PureCircle, a producer of stevia sweeteners for the global beverage and food industry, has introduced new stevia leaf-based flavor enhancers. These flavor enhancers significantly augment both vanilla and cocoa flavors, enabling companies to produce products at a manageable price point, PureCircle said.  
 
The new products can be labelled as natural flavors on product ingredient labels. These breakthroughs build on PureCircle’s extensive range of flavors which allows them to enhance key benefits such as mouthfeel, sweetness quality and different tonalities across a wide range of applications.
  
Consumer demand for natural cocoa and vanilla ingredients has never been stronger. As evidenced by global new product launch data from Mintel, new products containing cocoa have grown +16% over the past five years, and vanilla has increased +31% over the same time period (2011 to 2016). 
 
PureCircle’s new flavor enhancers bolster companies’ supply of limited cocoa and vanilla ingredients, and thereby diversify risk strategies by introducing a plant-based solution. These new products will allow developers to reduce the amounts of cocoa and vanilla alongside sugar without compromising taste.
 
Commodity markets for cocoa and vanilla can be highly volatile. In 2016, cocoa prices fluctuated between $2,000 and $3,000 per metric ton. Following much publicized flooding and other issues, experts have estimated that vanilla will exceed $500/kg. 
 
These new stevia leaf discoveries enable PureCircle to engage with customers active in the $12 billion cocoa market and $1 billion vanilla market (based on current prices).
 
Along with these flavor enhancer discoveries, PureCircle’s innovative stevia sweeteners continue to see heavy adoption as they enable low-calorie and zero-calorie formulations of food and beverages. PureCircle is continuing its leadership role in the research, development and innovation to produce a growing supply of multiple varieties of stevia sweeteners.
 
“We are excited to have an opportunity to meet new needs of our customers by introducing these flavor enhancers that specifically address cocoa and vanilla,” said Faith Son, PureCircle’s head of marketing and innovation. “We strive to uncover new properties within the stevia leaf, and this breakthrough enables us to service new markets and customers in a meaningful way. PureCircle is committed to maximizing the full potential extracted from each leaf, and we believe our ability to reduce sugar and enhance key flavor tonalities naturally will be a winning combination.”