Use of Maltitol to Substitute Sucrose in Meringue

Meringue is a baked dessert made from whipping egg white with sucrose to stiff peakform. High amount of sucrose might be detrimental to consumer. Therefore, this researchaimed to reduce sucrose by substituting with maltitol at 0, 20, 40, 60, 80 and 100%. We foundthat when increasing maltitol, the foam stability and overrun values before baking improved.For meringue, it was found that when increasing maltitol, the aw values decreased from 0.31 to0.18, the L* slightly decreased from 88.89 to 86.59, but the h* increased from 78.58 to 83.33.While the C* were not significant different (p>0.05). Besides, the textures became harder withthe maximum force values increased from 106.18 to 214.17 g. The specific volume increasedfrom 15.44 to 23.68 cm3/g. Foam structure analysis from photographs showed that the 100%substitution yielded the smallest bubbles and more regular structural arrangement. Whenconducting sensory evaluation of the 0, 60 and 100% substituted meringues by using 9-pointhedonic scale, we found that the tastes and overall acceptance scores were alike. Substitutionwith maltitol up to 60% was applicable. The averaged overall acceptance score was 7.40,indicating moderate like, and with less aw and lighter in color, but more hardness and specificvolume when compared with commercial meringue.