Convenience, shelf-life and health: Gourmet fruit range plugs all, says Taura

The concentrated fruit ingredients specialist launched its six-flavor Gourmet Series to the European market last week at the ISM tradeshow in Cologne.

Speaking to BakeryandSnacks.com at the show, Davy Luyten, marketing manager for Taura Natural Ingredients, said the new range opened up its ingredients to artisan bakers and chocolatiers.

“One of the aims of the range is of course convenience. Everybody knows that we cannot replace fresh fruit, and it is not our aim, but shelf-life of fresh fruit is limited. Because of this there is a lot of waste.”Luyten said.

“However, our gourmet product range which is still 100% fruit has a shelf-life of 18 months and we have produced it in smaller, two kilogram bags,”he said.

He said the 2kg bags give artisan bakers access to ingredients often only used on an industrial scale.

Making fruit more accessible…

The marketing manager added that the range plugs the trend towards health and natural too.

“Candied fruits contain lots of sugar and there is a trend towards natural and healthier products. Fruit has always been seen as something healthy. The range doesn’t aim to replace candied fruits, but we want to make fruit more accessible and give the baker the opportunity to focus and go along with these health and natural trends,”he said.

“Candied fruit has always been part of the bakers’ choice, also fresh fruit. I think now what we’ve done is got the best of both worlds and put that together in one product,”he added.

Taura Natural Ingredients uses an Ultra Rapid Concentration (URC) technology that mixes and cools pureed fruit. This cooled product can then be cut into different sizes according to customer needs.

Simple flavors and honey

Luyten said that simple flavors are on-trend prompting the launch of six basic flavors for the gourmet range – strawberry, blueberry, raspberry, orchard fruit, orange and honey.

“The current flavor trend is towards simpler ingredients – developing end products that focus on one specific flavor which really springs out. People don’t want to have ten messages in an end product,”he said.

The marketing manager said the honey pieces in the new range are something new for industry.

“Honey is a very difficult ingredient to incorporate because it’s always in liquid form. So we have pieces of honey which when you mix into your dough and bake will become soft spots of honey. This opens up opportunities for artisanal users to diversify from their competitor and have something new and attractive,”he said.

A shift towards organic?

The gourmet fruit range is natural, kosher and halal certified but not organic, Luyten said.

“I believe the artisanal baker is mainly focused on indulgence and less on what is really 100% organic. There are some, but it is a niche,”he said.

However, he noted that should demand for organic versions surface, the company is capable of changing sourcing quickly.

Some of Taura’s globally sourced fruits are organic, he said, and the firm is focused on setting up more organic sourcing.

When asked if there are any plans for the company to shift entirely organic, Luyten said:“I think then market is too small for that. Also, there is a limited source of organic products because they have lower yields. We do foresee a growth in organic demands but it will not replace all our other products.”