession with chewy candies after quietly launching Hi-Chew in the US in 2008.
We talked with Euromonitor analyst Jared Koerten at the National Confectioners Association’s annual expo in Chicago about the rise of premium snacks, textured candies, functional ingredients and consumption occasions. Here’s what he had to say.*
German confectioner Haribo has launched three lines of sugar-reduced gummies – Fruitilicious, Sea Friends, and Fruity Penguins – in select European countries, including Germany, Belgium, Netherlands and France.
Manufacturers are misleading consumers with images of fresh fruit on packaging when the actual fruit content is minimal or even zero, says trade group Freshfel, as it calls for a legal minimum threshold.
Coffee Flour, a firm that started with an idea to take advantage of discarded coffee cherry fruit, is vying for health and nutrition-focused investment partners after recently being selected by the Launch Food Program as a 2017 innovator.
Döhler has launched a range of gummies and jellies based on 100% ingredients from fruit such as pectin from apple, juice concentrate, and fruit sugars instead of sucrose or glucose syrup.
Dutch watchdog FoodWatch has announced the winners of its annual ‘GoldenEgg’ award for the year’s most misleading product, as voted by members of the public.
Petrow Food Group, which supplies dried fruit and nuts for chocolates, muesli, breakfast cereals, and bakery products, has invested £4m ($5.7m) in laser scanning and packaging technology.
ConfectioneryNews presents our pick of products entering the global confectionery category this quarter from major players such as Mars, Lotte and Nestlé.
Food manufacturers have pampered to health-conscious Europeans with a raft of new fruit-based product launches in 2013, with overall fruit ingredient launches up 22% over the preceding year, according to Innova Market Insights.
Freeze drying could unlock the potential of red berries and citrus fruits as decorations and inclusions in chocolate while preserving the color and nutrients of the fruit, says supplier Chaucer Foods.
Fruit may have its own stand alone functionality but Taura Natural Ingredients says fortification with milk and pea proteins, green coffee and grains will bring the ingredient into new areas.
Chocolate makers are increasingly opting for dried fruit inclusions over sharper flavor additions like chilli and nuts because of their perceived healthy image and flavor enhancing properties, according to confectionery equipment supplier Egan Food Technologies...
Taura Natural Ingredients’ newly launched gourmet fruit inclusion range plugs convenience, shelf-life and health for the artisanal baker, its marketing manager says.
The Institute of Food Technologists (IFT) claims that grape seed extracts can up the antioxidant content in cookies by 10 times when microencapsulated.
Portuguese confectioner Imperial-Produtos Alimentares has added a new passionfruit chocolate bar to its Regina brand as it looks to seize on a market trend for exotic flavors.
Barry Callebaut has acquired a 100% stake in Spanish company La Morella Nuts for an undisclosed sum as it aims to be the European leader for nut products.
Ingredients firm Wild has launched a range of exotic fruit flavours for jelly gums as it claims there is potential for firms to offer products that are distinct from competitors.
Taura has launched an ingredients range that it claims allows manufactures to combine 100% ultra rapid concentrated (URC) fruit and vegetables with other ingredients for the first time in premium confectionery and baked goods.
Confectionery that includes vegetable ingredients could prove a winner with children and marketers, according to Marcia Mogelonsky, global food analyst with Mintel Food and Drink.
Product developers at a “very large confectionery company”, a smoothie maker, a babyfood manufacturer and several cereal bar makers are conducting trials of products containing powder from the pulp of the African baobab fruit.
Chocolate processors can boost their clean label and meet good for you indulgence trends with a new fresh fruit based ingredient range that is free from artificial additives, allergens and sugar and has a long shelf life, claims the Dutch supplier.
Baobab fruit pulp has been given the green light of approval for use in some food and drink applications, with the US FDA signing off GRAS status for the vitamin C-rich ingredient.
Wild has developed a new line of flavours for baked goods that are said to be more stable than is usual and have a more intense fruity flavour and aroma.
Chr Hansen is launching a new natural violet colour derived from purple carrot, which is said to bring cost and stability benefits for a broad range of beverages, fruit preparations and confectionery.
Superfruits top the bill for sweet flavour predictions in 2009, suggesting confectionery formulators mindful of innovation in a testing climate should increasingly consider exotic flavours in their new product designs.
A new study has devised an optimal process for spray drying the juice of betalain-rich Opuntia stricta, or prickly pear, so it can used as a natural red food colouring in yoghurts and soft drinks.
Fermenting the fruit juice of prickly pear Opuntia stricta
could produce concentrated betalains for use as food colouring,
according to new research from Spain.
Pork belly, watermelon and goji are amongst some of the more
unusual soup flavours predicted to be popular in 2008, according to
Campbell's Kitchen and Swanson Broth.
Manufacturers will increasingly turn to unusual confectionery
flavours such as pomegranate, eucalyptus and goji in order to make
their products stand out from the competition on supermarket
shelves, according to a new report.
Herb and fruit infused beers are set to become a major growth
category for brewers facing dwindling sales of ale, according to
the manufacturer of a new range of natural flavours.
A snack bar which can stay moist and chewy for up to 24 months
without the need for artificial preservatives has been developed by
scientists in California.
Danisco is making the most of the superfruit trend - and may even
help perpetuate it - by developing a new acai berry flavour for use
in dairy, ice cream, beverage and confectionery
products.
US cereal and snack maker the Quaker Oats company has developed a
new way of processing granola and snack-food products which cuts
time, wastage and costs.
Danish ingredients giant Danisco has launched a new range of
flavourings designed for yoghurt candies - allowing confectioners
to give boiled sweets a healthier image.
DSM has launched a new clarification pectinase for the apple and
pear juice industry, which it claims promises a faster and more
complete soluble pectin breakdown.
The bakery industry is capitalizing on the increase in demand for
fruit ingredients from manufacturers providing for health-conscious
consumers with UK retailer Tesco, alone launching 15 new baked
goods containing berries in the last...
Rising demand for berry fruits in bakery goods has led fruit
ingredient firm J.O. Sims to invest in new research and development
work to improve fruit functionality in these applications.
