New additions to SoPure™ Specialties collection of stevia blends offers even more options for reducing or replacing sugar
Sometimes using just stevia Reb A or Reb M alone can limit your options when trying to achieve the perfect sugar reduction formula. To expand these options, over the years our formulation experts have developed proprietary blends of steviol glycosides called “Specialties” for a wide variety of sugar reduction applications. This collection of SoPure Specialties includes more classic blends like Andromeda (optimal for moderate sugar reduction), Crest V (ideal for high sugar reduction), and Pinnacle (best for sugar-free applications). To accompany these blends, we’ve recently introduced new additions to the SoPure Specialties collection — Andromeda II, Andromeda III and Pegasus. As with all our SoPure Specialties, these blends feature unique taste profiles and sweetness intensity levels, and can be used individually or stacked on top of traditional stevia formulations. They are particularly handy in addressing common stevia formulation challenges, such as lingering aftertastes or off-notes when sugar reduction levels are high, and optimizing for solubility levels.
Stevia Blends for Higher Solubility
In applications where stevia needs to be concentrated during production, such as with carbonated beverage products, new blends Andromeda III and Pegasus are good options to consider for greater sugar reduction. These SoPure Specialties are made with a unique and proprietary method to attain a 2% solubility in water for at least four months — significantly higher and longer than traditional stevia. In some cases, more typical stevia products may be able to achieve high solubility in the short term, particularly with help of higher temperatures and shear. But once stevia is processed to a highly crystallized state, it tends to want to stay in crystallized form. As a result, over the shelf life of the product, traditional stevia will typically crystallize to the bottom in solution. Our unique processing method for Andromeda III and Pegasus prevents such crystallization and maintains a clear solution over a longer shelf life.
Stevia Blends for Higher Sugar Reduction
Andromeda has always been one of our most popular blends from the SoPure Specialties collection. But for those familiar with Andromeda, you may want to consider the newer Andromeda III for increased sweetness and improved overall taste (at only a marginal increase in cost). Our testing with Andromeda III in water showed that its usage can be increased by as much as 100ppm for additional sweetness. In product applications that include acid (i.e. citric acid, lactic acid), a use level of even 725ppm was acceptable for taste as it cuts off the linger of stevia.
In the case of formulating for entirely sugar-free applications, Pegasus is our recommended blend as the use level is typically higher than Andromeda III and it has a cleaner taste. To help launch Pegasus, we showcased the blend in our product demos and exhibitions at many recent tradeshows — much to our pleasure, it was received with consistent and universal compliments for its clean taste profile.
Stacking Stevia Blends onto Current Stevia Products
Another new addition to our SoPure Specialties portfolio, Andromeda II features a unique blend of glycosides that makes it uniquely compatible for stacking on top of most premium stevia products. It is particularly ideal for formulators looking to increase the total sweetness of an existing stevia application. Sweetness curves for individual glycosides start to plateau out at higher usage levels, where more stevia stops producing more sweetness. Andromeda II is optimized to be applied at such usage levels and still increase overall sweetness because it’s comprised of glycosides that aren’t in most of the premium blends. As an added bonus, the low cost of Andromeda II makes it a great way to lower a product’s overall cost.
Stacking Stevia Blends with Other Sweeteners for Value
Stacking sweeteners together is a common strategy used by product developers. Many high potency sweeteners have a sweetness curve that looks like the one below. Combining multiple sweeteners provides a great value since it utilizes the steeper part of the curves. The time/intensity profiles are also different for different sweeteners. Since stevia peaks later in the sweetness profile, combining it with a more “upfront” sweetener like corn syrup, erythritol, allulose, or sugar itself can provide a taste profile closer to full sugar. Andromeda II is still stevia so the effects of stacking are less noticeable, but it would bring additional sweet notes to the overall profile.
SoPure Stevia Application Matrix
As a handy guide for our SoPure Stevia customers, we’ve updated our application matrix to include our newest SoPure Specialties. The matrix offers useful instructions on recommended SoPure Stevia products based on application type and starting points for sucrose equivalence (to be replaced with stevia).
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HOWTIAN’s formulation experts have decades of product research, development and formulation experience. They can offer insights and assistance for your tailor-made Formulas For Success, as well as provide samples of our SoPure products. Contact us today to learn more.