Bell Highlights Sweet and Savory Fusion as Key 2014 Flavor Trend

06 Jan 2014 --- Bell Flavors & Fragrances has released its flavor trends predictions for 2014. According to the company, sophisticated flavors have rapidly become an exceptional growth driver in the food and beverage segments. They not only make products tastier, more palatable and cover negative taste effects of other ingredients but also play an important role in product marketing, in differentiating products from the competition, in generating excitement about a product launch and in creating a sense of added value.

Bell’s trend theme 2014: Sweet Meets Savoury – a twist on a classic
It all started with classic chocolate or peanut butter, followed by caramel with salt. Also peppercorns had been a hot topic par excellence for a while. Particularly the combination of sweet and spicy doesn’t know any bounds. Today, spicy notes do not only round off confectionery products but also give a certain touch to alcoholic drinks as well and are no longer used in star cuisines to refine meals only. Get inspired by Bell’s latest flavor creations and discover the twist of sweet and spicy accords – in chocolate, liqueurs or bread spreads.

More creative insights for 2014:

Salty.Crunchy.Pretzels! – trendy flavors for savory pretzel snacks
You are looking for the next big snacking trend in 2014? Choose pretzel snacks, because pretzels are not just an old-fashioned snack anymore. Soft and hearty or salty and crunchy, the old classic pretzel offers a new exciting twist with more options than ever before to satisfy consumers’ demand for innovative salty snacks. Get inspired by Bell’s trendy savoury flavors for irresistible crunchy pretzel snacks and conquer a new salty snack experience!

Milk+ – attracting.varied.appetizing
As milk is mainly consumed for breakfast, the consumption of the “white gold” is falling throughout the day. Milk mix drinks with their manifold facets are said to be an ideal product to extend the consumption continually and to encourage consumers to drink milk more often – either as meal replacement or as alternative to snacks and desserts. The variety of flavors plays a key role when trying to increase consumers’ milk consumption. Get inspired by Bell’s answer to this lifestyle trend and discover new flavor creations which provide variety and attract modern lifestyle consumers.

Tonic Infusions – a bitter-sweet symphony
Bitter is a major trend in the beverages industry and may stimulate new growth in the entire soft drinks market. “Tonic Infusions” is a new hybrid segment interfacing between bitters and classic soft drinks categories including all the latest flavor trends. Get inspired by Bell’s line extension that links the bitter topic with one of the coolest hot weather flavor trends from the US – CUCUMBER. Yet in 2007, cucumber flavored product concepts were considered as too exotic or too odd, but in 2013 the flavor has emerged to become a long term candidate. The flavor is cooling, clear, less sweet and perfectly meets the requirements of fashionable and even healthy product options.

Bell Flavors & Fragrances' worldwide marketing teams have complied five trends with supporting flavors that will help developers understand consumer demands when launching products in the year to come.

Bell’s worldwide marketing teams researched the top consumer macro trends, tracked our sample requests throughout 2013, visited numerous restaurants and stores, and sourced our external databases to learn about menu trends, product launches, and consumer preferences, to deliver the hot trends and flavors for 2014.

A lot of the macro trends we saw in 2013 will be continuing into 2014. Allergen concerns will continue to increase and innovative solutions will be developed. Cooking sauces like red miso, oyster, soy, peanut and fish sauces will be reformulated to offer allergen free versions. We’ve also noticed that the gluten free craze isn’t slowing down and flavors will play an important role in the development of these products as consumers demand high quality, great tasting flavors.

Diet crazes come and go, but healthy lifestyles are here to stay! This can be seen in products that are putting a healthy spin on familiar flavors. We’re also seeing a whole new generation of superfruits, such as our featured flavor, aronia berry, popping up in grocery stores nationwide.

Latin America and Asia have proven to be popular sources of new ethnic flavors. High profile events like the World Cup and Olympics will peak interest in Brazilian and South American culture and cuisine. 2014 will also continue to bring the heat as consumers explore new ways to add a kick to their meals.