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Quality attributes of dark chocolates formulated with palm sap-based sugar as nutritious and natural alternative sweetener

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Abstract

Consumer demand for healthier alternative sweeteners and attempts to replace the most common sweetener used in chocolate, namely sucrose, continue to increase in recent times. One sucrose alternative that has not been fully explored in chocolate is palm sap-based sugar. This work investigated the impact of sucrose replacement by coconut sugar (CCS1 and CCS2) and palm sugar (CPS1, CPS2 and CPS3) on the quality attributes of dark chocolate, more particularly colour, hardness, flow behaviour and aroma profile. The results showed that chocolates formulated with palm sap-based sugar were lighter in colour and harder than the reference chocolate made with sucrose, which could be attributed to a lower particle density and a higher moisture of palm sap-based sugar than that of sucrose. Analysis of the major volatile compounds recorded the presence of 2,3-dihydro-3,5-dihydroxy-6-methyl-4(H)-pyran-4-one (DDMP) and high concentration of pyrazine-based compounds in the palm sap-based sugar-sweetened chocolates. The former compound (DDMP) was, however, absent in the sucrose-sweetened dark chocolate. The physicochemical properties of the sugars also had a significant effect on the rheological behaviour of the final chocolates with chocolates formulated with coconut sugar recording the highest Casson viscosity. With regard to fat melting, chocolates sweetened with palm sap-based sugar and sucrose exhibited similar melting range temperature. Palm sap-based sugar nevertheless seems to have great potential for dark chocolate applications with additional health benefits.

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Acknowledgments

This research was funded by the Government of Indonesia through Indonesia Endowment Fund for Education (Lembaga Pengelola Dana Pendidikan, LPDP). We also would like to express our gratitude to the Head of Department Applied Analytical and Physical Chemistry (Prof. Paul Van Der Meeren) for the access to use Mastersizer in this research.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Food Safety and Food Quality, Faculty of Bioscience Engineering, Ghent University, Coupure Links 653, 9000, Ghent, Belgium

    Arifin Dwi Saputro, Davy Van de Walle, Roger Philip Aidoo, Michael Amoafo Mensah, Claudia Delbaere, Nathalie De Clercq & Koen Dewettinck

  2. Research Unit Molecular Odour Chemistry, KU Leuven Technology Campus, Ghent, Belgium

    Jim Van Durme

  3. Department of Agricultural Engineering, Faculty of Agricultural Technology, Universitas Gadjah Mada, Yogyakarta, Indonesia

    Arifin Dwi Saputro

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  1. Arifin Dwi Saputro
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  2. Davy Van de Walle
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  4. Michael Amoafo Mensah
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Correspondence to Arifin Dwi Saputro.

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Saputro, A.D., Van de Walle, D., Aidoo, R.P. et al. Quality attributes of dark chocolates formulated with palm sap-based sugar as nutritious and natural alternative sweetener. Eur Food Res Technol 243, 177–191 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00217-016-2734-9

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