Clean label-friendly GuarNT^® USA Flavor Free 5000 also boasts clean flavor profile

I am looking to remove xanthan gum from my application to align with the “no ‘x’” trend within the clean label movement. What are my options for a stabilizer that won’t mask the flavor of my finished product?

I’m using guar gum in my ice pop but I can still taste the guar. What can I do to clean up the flavor profile?

We’re trying to match a refrigerated cheese sauce that lists guar and xanthan but we’re having trouble with the off flavor of the guar.

We want to use guar gum to thicken our instant oatmeal because it meets our clean label objectives but we need a guar gum that hydrates fast in water and doesn’t impact the taste or flavor of the instant oatmeal.

These are just a few of the questions our Gum Gurus^® have fielded recently. While the finished food may vary these questions have at least one thing in common: Whether the caller was asking about ice pops or instant oatmeal, the challenge involved the typical flavor profile of guar gum.

First, what is guar gum?

Guar gum is a low cost all-purpose thickener derived from the endosperm of the plant Cyamopsis tetragonoloba that grows in India and Pakistan. Since this gum comes from a seed, it is widely accepted as clean label.

Guar gum can be used alone or in combination with other gums to change the texture or stabilize a range of foods and beverages. It is often used to prevent ice crystal formation in soft serve ice cream, thicken and add mouthfeel in sauces and dressings or prevent runny instant oatmeal.

Unfortunately for formulators, standard guar gum has a grassy, earthy smell and a beany, green flavor that can interfere with the sensory characteristics of foods with more delicate flavors.

What creates the off-flavor in guar gum?

Using gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) analysis, several volatile organic compounds (VOCs) were identified as contributors to the flavor and odor of standard guar gum. Hexanal and hexanoic acid were identified as the main sources of the green, grassy off odor and flavor associated with guar.

How do you get rid of the off-notes?

TIC Gums developed GuarNT^® USA Flavor Free 5000 to enable formulators to use guar gum in more of their applications without concerns over flavor masking.

The proprietary manufacturing process for GuarNT USA Flavor Free 5000 significantly reduces the VOC levels present in the finished product. Comparing GuarNT USA Flavor Free 5000 to standard guar powder, the hexanal concentration and the total measured VOCs were reduced by nearly 90%.

The TIC Times newsletter is your source for the latest news on food texture & stability.

In this issue:

New Formulation Possibilities with Flavor Free Guar Gum

Briggs: Showcasing Ingredients That Meet Food Industry Challenges at IFT 2017

Video: Controlling Age Gelation in UHT Dairy Beverages

Download: Guar Gum FSMA infographic

Subscribe to the TIC Times newsletter and we'll deliver it right to your email box! 

What makes a person crave a plate of Alfredo pasta, or a cup of macaroni and cheese on a cold winter day? It is all in the sauce – the rich, dairy-based sauce that is key to making the perfect comfort food. Consumers may describe this indulgent texture as “creamy” or “thick” and the Gum Gurus at TIC Gums developed Food Texture Terminology to create a more concrete description of the attributes of an ideal cheese sauce.

In order to obtain these ideal attributes in cheese-based sauce, the major focus lies on the stabilization of the emulsion between the cheese or oil and the water in the formulation. Emulsification prevents separation of the sauce mixture, a defect that consumers may describe as “separated” or “watery” and consider unappealing.

Some gums are natural emulsifiers, as they contain both hydrophilic and hydrophobic portions that have the ability to stabilize and keep the lipid phase dispersed evenly throughout the water phase, while other gums contribute similar functionality by stabilizing the formulation

“How will gums work together to improve the texture of my cheese sauce?”

In sauce, gums have the ability to enhance the characteristic texture of cheese (high mouth coating ability, slow mouth clearing and increased surface wetting) in addition to preventing separation. Our Gum Gurus recommend the following gum systems that contain tested ratios formulated for specific applications in dairy-based sauces:

Videos in the Common Issues with RTD Beverages Series

• Age gelation (runtime 1:54)
• Reformulating to meet the clean label trend (this video)

Transcript

As the RTD (Ready-To-Drink) beverage market grows, one trend continues to dominate and that’s Clean Label.

But one area of the RTD market has fallen behind.

Although it has recently seen tremendous growth, the “Sports Protein RTD” sector has not matched the current trend of reformulation.

This is a cause for concern because the clean label trend is very likely to affect Sports Protein RTD Beverages as the consumer mindset continues to shift.

Finding clean label stabilizers that replace traditional stabilizers is no easy task.

It has to meet the expectations of consumers in both texture and stability.

To help manufacturers avoid losing ground because of clean label demands, TIC Gums has developed: Ticaloid^® Pro 181 AG and Ticaloid^® Pro 192 AGD.

Both of these products provide a clean label option, are suitable for sugar-free beverages, and can be used in high-protein and vegan beverages.

Ticaloid Pro 181 AG works well with non-dairy beverages and can be used in rice, nut, grain and soy (RNGS) dairy-alternatives. It also provides added emulsification capabilities that allow for more nutritional oils.

Ticaloid Pro 192 AGD works well with dairy beverages and suppresses gelation that is most commonly seen in dairy-based protein beverages over time. As with Ticaloid Pro 181 AG, it also enhances emulsification capabilities which allows for additional nutritional oils.

So stay ahead of the game by reformulating with Ticaloid Pro 181 AG and Ticaloid Pro 192 AGD.

Tackle your reformulation today by talking with a Gum Guru^® today about your specific application. Call our technical support hotline at +1-800-899-3953 / +1-410-273-7300 or chat live online.

The TIC Times newsletter is your source for the latest news on food texture & stability.

In this issue:

Tips for Formulating Dairy-Based Sauces

Briggs: Gum Technology Stabilizers Now Available from the Gum Gurus

Video: Reformulating RTD Beverages to Meet The Clean Label Trend

Update: Status of Gum Acacia as Fiber

Subscribe to the TIC Times newsletter and we'll deliver it right to your email box! 

