The tried and true favorites are not going away, but there is always room to create frozen desserts that include not only a “wow” factor, but a “now” factor, too.
Norse Dairy Systems www.norse.com Now there’s a cookie and crème inclusion that allows you to use up to 15% to 20% fewer pounds of cookies yet yields the same amount of finished product as today’s typical cookie inclusion. The benefits of this product go beyond reduced finished product costs, too. With approximately 9% fewer calories, 28% lower fat and 15% less sugar, compared to the standard cookie inclusion, this new product is definitely something to include in your ice cream creations.
Innovation is used to create hype, differentiate brands and increase market share for products. Look to “mom and pop” or boutique brands for trends in ethnic flavor combinations and product forms, such as mochi and gelato. In the near future, we are all hoping to see the return of real ice cream in a true half-gallon package.
Pecan Deluxe Candy Co. www.pecandeluxe.com Pecan Deluxe identifies innovative flavors, textures and functions in ethnic foods, trendy restaurants, European and other market offerings — then formulates creative approaches to incorporate these ideas in frozen desserts. Contrasting ingredients — sweet and salty — evolve into a new sensory appeal with grilled pears and praline pecans in a toasted coconut frozen dessert. All natural and reduced fat, the grilled pears have a distinctive roasted note melding with the caramelized sugars in New Orleans-style pralines. The coconut adds a rich tropical top note to the flavor experience.
Globalization is driving consumer interest in ethnic flavors, tropical fruits and single-origin ingredients such as cocoa. Conversion of pastries, candies and confections into frozen dessert inclusions is growing. Chewy nougats, chocolate pie chips and molded and shaved chocolates will provide interesting textures. Gelato will grow with European-style highly decorative ingredients such as nuts, fruits, biscotti and meringue pieces. Molecular gastronomy and memory-sensory mapping will help food technologists create frozen desserts tied to childhood food and olfactory nostalgia.
Sensient Technologies www.sensient-tech.com Sensient has developed frozen dessert concepts with an emphasis on flavors that are familiar, but with a twist. There is strong consumer acceptance for taking a component within a flavor system with which everyone can identify, and meshing it with something less familiar in frozen desserts. Some great combinations are strawberry with tomato, cranberry with hibiscus, caramel with rosemary, chocolate with mascarpone cheese, and raspberries with blood orange. These are bold combinations, inspired by culinary trends.
Creative flavors from both the beverage and restaurant industries will continue to be the drivers for new frozen dessert flavor introductions. In the future, there will be more pure and natural options with simplified ingredient declarations; savory-flavored frozen desserts that contain a mixture of sweet and spicy; and manufacturers associating their brands with popular consumer issues like “green” manufacturing practices and Fair Trade ingredients.
SensoryEffects Flavor Systems www.sensoryeffects.com SensoryEffects has developed a way to deliver texture to an ice cream without having to use fruit feeder inclusions by incorporating crunchy crumbs into a variegate. Imagine key lime pie ice cream with a crisp graham cracker crust variegate. Or how about duplicating mom’s pretzel salad in ice cream with a crispy pretzel variegate? The company has also developed several systems to create that new tart yogurt flavor profile in a reduced-fat mix. Top note the yogurt with fresh fruit purees for the same experience as the high-priced yogurt shops.
Flavor inspirations come from everywhere — a favorite salad, cake or exotic foreign dessert can be translated into an ice cream. Some of the frozen dessert trends to look for in the near future include more nutritionally enhanced frozen desserts, portable novelties that appeal to adults, and more frozen dairy alternative bases such as soy to service the growing population of lactose intolerance.
Star Kay White www.starkaywhite.com Cookie crumb variegates in flavors such as chocolate, graham, shortbread, peanut butter and sugar cone are pumpable liquids that set up to yield a particulate-like eating character. Remarkably, these products retain their crunchy texture throughout shelf life. They have proven themselves in the marketplace as the best way to replicate the crumb crust in a pie concept, add crunch to Cookies ‘n Cream or simply add decadence.
The greatest driver of innovation in frozen desserts is the globalization of food. As we assimilate foods from other cultures, we are exposed to novel ingredients, combinations of ingredients, and the resulting flavors. One of the best examples is the use of spice with chocolates. The spice varies by ethnicity, while the familiar — the chocolate — stays constant.
Tate & Lyle www.tateandlyle.com Interest in healthy indulgence is growing among manufacturers and consumers. Tate & Lyle has developed a reduced-fat ice cream with 6% butterfat that is comparable in flavor and texture to premium ice cream. The ice cream is formulated with a unique blend of functional ingredients, has low-process viscosities and is frozen using standard freezing and hardening equipment. Tate & Lyle’s stabilizer blend provides heat-shock resistance. Reduced fat means cost savings, as well as lower calories. A specially processed cocoa powder also provides cost savings in chocolate products through reduced cocoa usage.
Premium products continue to be introduced but recently there has been more activity in finding ways to reduce fat and milk solids through formulation and new equipment and processing schemes. In addition, non-standard products are becoming more and more numerous, in part due to the ability to use cost-effective formulation strategies when not constrained by laws on product identity standards.
