Extrusion Fusion

Extrusion processes, you may know them from different kind of industries. It is an old technology that’s also used in various ways in the world of food. For example, the first food extruder was developed in 1870 for making sausages. We are also involved in extrusion, but with the extrusion of candy. And mainly with the ingredients part that provides the interesting structure options. In our Tech lab we have our own extruder (for those who are interested, it is a shape extruder that can be connected to a cooking system).

Professors in white coats

Our R&D colleagues are our extrusion experts, they know exactly which ingredients provide which bite and experience and which ingredients run perfectly on the production line. When the white coats are put on in our Tech lab, we know it’s time for some interesting experiments. The knobs are turned, the team looks at how the product comes out of the extruder, there is tasting and mutual consultation. And in the end there is a whole series of new concepts.

Extrusion conservative? Not really!

This experimentation ensures that we have learned a lot about candy extrusion. The great thing is that we find out that the conservative extrusion process actually isn’t conservative at all. The extrusion process is very suitable for progressive ideas. For example, with our BasIQs Extrusion Blend, we have developed a structuring blend that can be the perfect carrier for all kinds of innovative ideas.

From sustainable candy to fewer calories

For example, our blend in combination with the extrusion process ensures that we can perfectly use residual flows from other industries in the candy dough of an extruded candy. Think of upcycled sweet potato powder, from sweet potatoes that otherwise would be thrown away. We find it an interesting idea that candy can be a carrier of sustainability. But other ideas are also possible. This way we can easily develop gluten-free, vegan and sugar-reduced candy. We have also tried adding health-promoting ingredients to the sugar paste. Because the temperature of the sugar paste during the extrusion process reaches a maximum of 70˚C, many of these healthy additions remain intact during the process. Thanks to all this experimenting, we now also know a lot about how to produce extruded candy efficient. Think of shortening the process and producing at lower temperatures, so as a producer you save a lot of energy. Always interesting.

Ready, set…

Because we know that not every process and not everyone’s wish is the same, we have built the blend in such a way that it can be made customer-specific. We think it is very important that a product fits your wishes and processes and that is only possible if it is personalized. So if you are interested in this process or our BasIQs Extrusion Blend, know that our passionate R&D team is ready to test (together with you) in our Tech Center.