How UnSugar works in a formulation.
UnSugar contributes intense sweetness at very low use levels. The best result comes from designing it into the complete product system, not treating it as a one-for-one bulk replacement for sugar.
The formulation logic
Working with UnSugar is a five-step discipline, not a substitution. The steps look simple written down, but each one contains the decisions that determine whether a reduced-sugar product tastes like the original or like a compromise.
- Define the role sugar is playing: sweetness, bulk, texture, browning, preservation, freezing-point control, or several of these at once. Skipping this step is the single most common reason a project stalls.
- Set a realistic sugar-reduction target for the product and the label objective. A 30% cut and a 70% cut are different engineering problems, not different sizes of the same one.
- Build the sweetness profile using UnSugar and any complementary sweeteners or flavors, tuning onset, body and finish rather than chasing a single sweetness number.
- Rebuild the functions removed with sugar through bulking, texture or process solutions where the product needs them.
- Test sensory performance, processing, shelf life, cost-in-use and labeling in your own recipe before committing to a pilot.
What determines the outcome
Two products with the same sugar target can behave completely differently. The variables that matter most are product pH and processing conditions, temperature exposure and hold time, the flavor profile and aroma system, the balance of fat, protein, salt and acid, the other sweeteners and masking ingredients already present, the target shelf life and packaging, and the consumer expectations that define the category. A sparkling water and a shelf-stable caramel sit at opposite ends of almost every one of those variables.
This is why we do not publish a single use level. A generic number would be wrong for most of the products that read it. The honest answer is that the right level belongs to your recipe, and we would rather find it with you at the bench than guess at it in a brochure. The current technical data sheet gives the working range for your application, and a short technical conversation usually narrows it fast.
Where UnSugar earns its place
Depending on the product and the target, UnSugar can support sugar reduction from about 20 to 90%. These figures are formulation targets our applications team works to, confirmed in your own product by bench testing.
The most common productive pattern is not a rip-and-replace. It is a team that already runs a stevia or monk-fruit system, has hit a wall on how far they can cut before the sensory-panel scores drop, and uses UnSugar to clean up the profile so the cut can go deeper. In that pattern UnSugar is not competing with the incumbent sweetener; it is removing the ceiling the incumbent imposed. That is usually the fastest route to a result, because it changes one variable in a system the team already understands rather than starting from a blank formula.
What a first engagement looks like
Most teams begin with samples to judge the profile against their reference, then move to a bench evaluation in their own recipe with our applications team alongside. From there the path runs through processing trials, shelf-life confirmation, a cost-in-use model built on real use levels, and a labeling review, before anything reaches a pilot line. Each step is designed to retire a specific risk, so that by the time a formulation is scaled, the surprises have already been found and solved.
Designing the sweetness curve, not just the level
One nuance separates teams that get a sugar-like result from teams that get a merely sweet one: sweetness is not a single number, it is a curve over time. Sugar has a particular onset, a rounded peak and a clean decay, and the reason many reduced-sugar products taste wrong is not that they are less sweet but that their curve is the wrong shape, arriving too slowly or lingering too long. Working with UnSugar means tuning that curve deliberately, using the sweet protein for its clean profile and layering complementary ingredients to match the onset and finish your category has trained shoppers to expect. It is the difference between a product that passes a sweetness spec and one that passes a blind preference test, and it is where an experienced applications partner earns their place at the bench.
Design it into your recipe with us.
Tell us what you’re building. We’ll send a sample kit, the sample bottle and sample powder, and help you plan the first bench trial.
The questions teams ask us first.
What use level should we start at?+
Provided in the current technical data sheet. Use level depends on the recipe and target, so we provide it from the current technical data sheet or a technical discussion rather than a generic number.
Can UnSugar be used with our existing sweetener system?+
Yes, that is one of its most common uses. It can be evaluated within systems that already include stevia, monk fruit, allulose or fibers.
How long does a first evaluation take?+
Most teams start with samples to judge the profile, then move to a bench evaluation in their own recipe. We support both steps with technical documentation.