Flavor Trends in Seasoning Snacks

Meanwhile, Wilkerson has seen a boost in requests for pickled and brined pepper profiles. “We’ve been able to bring some of the tone of the fermented pepper flavor to the snack-food items that we’re doing,” he says. But transforming a pickled pepper into a dried seasoning ingredient isn’t easy. “You can’t get all those components together just by using the chile pepper that’s in there,” he says. “There’s an aged, fermented flavor of those chiles that is suspended in water and vinegar. All those things you have to replace in the exact proportion to where it tastes just like a hot sauce.”

Snacking with a healthy halo

Everyone is trying to get consumers to feel better about eating between meals, and they’re doing so by sticking a bright-and-shiny healthy halo atop our favorite snacks. “Consumers want to continue snacking, but with less guilt,” says Bob Kaminski, consumer products lab director, Wixon. “There is a trend toward whole-grain snacks and baked items that don’t compromise taste. Consumers also prefer fried snacks made with healthy oils, such as sunflower. Some manufacturers are even promoting the heart-healthy virtues of plant sterols and omega-3s in snack products.”

Adds Mariano Gascon, vice president of R&D, Wixon: “Just look at the trend for natural ingredients, such as berries, nuts and so-called ‘superfruits.’ You’ll also find bars with cholesterol-lowering ingredients, probiotic fiber and antioxidant-rich additives.”

People want healthy, but they also want snacks to be just as tasty and indulgent as ever. “It’s the ‘I-want-everything’ age,” says Arcieri, “and there’s high demand to provide consumers with what they want. The idea of healthful indulgence is moving more toward indulgent health—and those two are very different. It used to be that consumers said, ‘I want a snack to be healthy for me, and I really hope that it tastes good.’ Now, though, the message is, ‘I expect it to taste good, and—oh, by the way—it better be healthy for me.’”

But with the insistence on all-natural, organic and generally clean labels, coupled with a growing rejection of preservatives, MSG, high amounts of salt and any amount of trans fat, snack-flavor creation can become “a real challenge,” as Bruns says.

Functional ingredients can generate off notes, Gascon says, “and you may need the use of taste modifiers to improve their profiles.” Also, he notes that some adjustment of the flavor profile may be in order for reduced-sugar formulations. He cites an ingredient that enhances sweet notes without the addition of sugar. “This is a natural flavor—not a sweetener—that has a synergistic effect with the sugars present and enhances the natural sugar taste without the calories,” he says.

Yet, while a snack’s healthy halo comes more from its core ingredients than from its flavor profile, a strategic flavor choice can go a long way toward reinforcing the good-for-you impression. “The overall idea is incorporating a healthy halo from a flavor standpoint,” says Bruns. “It’s all about perception.”

Flavors like ginger, green tea, dark chocolate and superfruits drive the point home. “There’s a high level of awareness right now about superfruits,” says Arcieri. “Pomegranate led the way, and now there’s goji and mangosteen—a whole new wave of superfruits.”

Manufacturers have the option of sourcing these superfruit notes in the form of flavors, but Bruns suggests ingredients with a bit more substance—“basically a freeze-dried fruit powder used as a flavor. So it’s all natural. And you can use it at levels around 1%. And because we’ve got superfruit varieties in the line, you can add those flavors without having to worry about high cost-in-use.” Some of the options include mango, pomegranate, pear and cherry.

The same logic that goes into matching snack seasonings with their substrate applies when working with superfruit profiles. But, in this case, it may make even more sense to pair the novel fruit with something we already know and love. “We’re seeing more superfruits paired with traditional, tried-and-true flavors so consumers can feel familiar with the overall profile, but can still enjoy these new fruits that have been catching their attention with high antioxidant qualities,” Arcieri says. The trick seems to be keeping the familiar base flavor strong enough to appeal to timorous palates, but not so strong as to swamp the superfruit. “There is an increased focus on having a good balance between the two so you can taste both of the profiles,” she says.

In the end, it’s just a matter of try, try and try again. And that’s half the pleasure—for consumers and product designers. “It’s fun working in our environment, in that we research these trends, we talk about them and we execute them,” Arcieri says. “We see what works best out of the possible combinations of the different profiles, whether it’s a spicy, savory, sweet, brown or fruit flavor profile. You just go with it to see where it takes you.”

Kimberly J. Decker, a California-based technical writer, has a B.S. in consumer food science with a minor in English from the University of California, Davis. She lives in the San Francisco Bay area, where she enjoys eating and writing about food. You can reach her at kim@decker.net.