Company: HERZA Schakolade

Website: www.herza.de/en

Ingredient Snapshot: Purple diet, violet wonders, lilac vitality: foods boasting these colors are one of the strong food trends this year. Cupcakes, ice cream and waffles in vivid lilac are just as much on trend as violet fruit and vegetables. It has as much to do with enjoyment as it does with a healthy diet since violet-colored fruits and vegetables have a high antioxidant content. Antioxidants defend the body's cells against free radicals. What's more, they are anti-inflammatory and protect vessels.

HERZA Schokolade has just introduced new purple chocolate pieces to cater for this trend. The "purple range" consists of white chocolate enhanced with concentrated fruit and vegetable powders. The resulting chocolate pieces in six different shades of purple are visual highlights in cereal mixtures, muesli bars or ice cream. They are available as big leaves, prisms or chopped pieces. On request, HERZA can also offer the purple range in customized shapes.

The color of the chocolate pieces stems from the use of fruit powder of elderberries, aronia berries and wild blueberries, as well as vegetable powder extracted from beetroot and black carrots. Hibiscus extract is another source of coloring and nutrients. All of these varieties of fruit and vegetable are rich in various vitamins, minerals and secondary plant substances.

Elderberries with their high content of provitamin A and B vitamins are used, for instance, as a medicinal plant to treat colds and flu. They strengthen the immune system and are anti-inflammatory. The antioxidative, anti-inflammatory and detoxifying action of beetroot is based, amongst other things, on the high concentration of the vegetable colorants betanin and vulgaxanthin and the high levels of B vitamins and iron. Aronia berries are a real superfood as they contain several vitamins, including A, C and E, along with numerous minerals and trace elements, for instance calcium, magnesium, potassium, zinc and iron. They contain health-promoting flavonoids, too. Thanks to this high concentration of nutrients, they support the cardiovascular system and immune defense. Anthocyanins rank amongst the most important antioxidants. These phyto colourants protect the body's cells and vessels, and are anti-inflammatory. Black carrots, wild blueberries and hibiscus extract are rich in anthocyannins.

With the new HERZA purple range manufacturers of cereals, muesli bars and ice cream can enhance their products with every conceivable added value.