Title: Alternative Sweeteners

258 Eberhardt
include humectancy, nonreducing characteristics, cryoprotective properties, and
resistance to heat and acid. HSH’s noncariogenicity makes them a desirable alternative
to sugar sweeteners.
A. Confectionery Products
Multiple uses are possible in confectionery products by replacing sugar and corn
syrup with HSH. Detailed formulations for preparing caramels, gummy bears,
jelly beans, hard candy, taffy, nougats, butterscotch, marshmallows, and chewing
gum are available from HSH suppliers. HSH are outstanding humectants, which
do not crystallize. This property enables the production of sugar-free confections
with the same cooking and handling systems used to produce sugar candies and
makes HSH advantageous over other polyols. Candies made with sorbitol, for
example, require additional molding, curing, and demolding—thus requiring additional
processing costs.
Hard candies made with HSH should be packaged while warm in a
moisture-resistant container. During preparation, the boiling temperature must
reach 160°C under a vacuum to reach a moisture level less than 1% (1). Also,
flavors added to candies made with HSH must be nonaqueous. These moistureminimizing
procedures are essential regardless of the type of HSH used. In the
case of sucrose or corn syrup candy, moisture pickup on the surface leads to
crystallization of sucrose (graining), which insulates the candy against further
moisture collection. However, because HSH do not crystallize, moisture collection
at the surface causes a sticky layer of solubilized HSH that will eventually
cause the candy to partly dissolve (2). HSH cannot be used as a replacement for
sugar in chocolates or in pressed tablets, where moisture would be especially
detrimental to the product (3).
The lack of a crystal structure makes HSH hard candies subject to ‘‘cold
flow.’’ Cold flow is a loss of shape caused by elevated moisture. This may occur
even if the candy is protected from atmospheric water vapor. Products with longer
chain polyols provide additional molecular structure and are more resistant to
cold flow. However, this resistance to crystallization, even at low temperatures
and high concentrations, makes HSH particularly advantageous for use in chewy
candies. The crystallization of other components present in the formulation, such
as sorbitol, mannitol, and xylitol, is also prevented.
Another advantage of HSH is that they do not have reducing groups, thus
minimizing Maillard browning reactions. Because of this and HSH’s resistance
to heat and acid, it is possible to manufacture, at high temperatures with acidic
ingredients, sweets that remain bright and colorless.
HSH are nutritive sweeteners that provide 40 to 90% of the sweetness of
sugar. Unlike sugars, however, HSH are not readily fermented by oral bacteria
so are used to formulate sugarless products that do not promote dental caries.