bake - November/December 2023 - 36

foodservice
Honey Inhibits
Mold Growth
Honey keeps foods moist and serves as an amazing humectant,
providing a significant advantage over dry sweeteners, especially
in bakery foods, according to the National Honey Board.
Honey prevents moisture transfer.
Another key advantage is that honey inhibits mold growth.
The low pH of honey and its hydrogen peroxide component inhibit
numerous strains of bacteria growth.
The color and flavor of honeys differ depending on the nectar
source (the blossoms) visited by the honeybees, according
to the National Honey Board. In fact, there are more than 300
unique types of honey available in the United States, each originating
from a different floral source. Honey color ranges from
nearly colorless to dark brown, and its flavor varies from delectably
mild to distinctively bold, depending on where the honeybees
buzzed.
2024 trend predictions
Not only is experimentation with flavors from around the world
ongoing from a taste perspective, but consumers are open
to richer cultural experiences from food, according to 2024
trend predictions set forward by Specialty Food Association's
Trendspotter Panel, which is made up of professionals from diverse
segments of the specialty food world.
Some tried-and-true flavors never die but cycle back into
the spotlight when the timing is right to reinvent or re-evaluate
unexplored facets of this particular flavor. In the coming year,
peach as a flavor and ingredient will excite consumers with
some new variations and re-interpretation, said the panel. While
increasingly used in traditional categories like jams and teas,
peach is also showing up in baked goods like the 2023 SFA sofi
Awards New Product winner, Peach-Lavender Bundtlet from Lily
Maude's.
Black Sesame, ube, and milk tea - three iconic Asian flavors
- will follow the path of matcha and continue to enter a more
familiar sphere among makers and consumers. These flavors are
cropping up in new and unexpected formats, such as the milktea-filled
donut and ube hot chocolate from Bear Donut in the
Penn District of New York City.
36 < NOV-DEC 2023 | bakemag.com
As people explore, they are becoming more deeply aware of
more obscure regional ingredients and recipes. " In all corners of
the US, restaurants featuring lesser-known cuisines and specific
dishes within those cuisines will prime consumers to realize that
it's actually quite easy and accessible to try new things, " says
Melanie Bartelme of Mintel.
Consumers will continue to look for ways to make the most of
the flavor and quality of their food and drink while becoming more
open to using shortcuts that can help them easily achieve this.
Convenience extends beyond at-home meal prep. On-thego
convenience will also continue to drive innovation with lives
back to busy schedules.
" Maximizing pleasure and minimizing stress, as one Trendspotter
put it, encapsulates the panel's picks for 2024, " says Denise
Purcell, vice president, resource development, for SFA. " Maximizing
pleasure-in the forms of simple ingredients to global flavors
to upscaling the everyday-and minimizing stress, whether
that means slowing down, seeking convenience or value, helping
to address environmental worries, or finding ways to boost
health and mood, are all reflected in the emerging and continuing
trends we expect to impact store shelves and restaurant
menus in the coming year. "
Other key trends include Calabrian chili peppers, as well as tahini.
Chiles continue to trend but the market has crested on Sriracha
and Gochujang so marketers are eager for the next thing
to capture imaginations and tastebuds. Calabrian chili peppers
are appearing in both conventional and slightly unconventional
products: pasta sauce, hot sauce, cured meats, snacks, relish,
and hot honey.
Awareness of tahini as a flavor in its own right is a relatively
fast-growing phenomenon. It's been increasingly viewed and applied
outside of the Middle Eastern specialty lens.
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bake - November/December 2023

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