Sugar reduction is a key concern on the minds of today’s consumers, particularly younger shoppers, and Sunsweet Ingredients offers instore bakeries and commissaries a wide range of innovative solutions.

“I believe sugar reduction is key and fewer preservatives are to follow,” says Rick Perez C.E.C. AAC, corporate R&D chef for Sunsweet Ingredients. “Finding cleaner and more innovative ways to accomplish these targets are paramount to the baking industry.”

With ingredients from Sunsweet, bakers can lower sugar and sodium. Sunsweet Ingredients also maintains peak freshness longer.

For example, a fresh muffin extends its peak shelf life with Sunsweet Ingredients. In addition, “we keep cookies soft and a real complement to vegan and gluten-free bakery items, creating a moister tasty product,” Perez says.

“Crumbling is a thing of the past when using our plum ingredients,” he adds. “We also add natural caramel color, which is also trending now as well.”

Sunsweet can assist bakers with the benefits of plum ingredients.

For example, Sunsweet prune juice concentrate is sweet, but not all of its sweetness comes from sugar. Let’s break down the sugars in 100 grams of concentrate:

21.28 g glucose

14.38 g fructose

16.2 g sorbitol

14.38 g fructose

The low levels of sucrose can help keep labels free from added sugars. Meanwhile, the sorbitol also helps hold onto moisture, which helps ease issues involving dried-out low-sugar baked goods. (Both sugar and sorbitol are hygroscopic.)

With the consistency and color of molasses but with a mellower sweetness, prune juice concentrate works in a number of baking recipes to boost sweetness and moisture with lower amounts of sugar and fat.

“In the next five years sugars will be reduced due to the current tide in other food categories,” Perez says. “Awareness and changes in preservatives again more natural ways and R&D thinking out of the current box.”