How Much Trehalose Should I Use? A Practical TREHA® Ratio Guide

One of the first questions people ask when trying TREHA® is:

How much should I use?

For many cakes, biscuits and desserts, a simple starting point is:

replace around 20% of the ordinary sugar with TREHA®.

But that rule does not apply to everything.

Bread is usually calculated against flour weight. Sorbet is better calculated against the whole mixture. Puff pastry and choux use relatively small functional additions. Meringues can use much higher proportions.

This guide gives you practical starting ratios for the most common applications.

TREHA® Ratios at a Glance

These are starting points, not limits.

Once you understand what TREHA® does in your recipe, you can increase or decrease the amount to suit the result you want.

The Easiest Starting Rule: Replace 20% of the Sugar

For an ordinary cake, biscuit or sweet recipe, begin by replacing:

20% of the sucrose by weight with TREHA®.[1,2]

So:

100g sugar becomes:

80g sugar + 20g TREHA®

And:

200g sugar becomes:

160g sugar + 40g TREHA®

The total weight of sugar solids remains the same, but the finished product becomes less sweet because TREHA® is only about 40% as sweet as sucrose.[1]

This is the simplest way to try TREHA® without substantially redesigning the recipe.

How to Calculate a Sugar Replacement

Use:

TREHA® required = original sugar × replacement percentage

Then subtract the same quantity from the sucrose.

For a recipe containing 200g sugar:

For a first trial, 20% is usually the safest place to begin.

How Much TREHA® Should I Use in Cakes?

For most cakes:

start with 20% sucrose replacement.

This gives a noticeable reduction in sweetness while keeping the overall quantity of sugar solids unchanged.

Pound and Loaf Cakes

Start with:

15–20% replacement.[2]

Example:

200g sugar becomes:

160–170g sucrose + 30–40g TREHA®.

This is a useful range where the aim is to maintain moisture and softer eating quality during storage.

Sponge and Genoise

Start with:

20–30% replacement.

Example:

180g sugar at 25% replacement becomes:

135g sucrose + 45g TREHA®.

Chiffon Cake

Recent research found particularly good overall baking performance with 20–30% sucrose substitution, with 30% producing greater specific volume and lower hardness during storage.[3]

A sensible first trial is therefore:

25–30% replacement.

Chocolate Cake

Start with:

20–30% replacement.

Chocolate is especially well suited to TREHA® because reducing sweetness allows cocoa and dark-chocolate flavours to come through more clearly.

For a recipe containing 250g sugar:

25% replacement gives:

187.5g sucrose + 62.5g TREHA®.

In the kitchen, round that to:

190g sugar + 60g TREHA®.

For broader baking guidance, see How to Use Trehalose in Baking →.

How Much TREHA® Should I Use in Cookies and Biscuits?

For most cookies and biscuits:

start with 20–30% sugar replacement.[2]

For a recipe containing 150g sugar:

20% replacement:

120g sugar + 30g TREHA®

30% replacement:

105g sugar + 45g TREHA®.

If it is your first attempt, start at 20%.

Move towards 30% if you want:

• lower sweetness
• stronger chocolate or nut flavours
• a different moisture balance
• greater resistance to humidity in crisp products.

For sablé and short biscuits, 20–30% is also a useful working range.[2]

How Much TREHA® Should I Use in Meringue?

Meringue is one of the applications where substantially higher TREHA® levels can work.

Chiffon and Soufflé Meringue

For the meringue component, around:

30–40%

can be a useful working range in specialist formulations.[2]

Italian Meringue

Start around:

30–50% sugar replacement.

This allows you to reduce sweetness while retaining a substantial amount of sugar solids.

Dry Meringue

Much higher replacement levels are possible.

NAGASE professional formulations use TREHA® for a large majority of the sugar system in some dried-meringue applications.[2]

This is one application where 20–30% should not be regarded as a maximum.

If the objective is a very crisp, low-sweetness dried meringue, higher levels can be explored once the basic formulation is working reliably.

Bread Uses a Different Calculation

Do not use the 20% sugar-replacement rule for ordinary bread.

TREHA® is not readily fermented by conventional baker’s yeast in the same way as familiar bread sugars, so it is normally added according to flour weight rather than simply replacing the recipe’s fermentable sugar.[4]

For practical bread use:

TREHA® = flour weight × baker’s percentage

Ordinary Bread

A very useful starting point is:

4% of flour weight.

