Supplant Chocolate Bars By Chef Thomas Keller~ Chocolate Innovation
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Thomas Keller is one of the country’s most famous chefs—if not the world’s. He currently holds seven Michelin stars, making him the most decorated chef in the U.S. His restaurants, French Laundry in Napa Valley and Per Se in Manhattan (three stars each*), set a standard for creativity, innovation, and excellence of execution. Now, Chef Keller has crafted chocolate bars made with sugars that are extracted from fiber, a new ingredient brought to consumers for the first time. The fiber-based sugar is called Supplant, as are the chocolate bars Chef Keller makes from it. These bars, in 45% cacao milk chocolate and 70% cacao dark chocolate, are our Top Pick Of The Week. Both have a silky-smooth texture and, like all fine chocolate, melt in your mouth. You won’t notice the difference between Supplant and chocolate made with granulated (table) sugar. Supplant is a new type of sugar made not from sugar cane, beets, maple sap, or other conventional sweeteners, but from upcycled plant fibers that bake and taste just like sugar. Supplant has half the calories of sugar, and a lower glycemic index! It also is prebiotic†. There’s more information about Supplant, the sugar, below. But first, more about the chocolate. The Supplant Company enlisted Chef Keller to create the chocolate bars. With a palate and skill set as fine as his, he was able to Supplant chocolate that is indistinguishable from chocolate made with table sugar. The bars are made in Napa Valley in small batches, using Venezuelan cacao beans and sugars from fiber. The chocolate bars were first released last November. You can now purchase both dark and milk chocolate bars from the company website. There’s 10% off and free shipping using code SOMUCHLOVE at checkout (until February 14, 2022). These bars were designed to demonstrate how delicious chocolate (and other recipes) can be when swapping out table sugar for a new type of sugar that’s healthier for humans and kinder to the planet. They’re a great gift for the environmentally conscientious as well as the chocolate lover, as a small gift, a party favor, or a stocking stuffer. Cambridge, England-based Supplant Company is a plant-tech innovator that has created “sugars from fiber,” a revolutionary new ingredient that can change the standards of baking and other foods that use sugar. What are “sugars from fiber?” They’re a brand-new blend of sugars found naturally in plant fiber. The scientific definition of fiber is the parts of food components such as fruits, vegetables, and nuts that don’t break down during human digestion. This is why fiber is low in calories and supports digestive health. The scientific definition of sugar includes any disaccharides and monosaccharides. Stated slightly less scientifically, the chemical term “sugar” usually refers to all carbohydrates of the general formula Cn(H2O)n. Most of us think of sugar as a sweet, crystalline substance that is produced from the juice of sugarcane or the flesh of the sugar beet. Other sweeteners are made from bee honey, corn kernels, maple sap, rice bran, and sorghum. Here’s more about them. Fiber is mainly made up of sugars bound together in long chains. In fact, plant fiber is the most abundant source of sugars in the natural world. Supplant Company has harnessed agricultural side-streams†† and created a new category of sugar from “leftovers” that are often discarded. These fiber-rich parts of crops are hugely abundant but don’t typically make their way into the food system. Because it’s made from fiber, Supplant is lower in calories, has a lower glycemic response, and is prebiotic. There are health benefits because Supplant behaves not like traditional sugar, but like the fiber one eats in carrots and Brussels sprouts. How does it work? Sugar is pulled sugar from the fiber in the stalks and stems of grains instead of from sugar cane. Those stalks into a pulp; then an enzyme from fungi breaks down the longer molecular chains (polysaccharides) into shorter ones (oligosaccharides and sugars). After the broken-down pulp is cleaned and dried, the result is a white powder now known as Supplant (photo #6). They company wants Supplant to replace sugar at scale at multinational companies that make sugar-packed snacks and other foods. In testing Supplant with shortbread, for example, Chef Keller noted that the aroma, texture, and taste of the cookies replicate that of shortbread made with 100% sugar. We look forward to more foods made with Supplant. But in the interim, try the chocolate! |
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________________ *His more casual restaurant, Bouchon, also in Napa Valley, has one star. †Prebiotic foods are high in special types of fiber that support digestive health. They promote the increase of friendly bacteria in the gut, help with various digestive problems, and boost the immune system. Prebiotic foods have also been shown to improve metabolic health and even help prevent certain diseases. Here’s more about them. ††For example, sugar is extracted from corn cobs, and from the straw of wheat and rice (what’s left over when the kernels and grains are processed).
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