Maltitol Liquid E965 Glucose Syrup Replacement for Sugar-Free Candy and Bakery, Non-Crystallizing, 275kg Drum Bulk Supply

The short version

Maltitol liquid — E965, CAS 585-88-6 — is what you put in the kettle when the brief says sugar-free but the process was built around glucose syrup. Same handling, same pumping, same dosing skid. Different chemistry on three points that matter: it does not crystallise, it carries almost no reducing sugars, and it is a polyol, so the sugar-free claim survives the label review.

Available in three solids grades — 75/50, 80/55, 85/55 — from one line, so moving a formula between them changes the water balance, not the supplier.

What changes when you swap glucose syrup for this

Most reformulation failures with maltitol liquid are not chemistry failures — they are bookkeeping failures. Four things move, and all four are predictable:

1. Reducing sugars collapse. Glucose syrup is a reducing-sugar stream by definition; this syrup is specified at 0.3% max on dry basis, typically 0.06%. In candy that means far less colour pickup during the cook and far less drift during storage. In bakery it means a filling or a biscuit dough that browns because you baked it, not because the syrup caramelised ahead of schedule.

2. Crystallisation stops being a risk. Graining in chewy candy, white streaks in a deposited hard candy, a filling that turns gritty on the shelf — those are sucrose and glucose crystals doing what they are supposed to do. The polyol blend here resists crystallisation in the drum and in the finished piece, so the failure mode disappears rather than being managed.

3. The sugar-free claim becomes available. Sucrose-free and sugar-free labelling is a formulation and jurisdiction question, not a slogan — but it starts with what is in the kettle. Because the sweetener here is a polyol rather than an invert or a glucose stream, a no-added-sugar or sugar-reduced claim is on the table, along with the tooth-friendly and lower-glycemic positioning that buyers now ask for by name.

4. Water and solids shift — and this is the one people miss. The syrup arrives at 75% solids, so it brings three quarters of its own weight as solids and a quarter as water. Where your old formula counted a glucose syrup at a different dry substance, the balance of the batch changes. Fix the solids line first, then sweetness. Get that order wrong and you will blame the ingredient for a texture problem you created.

Side-by-side

Candy: where the volume is

Chewy candy, toffee and nougat. The syrup keeps the chew supple for the whole shelf period and holds water where you want it, so the piece does not go waxy or dry at the surface of the wrap. Pair it with the fat phase and the texture modifier rather than treating it as a one-for-one sucrose swap — the chew body comes from the polyol blend, the snap comes from the fat.

Hard candy and deposited sweets. A melt that resists crystallisation can go from the cooker to the cooling belt, through the batch roller and the rope sizer, and into the mould without white streaks. For small cavities, 75/50 fills more cleanly than the higher-solids cuts because it is the thinner of the three at working temperature; for a piece that needs less added water in the formula, step up to 80/55 or 85/55.

Gummy and soft gelatin pieces. Here the syrup works as much as a plasticiser as a sweetener: it keeps the gel network from tightening over time, so the piece stays soft in the bag instead of going leathery at the surface. This is also the grade used as a plasticiser in soft capsule shells on the oral-dose side of the same plant.

Sugar-free jelly and fruit preparation. Humectant plus bulking sweetener, with the water activity control that keeps a fruit piece from weeping into the surrounding gel.

Bakery: the part buyers ask about second

Fillings and cream layers. A filling has to stay soft in a cold chain, not express water into a sponge, and not brown where it touches the bake. This syrup holds water in the filling, keeps it spreadable at refrigerator temperature, and contributes almost no reducing sugars, so the colour at the interface stays where the baker put it.

Biscuits, cookies and baked goods. Used at partial replacement, it improves machinability of the dough and keeps the crumb from staling as fast, because the polyol holds moisture in the crumb structure rather than letting it migrate to the surface.

Glazes, icings and toppings. Non-crystallising means a glaze stays glossy and does not go dull or sugar-bloomed on the shelf — the same property that stops graining in candy, applied to a coating.