So:

NAGASE gives a broader range of approximately 2–5% for white bread.[4]

Independent bread research comparing 0%, 2%, 4% and 6% trehalose found particularly favourable overall results at 4%, including loaf volume, sensory quality and crumb softness during storage.[5]

That makes 4% an excellent first trial.

Brioche and Enriched Bread

Start around:

5% of flour weight.

For 500g flour:

25g TREHA®.

NAGASE gives a broader professional range of around 5–10% for sweet breads.[4]

Keep the ordinary sugar in the recipe for your first trial.

TREHA® is being added for its functional contribution rather than simply substituting the sugar involved in dough fermentation and sweetness.

Wholemeal Bread

Start with:

4–5% of flour weight.

For 500g flour:

20–25g TREHA®.

Wholemeal breads can be trialled higher once you understand the effect, but 4–5% is a useful first batch.

Croissants

Start around:

5% of flour weight.

So:

500g flour → 25g TREHA®.

Croissants combine yeast fermentation, laminated pastry and often frozen storage, making them a particularly interesting application for TREHA®.[4]

For the full bread guide, see How to Use Trehalose in Bread: Ratios, Yeast, Sourdough and Freshness →.

For the yeast explanation, see Can Yeast Ferment Trehalose? →.

How Much TREHA® Should I Use in Ice Cream and Gelato?

For ordinary dairy ice cream and gelato:

start by replacing 20–30% of the sucrose with TREHA®.

NAGASE gives a broader manufacturer range of approximately 15–40% sucrose replacement for vanilla ice cream.[2]

Example:

If the recipe contains 200g sucrose:

a 25% replacement becomes:

150g sucrose + 50g TREHA®.

Recent research testing 15% and 30% sucrose replacement in Fior di Latte ice cream found trehalose produced particularly balanced sensory results among the alternative sweeteners investigated.[6]

Professional gelato formulations also commonly use TREHA® alongside several other sugars rather than as the sole carbohydrate.[7]

For detailed formulation guidance, see How to Use Trehalose in Ice Cream, Gelato and Sorbet →.

How Much TREHA® Should I Use in Sorbet?

Sorbet is better calculated against the entire mixture.

Start with:

TREHA® at approximately 5% of the total mix.[2]

So:

NAGASE gives a broader range of approximately 5–8% of total formulation for sorbet.[2]

Starting at 5% gives you room to balance the remaining sugars around the fruit and the desired frozen texture.

Puff Pastry

TREHA® does not always need to replace sugar.

In puff pastry, a useful starting point is around:

2% of the base formulation, excluding the roll-in butter.[2]

This is primarily a functional addition rather than a sweetening substitution.

For example, if your base dough excluding lamination butter weighs 1kg:

start with around 20g TREHA®.

Choux Pastry

For choux pastry:

start with approximately 2–3% of the complete formulation.[2]

For a 1kg batch:

20–30g TREHA®.

Again, this is normally used as a functional addition rather than as a straightforward replacement for the small quantity of sugar in a conventional choux recipe.

Should I Ever Replace All the Sugar with TREHA®?

Sometimes, but complete replacement is rarely the best first experiment.

For most cakes, biscuits and confectionery, NAGASE recommends starting around 20–30% substitution.[1,2]

Very high replacement can substantially change:

• sweetness
• browning
• crystallisation
• texture
• freezing behaviour.

Specialist formulations can use much more TREHA®.

Examples include:

• dry meringue
• specialist confectionery
• savoury frozen products
• glazing systems
• deliberately low-sweetness formulations.

Think of 20–30% as a starting range, not an upper limit.

When Should I Increase the Amount?

Try increasing TREHA® when you want:

• less sweetness
• stronger fruit flavour
• stronger chocolate or coffee flavour
• more prominent dairy or nut flavours
• greater moisture retention
• softer texture during storage
• improved frozen-food performance
• additional control over frozen texture
• different crispness or humidity behaviour.

Increase gradually.

Moving from:

20% → 25% → 30%

will usually tell you much more about the formulation than jumping directly from 20% to complete replacement.

When Should I Reduce the Amount?

Use less TREHA® if:

• the finished product is not sweet enough
• browning becomes too weak
• the texture becomes less desirable
• crystallisation changes unexpectedly
• dough behaviour changes too much
• the product becomes softer or firmer than you want.