For over 108 years, TIC Gums has focused on providing our customers with solutions for their food texture and stability challenges. From time to time, this commitment has meant adding new product offerings to our portfolio.

I am pleased to announce that as of October 2, 2017, our team has completed the relocation of the Gum Technology business from Ingredion’s Illinois and New Jersey facilities to our Maryland locations.

The integration of Gum Technology, along with TIC Gums’ robust portfolio and Ingredion’s offerings, allows us to continue expanding the tools and resources we have available for solving your food innovation needs.

Welcome Customers of Gum Technology!

If you were previously a customer of Gum Technology, you should have already heard from a member of our team. Every effort has been made to ensure a smooth transition and we plan to provide you with the same high level of service you’ve come to expect.

Key Contact Information for All Customers

Customer Service: For immediate customer service regarding orders, please call (800) 221-3953.

Documentation Requests: documentation@ticgums.com

Emergency Contact: (410) 273-7308

Director of Customer Experience: Joe Eason – jeason@ticgums.com

Planning for the Future

We have progressively increased our manufacturing and R&D capabilities at our Maryland locations in order to serve you better and to provide for future growth. In fact, recently completed upgrades to our blending operations allowed us to quickly bring the Gum Technology business on board. Heading into 2018 we plan to further invest in additional capabilities to meet the steady demand for gums and stabilizers for food and beverage applications.

Answers to Your Texture & Stability Questions

Whether you are developing a new product or reformulating an existing one, our Gum Gurus^® are available to talk with you about specific applications via our technical service hotline or online chat.

Gum Guru Technical Service Hotline: (800) 899-3953 or chat at www.ticgums.com/chat.

We value your business, so if you have concerns which haven’t been addressed, please contact me directly at bbriggs@ticgums.com or (800) 899-3953 x3422. I’m always happy to discuss how TIC Gums can be a better a partner in helping your business grow.

I also encourage you to talk with your TIC Gums contact regarding the breadth of our solutions portfolio to see if there are additional areas where we can add value to your organization.

Instant Beverages on the Rise

With consumers busier than ever, there is a continued need for solutions that can be taken on the go and enjoyed over a longer period of time. In addition to convenience, consumers are also seeking products that align with the health and wellness trends that continue to penetrate the instant beverage category. Subsequently, product developers are challenged with creating innovative, clean label instant beverages that maximize nutritional value without negatively impacting sensory attributes. With a product that must abide by common clean-label guidelines, as well as deliver on consumer texture and flavor expectations, challenges do arise. One particular challenge when working with an instant beverage is producing a consistent and optimal hydration rate.

What do you mean by hydration rate?

Hydration rate is described as the rate by which an instant beverage powder hydrates when moistened and the optimal consistency the beverage maintains. An ideal hydration rate would feature a beverage that hydrates quickly and remains at a consistent viscosity so it can be consumed immediately or over a longer period of time, if desired. Conversely, a beverage that suffers from less than ideal hydration rate may continue to hydrate as the beverage sits. Creating a thick, undesirable texture for the consumer. 

Hydration rate in action

In order to see the true and real-time effects that hydration rate has on instant beverages, TIC Gums created an instant chocolate protein beverage formulation to compare the textural benefits of Ticaloid^® Ultrasmooth CL to xanthan gum alone. The video below shows the formulations with Ticaloid Ultrasmooth CL and xanthan gum alone during different points of hydration: 30 seconds and 20 minutes. It is easiest to see the difference between the two solutions by taking a look at the amount of residue that is left on the spoon after 30 seconds and 20 minutes respectively. The solution with xanthan gum alone shows that over time, the product continues to hydrate past the 10 minute mark and becomes more viscous compared to the solution with Ticaloid Ultrasmooth CL.

How can Ticaloid Ultrasmooth CL help with my instant protein beverage?

Ticaloid Ultrasmooth CL from TIC Gums is a hydrocolloid system that enhances texture and suspension in instant protein beverage applications. This clean label, cold water soluble system dissolves easily into a solution allowing consumers to experience the textural benefits upon reconstitution.

What other benefits does Ticaloid Ultrasmooth CL have to offer?

Fortified instant beverages have an increased amount of perceivable particulates due to the addition of vitamin-mineral blends, fiber, protein and other nutritional ingredients. These ingredients, especially the protein selection, can also increase the astringency of the beverage. As a result, the textural properties of the finished beverage are impacted. To target texture in these protein beverages, product developers can leverage the benefits found in hydrocolloid systems.

TIC Gums used the instant chocolate protein beverage to test the textural benefits of Ticaloid Ultrasmooth CL with six trained descriptive analysis panelists. While the sample with xanthan and the sample with Ticaloid Ultrasmooth CL both provide viscosity and suspension, the sample with Ticaloid Ultrasmooth CL masked the awareness of particulates in a way xanthan alone was not able to, avoiding an undesirable, gritty mouthfeel and dispersed in liquid more easily than the alternative samples, while exhibiting the highest hydration rate. 

 What other benefits does Ticaloid Ultrasmooth CL have to offer?

Fortified instant beverages have an increased amount of perceivable particulates due to the addition of vitamin-mineral blends, fiber, protein and other nutritional ingredients. These ingredients, especially the protein selection, can also increase the astringency of the beverage. As a result, the textural properties of the finished beverage are impacted. To target texture in these protein beverages, product developers can leverage the benefits found in hydrocolloid systems.

Selecting gums for your beverage formulation

To talk with a Gum Guru about your specific application, call our technical support hotline +1-800-899-3953 / +1-410-273-7300 or chat live online.

Videos in the Common Issues with RTD Beverages Series

• Age gelation (runtime 1:54)
• Reformulating to meet the clean label trend (runtime 1:52)
• Emulsifying RTD beverages (this video)

Transcript 

After years of reduced fat efforts, an ever increasing challenge for manufacturers of Ready-to-drink beverages has been the inclusion of fat and other healthy oils. An increasing number of teas, coffees and similar beverages are including ingredients like MCT Oil, vegetable oils or butter fat to develop new, never-before-seen beverages.