Bakery fillings with a sugar claim. Where the finished product carries a no-added-sugar or reduced-sugar claim, the sweetener has to be a polyol end to end. Mixing a polyol sweetener with a glucose-based bulking agent reintroduces exactly the sugars the claim was supposed to exclude.

Dosing notes that save a trial batch

Match sweetness, not weight.

• At roughly 75% the sweetness of sucrose, plan on a little more material by weight than the sucrose it replaces, and match the total solids target before you tune the flavour.

Subtract the water.

• At 75% dry substance the syrup brings water with it. Recalculate the water addition in the same step you change the sweetener, or the batch will run wet and you will compensate with extra cooking.

Re-check the freezing point.

• In frozen or chilled applications the polyol blend depresses the freezing point differently from sucrose. Adjust the stabiliser system rather than adding more syrup.

Expect a softer set.

• Higher humectancy means a softer final texture at equal solids. If the target was a hard snap, reduce the syrup share and let the fat and the cook do the work.

Flavour reads cleaner.

• No cooling spike and no bitter tail, so a mint or a fruit note lands where the flavour house intended. Reduce the flavour dose only if the panel says so — do not pre-emptively cut it.

Cook temperature may drop.

• Watch the final cook temperature rather than the clock; the syrup's boiling behaviour is not identical to a glucose stream at the same solids.

Which grade to order

All three run on the same hydrogenation and evaporation line, so a formula can move between them without re-qualifying a supplier or changing the COA format.

Specification

Documents that come with the drum

Every lot is released against a batch-specific COA that prints the measured result next to the limit, so incoming inspection can be checked line by line rather than against a generic datasheet. Typical results on the 75/50 grade: dry substance 75.3%, maltitol 52.4% on dry basis, sorbitol 4.6%, pH 6.1, water 24.7%, reducing sugars 0.06%, conductivity ash 0.02%.

The lot code on the drum repeats on the pallet label and on the certificate, which is what makes a drum in your warehouse traceable back to its evaporation run.

Packing, quantity and delivery

If your line draws from an IBC rather than a drum, say so at quotation stage — the valve type and discharge height have to match your pump, and that is cheaper to specify before loading than after.

Storage and handling

Store sealed, in a cool, dry, ventilated warehouse, away from direct sunlight and heat, above 5 °C. Shelf life is 24 months unopened. Do not freeze: freezing separates the solids from the water phase in a way that does not fully reverse on thawing.

If a drum has been stored cold, let it come to ambient and roll or stir before drawing off, so the solids are uniform. Keep drums closed between draws, rotate stock FIFO, and keep the material away from strong odours — it will pick them up and carry them into a bland bakery filling.

Questions buyers actually ask

Can I replace glucose syrup one for one? By solids, not by weight. Glucose syrups vary in dry substance and sweetness, so the honest answer is: recalculate the solids balance, then match the sweetness target, then adjust water. Once those three are set, the rest of the process usually transfers unchanged.

Will it crystallise in the drum or in the finished piece? No. Non-crystallising is a property of the grade, not a handling instruction. Any crystallisation found in a drum should be treated as a temperature excursion in transit.

Does it support a sugar-free claim? It is a polyol, so it does not count as a sugar in the nutrition declaration in most markets — but the claim depends on the whole formula and on the destination market's rules. Confirm the declaration with your regulatory team against the finished recipe.

Why is it less sweet than sucrose? About 75% of sucrose sweetness. That is a dosing fact, not a defect: match sweetness by weight and the flavour profile comes back.

What does it cost, and how do I start? Indicative pricing is USD500–700/MT FOB Qingdao and depends on grade, pack and volume — confirm against a live quotation. For a first order, most buyers take a 1,300 kg pallet, run one trial batch, and approve the material against the sample COA before booking a full container.

Is the material non-GMO and allergen-free? Yes — non-GMO starch source, and none of the ingredients on the EC allergen list. No animal-derived processing aids are used in hydrogenation, ion exchange or evaporation.