The objective is not to maximise the amount of TREHA®.

The objective is to use enough to produce the effect you want.

Four Ratios Worth Remembering

If you remember only four starting points, use these:

Those four numbers cover a large proportion of first-time TREHA® applications.

How to Run a Good Trial

Do not change several parts of the recipe at once.

The best approach is:

1. Make your normal recipe as a control.
2. Make a second batch using the suggested TREHA® starting ratio.
3. Keep every other ingredient and process identical.
4. Compare the result immediately.
5. Compare it again after storage if freshness is part of the objective.
6. Adjust the TREHA® amount on the next batch.

Look at:

• sweetness
• flavour
• moisture
• softness
• crispness
• browning
• frozen texture
• storage quality.

A controlled side-by-side comparison makes it much easier to see what TREHA® is actually doing.

Need a Ratio for a Different Food?

This guide covers the applications most people start with.

For savoury foods, meat, rice and prepared foods, see How to Use Trehalose in Savoury Foods →.

For keeping foods fresher, see How to Use Trehalose to Keep Food Fresher for Longer →.

For the underlying difference between TREHA® and ordinary sugar, see Trehalose vs Sugar: What’s the Difference? →.

Buy TREHA® for Recipe Development

Trehalose UK supplies genuine Japanese TREHA® manufactured by Nagase Viita Co., Ltd., formerly Hayashibara.

For home cooking, testing and recipe development:

TREHA® Trehalose 1kg →

For regular users and professional kitchens:

TREHA® Trehalose 2.5kg →

For bakeries, gelaterias and commercial food production:

TREHA® Trehalose 20kg →

For commercial requirements of 200kg or more:

Bulk TREHA® Supply — 200kg to 1 Tonne+ →

For product-development or commercial enquiries:

Contact Trehalose UK →

sales@trehalose.co.uk

Further Reading

How to Use Trehalose in Baking →

How to Use Trehalose in Bread →

How to Use Trehalose in Ice Cream, Gelato and Sorbet →

How to Use Trehalose in Savoury Foods →

How to Use Trehalose to Keep Food Fresher for Longer →

Trehalose vs Sugar: What’s the Difference? →

References & Further Reading

[1] Nagase Viita Co., Ltd. “TREHA® FAQs.” Manufacturer guidance describing TREHA® as approximately 38% as sweet as sucrose in a 5% solution and recommending partial sugar replacement as a practical starting point in confectionery.

NAGASE TREHA® FAQs →

[2] Nagase Viita Co., Ltd. TREHA® professional application and recommended-use guidance covering cakes, cookies, meringues, pastry, choux, ice cream, sorbet and other confectionery applications.

NAGASE TREHA® food applications →

[3] Yang Fu et al. 2026. “Physicochemical and Anti-Staling Properties of Chiffon Cake with Trehalose as Clean Label for Sucrose Substitution.” Food Chemistry 525: 150475. Study examining trehalose substitution in chiffon cake, including volume, texture and storage characteristics.

View the Food Chemistry study →

[4] Nagase Viita Co., Ltd. TREHA® bread application guidance covering white bread, sweet bread, wholemeal bread and croissants, including recommended flour-weight percentages.

NAGASE TREHA® bread information →

[5] Young-Ja Kim, Jeong-Hoon Lee, Koo-Chun Chung, and Si-Kyung Lee. 2014. “Effects of Trehalose on Quality Characteristics of White Pan Bread.” Journal of the Korean Society of Food Science and Nutrition 43, no. 5: 712–719. Study comparing bread containing different levels of trehalose, including loaf volume, sensory performance and storage hardness.

Find the white-pan-bread study →

[6] Katia Liburdi, Alessandro Crinò, Chiara Fabrizi, and Marco Esti. 2025. “Preparation and Evaluation of Sucrose-Reduced Ice Cream: Optimization via Physiochemical and Sensory Study.” International Dairy Journal 169: 106339. Study evaluating trehalose at 15% and 30% sucrose replacement alongside other alternative sweeteners.

View the International Dairy Journal study →

[7] Sosa Ingredients. “Fior di Latte by Iván Vázquez.” Professional gelato formulation combining trehalose with sucrose, glucose and dextrose in a 1kg mix.

View the Sosa formulation →