Chr. Hansen launches Delight
Chr. Hansen has announced Delight, which it describes as a 3-in-1 solution to eliminate bitterness, restore flavour balance and give a smooth texture in cheeses with reduced calories.
Today’s consumers lead high-paced lives with little time for exercise, the company believes,which prompts the demand for low fat alternatives in their daily diet – including parents looking for healthy snacks foods for their children.
This is also seen in the cheese market, Chr. Hansen continues, where lower fat cheese is becoming a factor in demand: the number of new product launches in the hard cheese segment has increased by 33% from 2012 to 2014 (Euromonitor International 2015).
However, eating cheese with fewer calories can be a disappointing experience, the company claims: a flavourless sensation of rubber in one’s mouth has often been the result when natural fats are reduced, leading to moderate commercial success for cheese producers that wanted to pursue the opportunities within reduced-fat cheese.
Consumers, however health-oriented they may be, are unwilling to compromise on taste. According to Euromonitor International 2015, over 50% of consumers globally would buy reduced-fat cheese, if the quality was better.
Indeed, making reduced-fat cheeses of premium quality can be a challenge, Chr. Hansen says, but now its new ripening culture is specially designed to keep the character and bring out a clean taste and a rounder flavour in reduced fat cheese. With the new F-DVS Delight culture, producers of lower fat cheese can go from light to delightful, ensuring consumers a creamy feel and a pleasant solubility in their mouths, the company claims.
“We believe Delight can be a game changer in reduced-fat cheese,” said Anne-Claire Bauquis, Global Marketing Manager, Chr.Hansen.. “In fact, the culture allows cheesemakers to produce reduced-fat cheeses with a taste and texture that no experts thought possible and that is why we believe we have created a true novelty in the cheese landscape. It is targeted at producers who wish to meet the increasing demand for healthier, yet indulgent cheeses.”
Delight is the name of a Lactobacillus helveticus culture which, the company says, contrary to many ripening cultures, does not have a side effect on curd acidification, which opens the door to new areas, claiming that mould soft cheese, blue cheeses, cheeses with high residual sugars or high water content can all be inoculated with Delight without risk of post-acidification.
