Going dairy free

Cocoa butter is traditionally used to give plant-based chocolate the right flavour and mouthfeel. One way to cut down on this costly ingredient is to remove lecithin from the recipe and replace it with a phospholipid, which also works with traditional chocolate Palsgaard A/S

The plant-based food movement is continuing its upwards trajectory and dairy-free chocolate is no exception. Consumers want their favourite chocolate treats available as a plant-based option, but they expect the same quality in both flavour and mouthfeel.

As a result, the market for plant-based chocolate is an expanding one and the sector is now recording 24% annual growth globally, with Western Europe accounting for more than half (53%) of new chocolate product launches. This is followed by North America (21%) and Latin America with (8%).

However, many dairy-free chocolate recipes contain a large volume of cocoa butter, which producers add to create the desired flavour and texture. The costs of production have therefore been historically high.

Danish emulsifier and stabiliser company Palsgaard is now offering a product to help manufacturers eliminate a substantial amount of this cocoa butter from their plant-based recipe, thereby saving costs.

The company claims its product is twice as efficient as lecithin, so it can also deliver cost-savings to manufacturers of regular chocolate.

Dairy-free challenges

Making dairy-free chocolate is not an easy task and producers may face several challenges, according to Palsgaard’s senior application specialist for confectionery, Lasse Kolding Sørensen.

“Removing milk fat to create a plantbased alternative is not easy,” he explains. “Removing the fat creates a harder product and you also lose the sensation of eating milk chocolate. Also, you can’t just add any kind of fat because it has to be compatible with cocoa butter.”

This problem can be solved by replacing the milk fat with a milk fat replacer to create the creamy milk-chocolate-like meltdown. This will also preserve the bloom stability, which can occur in milk chocolate.

“The next challenge is with the nonfat milk solids (milk powder), and this is important because the milk powder contains the lactose and the protein,” Sørensen says. “When you take this out, you must replace it with something else. “Often the ingredients which are used to replace this can impart a floury or sandy mouthfeel, but we have discovered a rice compound, which is a mixture of rice sugar and rice starch.

“It provides a very good substitution for milk, and it doesn’t result in those grainy textures.”

Going dairy free

Removing lecithin

Incorporating 2% or 3% of additional cocoa butter into a recipe has historically allowed producers to create a nondairy chocolate bar that best resembles traditional chocolate, but at a high cost.

Orlando RamÍrez Gómez, confectionery application specialist at Palsgaard Mexico, says the way to eliminate this additional cocoa butter is to remove lecithin from the recipe and replace it with ammonium phosphatide (AMP), which is based on sunflower oil.

“Our system, called Palsgaard AMP 4455, is a phospholipid,” Gómez says. “AMP was created specifically for chocolate with the aim of replacing lecithin because lecithin is known to impart off-flavours and unwanted colours.

“In addition to replacing lecithin for these reasons, AMP also reduces viscosity, and the good thing about this is that you don’t need to add that extra 2% or 3% of cocoa butter, which was only added in the first place to reduce the viscosity.

“Using AMP 4455 as a replacement for lecithin can prevent manufacturers from over-using a huge amount of cocoa butter every year, and therefore there’s a big cost saving there.”

The alternative does not compromise on taste or mouthfeel, according to Palsgaard.

The product is also a highly functional alternative to lecithin because it is more than double the strength of lecithin, Gómez says. “This means that the additional 2% to 3% of cocoa butter is no longer required and yet the flow properties of the chocolate are not affected.”

Gómez notes that this option is not only suitable for manufacturers of plant-based chocolate but also works well in traditional chocolate as a replacement for lecithin.

High-quality lecithin may deliver cocoa

Going dairy free

Photo: Adobe Stock

butt er savings of up to 4% but changing to Palsgaard AMP 4455 will always deliver an additi onal 2%, which, for a mediumsized manufacturer producing 10,000 tonnes/year, translates to savings of €700,000, according to Gómez.

“It might seem like a headache to change an existi ng recipe, but we can help make the transiti on seamless and straightf orward.”

Palsgaard also has the co-emulsifi er Palsgaard PGPR 4190, which will ensure unwanted air bubbles can escape and that the chocolate will fi ll the mould effi ciently to perfectly create the desired shape.

Benefi ts

Another benefi t of switching to Palsgaard AMP 4455 is that it can help manufacturers from a sustainability perspecti ve, the company says.

It off ers energy savings during producti on and – unlike lecithin-based recipes – it off ers protecti on against rising raw ingredient prices.

Getti ng more out of cocoa beans means companies can produce larger volumes of chocolate. And with environmental concerns growing in importance for both manufacturers and consumers, using less cocoa butt er makes a lot of sense.

“By replacing 0.4% of lecithin with 0.4%

SPECIALITY FATS Developing plant-based recipes

Producers face several challenges when it comes to making dairy-free chocolate, according to Palsgaard’s senior applicati on specialist for confecti onery, Lasse Kolding Sørensen (pictured below). The company’s applicati on specialists have tried and tested Palsgaard’s phospholipid and co-emulsifi er ingredients in several ways and created two recipe suggesti ons to help manufacturers understand the potenti al of these products.

Plant-based moulded rice chocolate bar

The fi rst recipe is a plant-based moulded chocolate, which can be adapted to suit diff erent recipes.

The recipe, which uses both Palsgaard AMP 4455 and PGPR 4190, is made using sweet rice fl our, which provides a moderate sweetness, a light colour and it preserves a pleasant mouthfeel, without a sandy or powdery sensati on.

“Using Palsgaard AMP 4455 in place of lecithin means less cocoa butt er is required, and this will keep costs down to a reasonable level,” Sørensen says. “Co-emulsifi er PGPR 4190 helps ensure the air bubbles can escape and that the chocolate will fi ll the mould effi ciently to create the perfectly desired shape.”

Rice-based chocolate tablets for plant-based hot drinks

This recipe was created by Palsgaard for the Lati n American market, where a chocolate tablet for creati ng hot drinks is a popular concept.

“This plant-based recipe has been tested with diff erent plantbased milks, such as rice milk, almond milk and soya milk,” RamÍrez Gómez, confecti onery applicati on specialist at Palsgaard Mexico, says. “It off ers good stability, good solubility, no sedimentati on and a good mouthfeel and fl avour, especially when using almond or soya milk.”

For this recipe, Palsgaard AMP 4455 was used as the primary emulsifi er in place of lecithin, and Palsgaard PGPR 4190 played a role as the co-emulsifi er.

of Palsgaard AMP 4455, it is possible to avoid over-using the cocoa butt er,” Sørensen explains.

“Palsgaard’s calculati ons show that for every tonne of lecithin used, this translates into the over-use of as much as fi ve tonnes of cocoa butt er. All this unnecessary over-use can now be avoided by switching to our product.” ●