While consumers enjoy these new trends and innovations, product developers are struggling with the stress that these ingredients place on the stability of the beverage; specifically when it comes to emulsification.

Emulsification refers to the successful mixing of multiple (normally unmixable) ingredients together. Soda, ice cream and salad dressing are emulsion examples that we enjoy every day. And with RTD beverages in particular, emulsification is vital for both stability and a successful shelf-life.

So to achieve the required stability, product developers need an emulsifier. But, a single ingredient emulsifier will likely do little to maintain the appropriate texture. That’s where a gum system comes in to play.

A gum system can help address multiple beverage concerns at the same time. Our systems are blends of multiple gums which work in tandem to address issues like emulsification and texture.

For example, Ticaloid Pro 181 AG is a gum system that emulsifies and modifies the texture in RTD beverages. When used in dairy-alternative beverages (like almond-milk), the system will emulsify the residual oils from the almonds while enhancing mouthfeel providing consumers with their preferred drinking experience.

Ticaloid Pro 192 AGD provides stability for dairy-based beverages, even when they include high protein and healthy fats. Despite increased levels of these ingredients, this gum system prevents separation and decreases awareness of particulates.

So don’t struggle any longer with poor emulsification and texture. Talk with a Gum Guru to get started today!  Call our technical support hotline +1-800-899-3953 / +1-410-273-7300 or chat live online.

We are currently accepting applications for Ice Cream University 2018. Click here to apply

Sheilah Kast from WYPR's On The Record radio show interviewed Tim Andon, senior technical service manager, and Whitney LaRoche, a past participant, about our Ice Cream University program for high school students. Click here to listen to the show

TRANSCRIPT

SHEILAH KAST: We’re on the record.

Ever imagined creating your own ice cream flavor? What would it be?

Creamy caramel or maybe simple vanilla? What would you add? Ribbons of raspberry jam? Crunchy pecans? Dark chocolate truffles? How about all three?

Designing an ice cream flavor requires both balance and a sweet tooth. Marketing that flavor requires a whole other set of skills. Take coffee, for example, that flavor would most likely appeal to adults while bubble gum or cotton candy confections are more kid friendly options.

This is the kind of inside scoop Harford County High School students learn when they take part in something called Ice Cream University at TIC Gums in White Marsh and joining me to tell us more about the making and marketing of ice cream is Tim Andon, business development manager for TIC Gums which manufactures ingredients that improve the texture and stability of foods for the food and beverage industry. Tim Andon, welcome to On the Record.

TIM ANDON: Thanks, Sheilah, it’s good to be here.

KAST: Ice Cream University is run in association with Cornell University and based on their food science 101 course. Tell us about Ice Cream University.

ANDON: As a Cornell University food science graduate myself, all of the freshmen that attend the program there basically are given an introductory course in food science that walks them through the commercialization of an ice cream flavor. It’s meant to be a really nice teaser for freshmen who are often taking chemistry courses, biology courses, a lot of prerequisites but this serves as an entrée into some of the more exciting parts of product development for those students.

KAST: So that’s the 101 course at Cornell, now you’ve taken that somehow and made it into a kind of weekend spring learning experience for high school kids from Harford County. Tell us about that.

ANDON: Exactly, we really try to pare down to get the most important parts of that class. Obviously, it’s an entire semester at the college level but we’ve really tried to pare that down and translate that into a five weekend session for high school students to really try to increase their interest in food science as a potential field of study. Even when I was at Cornell which has one of the highest ranked food science programs in the nation, I would tell people “Oh, I’m a food scientist” and a lot of kids at the university wouldn’t even know we had that. They think you’re a nutritionist or a dietician or something like this. Really it’s everything between the process of food that comes from a farm and how it gets to our tables

KAST: So that’s a lot of boiling down to get that into 5 weekends. How do you start Ice Cream University?

ANDON: It is a challenge but really we’re trying to give students a taste of entrepreneurialism, a taste of how to not only design a really good ice cream flavor but how you go about marketing that.

One of the things that we found, we’re now in our fifth year of the class, a lot of these high school students maybe hadn’t necessarily had the opportunity to present in front of not only adults but their peers and Industry experts. We have professors that come down from Cornell and teach a class about how their actual dairy manufacturing plant is run and we’ll teach them about these kinds of things but it’s really an opportunity for the kids to follow an idea from its creation stage. Every week they’re trying out new flavors at the end of the class. Experimenting with different combinations. How much flavor they need to put into the specific ice cream they’re making and then they go through and try to develop a marketing plan. Very much like you said at the beginning of the show where if they’re going to be making some sort of bubble gum style flavor their marketing plan really needs to be targeted towards kids or it’s not going to make any sense. We really try to teach the kids about the idea creation process and then how you go about pitching that to a larger audience pretty much like Shark Tank for ice cream.

KAST: What do students learn about items added into an ice cream? Candy, chocolate

ANDON: This is one of the more enlightening parts of the class. A lot of people think you can take normal nuts, inclusions is the technical term, and you can just put them into frozen ice creams and eat them. But a lot of these ingredients have been specifically designed in order to function well and not break any teeth at those really low temperatures so we talk to them about freezing point depression and how that makes things like chewy caramel that you see in ice cream to actually make it chewy and not rock solid.

KAST: What about preventing freezer burn?

ANDON: That’s one of the things the ingredients that TIC Gums supplies will actually help to control and address. Obviously nobody’s going to describe ice cream that they like as being gritty or grainy or having freezer burn. Things like gum…they come from natural sources like seeds or tree saps. They help to bind up that extra water that would otherwise show up as freezer burn if it’s left in the freezer for too long.

KAST: You’ve talked about students being exposed to professors who can walk them through a marketing campaign. Part of Ice Cream University is a competition. The kids form teams and design their own flavor and then present that idea to judges.

ANDON: Definitely usually there’s anywhere between four or five teams and depending on the number of students in the class. But, yes, it’s very much a friendly competition because at the end the winning flavor is actually then produced at Broom's Bloom Dairy up in Harford County so that students not only get to you know have the enjoyment of having won one of the things that I think is actually a lot of fun for both parents and students is actually going to a real creamery and seeing their actual ice cream flavor be produced, being able to taste it, and being able to brag to all their friends and family members that this was something that they actually designed.

