2023 Candy Market Trends

With the upgrading of consumption, traditional foods are increasingly associated with health attributes, and candies are also beginning to upgrade towards a healthier direction. Currently, the entire candy industry is trying to find new breakthroughs in creativity related to functionality, vegetarian nutrition, and sugar reduction, which has become a key aspect of innovation trends in the candy industry.

The development of the candy industry in recent years

The candy industry, as one of the two traditional pillar snack industries in our country, has maintained rapid growth, with its potential market share continuously expanding. In the past five years, China's candy market has maintained an annual growth rate of 8%-12%. By 2011, the scale of China's candy industry had reached 62 billion yuan. While the domestic candy industry is expanding, various types of candies such as health-oriented, low-sugar, fun, and eco-friendly are rapidly entering the Chinese market from abroad. In contrast, the products in China's candy market appear very homogeneous. Under the dual pressure of foreign companies' competition and fierce domestic competition, the product development in China's candy industry faces significant obstacles. The competition among domestic candy companies mainly focuses on price, and their development in new areas is clearly insufficient compared to foreign investments. The serious phenomenon of product homogeneity severely hinders domestic candy companies' competition with foreign brands, resulting in much lower profits than foreign brands, and the main battlefield for domestic brands has also been forced down to the second and third-tier markets. It is worth noting that the global annual per capita consumption of candy is about 3 kilograms, while in our country it is only 0.7 kilograms, indicating that China's candy market has enormous development potential. Domestic companies should focus on product innovation, continuously launching new products and enriching the variety of products. China's candy industry faces a demand pattern of small products and a large market, and candy production companies are currently in a stage of structural adjustment, product renewal, survival of the fittest, and corporate restructuring. As the market operation of candy products shifts from product competition to market marketing, the candy industry has entered the era of brand competition.

How many types of candy are there?

