NOVEL INGREDIENTS
costs and price volatility. One key example is cocoa replacers, where crop failures caused huge increases in the price of cocoa, which has led to innovative ingredients, such as ChoViva – a cocoa- free alternative made from fermented and roasted sunflower seeds or Barry Callebaut’s upcycled whole cacao fruit which utilises natural juices from the pulp, offering a novel ingredient solution that helps reduce waste. The demand for lower-sugar products
also continues to grow and TasteTech has seen a shift in how the confectionery industry approaches formulation. “The focus is moving beyond simply replacing sugar with alternative ingredients like polyols and high intensity sweeteners. Instead, there is increasing interest in sweetness modifiers and taste modulation technologies that can help recreate the sensory experience of sugar at lower inclusion levels,” said Kieran. “These emerging ingredients work at the receptor level to enhance, shape and prolong the perception of sweetness, offering new opportunities
to reduce sugar while maintaining the overall taste experience.
Solving formulation challenges “Overall, we think the most exciting novel ingredients will be those that allow manufacturers to solve real formulation challenges while also giving consumers something new. From our perspective, it is not necessarily about finding the
next single ‘hero’ ingredient, but about combining new ingredients and technologies to create confectionery that delivers on taste, functionality, sustainability and consumer expectations without feeling like a compromise,” said Kieran. From TasteTech’s perspective, some
of the most exciting developments in confectionery are coming from ingredient technologies that allow more to be done with existing ingredients while creating new sensory experiences. “We are seeing encapsulation
play an increasingly
important role, particularly in addressing challenges around flavour delivery, taste masking, ingredient stability and the incorporation of functional ingredients into everyday confectionery,” continued Kieran.
THERE IS INCREASING INTEREST IN SWEETNESS MODIFIERS AND TASTE
MODULATION TECHNOLOGIES THAT CAN HELP RECREATE THE SENSORY EXPERIENCE OF SUGAR AT LOWER INCLUSION LEVELS
of standard citrus profiles. Flavours that can mask functional ingredients will also do well in this space, as off-notes and bitterness will not be accepted by consumers,” continued Kieran. Going on to discuss what may
come next, Kieran argued that the confectionery sector is driven by two key priorities – finding new uses for upcycled waste streams and developing alternatives to traditional
ingredients
that are increasingly affected by supply shortages, rising
One particularly interesting area is encapsulated acids, such as TasteTech’s CoreShell technology. In products such as gummies and sugar-coated sweets, free acids can migrate into the product over time, contributing to sugar inversion, stickiness and a gradual reduction in
perceived acidity.
Encapsulating acids such as citric and malic acid creates a protective barrier around the active ingredient, helping control its release and
protect it from moisture during processing and storage. This provides opportunities to develop confectionery with a sharper and longer-lasting sour profile while also improving shelf-life performance. “Another interesting technology is our flavour8, which is designed to deliver
OCTOBER 2026 • KENNEDY’S CONFECTION • 27
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