Born by crossing milk caramel technology and new technology:
The soft texture and juicy taste spreading throughout the world
Morinaga’s candy technology began with caramels when the company was founded. In particular, Morinaga Milk Caramel, which was launched during the Taisho period (1912–1926), had a refined sweetness and milky taste and was originally packaged in double-paper sacks, which offer excellent portability and preserves product quality even in the humid climate of Japan. This caramel product was a huge hit, and following further research, improvements to sugar crystal stabilization and flavor balance created the soft, creamy product that has been a best-seller for more than 110 years.
Further research based on this technology led to the birth of HI-CHEW in 1975. The greatest characteristics of HI-CHEW are the soft texture and chewability. These were achieved by balancing the combination of ingredients, such as gelatin and starch syrup, that were carefully selected through prototype production, as well as meticulous adjustment of the conditions in the manufacturing process, such as kneading time and temperature.
Furthermore, the juiciness that lasts from the time you begin chewing until the time you finish has been designed with consideration for how the flavor changes in your mouth and for the sense of refreshment that was achieved with fruit juice and flavoring technology.
In our factories, the conditions of candy water content, temperature, and processing time in each process are strictly managed to prevent the candy from becoming sticky or misshapen during the manufacturing process and thereby ensuring stable product quality assurance and high-speed packaging.
The high product quality created by Morinaga’s technology has been recognized, and we are currently expanding the market for HI-CHEW to the United States, China, Asia, Europe, Oceania, and other regions of the world.
Baked to make maximum use of ingredients’ delicious flavor
A broad range of taste sensations from light textures to combinations
Morinaga launched Marie Biscuit in 1923, and installed 70 m long band ovens in 1954, thereby commencing mass production of high-quality biscuits. Thus far, we have developed a rich variety of biscuit and cookie products, including Marie Biscuit, Moonlight Biscuit, Choice Biscuit, and Chocochips Cookie.
In order to create the ultimate taste and texture for each product, development of biscuits and cookies begins with meticulous research of the conditions and from the careful selection of ingredients to ingredient combinations, kneading of the dough, cutting and shaping of the dough, baking time and temperature, and packaging. For example, in producing Moonlight Biscuit, the dough is gently kneaded so as not to damage the dough, and oven firing conditions are set very carefully. This produces biscuits with a rich egg flavor and a wonderfully fine melt-in-the-mouth texture. Furthermore, in order to produce Chocochips Cookie, we developed chocolate chips that do not become hard, even when baked, and created the balance between excellent cookie texture and chocolate satisfaction. Currently, many of the products in the Morinaga Biscuit Series are manufactured efficiently and stably in factories equipped with state-of-the-art equipment.
Furthermore, taking advantage of our strength as a general confectionaries manufacturer, Morinaga develops many combinations of different products, such as chocolate and marshmallow. We are also conducting research to assure product quality and improve quality stability, including the enhancement of product taste and the control of oil transfer to maintain moistness in semi-perishable cakes with long use-by periods.
With regard to snacks, Ottotto is popular among many age groups, especially children, because of its light texture and uniquely detailed shape, which are created with blow molding technology developed independently by Morinaga.
MORINAGA is a Japanese chocolate pioneer. Our chocolate emphasizes the taste of cacao and delicate melt-in-the-mouth textures.
In 1918, Morinaga installed large-scale chocolate-making equipment and recruited technicians from the United States, which made Morinaga the first Japanese company to manufacture and sell domestically produced chocolate manufactured in a continuous bean-to-bar production process. Until then, chocolate had used mainly imported ingredients and was extremely expensive, and so Morinaga was a pioneer in spreading chocolate consumption among the general public. Since that time, Morinaga has been conducting R&D aimed at creating delicious chocolate suited to the delicate tastes of Japanese people in terms of aroma, richness, and texture.
◇CCX Production Method (DARS Milk Chocolate and other products)
The key to milk chocolate—which is widely beloved by people of all ages in Japan—is the cacao taste and creamy milk flavor. The CCX production method is unique to Morinaga whereby chocolate is cooked in order to achieve a rich cacao aroma, deep sweetness, smooth texture, and creamy milk flavor.
◇High-cacao Chocolate Technology (Carré-de-Chocolat <70> and other products):
High-cacao chocolate tend to have the acidic and bitter taste particular to cacao beans. At Morinaga, in addition to carefully selecting the kind of cacao beans to use in our products, we meticulously control manufacturing conditions in the processes of roasting, refining, and conching (kneading) in order to reduce bitterness without losing the true aroma and flavor of cacao to create delicious, easy-to-eat high-cacao chocolate.