Maltose is a disaccharide formed by the condensation of two sugar molecules via an α-glycosidic bond. It is the main component of syrup and is produced by the action of malt containing amylase on starch. It is used as a nutrient and for preparing culture media. From a chemical perspective, maltose (Maltose or Malt Sugar) is a chemical term belonging to the disaccharide category. It appears as white needle-like crystals. However, common maltose is not crystalline, and during cooking, the addition of sucrose turns the white maltose into a golden yellow, enhancing its color, aroma, and flavor. Candy Maltose, also known as glutinous rice sugar, is made from wheat and glutinous rice, is sweet and delicious, rich in nutrients, and has effects such as promoting digestion, making it suitable for all ages. In nature, maltose mainly exists in germinated grains, especially in malt, hence the name. Under the action of starch-converting enzymes, starch undergoes hydrolysis, producing maltose, which can further hydrolyze to yield two molecules of glucose. Maltose can be crystallized and used as a sweetener, but its sweetness only reaches one-third that of sucrose. Maltose is a cheap nutritional food that is easily digested and absorbed by the human body. The molecular structure of maltose contains an aldehyde group, making it a reducing sugar. Therefore, it can react with silver ammonia solution to produce a silver mirror effect and can also react with freshly prepared alkaline copper hydroxide to form a brick-red precipitate. It can hydrolyze under certain conditions to produce two molecules of glucose. It is a colorless or white crystal, and crude forms appear as thick syrup. One molecule of water crystallized maltose melts and decomposes at 102-103°C. It is easily soluble in water and slightly soluble in ethanol. As a reducing disaccharide, it has aldehyde group reactions, can undergo silver mirror reactions, and can react with Benedict's reagent (prepared with copper sulfate, sodium carbonate or caustic soda, sodium citrate, etc.) to generate brick-red cuprous oxide precipitate. It can decolorize bromine water and is oxidized to maltose acid. It can be hydrolyzed into two molecules of glucose under heating with dilute acid or the action of α-glucosidase. It is used as food, nutrients, etc. It is obtained by hydrolyzing starch, generally by mixing enzymes from malt with starch paste and fermenting at suitable temperatures. The production of maltose generally involves the following steps: first, soak the wheat and let it germinate to a length of three to four centimeters, then chop the sprouts for later use. Next, wash the glutinous rice, steam it until cooked, and mix it evenly with the chopped malt, allowing it to ferment for 3-4 hours until juice is produced. Then, filter out the juice and boil it over high heat until it becomes paste-like, and after cooling, it forms amber-colored sugar blocks. When consumed, it is heated and stirred with two wooden sticks until the sugar block is pulled into a silver-white color like pulled noodles. Maple Sugar Maple sugar, also known as maple syrup, comes from a tall deciduous tree that can reach 40 meters in height and has a diameter of 40 to 100 cm, with a lifespan of up to 500 years. This sugary maple tree is different from other maples; in autumn, it turns yellow, while other maples turn red. The trunk contains a large amount of starch, which becomes sucrose in winter. When the weather warms up, the sucrose turns into sweet tree sap. If a hole is drilled in the tree, the sap flows out continuously. The sugar made from boiling the tree sap is called maple sugar or maple syrup. Maple sugar is rich in minerals and organic acids, with lower calories than sucrose, fructose, and corn syrup, but it contains much higher levels of calcium, magnesium, and organic acids than other sugars, making it a good supplement for those with nutritional imbalances. The sweetness of maple sugar is not as high as honey, with a sugar content of about 66% (honey has a sugar content of about 79%-81%, while granulated sugar can reach 99.4%). Every year, from May to August, maple trees store starch at their roots to prepare nutrients for the next year. When the ice and snow melt in early spring, the starch stored in the roots begins to convert into sugar, marking the season when maple syrup workers start collecting sap and making maple sugar. The maple sugar season is short, generally from mid-March to mid-April, lasting only about six weeks. The production season is when the syrup is made towards the end of the harvesting season in early April. It has a strong maple aroma and is an essential flavoring agent for cooking, baking, and making cookies and desserts. Canada's famous international products, maple candy and maple ice cream, are made primarily from this grade of maple syrup. The production of maple sugar is also very simple; it involves heating the maple sap, gradually evaporating the moisture, and finally forming a slightly thick syrup. Typically, 40 kilograms of maple sap can produce only 1 kilogram of maple syrup. Only maple trees over 40 years old or with a diameter of over 25 cm can produce useful sap. To ensure the healthy growth of the maple trees, the sap collected should not exceed 5% of the total amount. Therefore, maple sugar is very expensive; for example, a bottle of natural maple syrup is only 236ml and costs $4.99. Cooking-specific maple syrup is characterized by its caramel-like flavor. Due to its strong aroma, it is widely used in cooking, baking, and as a seasoning for some special foods. In Europe, America, and Japan, it is also used as a flavoring for popular maple-flavored cigarettes. Zongzi Sugar Zongzi sugar is one of the earliest types of Chinese candy. It is mainly made from sucrose, rose petals, maltose, and pine nuts. Its shape resembles a triangular zongzi, hence the name zongzi sugar. Zongzi sugar is hard and transparent, with a glossy appearance, allowing one to clearly see the evenly distributed rose petals and pine nuts within the sugar, resembling beautiful crystal stones. It is sweet, fragrant, and delicious, with the fresh aroma of pine nuts and roses. Due to climate influences, it is not suitable for production in summer. Ingredients: sucrose, pine nuts, dried rose petals, liquid glucose, acetic acid. Production method: 1. The sugar boiling method is the same as for peanut candy. 2. Pine nuts and rose petals must be roasted; otherwise, they cannot be used, as moisture can cause the sugar to crystallize. 3. After cooling the boiled sugar to 160°C, pour it onto a cooling table with flowing water, and while it is still hot, sprinkle the pine nuts and dried rose petals on the sugar paste, folding it back and forth with a spatula. As the sugar paste is folded, it cools, and moisture continuously evaporates, gradually forming soft candy. 4. Shaping: Organize manpower and work quickly to place the soft candy on the table, divide it into small pieces, and knead it into cylindrical shapes (be careful to maintain room temperature). 5. Cutting: Use scissors to cut the candy, turning it each time you cut to ensure that the cut candy appears triangular from any angle. Machines can also be used to produce triangular shapes. 6. Packaging: Wait for the candy to cool completely before packaging to prevent sticking. 7. Quality standards: Color: light yellow-brown, transparent and shiny. Shape: triangular, with no broken edges or short corners, with 240-250 pieces per kilogram. Osmanthus Sugar Osmanthus sugar is made by frying sugar with oil-soaked glutinous rice, using white sugar and osmanthus flowers as the core sugar. The fire must be appropriate, and the coating should be even, with neat branches. The osmanthus used must be fresh and fragrant; when the flowers bloom, they are picked from the tree. Then, white sugar is added for sealing, becoming the raw material for core sugar. The selection of osmanthus for osmanthus sugar is very strict, and the production process is meticulous. Originally known as