The company, which has production facilities in Belgium and New Zealand, already offers a range of fruit ingredients (pieces, pastes and flakes) made using its Ultra Rapid Concentration (URC) technology. Designed for products that have a natural, healthy appeal, they are said to keep their original flavour, colour and nutritional profile in the finished product.
Taura’s newest offering, said to be in response to market feedback from chocolate and dry biscuit makers, is made up of the smallest fruit pieces available to date, measuring just 3x3x2mm.
The aim was to allow real fruit to be completely encased in chocolate tablets or thin, rotary moulded biscuits, said Mattias van Uffelen, sales manager for Europe. They can also be used on the outside of products, sprinkled on cookies and snack bars.
The pieces can also be evenly dispersed through products, meaning that the flavour can be consistent; they are also said to be bake stable, so they won’t melt or burn, and have low water activity.
Taura has not specified precisely which fruits are available in the new mini diced format, but its broader fruit range, produced from pastes, includes those that are hard to work with, like red berries and exotic fruits with a high antioxidant content.
In addition, the company can produce flavour blends on a base of apple.