More sustainable use of cocoa butter
Cocoa butter is an ingredient in high demand, not just for chocolate and confectionery but also for skincare, pharmaceuticals and increasingly for home cooking - and as cocoa farmers are already struggling to meet this demand in a sustainable manner, prices have skyrocketed as a result. By switching from lecithin to Palsgaard® AMP 4458 chocolate manufacturers can make more sustainable use of cocoa butter and save as much as 5 MT of cocoa butter for every MT of lecithin used.
Plant-based potential
Plant-based chocolates are becoming increasingly popular, but what's not popular with manufacturers are the increasing costs involved in this. When you are making plant-based chocolates and replacing the milk components, there is a need for 2 – 3 % extra fat to make the chocolate flow properly. Having to add 2-3% extra cocoa butter for functional reasons only, is basically adding cost to the product for no reason – if you're using lecithin, that is. With Palsgaard® AMP 4458 you don't have to. Find out more in this article and try for yourself with these two recipe suggestions.
Much more than just an alternative to lecithin
Lecithin (E322) has been included in chocolate recipes since the 1930s, helping manufacturers reasonably efficiently adjust flow properties, reduce cocoa butter content in chocolate and control production costs.
But it’s not without its drawbacks. For example, the soy-based variety used in the confectionery industry is at the mercy of natural variations in the bean harvests from year to year and region to region. On the one hand, this means fluctuations in supply and prices – adding to the difficulties for manufacturers already dealing with the ups and downs of the cocoa bean market. On the other, the performance of lecithin is highly dependent upon the purity and composition of its raw materials. It is also well-known for imparting off-flavours – an unwelcome effect that varies from batch to batch and from supplier to supplier.
Palsgaard® AMP 4458 (E442) doesn’t suffer from such difficulties. This specialised chocolate emulsifier produces properties in chocolate never seen before. It’s based on highly consistent and obtainable raw materials such as sunflower oil and glycerin, so its quality isn’t at the mercy of Mother Nature. And perhaps best of all, Palsgaard® AMP 4458 has been documented to outperform normal types of lecithin used by the chocolate industry at all dosage levels – both when producing chocolate and compound chocolate and without the taste, odour and discolouration downsides of lecithin.
Being more than twice as efficient as lecithin Palsgaard® AMP 4455 opens the door to considerable cost-savings. While good quality lecithin may deliver cocoa butter savings of 4%, Palsgaard® AMP 4455 will provide an additional 2%, translating to annual savings of 700,000€ for a medium-size manufacturer producing 10,000 MT of chocolate per year.
