Barry Callebaut unveils Caramel Aura – a caramelized white chocolate that is colored and flavored with caramelized milk powder and sugar. The premium line consist of melting chocolates, which can be used for applications such as molding, enrobing, drizzling, bottoming or panning, and chips for baked goods, trail mixes or other snacks.
Caramel Aura melts are 28% cacao and 32% milk, while the chips have a 22% cacao content. Both are made with 100% sustainably sourced cacao certified through Barry Callebaut’s Cocoa Horizons Foundation. It is real chocolate, with no added color or flavor
The producer of cocoa and cocoa products debuted Caramel Aura along with its new Indulgence Playbook. The platform highlights ways manufacturers can elevate familiar, comforting flavors in a premium way; tap into them as a proxy for quality; offer classic flavors in a new expression or format; focus on ingredient authenticity; and use sustainability to win over younger consumers.
Sweet, creamy and mild caramel is perhaps one of the most non-polarizing flavors in food and beverages. According to 2021 research from Mintel cited by Barry Callebaut in its Indulgence Playbook, caramel is the top Flavor at the moment.
This made caramel the ideal flavor for Barry Callebaut to elevate through chocolate, presenters said at a webinar this week announcing the debut of Caramel Aura and the Indulgence Playbook. They noted caramel’s sustaining appeal to consumers throughout the different phases of the pandemic.
Despite the struggle between consumers’ search for comfort and premium experiences during the pandemic, the new chocolate offering allows Barry Callebaut to show food manufacturers they can straddle both desires by rethinking their approach to familiar flavors.
The debut of Caramel Aura continues the innovation push for Barry Callebaut just as Peter Boone is about to take over as CEO, this September. The executive, who has led the Americas region of the chocolate manufacturer since 2017, was involved in the introduction of Barry Callebaut’s ruby chocolate. The pink-hued offering, produced from specially processed cacao beans grown in Brazil, Ecuador and the Ivory Coast, made its U.S. debut in 2019.