Application of Maltitol in Sugar-free Candies

What are the applications of maltitol in sugar-free candy?

With the shift in people's dietary structure towards low-calorie, low-fat, and low-sugar, sugar-free candy has emerged. In the early 1970s, a sugar-free chewing gum was first introduced to the US market, and after nearly 30 years of development, the sales of sugar-free chewing gum have increased significantly.

This successful attempt has effectively promoted the development of sugar-free candy. Since then, a new group, sugar-free candy, has proliferated in the candy family.

The so-called sugar-free candy, in more traditional terms, is candy made from non-cariogenic sugars that reduce calories by more than 1/3 compared to regular candy, while maintaining the same nutritional content.

Sugar-free candy has developed rapidly in the European, American, and Japanese markets, with an average sales volume of about 30% of the total candy sales and a variety of varieties.

Sugar-free candy has become a consumer hot spot and development focus in the current international candy market. The main raw material can use maltitol.

Maltitol has the characteristics of not raising blood sugar, low calorie, and preventing tooth decay. It is especially suitable for diabetic and obese patients, as well as children, women and other consumers.

What are the other ingredients in the sugar-free candy formula besides maltitol?

Reference formula for sugar-free hard candy: powdered maltitol 98.52%, lemon 0.7%, edible flavor 0.6%, edible pigment 0.06%.

In the candy-making process, first heat the maltitol powder and pigment together to 171°C, then transfer the sugar in a vacuum device for 5 minutes. When the sugar is cooled to a certain plasticity, add citric acid, flavor, and knead evenly, finally cut and shape, cool, pack, and place in a sealed container.

Sugar-free milk hard candy formula: maltitol powder 63.2%, pure water 15.17%, concentrated skim milk 17.7%, vegetable oil 3.8%, mono-glyceride 0.05%, edible essence 0.08%.

In the process of sugar making, first heat the maltitol powder and water to 130°C-135°C, continuously stirring, add milk at 125°C, and vacuum for 5 minutes.

After the pot is taken off the heat and the sugar syrup temperature drops to 90°C-100°C, add vegetable oil, emulsifier, and essence, and then enter the conventional candy production process.

It should be noted that when adding milk and vegetable oil, the sugar-making time and temperature should be well controlled, and the water content of the final product should be less than 2%.

The sweetness of maltitol is 80% to 90% of that of sucrose, and candies made from maltitol have a better taste than other "non-sucrose" candies.

Candies containing maltitol have a refreshing and cool taste, and the sweetness is pure without any adverse aftertaste. Due to its special molecular structure, the Maillard reaction does not occur. Therefore, the sugar body color is stable and can withstand high temperature during sugar-making without being easily decomposed.

Maltitol is not easily fermented by mutans streptococci in the oral cavity, which inhibits the growth of bacteria in the oral cavity and effectively prevents tooth decay.

Therefore, maltitol, as the main ingredient in sugar-free candy, sells well in Europe, America, Japan, and other countries and is one of the popular health foods in the world. It also has broad development prospects in the Chinese market.