Fruits add color, fiber, vitamins and taste to yogurt, ice cream and beverages. Grains also add fiber and play an important role in formulating inclusions. As for nuts, they are a nutritional powerhouse in their own right.
Food scientists describe texture as being able to “make or break” a product’s acceptance by the public. Yet compared to flavor, aroma and color, texture has largely been unsung. That’s beginning to change.
Dairy processors turn to ingredient suppliers for help in writing clean labels and operating green, sustainable business. Suppliers show how to add additional protein into foods and beverages.
Don’t mourn the passing of synthetics just yet, says one color supplier. The demand for artificial colors has not decreased. It has remained very consistent and we expect to see that trend continue, he said.
For ages, cheesemakers used spices to color their products. Other dairy food processors, however, have formulated with synthetic colorants. As consumers scrutinize food labels, the entire dairy industry is seeking natural alternatives. Thankfully, the technology has improved.
Cultures help transform milk from a mild-flavored beverage into a smorgasbord of flavors,
textures and products. Here’s the latest about cultures, including the emerging “workhorse” of
bacteria and how to maximize phage robustness (while minimizing sensitivity).
Makers of dairy foods and beverages can boast about the inherent nutrition in their products. They also can boost the health claims by adding functional ingredients such as protein and omega-3s.
Americans drink tea and coffee because they enjoy the beverages and because they expect health benefits. Our roundtable discussion gives dairy processors ideas for creating foods with coffee and tea ingredients.
Millions of Americans can’t be wrong. And what is it that we are not wrong about? Our choice in beverages, that’s what. According to “Coffee and Tea Foodservice Trends in the US” (a report from Packaged Facts), fully 183 million Americans enjoy their regular infusions of java and 173.4 million take tea.
Kimberly Breedlove, director of research & development at Pecan Deluxe Candy Co., Dallas, knows that a truly transcendent inclusion is worth hunting for. When one really hits the mark, she said, it “should make you want to dig around to find each piece and eat it first. It can be that little welcomed surprise you get when taking a bite of your favorite ice cream that makes you smile and brag about it to your friends and family.”
In creating healthy foods, formulators often reduce fat and sugar, the very ingredients responsible for the attributes creamy, smooth and soft that consumers expect in dairy foods. What’s the solution? Texturants.
In September 2011, a study appeared in the journal Appetite reporting that texture, not flavor, best predicted the level of satiation that subjects expected from certain dairy products. In three separate experiments, the researchers wrote, product samples with the thicker texture — whether yogurt, custard or chocolate milk — rated higher for expected satiation than thinner ones.