Sugar-Reduced Chocolate With Oat Flour Just as Tasty as Original, Study Finds
hubie writes:
In a blind taste test 25% reduced-sugar chocolates made with oat flour were rated equally, and in some cases preferred, to regular chocolate:
The secret to making delicious chocolate with less added sugar is oat flour, according to a new study by Penn State researchers. In a blind taste test, recently published in the Journal of Food Science, 25% reduced-sugar chocolates made with oat flour were rated equally, and in some cases preferred, to regular chocolate. The findings provide a new option for decreasing chocolate's sugar content while maintaining its texture and flavor.
"We were able to show that there is a range in which you can manage a sizable reduction in added sugar and people won't notice and don't care, in terms of liking," said John Hayes, professor of food science at Penn State and corresponding author on the study. "We're never going to make chocolate healthy, because it's an indulgence, but we can successfully take out some of the sugar for consumers who are trying to reduce their intake of added sugars."
Hayes explained that chocolate is about half sugar by weight, with the rest being fat and cocoa solids, so reducing the amount of sugar by any amount can drastically alter the texture and flavor profile of the chocolate.
"The function of sugar in chocolate is both sweetness and bulking, so if we take that sugar out, we have to put something else in that will do the job just as well, or consumers will notice," said Gregory Ziegler, distinguished professor of food science at Penn State and co-author on the study.
[...] "Our results suggest we can cut back 25% of added sugar to chocolate, effectively reducing the total sugar by 13.5%, if we substitute oat flour," said Kai Kai Ma, a doctoral candidate in food science at Penn State and co-author on the paper. "That addition of oat flour is unlikely to meaningfully impact consumer acceptability, which is great news."
[...] "I'm a big believer in meeting consumers where they are," Hayes said. "We've tried for 40 years to tell people to eat less sugar and it doesn't work because people want to eat what they want to eat. So instead of making people feel guilty, we need to meet people where they are and figure out how to make food better while still preserving the pleasure from food."
Journal Reference:
Kai Kai Ma, Gregory R. Ziegler, John E. Hayes, Sugar reduction in chocolate compound by replacement
with flours containing small insoluble starch granules, J. Food Sci. 2024;1-10. DOI: 10.1111/1750-3841.16923
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