Streamline Processing With Dry Sweeteners

The majority of foods and beverages call for some sort of sweetener, and natural sweeteners, such as honey, molasses or malt extract, are very much in the formulation spotlight these days. In addition to adding sweet taste to foods, these ingredients contribute color, aroma, browning and texture, as well as help improve moisture retention and extend shelf life.

However, not all formulations are ideally suited to liquid sweeteners, and sometimes a dry ingredient is a requirement. Liquid ingredients can pose handling and storage challengesand can be subject to flavor and color variability. Therefore, ADM offers standardized dry versions of these sweeteners that not only improve handling and facilitate easier storage, but also help streamline processing and improve consistency without compromising the beneficial qualities inherent in their liquid counterparts.

ADM dries liquid honey, molasses and malt extract on a wheat-starch carrier, which diminishes hygroscopicity and the potential for caking during storage. The wheat starch can also help add desired viscosity to some foods. The dried sweeteners are then converted into free-flowing powders. Calcium stearate or silicon dioxide is sometimes added to the powder to improve flowability.

Dry sweeteners are ideally suited for applications like fish and seafood breading, dry sauce mixes, pancake and waffle mixes, breads and muffins, gingerbread, and brownies, says Dan Larson, vice president, Lecithin and Dried Sweeteners. ADM has tested a variety of dry-sauce, breading and bakery-mix applications, including honey fish breading, honey mustard sauce, honey pancake mix, and molasses barbecue sauce. Baked goods tested include malt bran bread, Swedish rye bread (with molasses), honey and molasses multigrain bread, honey bran muffins, malted chocolate chip muffins, honey corn muffins, soft molasses drop cookies, honey caramel brownies, and chocolate chip malt cookies. Once reconstituted during processing, the sweeteners add a bit of viscosity to the mix.

Light-yellow to yellow honey powder or flakes are available at levels of 45%, 65% or 70% sweetener solids and 3.5% or 4.0% moisture. Molasses comes in 55%, 65%, 70% or 75% sweetener solids, in light- to dark-brown colored powder or flakes at 3.5% or 4.0% moisture. Malt is available with 65% sweetener solids in either light-tan powder or flakes with 4.5% moisture.

The dry sweetener flakes add a distinctly crunchy texture to foods like candy bars and frozen novelty coatings. Applications along these lines tested by ADM include a honey crunch candy bar and roasted honey-coated nuts.

The dry sweeteners all meet kosher requirements and should be incorporated with other dry ingredients as opposed to separately reconstituting with water.