Cracking the Code on a Natural, Low-Sugar Sweetener

Darrell Gerdes, manager of research and new product development, checks first samples of SteviaCane, Imperial Sugar's new natural sweetener.

Imperial Sugar Company (ISC) may have cracked the code in creating an all-natural, reduced-sugar sweetener that has a taste profile indistinguishable from sugar. But the proof will be in the pudding –or, to be more precise, in 1,500 commercially produced cookies.

An ISC team will unveil the cookies made with the new sweetener called “Steviacane™” – a product made from sugar and stevia – at July’s annual meeting and food expo of the Institute of Food Technologists (IFT) in Chicago.

Powdered stevia is measured before being added to Imperial sugar to make the new SteviaCane sweetener.

“Our product gives a clean sugar flavor,” says Darrell Gerdes, manager of research and new product development for ISC. “In taste panels, when people compared the taste of Steviacane to pure sugar and plain stevia powder, the taste profile for Steviacane scored exactly the same as sugar.”

Since February of this year, when Imperial Sugar formed a joint venture with stevia producer PureCircle, Gerdes and the ISC R&D and operations team have been knee-deep in developing a new product that would combine the best of sugar and stevia. The process has required everything from an examination of stevia and sugar molecules, to running taste panels, to conducting a 72-hour commercial-scale test run of the product in the refinery – all within a five-month period.

The product-development pace has been fast, and with good reason: The team plans to do a limited-distribution test later this year that involves selling the packaged product in one of Imperial Sugar’s strategic retail partners. “We will conduct demonstrations in stores with iced tea or cookies made with the product. We want to see how well the public accepts Steviacane,” says Gerdes.

Darrold Sinn adds Imperial Sugar into a mixture with stevia to start the process of making SteviaCane.

Once the team has finished refining the production process, they can look toward other consumer and industrial possibilities for Steviacane. “We’ve already begun looking at the possibility of producing Steviacane products with different characteristics and properties. So far, we have been very encouraged by what we have seen,” he says.

SteviaCane cane be delivered to customers as a liquid, as well as a solid.

Gerdes explains that Steviacane is being tested with three different reductions of sugar – 35 percent, 50 percent and 75 percent. At the 50-percent threshold, Steviacane and sugar have the same taste profile.

“With a taste panel, 10 or 12 people whose tongues are trained to identify certain characteristics will describe what they’re tasting and at what level. It’s not about ‘liking’ or ‘disliking’ a product.”

So, it’s possible that Steviacane may be produced with all three formulations – 35 percent, 50 percent and 75 percent sugar reduction. As Gerdes says, “The sugar reduction depends on who’s going to be using the product for what.”

With the introduction of Steviacane, the company is tapping into consumers’ and food manufacturers’ desire for a natural sweetener that uses less sugar, but that doesn’t impact finished product flavor.

“This is a significant step forward for the sweetener industry,” Gerdes says. “To be honest, this has been the most exciting and challenging product-development project I have been involved with. And making 1,500 great cookies for food science professionals at the IFT meeting will be the icing on the cake.”