Sugar Free Chocolate

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by antonino allegra on April 16, 2012 at 4:04am

Hi All again,

 anyone have tried "SPLENDA" (sucralose)  on making chocolate?

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Permalink Reply by Rosie on April 16, 2012 at 12:23pm

Hi there, this is my first post :) I have also had many requests for sugar-free chocolate. My supplier carries Foley's dark calets that are sugar-free and made with Maltitol. Moltitol as a sweetener has similar effects as sugar but the effects vary so ilable what sweetener is used and let people decide for themselves whether or not it's ok for them! If there was a chocolate out there that used stevia I would be all over that!!

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Permalink Reply by antonino allegra on April 16, 2012 at 1:33pm

Hi just an update on research,

and i make a point sayng that i am not a food scientist but just a chocolate maker that i very very curios!

Stevia chocolate is recently available on the market, with percentage between 55% and 80% something.

Stevia is 300 time sweeter than sugar and has not the same effect to chocolate as saccarose (sugar).

To "make up" for the missing sugary part, dietar fibers like inulin,dextrin, oligofructose (??) is added to ,in my word, to bulk up the bar.

Also Stevia alone wont make the chocolate sweet enough (and also costs a lot!) so another form of  sugar substitute (sugar alchool?)  such as Erythritol is added.

then of course there is the knowledge of how much of what!!

Now, as artisan chocolate maker is a lot to digest... i think Biiig Company have scientists and experts but im not giving up, i can get all those ingredient  and play around, inviting a couple of food scientist for a glass of wine and after the second bottle hey should start to talk. eheheh.... 

Still, anyone any idea on sucralose (splenda) usage?

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Permalink Reply by Andy Ciordia on April 18, 2012 at 1:31pm

We gave up at this point. It's cost prohibitive and taste prohibitive.  Most alternate sugar chocolates taste like fake chocolate.  Then you'll find that even though it's requested you're not going to sell a lot and you might have more of a waste cost than not.  We try to preach to the sugar free requestors that moderation is the key.  Just don't eat our food like junk food, test your insulin levels and behave.  Young diabetics know this, older ones just want to over-indulge.  Interesting behavioral stuff.

Wish you well on your search, at some point we'll have a diabetic artisanal chocolate maker that will solve this for all time.

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Permalink Reply by antonino allegra on April 18, 2012 at 2:50pm

Hi Andy,

thank you, what you say is what i actually think about the issue.... Still it is funny and interesting to do research!

i will keep posted!

Next try will be with Splenda.

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Permalink Reply by t on July 24, 2012 at 11:22am

You should not give up on this and to keep tweeking this. There is a growing market out there

http://www.google.com/trends/?q=the+paleo+diet

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Permalink Reply by Andy Ciordia on July 24, 2012 at 2:05pm

Deanne, that's still a very very small market and only concentrated in a few areas so far.  Compare that to another market I strive to hit and still miss to large degrees--the vegan/vegetarian  communities (Alternate Trend) and Paleo doesn't even rank.

The quest is never over.  Tatiana found a few brands I need to check in while at the Fancy Food show. Not sure if they are low or alternate sugared chocolate but worth some further research.

For most of our search in this area is for people who have medical issues.  Paleo, Vegan, Raw, etc, are usually* choices.

* caveats always

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Permalink Reply by t on July 24, 2012 at 5:06pm

Hey Andy for me I went Paleo for many health issues. Did you know that the top 8 allergens the FDA actually requires disclosure on are all non Paleo foods? Gluten should be one of them but hey we all know how the FDA is influenced and they have had the threshold data for gluten for Celiacs since 2004. 

I am insulin resistant and that is not a choice now it is a health issue.

My food intolerances are not a choice but a health issue.

My autoimmune conditions are not a choice but a health issue caused by decades of SAD.

They are now linking all autoimmunity to leaky gut and that means we get sick from what we eat. Think of MS or Crohns or Lupus or Arthritis or Diabetes for instance there are millions and millions of folks with all sorts of autoimmune conditions that are classified and ones that are suspected. Not much money goes into research on so many conditions.

I see you are young but the older you get the more of them pile on. Hey when we first went gluten free for Celiac daughter food manufactures were unresponsive for the most part over five years ago. I spent my days calling food manufactures just to find out if gluten was in their products. I was told countless times that we were such a small community that it didn't warrant any extra effort to just disclose gluten let alone take out the gluten.

Turns out 1 in 133 have Celiac and experts vastly under estimated how many were impacted. Now there are gluten sensitive folks who are not Celiacs and this will bring the numbers skyrocketing. More and more research is showing that food intolerances are the norm not the exception.

Now factor in all sorts of autoimmune conditions like diabetes and yeah the numbers are skyrocketing. Now gluten free it is a billion dollar marketing bonanza and I kind of laugh at it all when at one time I was extremely frustrated at food manufacturers. I think diabetes is considered to be epidemic and that means it is an ever growing population to market to. I bet you have relatives who have at least one autoimmune condition(S) and maybe they might want to read this. The conclusion is very encouraging:

"once the autoimmune process is activated, it is not autoperpetuating,
rather can be modulated or even reversed by
preventing the continuous interplay between genes and
environment."

This means if you stop eating things that your genetics don't like you can improve or reverse it. This is huge. This researcher is a rock star in this field. He is an Italian from the land of pasta and bread who proved 1 in 133 were Celiac over there and no one was listening. University of Maryland took notice and brought him here and  he proved it was also true in the U.S. They provide him a well funded fancy research center and he just keeps on proving new stuff in his labs. He is THE guy when it comes to gluten and now he is going to do it with all autoimmune conditions. Food manufacturers need to watch this guy. He doesn't just make random conjectures on this. For him to have published this theory means he way down the road on this and crossing his Ts for the final findings.

http://www.celiaccenter.org/documents/publications/Leaky%20gut%20an...

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Permalink Reply by Ernesto Bugarin Pantua Jr. on April 20, 2012 at 6:26am

Hi Antonino,

Have you tried coconut sugar? Its from granulated coconut nectare it is LOW GI about 35.  I have tried using it in 70/30, 60/40 and 50/50 chocolates and they taste superb almost like cane sugar.

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Permalink Reply by antonino allegra on April 20, 2012 at 6:30am

Hi Ernesto,

will have a look of what kind of coconut sugar i can get here in South Africa. In theory i shouldn't need to change much of a recipe if the coconut sugar has a similar structure.

thanks a lot!

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Permalink Reply by Tom on April 20, 2012 at 7:51am

Coconut sugar is not as sweet as cane sugar so you may need to consider that in the formulation. i used some of Ernestos, it really complemented the Australian chocolate i made from it, it also has a quite distinctive flavour too, i really liked it. It ground in pretty much the same as normal sugar. Tempered no probs. i made a dark choc and the diabetic woman at work loved it, moderation is key though, it is not sugar free.

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Permalink Reply by Omar Forastero on April 20, 2012 at 9:50am

Eventho we use maltitol here, I couldnt agree more with Andy. Moderation is the key.

Antonio, before doing tests with Splenda, did you know that the scientists who invented Splenda, were originally working on creating a pesticide? Someone was mad enough to taste it, and here's the result... 

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