Sugar-free marzipan with added fiber: ‘It’s not all about sugar, sugar, sugar,’ says developer

The Eureba Marzipan has been made using a blend of Bayn’s stevia-based sweetener Eureba 918, dietary fibers and sugar alcohols and enables total sugar replacement in marzipan. The replacer can be used in a number of products, including cake fillings and coverings, and chocolate fillings.

Roger Aidoo, head of product development at Bayn Europe, said the added fiber was an important addition to the ingredient.

“It’s not all about sugar, sugar, sugar; part of it is about additional benefits… It’s important because if you’re replacing the sugar with something else, you have to as ‘what is the something else?’” ​he told BakeryandSnacks.com.

“When working on a formulation for sugar replacement we seek to increase the health benefits in all aspects, and not only through the elimination of sugar,”​ he said.

Asked why the company had opted for fiber, as opposed to protein or other vitamins, he said: “As we’ve seen, there’s a trend with fiber – fiber is lacking in our diet and that’s why we’ve included the fiber aspect.”​

The sugar-free challenge​

Bayn spent around three to four months developing the replacer and Aidoo said the biggest technical challenge was the taste.

“You have to get the right combination of fibers and sweet flavors and also maintain the actual flavor of the almond,”​ he said. “Every time you place sugar in these marzipans, you actually lose the almond flavor – final flavor is more about the sugar and almond blending together.”​

He said this meant finding a balance between the stevia-based replacer and almond for final flavor had been the toughest development challenge.

However, he said taste and texture expectations had been met and the distinct almond flavor in marzipan was present.

“There really is market potential for it because you also have chocolate-coated marzipan, not just cakes, and we have sugar-free chocolates already,” ​Aidoo said.