Summary
SweetBitz™ inclusions bring indulgence without compromise. From glossy chocolate chips to vibrant sprinkles, these no-added-sugar, clean-label inclusions give food and beverage developers the tools to create bars, cookies, frozen desserts, and more that deliver the taste, texture, and visual appeal consumers crave—without the sugar load or artificial ingredients. With SweetBitz™, indulgence stays on-trend, fun, and guilt-free.
Authored by: Thom King, Icon Foods
Chief Innovations Officer/Certified Food Scientist
If time behind the bench weren’t so valuable, today’s fickle consumers might give R&D developers reason to pause. But hesitation isn’t an option. Developers must respond to evolving trends while juggling consumer demands for health, indulgence, and clean labels.
One of the fastest-growing ways to add value and excitement to bars, cookies, ice cream, and frozen desserts is through inclusions like chocolate chips, sprinkles, and variegates that enhance texture, flavor, and appearance. These little extras may seem small, but they carry outsized influence: research shows that inclusions can contribute up to 60% of the added sugars in a finished product.
That’s a big problem in today’s label-conscious market, where consumers scrutinize both the Nutrition Facts panel and the ingredient list. They want fun, indulgent foods—but without the sugar crash, glycemic spike, or artificial additives. Enter SweetBitz™ by Icon Foods: inclusions that deliver indulgence, without compromise.
The Challenge: Indulgence on a Clean Label
Traditional confectionery inclusions are built on sugar. At four calories per gram, sucrose doesn’t just add calories; it triggers a glycemic response. A couple tablespoons of conventional inclusions, whether sprinkles or chips, can equal half a can of soda in sugar content.
Consumers, however, aren’t giving up sweetness. They expect foods to taste indulgent and familiar, even as they demand labels that are clean, natural, and easy to understand. For developers, the conundrum is real: how to keep sweetness, color, and texture on-trend while eliminating sugar and artificial ingredients.
The SweetBitz™ Solution
SweetBitz™ inclusions are no-added-sugar, non-GMO, and clean label. They’re formulated with natural sweeteners like erythritol(a naturally fermented sugar alcohol with just 0.2 calories per gram) and stevia extract (a high-potency, zero-calorie, plant-based sweetener). Together, they balance sweetness while letting that real chocolate and natural flavors shine.
- Available in 2m and 4m sizes
- Made with unsweetened chocolate, cocoa butter, erythritol, stevia, and sunflower lecithin
- Smooth chocolate flavor with no aftertaste
- Just 99 calories per 1 oz (28.35 g) serving
- Low-moisture (≤2%) for better shelf-life and reduced syruping
Multicolored Sprinkles
- Bright, fun, no-added-sugar sprinkles in vibrant shades
- Add color, crunch, and celebration to brownies, cookies, cupcakes, doughnuts, and ice cream
- Thin, rod-shaped inclusions perfect for batters, variegates, or toppings
- Slightly crunchy texture for added mouthfeel
Formulation Insights
When working with inclusions, a few formulation insights can make all the difference. Sugar-free inclusions tend to absorb less moisture than their high-sugar counterparts, which helps extend shelf-life and keep textures consistent over time. Careful attention to mixing is also critical — shorter mixing cycles protect color integrity and preserve the distinct identity of each piece, while gums can be introduced to build viscosity and keep inclusions suspended evenly throughout a batter. Melting point becomes another pivotal factor, determining whether chips hold their shape for a defined bite in a cookie or transform into a marbled swirl in a bar. And in frozen desserts, inclusions can even play a role in overrun strategies: by increasing product density, they allow manufacturers to incorporate more air while still meeting federal weight-per-gallon requirements (21 CFR 135.110), ultimately delivering indulgence with efficiency.
Application Versatility
- Bars: Chocolate chips complement oats, grains, and seeds in extruded bars; sprinkles add color and fun to protein bars.
- Baked Goods: Chips add richness to cookies, muffins, and brownies; sprinkles boost presentation and celebration.
- Nut Butters: Chips blend beautifully with peanut, almond, cashew, or pistachio butters for indulgence with definition.
- Frozen Desserts: Smaller chips melt quickly in ice cream; sprinkles add playful crunch and Instagrammable appeal.
- Dual Packs & Toppings: Consider color migration in yogurt packs; contrasting chips and sprinkles can enhance — or detract — from visual impact.
On-Trend Indulgence
- SweetBitz™ inclusions align with leading market trends
- Sweeter Balance: Reduced sugar without reduced enjoyment
- Lighter Enjoyment: Indulgence with mindfulness
About Icon Foods:
Icon Foods partners with food and beverage manufacturers to create clean label sweetening systems and inclusions that replace sugar without compromising taste or functionality. As a Level II SQF facility, certified organic by Oregon Tilth and certified kosher, Icon Foods delivers safe, natural, and innovative solutions that empower brands to meet consumer expectations.
Since 1999 Icon Foods has been your reliable supply chain partner for sweeteners, fibers, sweetening systems, inclusions and sweetness modulators.
Taste the Icon difference.
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