Whether it’s a protein, breakfast, or granola bar, more than ever are bars serving as snacks or even convenient meal replacements as the on the go lifestyle continues to take hold. Almost 40 percent of the millennials surveyed by Mintel for its 2015 report said cereal was an inconvenient breakfast choice because they had to clean up after eating it. From this example, it can be seen that millennials want grab-and-go meal options to match their fast-paced lifestyles.

From a business standpoint, the bar category has some of the highest prices per unit in retail stores, opening up larger profit possibilities.

Our Gum Gurus^® often field questions about using stabilizers and thickening systems to make an ideal nutritional, granola, or cereal bar. Here are answers to some of the most frequently asked questions about bar formulations:

What gum should I use for a binding syrup?

In product development, one main goal for a snack or meal bar is to keep all of the ingredients bound together. In many bars a general binder is needed, while in granola bars specifically, the film forming ability of a binding system is the key to cohesiveness and stability through processing and transit. For most granola bars, we recommend our Add-Here^® line, a proprietary line of hydrocolloids that replaces the texture and binding qualities needed in bars, but with significantly less sugar in addition to other functional benefits. TIC Pretested^® Gum Arabic FT is also suitable for creating binding syrups.

How should I incorporate the gums into my product?

Because sugar can compete with the gums for water in the mixing tank, it’s often helpful to disperse the gum in the tank and allow it to hydrate before adding sugar.

After the mixture is heated to boiling, while still hot, the binding syrup should be mixed into the dry ingredients and the bars should be allowed to cool in their desired shapes. Most of our hydrocolloid systems will work well in both chewy and crunchy granola bars. The major difference between the two is that crunchy bars will be put through a baking step, as opposed to chewy bars that must instead go through a drying step.

I am formulating a reduced sugar granola bar. What textural properties are important, and what binding options do I have?

Replacing sweetness can be accomplished with high-intensity sweeteners like aspartame or stevia but what is not easy to replace is the texture, stability, gloss, stickiness, and film forming attributes sugar provides and that are necessary to form and hold separate ingredients together. Dissolved sugar provides these because it can dry into a solid, and these solid properties are what bind the parts of the dry ingredients together.

In reduced sugar bars, TIC Gums’ Texture Terminology attributes that are important to monitor and maintain include, but are not limited to:

• Awareness of Particulates
• Fracturability
• Moisture Absorption
• Noise
• Surface Roughness

The following products were developed specifically for reduced sugar systems:

• Add-Here 3200
• Pre-Hydrated Gum Arabic FT

Do you have stabilizers that meet the definitions for all-natural, organic, and/or Non-GMO?

Top factors for consumers choosing a bar to buy are often focused on label claims including natural, organic or non-GMO. According to Innova Market Insights, the number of cereal and energy bars launched in the US bearing a clean label claim has dramatically increased in the last 5 years with 50% of those launches now bearing a GMO-free claim. Also notable is the drop in launches bearing a natural claim.

In the absence of definitions or standards for some claims, our Gum Gurus can work closely with you to select a gum system that meets your labeling requirements.

• Add-Here 3200 Non-GMO
• Add-Here 4300 P: An all-natural* alternative to Add-Here 3200 that does not contain cellulose gum
• TICorganic^® Gum Arabic SF: A certified organic gum acacia that can be used to replace corn syrup as a binder

My bars are drying out. What can I do to retain moisture in my bar?

The softness in a chewy granola bar is often a function of the moisture retention properties of the bar; the more moisture that is retained, the softer the bar will be. To aid in moisture retention, we recommend that you blend our dry mixtures into the dry ingredients before mixing into the syrup. 

Selecting gums for your bar formulations

To talk with a Gum Guru about the specific texture and stability needs of your bar formulation, call our technical support hotline +1-800-899-3953 / +1-410-273-7300 or chat live online.

The TIC Times newsletter is your source for the latest news on food texture & stability.

In this issue:

Boosting Your Binding Syrup and Bar Formulations

Podcast: Designing Flavors at Ice Cream University

Video: Achieving Consistent and Optimal Hydration Rates for Instant Protein Beverages

Subscribe to the TIC Times newsletter and we'll deliver it right to your email box! 

Videos in the Common Issues with RTD Beverages Series

• Age gelation (runtime 1:54)
• Reformulating to meet the clean label trend (runtime 1:52)
• Emulsifying RTD beverages (this video)

Transcript 

After years of reduced fat efforts, an ever increasing challenge for manufacturers of Ready-to-drink beverages has been the inclusion of fat and other healthy oils. An increasing number of teas, coffees and similar beverages are including ingredients like MCT oil, vegetable oils or butter fat to develop new, never-before-seen beverages.

While consumers enjoy these new trends and innovations, product developers are struggling with the stress that these ingredients place on the stability of the beverage; specifically when it comes to emulsification.

Emulsification refers to the successful mixing of multiple (normally unmixable) ingredients together. Soda, ice cream and salad dressing are emulsion examples that we enjoy every day. And with RTD beverages in particular, emulsification is vital for both stability and a successful shelf-life.

So to achieve the required stability, product developers need an emulsifier. But, a single ingredient emulsifier will likely do little to maintain the appropriate texture. That’s where a gum system comes in to play.

A gum system can help address multiple beverage concerns at the same time. Our systems are blends of multiple gums which work in tandem to address issues like emulsification and texture.

For example, Ticaloid Pro 181 AG is a gum system that emulsifies and modifies the texture in RTD beverages. When used in dairy-alternative beverages (like almond-milk), the system will emulsify the residual oils from the almonds while enhancing mouthfeel providing consumers with their preferred drinking experience.

Ticaloid Pro 192 AGD provides stability for dairy-based beverages, even when they include high protein and healthy fats. Despite increased levels of these ingredients, this gum system prevents separation and decreases awareness of particulates.

