Coconut Water in Nutrition Bars
Coconut water concentrate is a flexible, functional ingredient that helps nutrition bars
Ready to amp up your nutrition bar with a positive charge? Coconut water concentrate (CWC) is full of electrolytes, nutrients and binding properties, making it easy to see why iTi Tropicals has identified this as a new application.
The properties of CWC—including viscosity, BRIX, and ability to bind—are very similar to binders currently used in granola bars. This new binder application can reduce the amount of sugar added to traditional nutrition bars and works well in combination with other binders like tapioca, honey, and agave. It effectively binds the particulates commonly found in granola bars while providing a unique sweet and salty flavor profile.
Aside from providing texture at parity with current binders, CWC also increases the functional and nutritional properties of a bar by providing electrolytes, potassium, magnesium, sodium, and phosphorus.
Within the past few years, the granola bar market has grown exponentially in three categories: nutrition, breakfast and granola, all of which had positive sales in 2015. As more consumers look to bars for satiety and meal-replacement options, savory bars are on the rise.
The key to moving forward into savory flavors is finding a way to meld flavors together with something sweet. Coconut Water Concentrate provides the perfect balance of the two. Consumers are looking for functional ingredients, but also want bars to have “cleaner,” simpler labels.
There are now 116 million adults who have consumed at least one healthy-ingredient snack in the last 30 days—51% of the adult population as of 2013 (Packaged Facts, 2013). This is a prime opportunity for CWC to be introduced to the bar category as a functional, clean label binder ingredient.
Check out the video to watch the CWC in action.
Visit www.ititropicals.com for more details.
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