Baked Chocolate—a new technology born from original ideas Chocolate technology that continues to evolve
Since becoming Japan’s first beans to bar chocolate manufacturer in 1918, Morinaga has been continuously conducting R&D on new technologies and product quality so that we can provide customers with new value and inspiration that exceed conventional wisdom as Japan’s chocolate pioneer. For example, we have numerous products, such as Koeda, a delicate chocolate made using molding technology, and Chocoball, whose lightly textured crispy layers are achieved with pan-work technology, that have been loved by customers for many years.
Baked chocolate, our very latest technology, originated with the innovative baking of the chocolate, which Morinaga’s researchers discovered when testing another product. Research on the oils and fats in chocolate and ingredient combinations and the development of production technology for baking chocolate without losing the delicious cacao aroma led to the birth of Bake, chocolate with a double-layered structure—crispy on the outside and meltingly airy on the inside. Another major characteristic of this technology is that it broadens the potential of chocolate because it does not melt and soil the hands even in hot summer temperatures.
By combining baked chocolate with other ingredients in cakes, cookies, and dairy products, Morinaga uses this technology to generate new value in confectionaries overall by creating new tastes and textures, such as cake-like chocolate.
A Trinity of Crispy Texture, Ice Cream, and Chocolate
Combination of Frozen Desserts Technology and Confectionary Technology
As a general confectionary food manufacturer, Morinaga generates new product value by fusing technologies across the segments of confectionary food, frozen desserts, and health. At the same time, we are devoted to daily research activities and the development of technologies for maintaining product quality so that we provide products to customers without losing value.
The quality of our major frozen dessert product Choco Monaka Jumbo—a filling dessert with chocolate and ice cream sandwiched inside crispy monaka wafer—is one product that has been realized through both these efforts.
In order to prevent the loss of the monaka casing’s crispy texture due to the absorption of moisture from the ice cream inside, the inside of the monaka casing is sprayed evenly with a chocolate coating. This thin chocolate layer protects the wafer. At the same time, because product texture can change depending on time and storage conditions, Morinaga implements a continuous production plan from factory to distribution and manages this plan carefully.
In addition, the chocolate inside the monaka casing provides a crunchy texture like that of a thick chocolate bar and the consumer can experience the chocolate-like melt-in-the-mouth texture, even when their mouth is numbed by cold from the ice cream. We use a special chocolate produced especially for this product using technology amassed through our R&D on confectionaries.
Fusion of confectionary technology and frozen dessert technology is being used in the Jumbo series, as well as the many other Morinaga products such as Paxciel—ice cream on a stick characterized by its crunchy, fulfilling chocolate coating—as well as Pari Pari Bar and Sundae Cup, which incorporate multilayers of chocolate inside ice cream to provide a crispy chocolate sensation for consumers to enjoy.
Nutrition × Tastiness × Texture × Satiety × Convenience
Broad support for active everyday living with the latest technology
in Jelly is a product first made in 1994 with the aim of providing athletes undergoing rigorous training or between matches or games to quickly and easily ingest the energy and nutrients they require. Today in Jelly comprises the top share of the market that it pioneered, a market that now consists of numerous jelly drinks. Nowadays, in Jelly is broadly used by athletes and members of the general public for its high quality and convenience and has a wide range of uses—as a meal replacement when a person is very busy or feeling unwell and as a nutritional supplement to build muscle after sports.
The technological superiority of in Jelly products lies in the balance between the creation of a unique taste sensation (springiness and firmness of the jelly) and the easy-to-drink flavor. In our R&D, we calibrate fine changes in the selection and combination of ingredients for each type of in Jelly in accordance with its characteristics and the purpose for its consumption. For example, Energy provides a balance between an appropriate degree of satiety and melon-like fruit pulp sensation; while Multi Vitamin, Multi Mineral, Protein, and other in Jelly products provide a refreshing easy-to-drink flavor that reduces the bitterness or peculiar taste of the nutrients. Thus, we incorporate innovations to ensure that the texture and flavor of each in Jelly product is optimal for each individual’s needs.
The texture of the jelly is especially important, so we check the organizational state of the jelly under electron microscopes during the research process and implement strict management in our factories to ensure constant, stable product quality in the manufacturing process using a method unique to Morinaga from quantified data. Furthermore, we are independently developing ingredient combinations and manufacturing technology to maintain a delicious, easy-to-drink jelly texture that prevents moisture seeping out of the jelly.
The in Jelly product series was also the first to adopt the squeezable, portable, convenient pouch-with-straw packaging for jelly drinks. As the number and range of people using these drinks expands, we are continually evolving both the product quality and packaging, such as improving the shape of the straw and ease of opening the pouch.