TIC Gums www.ticgums.com Tic Gums is working on premium, reduced-fat ice cream without any of the usual apologies, such as coarse texture, icy, fast melting, low flavor, etc. It is made with a blend of hydrocolloids and emulsifiers designed to make reduced-fat ice cream eat more like regular ice cream. Following full-scale production and comprehensive sensory testing, the company is proud to say that consumers liked the prototype samples more than the national brand. They showed no loss of texture, flavor or increase in iciness following freeze/thaw stress.
Consumers continue to show interest in foods that will help to manage their weight but they desire the simple rewards and indulgences that are familiar to them. In short they are looking for something that reminds them of happy memories without all of the guilt. Sales numbers indicate a flat or declining frozen dessert category overall, but increases in novelties, light options, frozen yogurts and sherbet/sorbet. Consumers are purchasing more items that allow for portion control and/or healthier alternatives. The future of frozen desserts is an evolutionary change in product identity.
Tree Top Inc. www.treetopingredients.com It is now possible to enjoy an indulgent frozen novelty without any of the guilt. Pomegranate vanilla yogurt bars provide a sophisticated flavor profile for even the most discriminating consumers. The bars also offer the health benefits of highly concentrated levels of antioxidants found in pomegranates, paired with a luscious, naturally sweetened yogurt base.
The infusion of exotic flavors with superfruits is a major driver of innovation in the frozen dessert category. This is becoming more apparent as the more earthy flavors of superfruits such as acai are becoming more widely accepted by consumers in the indulgent category. In the near future we will see more simple and clear labeling and high-end indulgent desserts.
Rx: Ice Cream Daily to Relieve SymptomsA medical ice cream developed by New Zealand-based Fonterra Co-operative Group and The University of Auckland has shown early promise for combating some of the unpleasant side effects of chemotherapy. The ice cream, known as ReCharge, has started Phase 2 clinical trials in New Zealand to assess its effectiveness against chemotherapy-induced diarrhea and anemia. Even better, the “dessert with a difference” could also reduce weight loss and damage to the immune system during chemotherapy.
A number of New Zealand oncology centers are taking part in the trial. Every day, patients consume a 100-gram tub of strawberry ice cream containing two active dairy ingredients that combine to address the unpleasant side effects of chemotherapy. The trial’s manager, David Perez, says ReCharge ice cream has been welcomed by medical professionals for its tasty and palatable format, as chemotherapy patients can often lose their appetite.
Jeremy Hill, chief technology officer at Fonterra, says the development of ReCharge was the result of linking Fonterra’s team of 350 dairy researchers with the ice cream making experts at Fonterra’s company, Tip Top, and the medical expertise of the University of Auckland. “It was a tremendous technical challenge to develop this ice cream. We drew on many years of research into the health-promoting properties of milk and worked with Tip Top to incorporate a specific type of interacting milk fat and dairy protein, into a great-tasting, easily palatable ice cream for people who find it difficult to consume food,” he says. “We worked through our LactoPharma partnership with The University of Auckland to screen the dairy components for health effects. The two bio-active milk components developed for ReCharge have the unique potential to assist the body in coping with the side effects of chemotherapy.”
LactoPharma Associate Professor Geoff Krissansen, adds: “Earlier trials in the laboratory found that weight loss and damage to the gut lining were significantly reduced by the active ingredients in ReCharge. There were also marked improvements to the immune system and blood markers.”
When ReCharge goes on the market, it may be the first ice cream ever that you need a prescription to buy.
Do the World a Flavor Winner Ben & Jerry’s, Burlington, Vt., once again turns a fan’s flavor dream into a sweet reality with the “Do The World A Flavor” competition. Wisconsin resident, Toni Gunnison, concocted a caramel ice cream with praline almonds and a caramel swirl. The flavor, which integrates Fair Trade almonds, was named Almond Delight by its creator.
Fifteen competition finalists spent a week with Fair Trade farmers at Conocado, a Fair Trade chocolate cooperative based in the Dominican Republic, with Ben & Jerry’s co-founders Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield. The finalists produced their flavor creation for a final judging while also participating in a local community project, building a playground for the local children.
The competition was held in spring 2009, and the winning nutty and creamy creation was picked from 100,000 flavor suggestions. Ben & Jerry’s has a long-standing tradition of turning fans’ suggestions into global successes, including iconic flavors such as Cherry Garcia and Chubby Hubby.
“Ben & Jerry’s has the best fans out there,” says Chief Flavor Guru Arnold Carbone. “Having one of them create our next special batch — and add another Fair Trade ingredient to the lineup we use is fairly nuts to some, but business as usual for us.”
The company had to tweak the name to avoid any possible trademark issues, and dubbed the concoction “Dulce Almond.” Dulce Almond will be available as a special batch flavor at Ben & Jerry’s Scoop Shops nationwide on a limited-time only basis in 2010.
