Private-label manufacturer Carmit Candy Industries, which is best-known for its line of gluten-free wafers, will launch a new vegan line of ‘milk-style chocolate’ products at Natural Product Expo West this March.
The all-natural, clean-label chocolate is completely free from lactose and dairy – a major demand in the free-from foods category.
Adrian Sagman, vice-president of international sales and marketing for Carmit, told FoodBev that the company added cocoa butter and replaced the soy flour with rice flour, which enabled it to achieve the creamy texture and taste of milk while still retaining a ‘dairy-free’ claim.
Sagman explained that the range offers consumers an extension on previous offerings in the dairy-free chocolate market.
“Most vegan chocolate is dark chocolate,” Sagman said, “but Carmit’s chocolatiers have developed a ‘milk’ chocolate without dairy or milk.
“The real challenge in developing this vegan chocolate line was to mimic the taste and texture of creamy milk chocolate, without compromising on texture or flavour or by using synthetic ingredients, dairy or milk. The Carmit R&D team used simple, clean and natural ingredients, testing a range of raw materials and ingredients in different quantities to achieve an authentic milk chocolate look and feel.”
The dairy-free chocolate is available in white chocolate and standard light brown milk-style chocolate. Both are available in a range of sizes and shapes for each target market. Tablets are available in 85g and 100g, while snack bars come in a 35g format and buttons in 25g bags.
Carmit offers all of the products with potential for private-label branding.
“As experts in gluten-free and dairy-free confectionery,” Sagman continued, “it was important for us to ‘break the code’ of vegan milk-style chocolate that [still] has an exemplary flavour. Vegans and consumers who suffer from dairy allergies deserve a tasty chocolate snack.”
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