So don’t struggle any longer with poor emulsification and texture. Talk with a Gum Guru to get started today!  Call our technical support hotline +1-800-899-3953 / +1-410-273-7300 or chat live online.

We are currently accepting applications for Ice Cream University 2018. Click here to apply

Sheilah Kast from WYPR's On The Record radio show interviewed Tim Andon, senior technical service manager, and Whitney LaRoche, a past participant, about our Ice Cream University program for high school students. Click here to listen to the show

TRANSCRIPT

SHEILAH KAST: We’re on the record.

Ever imagined creating your own ice cream flavor? What would it be?

Creamy caramel or maybe simple vanilla? What would you add? Ribbons of raspberry jam? Crunchy pecans? Dark chocolate truffles? How about all three?

Designing an ice cream flavor requires both balance and a sweet tooth. Marketing that flavor requires a whole other set of skills. Take coffee, for example, that flavor would most likely appeal to adults while bubble gum or cotton candy confections are more kid friendly options.

This is the kind of inside scoop Harford County High School students learn when they take part in something called Ice Cream University at TIC Gums in White Marsh and joining me to tell us more about the making and marketing of ice cream is Tim Andon, business development manager for TIC Gums which manufactures ingredients that improve the texture and stability of foods for the food and beverage industry. Tim Andon, welcome to On the Record.

TIM ANDON: Thanks, Sheilah, it’s good to be here.

KAST: Ice Cream University is run in association with Cornell University and based on their food science 101 course. Tell us about Ice Cream University.

ANDON: As a Cornell University food science graduate myself, all of the freshmen that attend the program there basically are given an introductory course in food science that walks them through the commercialization of an ice cream flavor. It’s meant to be a really nice teaser for freshmen who are often taking chemistry courses, biology courses, a lot of prerequisites but this serves as an entrée into some of the more exciting parts of product development for those students.

KAST: So that’s the 101 course at Cornell, now you’ve taken that somehow and made it into a kind of weekend spring learning experience for high school kids from Harford County. Tell us about that.

ANDON: Exactly, we really try to pare down to get the most important parts of that class. Obviously, it’s an entire semester at the college level but we’ve really tried to pare that down and translate that into a five weekend session for high school students to really try to increase their interest in food science as a potential field of study. Even when I was at Cornell which has one of the highest ranked food science programs in the nation, I would tell people “Oh, I’m a food scientist” and a lot of kids at the university wouldn’t even know we had that. They think you’re a nutritionist or a dietician or something like this. Really it’s everything between the process of food that comes from a farm and how it gets to our tables

KAST: So that’s a lot of boiling down to get that into 5 weekends. How do you start Ice Cream University?

ANDON: It is a challenge but really we’re trying to give students a taste of entrepreneurialism, a taste of how to not only design a really good ice cream flavor but how you go about marketing that.

One of the things that we found, we’re now in our fifth year of the class, a lot of these high school students maybe hadn’t necessarily had the opportunity to present in front of not only adults but their peers and Industry experts. We have professors that come down from Cornell and teach a class about how their actual dairy manufacturing plant is run and we’ll teach them about these kinds of things but it’s really an opportunity for the kids to follow an idea from its creation stage. Every week they’re trying out new flavors at the end of the class. Experimenting with different combinations. How much flavor they need to put into the specific ice cream they’re making and then they go through and try to develop a marketing plan. Very much like you said at the beginning of the show where if they’re going to be making some sort of bubble gum style flavor their marketing plan really needs to be targeted towards kids or it’s not going to make any sense. We really try to teach the kids about the idea creation process and then how you go about pitching that to a larger audience pretty much like Shark Tank for ice cream.

KAST: What do students learn about items added into an ice cream? Candy, chocolate

ANDON: This is one of the more enlightening parts of the class. A lot of people think you can take normal nuts, inclusions is the technical term, and you can just put them into frozen ice creams and eat them. But a lot of these ingredients have been specifically designed in order to function well and not break any teeth at those really low temperatures so we talk to them about freezing point depression and how that makes things like chewy caramel that you see in ice cream to actually make it chewy and not rock solid.

KAST: What about preventing freezer burn?

ANDON: That’s one of the things the ingredients that TIC Gums supplies will actually help to control and address. Obviously nobody’s going to describe ice cream that they like as being gritty or grainy or having freezer burn. Things like gum…they come from natural sources like seeds or tree saps. They help to bind up that extra water that would otherwise show up as freezer burn if it’s left in the freezer for too long.

KAST: You’ve talked about students being exposed to professors who can walk them through a marketing campaign. Part of Ice Cream University is a competition. The kids form teams and design their own flavor and then present that idea to judges.

ANDON: Definitely usually there’s anywhere between four or five teams and depending on the number of students in the class. But, yes, it’s very much a friendly competition because at the end the winning flavor is actually then produced at Broom's Bloom Dairy up in Harford County so that students not only get to you know have the enjoyment of having won one of the things that I think is actually a lot of fun for both parents and students is actually going to a real creamery and seeing their actual ice cream flavor be produced, being able to taste it, and being able to brag to all their friends and family members that this was something that they actually designed.

Whether it’s a protein, breakfast, or granola bar, more than ever are bars serving as snacks or even convenient meal replacements as the on the go lifestyle continues to take hold. Almost 40 percent of the millennials surveyed by Mintel for its 2015 report said cereal was an inconvenient breakfast choice because they had to clean up after eating it. From this example, it can be seen that millennials want grab-and-go meal options to match their fast-paced lifestyles.

From a business standpoint, the bar category has some of the highest prices per unit in retail stores, opening up larger profit possibilities.

Our Gum Gurus^® often field questions about using stabilizers and thickening systems to make an ideal nutritional, granola, or cereal bar. Here are answers to some of the most frequently asked questions about bar formulations:

What gum should I use for a binding syrup?

