On May 14, 2025, flour-milling and ingredient company Ardent Mills announced the launch of Cocoa Replace, a wheat-based, clean-label alternative to cocoa powder. Cocoa Replace is designed to replace 25% of cocoa powder in cakes, brownies, cookies and muffins to address customer needs for ingredient flexibility.
“Cocoa Replace is a targeted response to coca market volatility, but it’s also part of a broader strategy,” said chief growth officer Angie Goldberg. “We’re focused on helping our customers build resilience into their supply chains and formulation strategies – supporting not just the challenges they face today, but the ones coming next.”
According to the company’s press release, Cocoa Replace is a single-ingredient product, meaning minimal label change is required for wheat-based products. Further, this ingredient is vegan, kosher-certified and non-GMO. Results from sensory screening trials showed that Cocoa Replace closely matches cocoa powder in sensory experience and acceptability.
“Cocoa Replace is a powerful example of how Ardent Mills equips customers to navigate disruption with practical, high-impact solutions,” said Sergio Machado, senior director of research & development. “This ingredient innovation showcases our R&D agility and our ability to collaborate closely with customers to transform real-time market challenges – whether rising input costs, clean-label reformulations or sifting consumer expectations – into scalable, commercial-ready innovations.”
Cocoa Replace is available for customers in the United States and Canada.
