“Our Customer Innovation team developed a really nice sampling of on-trend and better-for-you plant-based, confectionery and bakery products that showcase how our fat and oil solutions deliver the taste consumers are seeking—with the performance today’s manufacturers need,” said Octavio Diaz de Leon, president of AAK USA and AAK North Latin America. “Our experts are here to help IFT21 attendees overcome product and process challenges with AAK’s toolbox of individual, multi-oil and multi-functional fat and oils that help create new and improved foods that great-tasting and are 100% plant-based, organic, non-GMO, and more. 

AAK innovative range of on-trend prototypes for the IFT21 event, include:

Pizza with Plant-Based Cheese Topping – This is a chewy pizza crust with a porous and open crumb structure, topped with a rich, creamy, and melty plant-based cheese pizza topping. AkoSun™ 46-53 XP is used to provide tenderness and lubricity to the pizza dough. Cisao® 8253-31-02 fat flakes create a more open crumb structure and larger air pockets to help lighten the bite and improve the visual appeal of the crust. AkoVeg™ 107-12 provides the plant-based cheese pizza topping with a smooth texture and creamy mouthfeel, while also yielding clean sliced cheese shreds.

Plant-Based Bacon – Plant-based bacon strips with crispy and chewy textures provide great frying effects, from a visual and audible standpoint. AkoVeg™ 117-14 is used within the bacon matrix to provide the refrigerated bacon slices with the optimal amount of structure, while still allowing for slice flexibility. Neutresca™ 51-25 is applied as a topical coating to the bacon slices to provide sufficient fry-ability without adding oil to the frying pan before cooking.

Plant-Based Butter (Hard and Spreadable versions) – These smooth and creamy plant-based butters deliver a super-clean taste and satisfying mouthfeel, with a clean and simple label. Featuring AkoVeg™ 115-14 in the hard butter for a product that is stable at room temperature, and AkoVeg™ 158-44 for a spreadable butter for use on toast or bagels. These butters are free from trans-fat and cholesterol, with saturated fat levels similar or lower than conventional butters to create a great better-for-you options.

Enrobed Caramel – Chewy caramel enrobed in a confectionery coating featuring Cebes™ 29-02 NH, a versatile non-hydrogenated palm kernel and palm oil used for coatings, caramels, and inclusions. It provides great melt point, texture, snap, shine, and bloom resistance for coating applications.

Super Compound Praline – Smooth and creamy filling in a decadent dark chocolate super compound shell. Features Confao® 50, a premium filling fat that provides a smooth texture, with a soft bite and quick melting. Compound chocolatey coating features Illexao™ CB 66, a cocoa butter equivalent that provides 100% compatibility with cocoa butter. Cocoa butter equivalents can also be used to improve the quality of softer cocoa butter.

Many of AAK’s IFT21 concepts are formulated with their line of AkoVeg™ products.  AkoVeg™ helps manufacturers provide the sensory enjoyment that consumers want, with all the functionality and stability of traditional foods. 

“Our team is also readily available at our coast-to-coast Innovation Centers. This allows us to work together as we co-develop customized solutions that fulfill consumer desire for better-for-you, clean label and sustainable solutions that look, taste and perform just like traditional foods,” said Diaz de Leon.

With the versatility provided by one of the broadest lines of plant-based oils and fats in the industry, and more than 150 years of experience, AAK answers the most demanding product development challenges, co-developing value-adding solutions with customers. AAK offers a complete portfolio of vegetable oil solutions including:

•    Canola/Rapeseed

•    Coconut 

•    Corn

•    Palm & Palm Kernel/RSPO Certified/Segregated

•    High Oleic Safflower

•    Soybean/ Non-GMO Project Verified 

•    High Oleic Sunflower

•    Organic: Coconut, Soy, Safflower, Sunflower

•    Specialty Soy and Sunflower Lecithins

Find out more about AAK’s IFT21 offerings and many of their latest co-development solutions that can help you get your products to market faster, by visiting www.betterwithaak.com.

About AAK

Everything AAK does is about Making Better Happen™. We specialize in plant-based oils that are the value-adding ingredients in many of the products people love to consume. We make these products better tasting, healthier, and more sustainable. At the heart of AAK’s offer is Customer Co-Development, combining our desire to understand what better means for each customer, with the unique flexibility of our production assets, and a deep knowledge of many products and industries, including Chocolate & Confectionery, Bakery, Dairy, Plant-based Foods, Special Nutrition, Foodservice and Personal Care. Our 3,900 employees support our close collaboration with customers through 25 regional sales offices, 15 dedicated Customer Innovation Centers, and with the support of more than 20 production facilities. Listed on Nasdaq Stockholm and with our headquarters in Malmö, Sweden, AAK has been Making Better Happen for 150 years.