In product development, one main goal for a snack or meal bar is to keep all of the ingredients bound together. In many bars a general binder is needed, while in granola bars specifically, the film forming ability of a binding system is the key to cohesiveness and stability through processing and transit. For most granola bars, we recommend our Add-Here^® line, a proprietary line of hydrocolloids that replaces the texture and binding qualities needed in bars, but with significantly less sugar in addition to other functional benefits. TIC Pretested^® Gum Arabic FT is also suitable for creating binding syrups.

How should I incorporate the gums into my product?

Because sugar can compete with the gums for water in the mixing tank, it’s often helpful to disperse the gum in the tank and allow it to hydrate before adding sugar.

After the mixture is heated to boiling, while still hot, the binding syrup should be mixed into the dry ingredients and the bars should be allowed to cool in their desired shapes. Most of our hydrocolloid systems will work well in both chewy and crunchy granola bars. The major difference between the two is that crunchy bars will be put through a baking step, as opposed to chewy bars that must instead go through a drying step.

I am formulating a reduced sugar granola bar. What textural properties are important, and what binding options do I have?

Replacing sweetness can be accomplished with high-intensity sweeteners like aspartame or stevia but what is not easy to replace is the texture, stability, gloss, stickiness, and film forming attributes sugar provides and that are necessary to form and hold separate ingredients together. Dissolved sugar provides these because it can dry into a solid, and these solid properties are what bind the parts of the dry ingredients together.

In reduced sugar bars, TIC Gums’ Texture Terminology attributes that are important to monitor and maintain include, but are not limited to:

• Awareness of Particulates
• Fracturability
• Moisture Absorption
• Noise
• Surface Roughness

The following products were developed specifically for reduced sugar systems:

• Add-Here 3200
• Pre-Hydrated Gum Arabic FT

Do you have stabilizers that meet the definitions for all-natural, organic, and/or Non-GMO?

Top factors for consumers choosing a bar to buy are often focused on label claims including natural, organic or non-GMO. According to Innova Market Insights, the number of cereal and energy bars launched in the US bearing a clean label claim has dramatically increased in the last 5 years with 50% of those launches now bearing a GMO-free claim. Also notable is the drop in launches bearing a natural claim.

In the absence of definitions or standards for some claims, our Gum Gurus can work closely with you to select a gum system that meets your labeling requirements.

• Add-Here 3200 Non-GMO
• Add-Here 4300 P: An all-natural* alternative to Add-Here 3200 that does not contain cellulose gum
• TICorganic^® Gum Arabic SF: A certified organic gum acacia that can be used to replace corn syrup as a binder

My bars are drying out. What can I do to retain moisture in my bar?

The softness in a chewy granola bar is often a function of the moisture retention properties of the bar; the more moisture that is retained, the softer the bar will be. To aid in moisture retention, we recommend that you blend our dry mixtures into the dry ingredients before mixing into the syrup. 

Selecting gums for your bar formulations

To talk with a Gum Guru about the specific texture and stability needs of your bar formulation, call our technical support hotline +1-800-899-3953 / +1-410-273-7300 or chat live online.

The TIC Times newsletter is your source for the latest news on food texture & stability.

In this issue:

Boosting Your Binding Syrup and Bar Formulations

Podcast: Designing Flavors at Ice Cream University

Video: Achieving Consistent and Optimal Hydration Rates for Instant Protein Beverages

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The Guar Gum Off-Note Experience

Formulator: We’re formulating a commercial vanilla ice cream with guar gum, and I’m definitely picking up an off-note. We really want to avoid using more vanilla, but love the cost-effectiveness of guar.

Formulator: We love the texturizing qualities of your guar gum, but we’re noticing that it’s conflicting with the vanilla flavor we have in our ice cream. What options do we have to maintain texture but also protect the flavor?

Formulator: We are currently using guar gum to keep our label clean, but it feels like we need to keep adding more vanilla to combat the grassy/beany flavors coming from the guar gum. Is there anything we can do to avoid this?

If you’re asking these questions, you’re not alone.

The Gum Gurus^® at TIC Gums have been fielding many of these flavor masking questions from ice cream formulators recently. In order to confidently answer these requests, TIC Gums initiated and executed a sensory study that was specifically geared towards ice cream developers facing flavor and taste challenges associated with guar gum.

If you remember from our blog post dedicated to GuarNT^® USA Flavor Free 5000, TIC Gums developed a flavorless guar gum to enable formulators to use guar in more of their applications without concerns over flavor masking.

What do we mean by flavor masking?

Using gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) analysis, an analytical method that identifies different substances within a test sample, several volatile organic compounds (VOCs) were identified as natural contributors to the beany or grassy flavor and smell associated with standard guar gum. Of these VOCs, hexanal and hexanoic acid were identified as the main sources of these perceivable off-notes. The proprietary manufacturing process for GuarNT USA Flavor Free 5000 significantly reduces the VOC levels present in the finished product. Comparing this innovative variation to standard guar gum powder, the hexanal concentration and the total measured VOCs were reduced by nearly 90%.

What does this have to do with ice cream?

When formulating ice cream, many developers take advantage of the texturizing and stabilizing capabilities of gums, which give ice cream the eating experience consumers have come to expect. To optimize freeze thaw stability, enhance texture and allow your special flavor to shine through, we suggest our Caragum^® 200 FF blend which includes GuarNT USA Flavor Free 5000.

Show me the data!

In order to better showcase this VOC data in action, we conducted additional sensory testing in vanilla ice cream. The Gum Gurus worked with sensory experts to demonstrate that when we suggest Caragum 200 FF for your ice cream needs, we can say with complete confidence that you will see a difference in flavor perception.

We sent our ice cream that featured the Caragum 200 FF to a sensory panel that used a 0-15 point intensity scale to test such attributes as flavor, overall aroma, cooked/milky taste, viscosity when melted and mouth coating.

The panel tested 3 variations of vanilla ice cream:

1. A control vanilla ice cream featuring a blend with standard guar gum

2. A vanilla ice cream with Caragum 200 FF and 5% reduction in vanilla flavoring

3. A vanilla ice cream with Caragum 200 FF and a 10% reduction in vanilla flavoring

When using Caragum 200 FF in the ice cream formula, a trained panel determined that a 5% reduction in vanilla flavoring achieved a comparable flavor experience to that of the control with an improved overall aroma. The 5% reduction also showed an improvement in the mouth coating attribute without negatively affecting viscosity when melted.

