SPI Polyol's Maltisweet IC is designed for use as a direct replacement for sucrose in no sugar added ice cream formulations.
The product claims to provide manufacturers with a cost effective alternative to using a high-intensity sweetener with a bulking system and is marketed as providing a natural, sweet-tasting profile.
The polyol firm has now announced that it has joined forces with David Michael in developing custom-tailored systems that claim to provide the taste, texture and sweetness of a full-sugar ice cream in a low-guilt alternative.
Polyols, which are derived from carbohydrates, are sugar-free sweeteners that are generally used in the same quantity as sucrose. Chemically, polyols are considered polyhydric alcohols or sugar alcohols because part of their structure resembles sugar and part is similar to alcohols.
The most widely used polyols are sorbitol, mannitol, and maltitol. Sorbitol is derived from glucose, mannitol from fructose, and maltitol from high maltose corn syrup.
Maltisweet IC is a non-crystallizing syrup, which claims to allow no-sugar added ice cream products to process like full sugar ice creams, with a similar sweetness, freeze point and shelf life.
The syrup, which contains 3 calories per gram, can be used as a sole sweetening agent, said the company, but if additional stabilizer is necessary, other maltitol syrups with added stability may be used.
According to SPI and David Michael, the product responds to growing consumer health concerns, which have pushed Americans to increasingly seek out guilt-free indulgences. But at the same time they are not willing to compromise on taste, which has often proved an obstacle in ice creams with no or reduced sugar.
The two firms report that in a study conducted by Penn State University, consumers found no sugar added vanilla ice cream formulated with Maltisweet IC and David Michael's vanilla flavor, to taste as good as Penn State's University Creamery premium, full-sugar vanilla ice cream, with no significant differences in overall taste, texture, or appearance.
David Michael, which has been in operation since 1896, is a global supplier of flavors, stabilizers and natural colors. SPI is a leading supplier of specialty polyols for the food, confectionery and oral care industries.