Many people are taking up new eating habits and increasing their awareness of the impact of their food choices environentally, economically, and socially.
With this in mind, there has been a global rise in the interest for food that is plant based, vegetarian, and vegan.
Many of the products we already make are suitable for vegan or vegetarian applications – often with only small modifications, process controls or colour swaps to meet your requirements. Our team would love to help you find the right solution for your next project.
Some ingredients are premium priced compared to others. Isomalt is a premium raw product compared to sugar, so it makes sense that Sugar Free Inclusions are premium priced compared to their sugar based counterparts.
Shape & Processing Time
How long things take to make and the shape of the finished goods means there is a specific layer of processing time. The various cooling processes, cooking times, and non-mechanical processing including the speed of processing the formulation at the required shape and size.
Processing Restrictions & Testing
If your processes require additional testing or has special processing restrictions this may place extra charges or timeline restrictions onto your order increasing the required resources and cost to complete for you.
Order Volume
All inclusion products are made to order. Each product is a custom setup for processing equipment and there are strict process controls to ensure cleanliness, compliance, quality, and safety throughout production. When processing smaller orders, it means these fixed costs for production setup are spread over a smaller total volume of product.
Freight
As our inclusion products are priced including delivery, where you wish to send the shipment as well as the urgency of the delivery is also important. We regularly send containers to our Australian logistics warehouse, but should your production require stock with more urgency than is available via our standard freight options or under our current lead times, airfreight is often available for an extra charge.
Special Flavours/Colours
There are a variety of colours and flavours available from a wide range of suppliers. If your project requires a specific colour or flavour result, then the volume of these specialised ingredients will impact the overall cost.
Coating
Coatings have a range of options and purposes and is an extra processing step. The type and volume of coating can impact the production process including manufacturing time and ingredient costings.
Smallest Size
When a product is created it is then sized into what is needed for your application the smallest required size with your finished product. The more inclusive the smallest size of product acceptable (down to 0mm – dust) the more cost effective the production process.
Largest Size
The size range that is required for your inclusion including the largest pieces that are processable by your equipment and desired in your finished product dictates the variance in product size of the finished product. A smaller size range increases processing efforts and as such increases costs.
What makes honeycomb fluffy? Well, it’s the aeration of the hot sugar mixture beyond what was typically available through “pulling” (the same process used to soften and finish taffy based treats).
This aeration process is typically done with a raising agent, like baking soda. Baking soda when heated produces bubbles, and the resulting delicious light and fluffy texture is what we capture in our various honeycomb/hokey pokey recipes to help get just the right texture for your project.
For further information on this chemical reaction, check out the following resources:
Chocolate is a highly moisture resistant option as an inclusion coating and is has a wide range of price points and options available within. From a premium dark or ruby chocolate coating to the delicious options in compound milk or white choc, and everything in between there is sure to be something to delight your customers and meet your desired taste profile. Chocolate coatings, in real or compound chocolate, can be applied as an outer coating on your inclusion or as a part of the flavour itself of the item in products like chocolate fudge or dark chocolate biscuit soft crunch. Our team has even developed processes to partially coat the products in chocolate, allowing the strength of the inclusion flavour to be enhanced with a hint of chocolate (like in our Mint Kibble Dark Compound Partial Coat – 3334 as shown on the left).
Dark Real Vs Compound Chocolate
Chocolate traces it’s history back over centuries to the hot drink and is now a popular flavour around the world for treats and snacks. Various forms of “real” chocolate are made with cocoa butter (the natural fats of the cocoa bean) and various amounts of other ingredients such as cocoa liquor or cocoa powder with sugar and milk to create the chocolate we know and love today. Compound chocolate is the product made with similar ingredients, but replacing some of the cocoa butter with other fats or oils, such as sustainably sourced palm oil, to create a product that meets the taste profile, use requirements, or price point of the product’s target market.
Cocoa butter is a premium confectionery fat, primarily used in the manufacture of chocolate. Cocoa butter is the oil/fat extracted from the cocoa beans and is primarily used in the manufacture of chocolate and chocolate products, with some side applications in pharmaceutical use thanks to the melting temperatures of the fat being similar to the average temperature of the human body. This melting point of the fat is what gives chocolate and other products containing the premium confectionery coating a smooth, melt in your mouth experience.
solid pieces of cocoa butter
Cocoa butter behaves similarly to sustainable palm oil in the application and use as a confectionery coating and moisture barrier to mitigate the effects of ambient moisture in production processes and minimise the effects of high moisture or freeze/thaw application on products such as food inclusions.
Cocoa butter in solid form is a buttery yellow colour, and when melted, has similar colouring to olive or other cooking oils.
No matter what your desired application, there is sure to be an ideal solution available. Our team are here to help you discover them.
Palm oil is a popular confectionery coating fat thanks to its creamy texture and neutral flavour. Oil from palm trees It is also very efficient to produce (source) compared to other oil products per unit of land. FoodFlo International uses only RSPO Certified Sustainable Palm Oil as per our Sustainable Palm Oil Policy.