For the more aggressive flavor reduction at 10%, vanilla flavor perception was lower than the control and 5% reduction, but the overall aroma was high and textural attributes were maintained. Data indicates that flavor levels between 5-10% flavor reduction should be tested and evaluated for best results.

What does this mean?

Unpredictable vanilla prices is a challenge that formulators have been facing in recent years. In their article, Madagascar vanilla crop improves, but prices may stay high, Food Business News reflects on the expectations and realities of sugar pricing, noting that, “’Industrial demand for extraction grade Madagascar vanilla remains strong enough to support the record high prices that show no signs of abating in the near term.’”

Up against the often fluctuating and frequently increasing vanilla prices, formulators can now reduce the amount of vanilla flavoring they are using in delicately flavored applications that previously used standard guar, or a blend that includes standard guar. Formulators are able to achieve cost savings while maintaining flavor, texture and stability.

Need help formulating with Caragum 200 FF?

The Gum Guru team can help solve your texture and stability formulation challenges with our hydrocolloid expertise and ingredient portfolio. We’ll guide you every step of the way to ensure your delicately flavored applications reach their highest potential.

The Guar Gum Off-Note Experience

Formulator: We’re formulating a commercial vanilla ice cream with guar gum, and I’m definitely picking up an off-note. We really want to avoid using more vanilla, but love the cost-effectiveness of guar.

Formulator: We love the texturizing qualities of your guar gum, but we’re noticing that it’s conflicting with the vanilla flavor we have in our ice cream. What options do we have to maintain texture but also protect the flavor?

Formulator: We are currently using guar gum to keep our label clean, but it feels like we need to keep adding more vanilla to combat the grassy/beany flavors coming from the guar gum. Is there anything we can do to avoid this?

If you’re asking these questions, you’re not alone.

The Gum Gurus^® at TIC Gums have been fielding many of these flavor masking questions from ice cream formulators recently. In order to confidently answer these requests, TIC Gums initiated and executed a sensory study that was specifically geared towards ice cream developers facing flavor and taste challenges associated with guar gum.

If you remember from our blog post dedicated to GuarNT^® USA Flavor Free 5000, TIC Gums developed a flavorless guar gum to enable formulators to use guar in more of their applications without concerns over flavor masking.

What do we mean by flavor masking?

Using gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) analysis, an analytical method that identifies different substances within a test sample, several volatile organic compounds (VOCs) were identified as natural contributors to the beany or grassy flavor and smell associated with standard guar gum. Of these VOCs, hexanal and hexanoic acid were identified as the main sources of these perceivable off-notes. The proprietary manufacturing process for GuarNT USA Flavor Free 5000 significantly reduces the VOC levels present in the finished product. Comparing this innovative variation to standard guar gum powder, the hexanal concentration and the total measured VOCs were reduced by nearly 90%.

What does this have to do with ice cream?

When formulating ice cream, many developers take advantage of the texturizing and stabilizing capabilities of gums, which give ice cream the eating experience consumers have come to expect. To optimize freeze thaw stability, enhance texture and allow your special flavor to shine through, we suggest our Caragum^® 200 FF blend which includes GuarNT USA Flavor Free 5000.

Show me the data!

In order to better showcase this VOC data in action, we conducted additional sensory testing in vanilla ice cream. The Gum Gurus worked with sensory experts to demonstrate that when we suggest Caragum 200 FF for your ice cream needs, we can say with complete confidence that you will see a difference in flavor perception.

We sent our ice cream that featured the Caragum 200 FF to a sensory panel that used a 0-15 point intensity scale to test such attributes as flavor, overall aroma, cooked/milky taste, viscosity when melted and mouth coating.

The panel tested 3 variations of vanilla ice cream:

1. A control vanilla ice cream featuring a blend with standard guar gum

2. A vanilla ice cream with Caragum 200 FF and 5% reduction in vanilla flavoring

3. A vanilla ice cream with Caragum 200 FF and a 10% reduction in vanilla flavoring

When using Caragum 200 FF in the ice cream formula, a trained panel determined that a 5% reduction in vanilla flavoring achieved a comparable flavor experience to that of the control with an improved overall aroma. The 5% reduction also showed an improvement in the mouth coating attribute without negatively affecting viscosity when melted.

For the more aggressive flavor reduction at 10%, vanilla flavor perception was lower than the control and 5% reduction, but the overall aroma was high and textural attributes were maintained. Data indicates that flavor levels between 5-10% flavor reduction should be tested and evaluated for best results.

What does this mean?

Unpredictable vanilla prices is a challenge that formulators have been facing in recent years. In their article, Madagascar vanilla crop improves, but prices may stay high, Food Business News reflects on the expectations and realities of sugar pricing, noting that, “’Industrial demand for extraction grade Madagascar vanilla remains strong enough to support the record high prices that show no signs of abating in the near term.’”

Up against the often fluctuating and frequently increasing vanilla prices, formulators can now reduce the amount of vanilla flavoring they are using in delicately flavored applications that previously used standard guar, or a blend that includes standard guar. Formulators are able to achieve cost savings while maintaining flavor, texture and stability.

Need help formulating with Caragum 200 FF?

The Gum Guru team can help solve your texture and stability formulation challenges with our hydrocolloid expertise and ingredient portfolio. We’ll guide you every step of the way to ensure your delicately flavored applications reach their highest potential.

The TIC Times newsletter is your source for the latest news on food texture & stability.

In this issue:

Let Your Vanilla Flavor Shine Through

Stabilize Non-dairy Yogurt with Simplistica™ YG 3206

Video: Agglomerated Gums Improve Powder Dispersion

Download: Gum Reference Chart

5 Things to Know about Tara Gum

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What you need and the right resources to ease the process

Whether you’re looking for gluten-free, vegan, or more, the Gum Gurus^® can help

Consumers continue to show increased interest in the sources and purposes of the ingredients on their food labels. Those same consumers are also seeking foods perceived to be more healthful with such attributes as boosted levels of protein, vitamins and minerals. This combination of added nutritional elements with a limited label declaration intensifies the complexities formulators face.

