Sweet Green Fields, a U.S. based global producer of stevia extracts, has announced that it has expanded its product portfolio to include two high purity glycoside compositions, Optesse HPX and Optesse HPS. The company said that extensive research shows these new all-natural compositions deliver an excellent taste profile and better value for particular food and beverage needs, including diet and reduced calorie packaged products.
After studying the interaction of steviol glycosides with reduced sugar and diet beverage sweetening systems, the Sweet Green Fields team focused on sucrose levels to create what it claims are the best tasting ratios with steviol glycosides.
Based on the findings, the company said that it spent considerable resources in developing proprietary compositions that optimise the sensory results of the steviol glycoside and sugar interactions at either relatively low or high absolute sugar content replacement. The two new proprietary compositions, Optesse HPS and HPX, can be used with varying levels of sugar by food and beverage manufacturers with, it is said, virtually no sensory consequences and for a fraction of the cost.
“The rewards for the extensive research and development leading to Optesse HPX and HPS will become evident to the consumer when they taste the results,” said Mel Jackson, vice president of science at Sweet Green Fields. “We have been able to methodically design two solutions that will radically change the cost and taste dynamic of sweetening foods and beverages, and we are already working with several multinational companies to test new formulations.”
Optesse HPS, composed of purified Rebaudioside-A (RA), is described as a high purity sweetener with superior taste and cost advantages to create the “right calorie” product for blending with sugar and fructose. It is said to be ideal for 33 to 50 percent reduced sugar blended formulations from soft drinks to baked goods. Similarly, Optesse HPX is described as a highly pure yet optimised sweetener ideal for formulations with more complex flavour systems, or when developing a zero or very low calorie product.
“Expanding our portfolio of science-based, all-natural stevia solutions, Sweet Green Fields is meeting our food and beverage customers’ complex formulation needs for high purity glycoside compositions,” said Dean Francis, chief executive officer of Sweet Green Fields. “With the launch of these new products, Sweet Green Fields focused on delivering superior quality, value and efficacy for our customers, drawing from our extensive product line and formulations research.”
Like all current Sweet Green Fields stevia offerings, both the Optesse products are also produced using the company’s patented Fast Precipitation Process that is said to extract high quality stevia glycosides in a fraction of the time compared to standard industry methods.
In addition to the two new products, Sweet Green Fields also markets Altesse Stevia TM 99, Sweetesse Stevia TM 97 and 95, and Greenesse Stevia TM 80, 60 and 50 each said to feature a low glycaemic index, heat and pH stability, Kosher and Halal certificationand JECFA approval.