Palm Oil – Solid
This fantastic and multipurpose oil is clear, odourless and flavourless and hardens to a bright white colour in solid form. Applied carefully, it helps to mitigate the effects of ambient moisture in production processes that would otherwise cause uncoated items to clump together and used in greater volume used for minimizing the impact of high moisture applications (such as in ice cream) or freeze/thaw situations on products like honeycomb balls. This multipurpose ingredient is used as a cooking oil in some countries thanks to its impressive range of properties.
No matter what your desired application, there is sure to be an ideal solution available. Our team are here to help you discover them.
Confectionery coatings are a great way to enhance specific properties of your inclusion. This can be for the benefit of the final product, or as a processing aid. Regardless of if you are hoping to delay softening or create a smoother free-flow in your production dosing, there are a variety of solutions that are available.
Honeycomb balls in panning drum -right gloved hand and factory whites
Confectionery coatings primarily act as a moisture barrier, creating a moisture-resistant coating on a product that would naturally absorb environmental moisture at a level that encourages the inclusions to either stick together in ambient storage or dissolve quickly in high moisture environments. By manipulating the quantity and type of coating applied, inclusions such as Honeycomb can be engineered to remain crunchy in products like ice cream or melt just the right amount while still being free-flowing without impacting taste profiles.
The most common coatings include RSPO Certified Sustainable Palm Oil (See our Palm Oil Policy for more information or talk to the FoodFlo Team about your requirements). Cocoa butter is also an option for more premium products where your processes exclude the option of using palm products.
3 Chocolates – Milk Dark White
If you are looking to also add another layer of flavour to the product, the use of a chocolate or compound choc in white, milk, or dark, or even a mix of choc and fat or cocoa butter in a partial coating scenario allows your product to get value, flavour and desired performance all rolled into a single ingredient.
The FoodFlo Team use a variety of methods to create and capture various qualities across a range of inclusions on offer and are excited to work with you to find the right mix for your needs.
More and more consumers are chasing lifestyle products that not only taste good but have healthier formulations. In the past few years, we have seen the rise of the speciality food aisles in grocery stores for products “free-from” gluten, sugar and other ingredients shift from back corners and bottom shelves to prominent sections and special displays in prime locations. Products suitable for the diabetic were a label searching experience at the turn of the century and are now something ranged alongside and viewed by consumers as a practical alternative to the real sugar products.
Sugar-free inclusions are a great way to help products your products stand out. Isomalt based formulations not only have a less sweet taste, but they also carry a significantly lower caloric load than sugar, helping with formulations for a variety of purposes.
Sugar-free is a topic where we have created quite a few resources, and have included links to them below.
Looking to target the rise in post-lockdown wellness? How about flavour enjoyment without the guilt of over-indulgence? Sugar-free formulations are perfect for new and exciting products to delight consumers.
https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/104313.pdf – Polyols in confectionery: the route to sugar-free, reduced sugar and reduced-calorie confectionery. Albert Zume, Adam Lee, and David Storey.
Popcorn’s natural popping process creates a light, high fibre and well-loved treat. Delicious, and available in full or kibbled flakes (popped kernels).
Although remnants of popcorn have been found thousands of years ago in Mexico, the snack was first popularised in the late 19th century and increased in popularity due to the large volume by weight compared to sugar-based treats that were rationed during the Second World War. Popcorn was also introduced as a highly profitable snack sold at theatres with Wikipedia reporting that in instances it was more profitable than the proceeds of the cinema ticket itself. Popularity surged after the invention of microwaveable varieties for home consumers.
4 Types of Popcorn (L to R:) Caramel Popcorn Kibble, Kibbled caramel popcorn, whole caramel popcorn, and plain popcorn
The light and fluffy texture of popcorn come from a specific variety of corn, which has a durable shell to allow for the foam-like texture of the steamed wholegrain to develop when the pressure inside is released.
Used in a variety of ways, the flavours and textures of popcorn can allow product developers to create food experiences on a variety of levels.
4 Types of Popcorn Mixed Pile
As inclusions, the unique texture of popcorn can be preserved in high moisture environments such as those required in QSR environments, milkshakes, or ice creams with the application of various coatings such as cocoa butter and confectionery fat (RSPO Certified Sustainable Palm Oil).
No matter what your desired application, there is sure to be solutions to suit. Our team are here to help you
Sugar Free Strawberry Chip 2-4mm
Hazelnut Soft Crunch 0-2mm – 3423
Orange Soft Crunch Chip 2-4mm
Chocolate Fudge Chunks 10-15mm
Strawberry Soft Crunch 2-4mm Coated
Raspberry Soft Crunch 0-2mm Cocoa Butter Coated – 3420
Coffee Soft Crunch Chip 2-12mm
Sugar Free Peppermint Chip 2-4mm Fat Coated – 3308
Sugar Free Raspberry Chip 2-4mm Fat Coated – 3348
Orange Chip 2-4mm Fat Coated – 3342
Caramel Fudge Chunks
