Designing Chocolate Sugar Distribution: Sugar Reduction and Sweetness Enhancement by Inhomogeneous Sugar Distribution

Abstract Chocolate is one of the food products that stands out with high sugar content. As excessive sugar consumption is linked to health problems, consumers are increasingly interested in products with lower sugar content. The aim of this study is to increase the perception of sweetness and reduce the sugar in chocolate using inhomogeneous sugar distribution. The chocolates with inhomogeneous sugar distribution were prepared in three or four layers, and sugar reduction was achieved by changing the sugar concentration of the layers. The chocolates consisting of three and four layers with 20, 30, and 40% inhomogeneous reduced sugar content, 20, 30, and 40% homogeneous reduced sugar content, and a reference sample were produced. The sweetness of R-20-R chocolate, which had 20% reduced sugar content and contained the same sucrose content as the reference chocolate at the top and bottom layers, was the same as the reference chocolate. In addition, the sweetness of R-20-R, R-20–20-R, R-30-R, R-30–30-R, R-40-R, and R-40–40-R samples, whose sugar content was reduced by 20, 30, and 40%, was higher than the samples with the homogeneously reduced same sugar content. Furthermore, the hardness values of the reference chocolate (9.20 N) and the R-20–20-R chocolate (9.66 N) were close to each other. No statistically significant difference was observed between the colour properties of the chocolates with the same sugar content as the reference chocolate in their outer layers and the colour properties of the reference chocolate ( L *: 37.47, a *: 10.19, b *: 14.19) ( p > 0.05). As a result of this study, it was determined that inhomogeneous sugar distribution is a new strategy to be used to reduce sugar in chocolate and increase the perception of sweetness.