NewTree Fruit Firm sees alternative in de-sugared drinks

TRAVERSE CITY, MICH.— Practically 72% of American shoppers want to cut back or eradicate sugars from their diets, in response to the Worldwide Meals Info Council’s 2022 Meals and Well being Survey. That’s the place NewTree Fruit Co. is available in. The corporate was based in 2014 by husband-and-wife Chad and Kim Anderson and inventor and founder Luc Hobson.

In 2012, across the time the corporate got here to fruition, Mr. Hobson was contracted to develop a blackberry “tremendous shot” with a particular degree of polyphenols. As he concentrated the appliance, it grew to become extra viscous and the one answer was to take away the sugar. Across the identical time, Mr. Anderson’s grandparents have been of their early 90s and each recognized with diabetes, which created an “ah-ha” second for the staff to formulate better-for-you drinks with much less sugar.

“Most individuals their age grew up consuming orange juice and apple juice each morning and the physician mentioned to take away it from their diets,” Ms. Anderson mentioned.

Fruit juice has three completely different sugars — glucose, fructose, and sucrose. By way of a patented culturing methodology, NewTree Fruit Firm removes the sugar.

“The result’s what we name a de-sugared fruit juice that has lower than one gram of sugar per eight ounces,” Ms. Anderson mentioned. “We solely take away the sugars, permitting the opposite vitamins like nutritional vitamins, minerals, and polyphenols to shine.”

Whereas de-sugared drinks function much less sugar they will create a dry mouthfeel, a difficulty the corporate is working to beat.

“The de-sugaring course of removes the sugar, however doesn’t change the acid profile, so the ensuing focus lacks sweetness and has a dry mouthfeel,” Ms. Anderson mentioned. “Usually, we might re-sweeten with a pure plant-based sweetener and add pectin or fiber to match the expertise of consuming a full sugar juice.

“The opposite problem is that up till just a few years in the past stevia was exhausting to work with and infrequently related to a unfavorable aftertaste. That isn’t the case now. Sweetener firms have made nice strides in new formulations that lead to nice tasting drinks.”

The corporate is targeted on most beverage classes however mentioned they’ve had probably the most success within the canned cocktail and beer areas. Sooner or later, a purpose is to achieve the fruit water and fruit juice classes.

They’ve labored with practically each sort of fruit, from blueberry, blackberry, lemon, and lime — however Ms. Anderson mentioned their candy spot is within the crimson fruits.

“Issues like cherries, blackberries, grapes, these are inclined to have probably the most antioxidants and good polyphenols that go along with them,” she mentioned.

With a processing plant in Traverse Metropolis, Mich., the corporate gives purchasers a number of choices for enterprise.

“We are able to procure the fruit juice, de-sugar it and ship it wherever the shopper desires,” Ms. Anderson mentioned. “We are able to additionally promote and promote concentrated de-sugared fruit juice base as an ingredient for an array of product purposes.”

Whereas their focus is totally on drinks, the corporate additionally has labored with different segments akin to fruit preps for yogurt in smoothies, cereal, and a complete fruit answer that will be low in sugar and excessive in fiber.

“There’s so many alternatives for us we need to be obtainable to the plenty,” Ms. Anderson mentioned. “However for proper now we’re targeted on being an ingredient for different firms.”