The history of candy can be traced back to 3000 years ago. The word "caramel" appeared in ancient books of Han Dynasty in China, and caramel may be the earliest hard candy. More than 1000 years ago BC, the ancient Egyptians made candy with honey, dates and figs. During the Tang Dynasty, sugarcane was introduced from India to China for planting. From the end of16th century to the middle of18th century, the French put forward crystalline sugar from beet. Europeans discovered cocoa in16th century and made it into chocolate in19th century. Candy production technology was gradually formed in the late19th century. The simple operation of boiling sugar in one pot was abandoned at the beginning of the twentieth century. Chewing gum was first introduced in the United States in the 1970s.
In the early days, sugar and liquid syrup were the main ingredients. After boiling, some food additives are added, and after blending, cooling and molding, sweet solid foods with different textures and shapes, different colors and flavors, different packaging, storage resistance and portability are formed. The structure of candy is amorphous or microcrystalline solid, and the quality requirements for candy are: low water absorption, strong crystallization resistance, low sweetness, high fineness and good shape retention. The characteristics leading the development trend of contemporary international candy can be summarized as follows:
1. Leading the new international candy trend is the addition of new functional ingredients.
Because of the close relationship between nutrition and medical treatment, consumers gradually form a new concept of health and hygiene in food consumption, and the pace of developing functional candy is accelerated, such as: tooth protection and moth prevention, purging fire and detoxification, skin care and beauty, relieving sore throat and moistening throat, refreshing breath, invigorating qi and nourishing blood, refreshing mind, resisting fatigue, supplementing trace elements, promoting digestion and strengthening stomach, sake and so on. Because of the homology of medicine and food in China, according to the statistics of the Ministry of Health, there are as many as 60 or 70 kinds of Chinese herbal medicines and foods, and other functional food ingredients developed can be completely configured through clinical experiments.
2. As a snack food, candy is not only sweet, but also makes people experience different feelings of sour, spicy, salty, fragrant and cool. If you can add fun to the ingredients, you can bounce in your mouth. Completely suitable for "cool" and "alternative" young people who pursue excitement. It can also be packed in cartoons, which is more memorable.
3. The development of traditional toffee: adding fresh milk to improve the flavor of toffee has become a highlight at present; Adding microcrystalline sugar paste to amorphous toffee, aging at a suitable temperature to become microcrystalline toffee (or sandy toffee), making toffee more delicate, smooth, chewy and not deformed at high temperature, has been a patent of Wo Wo Group; Milk sugar sandwich is also a development space.
4. Improving gum-based chewing gum: the gum base of chewing gum pollutes the environment, which is its biggest shortcoming, making the gum base dissolve and becoming an important future for the development of chewing gum; Adding functional ingredients into chewing gum, such as tooth decay prevention, tooth whitening, refreshing and drowsiness prevention, lowering blood sugar and fat, slimming and refreshing breath, is a development space.
5. Sugar-free candy: For diabetics in the world, sucrose digestion needs their insulin, which is fatal to them. Replacing sucrose with xylitol and oligosaccharides meets the needs of this group and gives more space for sugar-free candy.
6. Chocolate and chocolate products: It will be a huge market to turn chocolate into a "love commodity" and chocolate products suitable for China's big cities and affluent people of all ages, especially to absorb advanced chocolate manufacturing technology and experience from Europe and America, attract high-end consumers to consume, and increase the chocolate market from 50 grams per capita to 65,438+0,000 grams per year, but the road is long.
7. Candy packaging technology is also an important part. How to package candy with the characteristics of the times and properly attract consumers' favor is the future of candy packaging. The packaging of candy should not be excessive, especially the candy is dazzling, and some of them reach 100% of their value, resulting in waste.
8. Identification and labeling of candy: Due to the functional development and brand effect of candy, it is necessary to express it appropriately on the candy label according to the requirements of the times and development, so that consumers can have a choice, which is also the requirement of market norms.