Meat+Poultry - July 2017 - 48

INGREDIENT ISSUES

"Hot and spicy
is more than
just a trend.
It's part of who
we are and
what we eat
today."
- ANDREW HUNTER

48

SPICY VS. HOT
Chicago-based Mintel reports that the
descriptor "spicy," as it relates to "hot" climbed
8 percent between the third quarters of 2015
and 2016. What's key to note is that the word
spicy is used rather than hot, because heat is
not the focus. It's often the flavors combined
with the heat that differentiate the menu item
from similar products in the market.
This is what you find in the many variations
of barbecue found around the world. In the
US, barbecue in the Carolinas skews tangy
and spicy. This comes from the use of vinegar,
cayenne, black pepper, crushed red pepper, hot
sauce and yellow mustard. St. Louis barbecue,
on the other hand, tends to be quite sweet with
a bit of acid. This comes from a heavy tomato
base blended with the flavors of apple cider
vinegar, honey, and some onion and garlic.
Not too far away, Kansas City barbecue uses
a similar base but adds more layers of flavor
with smoke and molasses. In the Southwest,
Texans favor spice and heat, with just a hint
of sweetness. Here you will find tomato-based
sauces infused with an array of dried peppers,
along with some onion and Worcestershire.
Around the world, barbecue gets bolder.
In Latin America it's all about red chilis and
cilantro, while in Korea, black and chili
peppers combine with the Asian flavors of soy
sauce, sesame and ginger. The Middle East

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tends to be more fragrant than spicy heat,
relying on the flavors of cardamom, cinnamon,
cloves, cumin and garlic.
"We have gone beyond sweet heat barbecue
to provide unique flavor profiles that perform
well with varied meats," says Lisa Stern, vice
president of sales and marketing, Life Spice
Ingredients, Chicago. "For example, fermented
chili butter provides the tang of fermentation,
the smokiness of chilis and the creaminess of
butter. We also have a red pepper honey and
tamarind barbecue."
Aspen Burkhardt, regional sales manager
at Life Spice Ingredients, adds, "Hot honey is
trending. The honey is familiar, while the heat
level can vary by target market and application.
It works well on pork and chicken."
There are many varied ways to add heat
and spice to meat and poultry. Deciding on the
approach depends on the desired timing for the
consumer taste experience.
"The easiest way to develop a good hot
spicy note to meat products is to use the
three-pepper combination of black, red and
white," says Bruce Armstrong, research
and development manager, proteins at Life
Spice Ingredients. "The properly blended
combination will give a burst of spice on the tip
of the tongue with the black pepper, then carry
the heat through the mouth with the white
pepper and finally leave the throat with a mild
to hard hit of heat from the red pepper."
Megan Trent, marketing representative,
Gold Coast Ingredients, Commerce, California,
says, "Flavors that replicate the taste of
spices help with flavor enhancement and
flavor stability. Utilizing flavors can also help
companies innovate within the hot and spicy
trend with rare flavor profiles, while also
reducing costs incurred by using scarce or
relatively expensive raw ingredients."
Form matters, too.

© kitsananan Kuna - stock.adobe.com

Cayenne pepper is the
top trending spice today,
over caraway, saffron,
horseradish and turmeric.

thing in hot and spicy food. I call that 'Hot &
Spicy 3.0.'"
"There's an increasing interest in what
we're calling 'sensory overload' in the food
landscape today," says Roger Lane, marketing
manager of savory flavors, Sensient Flavors,
Hoffman Estates, Illinois. "Hot and spicy
flavors connect with consumers in a way that
a standard flavor cannot. It's the nose clearing,
the tongue tingling and even the burning on
their fingers that gets them excited about
eating something spicy."
The culinary experts with Kimpton Hotels
& Restaurants, San Francisco, agree that heat
- but unique layers of heat melded with global
flavors - is where the action is. In its 2017
forecast of flavor trends, the experts identified
"Turning Up the Heat" and "Spicing It Up,"
with cardamom, cumin and turmeric gaining
momentum as spices that add an extra kick to
any dish.
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Meat+Poultry - July 2017

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