|
Sensory Properties
Sweetness Potency
Erythritol, like most polyols, has a sweetness potency close to that of sucrose and the intensity provided is proportional to its concentration (linear concentration-response curve). Its sweetness is 60 to 70% relative to sucrose.
|
Taste Profile
Erythritol is a bulk sweetener exhibiting a very clean sweet taste profile similar to sucrose with no significant off-characteristics.
Not only does erythritol provide sweetness as the main sensory characteristic, its bulk properties also contribute to significant mouthfeel and body perceptions in aqueous solutions.
This taste characteristic is key for low calorie soft drinks and artificially sweetened teas and coffees, as the currently available products on the market lack the taste quality and mouthfeel provided by sucrose.
|
Chart 1 - Profile of erythritol and sucrose in water at 10% SEV
|
|
Chart 2 - Cooling effect
(30g sample in 100ml water)
|
Due to its high negative heat of solution (-43 kcal/g) erythritol also exhibits a strong cooling effect in dry form, a characteristics it shares essentially with xylitol.
This property is of real interest for confectionery applications such as chewing gum, lozenges and fondant where erythritol enhances mint flavoured products.
|
Taste Profile Improvement in combination with Intense Sweeteners
In solution, at concentrations ranging from 1% to 3%, erythritol significantly improves the flavour profile of intense sweeteners such as aspartame, sucralose, acesulfame-K, saccharin etc. by providing mouthfeel and masking potentially unpleasant characteristics.
This significant contribution to improving the taste of artificially sweetened beverages persists upon storage, thanks to erythritol's great stability. Consequently, erythritol enables the extension of the product shelf life.
|
|
Chart 3 - Taste profile of sucralose and sucralose/erythritol blend in water at 10% SEV
Erythritol increases the smoothness and body mouthfeel as well as the natural caramel aftertaste and decreases the astringent, irritant and cooling characteristics.
|
|
|
Chart 4 - Taste profile of stevioside and stevioside/erythritol blend in water at 10% SEV - Erythritol increases the body mouthfeel and decreases the astringent, irritant and licorice characteristics.
|
|
|
Synergy
Additive synergy is defined as the intensity response of a blend, which is greater than the sum of intensities provided by the individual components.
When erythritol is the major contributor to the sweetness, additive sweetness synergy occurs in combination with aspartame in solution. Additive synergy is also observed in blends with acesulfame-K at various ratios.
This additive synergy translates not only into an enhanced sweetness, but also into an improved quality of the sweetness and of the flavours in beverages.
|
|
Chart 5 - Additive sweetness synergy of erythritol/aspartame and erythritol/acesulfame-K blends.
Only minute amounts of aspartame or acesulfame-K are necessary to boost the sweetness intensity of erythritol by about 30%.
|
|
Temporal Profile
The sweetness temporal profile of a compound is its sweetness intensity measured over time. It is an important property used to differentiate sweeteners. Unlike most intense sweeteners, the sweetness temporal profile of erythritol and of polyols in general is similar to the one of sucrose. Erythritol provides a quick sweetness perception and a short sweet linger.
|
