Garden variety flavors: Floral, herbaceous and root flavors grow across categories

12-Sep-2024 - Last updated on 12-Sep-2024 at 13:44 GMT

Source: Getty/ Ivan Bajic

Consumer interest in better-for-you and functional benefits have them reaching for products with flavors they associate with health benefits and nature, including florals, like lavender and rose, herbs such as basil, rosemary, dill and thyme, roots like ginger and a range of citrus from tried-and-true lemon and lime to less-familiar yuzu.

While many of these flavors are easily recognized and can offer consumers comfort when they feel sick or stress, making them a natural choice for health and wellness products, they increasingly are appearing in unexpected places and pairings – helping to meet consumer demand for novel experiences.

Florals blossom alongside desire for mental well-being, stress reduction

A third of consumers across 11 markets report consuming more floral flavors in food and beverage in the last year, and 57% say botanical ingredients influence their food and beverage choice, according to Innova Marketing Insight, which listed floral as its No. 1 flavor trend for 2024.

“Floral notes are perceived as both healthy and sustainable, aligning with the growing focus on self-care and environmental consciousness,” Innova explains in a recent trendspotting post.

In response, Innova reports, food and beverage product launches featuring floral flavors have grown 5.6% in the past five years, with rose, chamomile and chrysanthemum gaining traction and hibiscus the most common floral flavor.

At the Summer Fancy Food Show in New York City this summer, lavender starred in a range of beverages claiming relaxation and other health benefits, including Lunae Sparkling Lavender Water, Moment Blackberry Lavender Sparkling Adaptogen & Botanical Drink and Dripdash Lavender Maple and Oat Milk Latte. It also appeared in sweeteners, including Bluestem Botanicals Lavender Simple Syrup and Savannah Bee Lavender Raw Honey.

Lavender is also on Synergy’s watch list for flavors in sweet baked goods associated with seasonal occasions, while “floral honey” is on its list of growing flavors and elderflower is now on its mainstream list.

Several ice cream manufacturers are embracing floral and botanical flavors as a way to communicate refreshment or tap into nostalgia for summer. For example, Jeni’s offers what it describes as an “intensely fruit, brambly berry” Wildberry Lavender ice cream, Nature’s offers a Basil flavor ice cream, and Häagen-Dazs' Spirits Rose & Cream ice cream.

Botanicals and herbs spice up snacks, bring beverages a health halo

Herbs and botanicals also are budding flavor trends across categories, including snacks and beverages.

Within salty snacks, dill is one of the most tried and liked flavors with 47% of consumers reporting they tried and liked it and 16% reporting they have not tried it but would like to, according to a Flavor Flash report from T. Hasegawa earlier this year.

Za’atar is less well known but shows promise as a pairing for salty snacks in part because it can tap in to younger consumers’ desire for internationally-inspired snacks, according to the report. T. Hasegawa found only 14% of consumers tried and liked the flexible blend of thyme, oregano, marjoram along with spices such as sesame, sumac, cumin and coriander. But, it found slightly more consumers – 16% -- have not tried it but are interested in it. Likewise, 29% of Gen Z consumers expressed an interest in international snack flavors including Za’atar.

Botanicals are particularly popular in beverages, according to Synergy, which has mint, bitter orange, hops, tea and lemon balm on its “watch list” for flavors featured in soft drinks and non-alcoholic beverages.

According to Flavorchem, botanicals appear in more than 5,000 launches in the past year, with launches featuring herb and spice flavors up 6.4% in the past five years and searches for adaptogens, which often also fall under botanicals, up 12.72% over the past year. In response, it launched a “Bloom” flavor portfolio early this summer that includes Cranberry Ginger, Grapefruit Bergamot, Lychee Rose, Peach Lavender, Pear Elderflower and Watermelon Mint.

Rooted in wellness: Ginger’s reputation for digestion, immunity garners attention

Roots like ginger and turmeric are also trending as ingredients thanks in part to their association anti-inflammation, immunity and digestion support.

Drawing on the health halo around ginger and the complementary spicy kick it can offer, Flanagan Farm incorporates the ingredient into two of its recently launched five sauerkraut flavors, including its Kimchi Kraut and Farm Beet Kraut.

In beverage, non-alcoholic beer brand Best Day Brewing in late spring launched for a limited time a Yuzu Ginger Shandy that included spicy ginger purée and bright yuzu for a “refreshing summertime pour.” Colorado-based Sati Soda also recently launched Chill Ginger as one of three new flavors, along with Energy Berry and Clarity Lemon-Lime.

Asian Sweet Ginger is one of three new Hot or Cold Salad and Noodle Meal Kits launching from Fresh Express. The brand pairs a sweet ginger dressing sauce with green onions and wonton strips to top a pre-cooked flat wheat noodle and blend of cabbage, kale, broccoli and shredded carrots.

Turmeric makes an appearance in the salty snack aisle with the recent launch of Lay’s Masala flavored potato chips, which parent company Frito-Lay described as a “delectable fusion of spices including cumin, coriander, turmeric and pepper.”

The root also is featured as a flavor in Austin, Texas-based Mayawell’s Mexican-inspired prebiotic sodas where it is paired with pineapple and mango. The startup also pairs ginger with strawberry in another flavor.