Attendees Sample Top Trend Products at Mintel
by Kelly Hensel
At the beginning of each year, Mintel releases their flavor and ingredient predictions for the year ahead. Now, six months into 2011, Mintel reviewed the top seven of 12 trends at their New Products & Consumer Insights Pavilion presentation on Sunday, June 12. In addition to reviewing the data on new product introductions, Mintel’s Lynn Dornblaser and David Jago offered 23 products for attendees to taste featuring these trends. Here’s a look at the top seven trends influencing the marketplace now:
1. Seeds: In recent years there has been an emphasis on ancient grains, and as Dornblaser explained, seeds are just the natural outgrowth of this. They are showing up in a variety of categories, but mostly in sauces and seasonings. Among the samples in this category was Natural Imports’ Mitoku Natural Black Sesame Seeds.
2. Coconut: This trend is mainly being driven by coconut water, which up until a few years ago was not seen in the U.S. retail marketplace. Now there has been a lot of development around coconut’s functional health benefits. North America and Asia continue to show the greatest growth, and coconut is starting to appear in a number of applications outside of just pure coconut water. For example, Dean Food’s has introduced International Delight Almond Joy Creamer.
3. Smoked Salt: While salt has been talked about in the media in mostly a negative way—in terms of needing to reduce our intake—there has been a movement by consumers who are interested in different and unique salts. They aren’t showing up in many retail applications yet, but upscale restaurants and chefs are using them more often. An example available in the retail U.S. market is Williams-Sonoma’s Bourbon Smoked Sea Salt.
4. Umami: According to Dornblaser, “consumers are starting to become more aware of the term, and beginning to understand it.” This “fifth taste” is still really only showing up on restaurant menus. Attendees were able to sample Gia’s Taste 5 Umami Paste, which the manufacturer deems as the “ultimate flavor bomb.” Dornblaser recommended adding the paste into a soup, stew, or meatloaf to increase the sense of savory on the palette.
5. Dark Spirits: While dark spirits, such as brandy, whisky, and dark rum, have always been popular in the beverage category, according to Jago, they are seeing much more use in food applications. One of the attendees’ favorite products featured was Stonewall Kitchen’s Roasted Peach Whiskey Sauce.
6. Beets: Popping up more and more for their flavor and functional properties, beets are becoming more popular due to the push for consumers to eat more fruits and veggies. Some of the health benefits of beets include lowering blood pressure and increasing strength and stamina during exercise. One of the featured beet product samples was Pomegreat’s Pomegranate & Beet Juice drink from the United Kingdom.
7. Sweeteners: As an ingredient, the use of high-intensity sweeteners has been growing exponentially in food products. Globally, the top sweeteners being used are acesulfame potassium, aspartame, and sucralose. The non-alcoholic beverage and sugar and gum confectionery market categories account for 55% of all introductions with high-intensity sweeteners. While in terms of overall numbers stevia isn’t as big of a player yet, it is growing considerably in the United States. Some products with stevia choose to focus on its naturalness, while others play up its more functional side. One product with stevia that was available to taste was Zevia’s All Natural Cream Soda, available in the United States.