Scouting Out New Flavor Trends

Exotic spices and ingredient combinations. Spices like cardamom, coriander and lemongrass are up-and-coming, as well as cumin in savory foods and cinnamon in spicy dishes. Ras el hanout, a Middle Eastern and North African blend, can include cardamom, cinnamon, clove, coriander, cumin, ground chiles, mace, nutmeg, peppercorn, saffron, turmeric and dried rosebud. Indian garam masala commonly consists of cinnamon, roasted cumin, clove, black pepper and cardamom seed.

Chocolate plus. Chocolate’s polyphenols in 1.25 oz., milk chocolate has 300 mg; dark chocolate 700 mg; and cocoa powder 1,300 mg) and itsability to be fortified with omega 3s, plant sterols, probiotics and more is a plus, but it’s the flavor that people key into, especially darker, richer varieties. Also on the radar: chocolate and chiles, chocolate and cheeses, and the addition of tart-cherry flavors to chocolate beverages, like malts.

Coffee. Energy drinks with coffee extracts and bottled and canned coffee-based beverages will prevail. Look for an increased interest in coffee-flavored bakery and confectionery items.

Floral. Flavors of the flower, especially rose, hibiscus, jasmine and lavender, are showing up in products like chocolate and bottled water. They also can accent alcoholic beverages (champagne and other spirits) and desserts, such as ice cream, sorbet and cakes (especially chocolate).

Exotic salts. Gourmet, flavored, smoked and/or sea salts are ready for prime time in multiple applications—from savory entrées to sweet desserts. Ginger, lemon zest, lime, mint, rosemary, saffron and even bacon salts are appearing. In the beverage category, consider lime salt for margaritas and mint salt for mojitos.

Honey. They are more than 300 varieties of honey in the United States, many with distinct flavor notes. Honey is friendly with fruits, cheeses, meats, salad dressings, snacks, teas and desserts. It may be the next “new” beverage sweetener.

Varietal lemon and lime. Varietal citrus, like Meyer lemon and Japanese yuzu, are gaining recognition. Tangy Japanese yuzu has grapefruit and orange notes. The rind traditionally flavors vegetables, fish or noodles. Fresh yuzu is rare in the United States, but is available bottled, dry or powdered.

It’s crunch time

Trying out new flavors and honing in on the right one is generally a time-consuming process. Time is a hot commodity in marketing a product from ideation through commercialization. “It is important to get in on the ground floor of development with food and beverage companies while they are still in trials and testing,” says Cathy Kalenian, COO and CFO, X Café, Princeton, MA.

The time-to-market for product launches has been significantly reduced, and this speaks to the competitiveness of the business, according to Bruns. Timing also depends on the level of involvement in the development collaboration. He says six months is a common timeline for getting a new product on the restaurant menu and, these days, not much longer for the supermarket shelf. A timeline for a limited-time offer (LTO), which is a staple of chain restaurants, can be aggressive—sometimes sliced to one month. On the flip side, a project could take one to two years for an entirely new manufactured product, but the need for accelerated speed in cycle time still prevails.

Analyze this

New flavor ideas can originate almost anywhere. Companies take a number of approaches to come up with cutting-edge ideas.

“We understand that trends develop ‘on the fringes,’ often at unexpected times, from unexpected sources, and even in unexpected places,” says Derek Elefson, manager, beverage marketing, Givaudan Flavours, Cincinnati. “Detecting these emerging trends is based on an aggressive global and multi-disciplinary approach, and the result is a coupling of science and art as the source for true innovation.” The company employs two key programs: The first is Taste Trek®, which sends teams to vast reaches of the globe to identify unique flavor molecules found in nature and translates them into new flavor compounds. The second is Chef’s Council®, which invites some of the world’s top innovative chefs into a learning summit with Givaudan chefs that leads to useable flavor inspirations, whether infusions, pairings of food and beverages, or combinations of previously unimaginable flavor options.

“Food companies pay a lot of attention to what other food companies are doing, which is where our database of new products comes in,” says Tom Vierhile, director, Productscan Online, Naples, NY. “Quite often, companies will analyze a particular product category to see what kinds of flavors may be emerging.”

Kerry, for instance, utilizes this type of trend analysis coupled with “real life” information gathered in the field, from colleagues and friends during ideation sessions, and during restaurant experiences. “We don’t jump on the latest buzz,” says Bruns. “Our research has to be tried, tested and validated before it’s presented to the customer.

“The customer decides on the flavor direction—some want blue sky and some want mainstream just tweaked a little,” continues Bruns. “Flavor first has to answer the question of ‘Why—is it relevant?’ Then keep it clean and simple.”

David Michael has organized a trends panel consisting of marketing and technical staff that sits down annually to discuss current and emerging trends. Input is collected from the members’ experiences in the industry, client requests and independent research. Members also attend the vast variety of food trade shows and conferences, and keep up to date on trade and consumer publications, all of which contain a wealth of information on everything food.