The confectionery firm says it has achieved what was previously considered ‘impossible’ with its conventional hard boiled candy with the acoustic effects of popping candy. It was previously thought that popping candy was only technologically possible in granular form.
Istanbul-based Toller Gida introduced SoundyCandy at the International Sweets and Biscuits Fair (ISM) last week. The product was named the most innovative new product at the show.
No more granules
SoundyCandy founder Tolga Erden told ConfectioneryNews: “As I was a small child I loved popping candy. It was something very scientific and exciting. But it was unfortunately in granule form, it was hard to eat and you had sticky hands afterwards...I thought: why can’t it be done in a bigger version like a candy?”
Erden studied Food Science at the University of Munich and set out to develop a larger candy that could create a popping sensation when eaten.
“I realized that there had been many companies that had tried to achieve this, the giants….The giants had many great patents and had a lot of good machinery, but if you look really carefully inside you can see that they are not functioning… It’s cool if you have a patent, but many patents do not work.”
Erden established Toller Gida two years ago and presented SoundyCandy for the first time at ISM last week. The technology to produce the brand is patented in Turkey and Europe, but Erden has yet to decide whether he will license his machinery, which can also produce conventional granulated popping candy.
Candy implosion
SoundyCandy’s popping effect can be boosted by sipping a hot drink and once the consumer has finished drinking, the candy reverts to the standard popping intensity.
“This is not only a candy. This is an experience,” said Erden. “If you combine a cold drink in your mouth with the candy it implodes in one second. It makes a crack – it doesn’t hurt.”
“You can experience it even under loud music. It can be used in clubs, it can be used in fancy brasseries where you put your candy in your white wine, so you have something special,” he continued.
Popping candy zen
“You activate all of your five senses with one product. After one minute I think your brain is so lit up that people have different experiences. Everybody keeps coming back and asking me, is this something for meditation? After one or two, I said: ok, but after 15,20 50 people, you think what do I have here?”
Erden says he’d like to find out if the product has properties to induce relaxation or whether people are experiencing a placebo effect.
Target markets
The Toller Gida founder hopes that the SoundyCandy brand name will catch on as a universal product type as Hoover has for vacuum cleaners.
“My dream is to find good partners all over the world that have their own markets, they produce under the label of SoundyCandy and they have the monopoly in their own market,” he said.
“My machinery works and can produce this product. I’m here to sell my own product, but the world is too big and I need investment.
Erden said SoundyCandy was a premium brand that could retail for around the same price as chocolate.
The company plans to prioritize markets where popping candy is well known, such as the US, Canada and Europe. “Australia is always a very important market because Cadbury made a chocolate with popping candy inside and I think it was a huge success,” added Erden.