Dawn Foods: Long-life and cleaner label fillings

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With consumers wanting simpler ingredients to make a comeback, it is still important to them that their favorite baked products should also maintain all the convenient benefits they have learned to rely on, including long life and great taste. R&D creates the balance allowing bakery fillings to check all the boxes.

+The balance between having better-for-you, cleanlabel products with simpler ingredients and, at the same time, the benefits of a long shelf-life can be found in compiling cleaner fillings, minimizing the use of preservatives and additives, while at the same time maintaining shelf-life properties, and most importantly, not compromising on taste. While fruit fillings have the benefit of using natural extracts and the fruit’s own acidity instead of preservatives, cream-based fillings do not have any natural preservatives in their composition and also require a stabilizer for the water and fat emulsion on which they are based.

To further complicate formulating, removing preservatives impacts secondary shelf life: “Once a filling container is opened, it needs to be used completely in one production run or to be stored chilled if some is left unused. Bakers need to work in a very ‘clean’ way in this case, as there is more risk of the product going bad quickly,” explains Christopher Ries, Category Marketing Manager Wets for Europe & AMEAP at Dawn Foods.

Clean-label, versatile options

Products with clean-label claims often use natural flavors and colors, such as fruit extracts, and natural preservatives, for example - vinegars. In this category, Dawn Foods’ recent editions of cocoa- and fat-based fillings in its Delicreamrange are designed to work in both fresh products and bakery products with a longer shelf life. And they are all made with only non-hydrogenated fat. Creating or updating recipes to earn clean-label status starts with a clear image of what it entails. For Dawn Foods, it means reducing additives and working with ingredients that are as natural and label-friendly as possible. “We always look at both the product category and its functionality. How are our customers using the products? And what would best suit their needs? How can we make a product cleaner, while still answering the production requirements of our customers?”, Ries details.

In addition, versatility is an important quality driving the choice of fillings for baked goods. It amounts to several properties, starting with a good viscosity, so they can be easily dosed, but without ‘running out’. Fillings that are suitable for bakery products are, of course, expected to also be bake-stable, freeze-thaw stable, have an appealing color, and (if they are made of fruit) have fruit pieces.

Out of all types of fillings, “Jams are the most technical, and need to be adapted the most. For example, viscosity needs to be changed to the customer’s specific dosing machine and the temperature of the application needs to be factored in. It is also important to know the level of water activity in both the jam and the product hosting it to avoid water migration,” R&D illustrates. And that’s not all: if the jam is applied before baking, bake-stability becomes a requirement. “Our Confibel for frangipane is completely different in make-up when compared to a Confibel for zebra cakes. This is why we mostly customize our Confibel range (jams) for our industrial customers, based on the specific requirements of their production process and the application they are using it in,” Ries adds. The recipes vary according to the water activity of the bakery application, the shelf-life requirements and the required viscosity.

Preserving flavors and textures unchanged after processing and throughout their shelf-life is particularly challenging for fillings made with raw natural ingredients. Consequently, Dawn Foods' guidelines refer to production time and process, temperature, and packaging: the faster a product is made, the less damaged it will be and the longer it will last. “Extreme temperatures harm the organoleptic qualities of the product, while killing any bacteria; it is often about finding the right compromise between stability and quality,” explains Dawn Foods. Sturdy, tight packaging contributes to delaying product staling; moreover, packing circumstances (the cleanliness of the environment, the temperature and the duration of the process) are also critical for stability. “At Dawn Foods, we can produce fruit fillings in metal tins. Due to the more ‘gentle’ production process, the texture of the fruit is better maintained, as well as its color and flavor.”

Stability across temperature extremes

Dawn Foods specializes in developing products with improved bake stability. “Working with a comprehensive range of ingredients, such as various texturizers, sugars, starches, salts, and simultaneously accounting for different pH-levels – it all translates into an infinite number of combinations possible that will result in bake-stable fillings. This makes it interesting to develop and to find the right balance and combination for each product and the respective other functional requirements,” the R&D elaborate.

Conversely, to achieve freeze/thaw stability, the process at Dawn Foods starts with selecting the right ingredients going into the filling; some starches, for example, are not freeze/ thaw-stable and gelatine may not always give goods results. The product for which the filling is developed is also a factor, as it must adapt to the intended application in terms of water activity and viscosity and avoid migration.

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Dawn Foods extensively and continually researches dynamics in consumer trends, from exciting, new emerging flavors, to how established preferences fare against various factors. For bakery fillings, the company observes that classic variants such as apple and cherry still dominate among flavorfavorites, along with other berries such as strawberries. “This year, we have introduced a Superfruit filling, made up of fruits like cranberries, pomegranate and blueberries, which is appealing to the health-conscious consumer,” Ries shares. For creamy fillings, the all-time-favorite flavors – chocolate or chocolate and nuts – are still highly in demand, as well as up-and-coming flavors including caramel and salted caramel. +++

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