Forecasting flavors: Bell unveils 2020 Spark trends

03 Jan 2020 --- Bell Flavors & Fragrances is embarking on the sixth year of its Spark trends program, unveiling key trends that will lead the way to innovations within the flavor space, while also looking at the past five year’s trends. This year’s flavor trends include seeking out the rarest and most authentic ingredients of the world. Consumers are becoming more mindful, not only paying attention to what they eat but how and why they do it.

The crossroads of cooking methodologies and ingredients are visited through the indigenous flavors of South East Asia as well as the appreciation for the environment that helps grow the florae that are gathered for consumption in foraging. Cannabis, once illegal, is now permeating all areas of society, from medical to culinary.

This year, Bell’s five Spark trends fall under a theme of concepts that once were not easily within reach, but with the fast and ever-changing marketplace, a new level of access has made them obtainable to the everyday consumer. Moving into 2020, Bell has taken the time to review the past five years of Spark trends and see how their predictions have performed and evolved.

Bell says that it stays ahead of this “rapidly changing tech-savvy world by understanding its consumer at the deepest level possible by analyzing market data.”

For Agneta Hoffmann, Marketing Team Leader at Bell, flavors need to provide taste solutions for sugar reduction, masking off-notes and salt reduction. “This creates further opportunities for the future of food, based on sustainability and consumer needs for more natural products and clean labeling,” she explains. 

Future opportunities will mainly come from the plant-based food and beverage segment. Based on a considerable market dynamic for alternative proteins on a global scale, not only meat alternatives will see a respective growth, but also dairy-free white products, Hoffmann notes. 

“The main purpose for flavors within this market area is to maintain key taste characteristics and deliver authentic taste profiles, such as roasted meat and other culinary profiles or creamy, milky and fresh characteristics. Covering off-notes of various types of protein equally plays a major role in developing indulgent products,” she adds.

Speaking about the “highs for hemp,” Hoffman adds that the current growth of hemp-based product developments across all product segments within the global F&B industry and the buzz around cannabidiol (CBD) ingredients is likely to fuel product innovations in 2020. 

“The recent popularity of hemp can be attributed to consumers’ growing interest in following plant-based and free-from diets,” she says. “Moreover, hemp has gained high importance due to its nutritional benefits: Hemp seeds are particularly marketed as a superfood, thanks to their high omega 3 and 6 content along with highly digestible protein comprised of all essential amino acids.” 

Together with the consumers’ aspirations for hemp as a superfood, its characteristic herbal and floral notes are also creating high interest and lend a signature taste profile to a variety of applications such as non-alcoholic and alcoholic beverages, baked goods and confectionery products and even sauces, condiments and marinades. 

“The use of hemp extracts further underlines the better-for-you and at the same time premium appeal and creates depictional advantages. Both hemp flavors and extracts will, therefore, be seen in an increasing variety of product launches within the upcoming year,” Hoffmann adds.

Meanwhile, this years’ fragrance Spark trends will look to new luxury, taking inspiration from fashion, art and music as well as holistic beauty routines from the inside-out and being mindful of the environmental impact. 

In today’s society, anything goes, from the hyper-masculine to hyper-feminine, encompassing and experimenting with everything in between in a non-judgmental manner while multi-sensorial engagement and technology help delve deeper into the different dimensions of fragrance. Ingredients and concepts that were once considered vices or even forbidden are being used to bring complexity and beauty to fragrance, notes the company. 

Edited by Gaynor Selby