Vegetables & Fruits

Blackberry is 2014 Flavor of the Year

LinkedIn Pinterest Tumblr

Firmenich, the Geneva, Switzerland-headquartered flavors company, has announced thais blackberry has been designated as Flavor of the Year of the year for 2014.

The tasty fruit has been gaining popularity as health and nutrition have become a high priority for many consumers. In the family of so-called “super foods,” the blackberry itself is rich in antioxidants and other powerful nutrients. Its flavor profile is just as powerful and ucomplexity is what drives its appeal.

Berry flavors have always been popular, yet recently consumers are even more attracted to the interesting profile of blackberry. Firmenich says this reflects a more general consumer desire to explore and to push the boundaries within the safety of familiar concepts. Similar to last year’s flavor of the year – the refreshing lime – the blackberry stands out within its fruity family with a unique, intriguing profile, something that consumers continue to relate to in a world where being unique is something to celebrate.

“Consumers are becoming highly discerning in their preferences, opting for more and more complexity in flavor profiles. This has caused a natural evolution towards profiles such as blackberry,” said Hidemi Tashiro, a master flavorist at Firmenich.

David Lyon, director of Firmenich’s Global sensory team, a group responsible for analyzing the profiles of thousands of flavors each year, explained the appeal further: “According to AromaSphere, our proprietary tool to categorize the consumer language of flavor, the words that describe the profile of blackberry indicate the complexity of the flavor profile:  ripe, sweet, acidic, juicy, seedy, jammy, spicy, and even floral at low levels,” he said.

“These are the elements that interact with and complement each other, creating a complex profile with wide-reaching appeal,” added Tashiro.

Firmenich believes that the Millennials are helping to drive this trend towards blackberry. They are a group of consumers who, despite knowing exactly what they want, are also drawn to adventure. Blackberry, with its delicate nuances, has the ability to surprise the palate.

Beyond the traditional berry applications such as ice cream and dairy, Firmenich is seeing blackberry trends in other categories as well, noting Kashi’s Blackberry Graham cereal bars and McDonald’s new Blackberry Raspberry Fruit Tea Fusion as just a few examples.

Yet this trend goes beyond the world of retail and into restaurants as well. Firmenich cites menu items such as roasted rack of wild boar with a blackberry, sage and balsamic reduction; sweet potato quinoa cakes with blackberry salsa; and blackberry and fennel pizza as menu items recently spotted by their trend watchers around the world.

Because blackberry is so versatile, the company is seeing it married with other spices and fruits.  It pairs well with many other flavors including black pepper, apricot, champagne, citrus, plums, and ginger, just to a name a handful.