Letter from the editor: How is rising demand for global flavors influencing innovation & ingredient sourcing?
In this month’s global flavors and inspiration special edition, FoodNavigator-USA explores how food and beverage manufacturers across categories are rising to meet consumers’ evolving flavor preferences.
Among these is an increased interest in and innovation around floral, herbaceous and root flavors across categories, as seen at the Summer Fancy Food Show in New York City and through insights from Innova Marketing Insights, Synergy, T. Hasegawa, Flavorchem and more.
Emerging preferences for authentic, globally-inspired flavors are also driving innovation and creating new opportunities in frozen meals and in sauces and condiments, reports FoodNavigator-USA Deputy Editor Deniz Ataman.
Senior Correspondent Ryan Daily also explored how global flavors are impacting the ready-to-drink beverage category.
Macro-trends, including the clean-label movement, ongoing inflation and rising interest in environmental and social welfare also are influencing flavor innovation and supply chain management.
The impact of clean label on flavor selection is boosting demand for natural flavors, but as Daily reports, this must be balanced by price. It also is spurring production innovation, as at T. Hasegawa, which recently became USDA certified for meat and poultry flavors to meet demand for complex, authentic and clean label flavor options.
In terms of inflation, cash-strapped consumers are eating at home more, which executives with McCormick & Co. is driving demand for spices – especially blends that simplify the cooking experience.
Ethan Frisch, the co-founder of single source spice company Burlap & Barrel echoed what McCormick is seeing in terms of blends, but also noted that as consumers embrace a wider variety of seasonings they also want to know more about where their spices come from. In a special episode of FoodNavigtor-USA’s Soup-To-Nuts podcast, Frisch shares with me how Burlap & Barrel is reimaging the spice trade to create a better value proposition for smallholder spice farmers and deliver to consumers a more flavorful experience.
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Special Edition: Global flavors inspire innovation across categories and in production
Garden variety flavors: Floral, herbaceous and root flavors grow across categories – 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.
Beyond TV dinners: Frozen meals serve as gateway to global flavors – Frozen foods increasingly serve as a vehicle for global flavors, driven by consumer demand for international cuisine while balancing affordability, nutrition and convenience.
Sauces, condiments, spices bring global flavors to consumers’ kitchens – Sauces, condiments and spices are offering consumers convenient ways to experiment with global flavors at home, as the seasoning category becomes one of the fastest-growing in specialty foods, driven by the rise in home cooking and the demand for bold, international tastes
‘Tajin is what sriracha was a couple of years ago,’ Imbibe flavorist on global tastes impacting RTD beverages – With more adventurous palates, consumers today are seeking a wide range of sweet and spicy flavors — and sometimes both — for their beverages, bringing more globally inspired tastes like Tajin, horchata and popular Asian fruit flavors like honeydew to US drinks, Lauren Senne, manager of taste modulation and flavorist at Imbibe, told FoodNavigator-USA.
Clean-label trends boost natural flavors, but price remains key purchase driver – CPG companies developing clean-label foods and beverages are turning to natural flavors over their artificial counterparts, while consumers might be overstating the importance of more natural additives.
USDA certification for meat, poultry flavors from T. Hasegawa opens door to meet demand for complex, authentic & clean-label options – Consumers are less willing to settle for basic flavor profiles, such as “beef” or “chicken,” and instead want increasingly complex and authentic options – like braised short rib or barbecued wings, according to flavor giant T. Hasegawa, which now can better meet this demand with the recent expansion of USDA-certified meat and poultry flavors.
Spice blend sales surge as consumers seek flavorful solutions for easy home cooking, reinventing leftovers, McCormick executives say – Flavor exploration remains essential for consumers as they look for ways to manage their food budgets amid ongoing inflation, including by investing in herbs, spices and flavor blends that help them cook at home more and reinvent leftovers to reduce waste and cost, according to executives with spice and extract giant McCormick & Co.
Soup-To-Nuts Podcast: Reimaging how to source spices helped Burlap & Barrel meet demand for fresh flavors – As US consumers embrace a wider variety of seasonings to flavor their food they increasingly want to know where spices come from, their safety profile and environmental and social impact – prompting the industry stakeholders to rethink spice supply chains, which historically have been purposefully opaque to hide widespread inequity and exploitation.