Food and beverage developers are constantly working to innovate their formulations to align with their labeling goals, which in turn align with the requirements of consumers. Whether it is the need for an organic label, a “free-from” or even an ingredient substitution due to supply shortage, formulators have their hands full protecting the integrity of their end product.

What formulating complexities are you up against?

Many times, you as the formulator rely on your own team’s expertise or utilize familiar outside resources to address product development objectives. There is a corporate expectation that these resources can handle the complexity around flavor, texture, stability, appearance, quality and overall acceptance of your products. This makes sense as companies have invested significantly in their R&D teams but often times these expert teams have limited time to develop additional outside relationships to broaden their knowledge base.

It becomes even more challenging as consumers demand cleaner product labels and forces in the market weigh in on the debate. Since there is no universally accepted definition of clean label, formulators are forced to be agile and flexible to answer to a changing market with changing needs. Additionally, formulating new products, or reformulating existing ones, is not as easy as simply replacing traditional go-to ingredients with 1:1 alternatives.

When you are faced with limited resources or time, these challenges that arise around label demands and the complexities of formulating and reformulating can hinder go-to-market goals.

So, what do you need to be successful?

1. Experience: Having a talented and experienced R&D team that can handle the complexities of product formulation with extensive knowledge of hydrocolloids, ingredient interactions and regulatory implications is crucial to success.
2. Portfolio: Access to a large portfolio of ingredients including hydrocolloids, proteins, sweeteners and more provides the right solution for your specific application.
3. Communication: Throughout reformulation, product requirements like label claims, nutritional parameters and expected texture must be kept top of mind. It is imperative to have a means of communication that simplifies formulating into definable terms that can be assessed and rebuilt within the new formula.

What to Bring to the Formulating Table

It can be difficult to foresee the various effects that processing, ingredient selection and other elements of formulating will have on an end product. The team of Gum Gurus at TIC Gums works with our customers to help guide their formulation process, taking into consideration the various factors necessary to ensure a stable, reproducible product. When developers are able to understand how each component interacts and impacts the product as a whole, the process becomes much more effective and efficient.

Our goal is to take the complex process of formulating or reformulating and turn it into something accessible and navigable. That’s why we have created our Formulating Checklist to help you better understand the composition of your finished good. The formulating checklist is designed to help you formulate better and faster. It includes some key information that is helpful to know about your product early in the formulating process. Download the full blog post to gain access to the formulating checklist.

Texture Terminology Help

In order to have more effective communication during the product development process, we have compiled a set of lexicon of terms called the Food Texture Terminology to standardize the way product texture is described. This allows our food scientists to deconstruct terms like “creamy” into individual texture attributes such as mouth coating, cohesiveness and mixes with saliva to help determine the specific attributes most important to our customers. With these individual attributes defined, we can pinpoint the best product and the perfect se level to create or enhance what is desired.

We utilize our texture terminology in many ways to help formulators understand the benefits of different ingredients. For instance in the example below, which shows the texture and flavor benefits of using Caragum 200 FF.

In this case, to determine the impact of guar on flavor and texture in vanilla ice cream, we engaged a trained sensory panel to perform a descriptive sensory evaluation of a control sample vanilla ice cream and ice cream using our Caragum 200 FF. You can see in Figure 1. that the samples were tested for two of our textural attributes: viscosity and mouth coating.

The Typically Associated Consumer Terms chart (Figure 2.) helps our customers make a connection between our texture terms like viscosity and more universally known terms like thickness.

How can TIC Gums help drive formulating success?

Our team can help formulators like you design products that meet specific label requirements and also deliver an ideal eating or drinking experience. Whether it is basic texture attribute mapping, functional stabilization, or access to an even broader portfolio of solutions as part of the Ingredion family, we can help.

A systems and services approach 

Simplistica™ ingredient systems provide formulators with the tools to solve the complexities of formulating in a one stop shop. Simplistica systems deliver optimized solutions by combining ingredients such as hydrocolloids, starches, plant proteins, sweeteners and more, depending on the need of the application.

Having access to an ingredient system makes it easier for you to meet optimal ingredient functionality without the worry and constraints of troubleshooting. The team of Gum Gurus is trained to understand the nuances and complexities of how all ingredients work together, helping with a number of common formulating necessities:

• Synergies between ingredients to promote formulation optimization
• Ratios of certain ingredients when mixed together
• Selecting ingredients to meet label goals and functionality needs
• Leveraging certain ingredients as reformulation replacements

Food and beverage developers are now able to better align their formulation and label claim goals with the attributes of the ingredients they use, by leveraging formulating support. With Simplistica ingredient systems, developers can provide a nutritionally and texturally sound product using ingredients that have been selected for product optimization.

What does the Simplistica line look like in action?

In order to better showcase the functionalities behind a Simplistica ingredient system, TIC Gums created two prototype formulations with very unique label needs: a snickerdoodle cookie using Simplistica BK 6202 and a coconut milk yogurt using Simplistica YG 3206. These prototypes specifically align with market trends in their categories. Download the full blog post to learn more about these prototypes. 

Reach out for help!

Our Gum Gurus have been helping customers across all food categories. Now that TIC Gums is a part of Ingredion, customers have access to complete ingredient systems. We encourage formulators to reach out with their specific needs and engage with our Gum Gurus on their formulation.

Talk with a Gum Guru about your specific application by calling our technical support hotline +1-800-899-3953 / +1-410-273-7300 or chat live online.

The TIC Times newsletter is your source for the latest news on food texture & stability.

In this issue:

Formulating Made Simple with Simplistica

Certified Organic Tara Now Available

Video: IFT Recap

Virtual IFT Booth

Acacia Fiber Update

5 Things to Know about Guar

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