The flavors and colors landscape, for many years, has been made up of naturally-sourced sensory components which don’t clutter labels with unknown or untrusted ingredients. Leading formulators have stepped up to the plate to offer new supplements, bars, and beverages that deliver on taste expectations.
 
Exploratory palates are heading in a plant-based direction. Popularity of new ingredients, in novel delivery methods, challenges formulators when it comes to telling a sensory story. Providing visual appeal, masking off-notes, and infusing natural ingredients can help add to the functionality of products.
 
“Colors and flavors are complicated, especially from natural sources like herbs, flowers, fruits, and roots. From safety to sensory attributes, there are many challenges to consider,” said Brian Zapp, managing director of Applied Food Sciences (AFS). “Our body naturally brings together a quartet of senses in taste, smell, texture, and sight to complete our overall sensory experience. Despite being mastered over decades of using synthetic dyes and essences, the game becomes increasingly difficult as products embrace a more natural space.”
 
Flavor and color, well ahead of any kind of perceived health benefit, is the first thing that people experience when they consume a food, beverage, or supplement. They may look for the most appealing colors while scanning shelves, and expect alignment between flavor and color, as well as health benefit.
 
Consumer research shows there’s a variety of ways consumers link color and taste to certain attributes such as energy, relaxation, indulgence, and other facets of overall well-being. 
 
“It may seem obvious, but making sure the color matches the perception for that specific flavor is extremely important,” said Caroline Schroeder, marketing communications manager of Lycored’s Food Division. “We eat with our eyes first, so if you are producing a strawberry flavored food or beverage, the hue needs to match the consumer’s preconceived idea of what that looks and tastes like. Without meeting those initial expectations, consumers will not be as likely to purchase.”
 
An estimated 75-95% of the taste experience is actually through the sense of smell, said Zapp. “But few realize that both our taste and smell are greatly influenced by how a product looks, and that is where solubility has a significant impact. Even before consuming a product, most people don’t realize that we are visually judging the appearance of the product and drawing a preconceived conclusion on its taste based on the past. So when a product appears to have a certain color, viscosity, sediment, etc., consumers are positively or negatively going to judge a product.”
 
Zapp added that texture is often understated when it comes to the importance of how flavor can be diluted or intensified. “That first bite or sip will have a texture that releases aroma volatiles in our body and can literally change how we perceive the product’s taste and smell,” he said. “Certain textures will make flavors more intense, others will add a perception of being too weak or diluted, and they can all completely turn a consumer off.”
 
Keeping up to date with the kinds of sensory experiences consumers are fascinated with in the moment is crucial, especially in the arena of functional foods and beverages. “Natural flavors, organic flavors, and natural sweeteners are of interest to consumers as well as recognized clean label ingredients, according to a nationwide survey we conducted,” said Pamela Oscarson, consumer insights manager at FONA. “Taste and ingredients are the top attributes influencing product purchase, but consumers are even willing to pay more for recognizable ingredient lists, all-natural claims, and products with no artificial ingredients.”
 

The Post-Pandemic Palate
Compared to the typical yearly shifts in flavor and color trends that come with this ever-changing marketplace, the COVID-19 pandemic has had an acute effect on the kinds of attributes and sensory experiences consumers want. Additionally, a sizeable portion of today’s nutraceutical marketplace is made up of new entrants, so flavors must invoke curiosity but also be carefully crafted to appeal to target audiences.
 
“Especially in light of COVID-19, consumer health trends will be driving natural flavor inspiration for the foreseeable future,” said Phil Caputo, marketing and consumer insights manager at Virginia Dare. “Dark berries such as acai, elderberry, and goji are known as rich sources of antioxidants, while ginger and mushrooms are known for anti-inflammatory properties. By integrating wellness flavors into their applications, beverage brands can underscore their focus on targeted nutrition categories such as immunity, brain health, aging, and digestion. In fact, a Nutrition Business Journal article posits that the immunity supplement category will experience 25% growth this year as a result of COVID-19. A sour flavor with a health halo, such as pomegranate or kombucha, can appeal to flavor preference trends while also highlighting an application’s functional status. Nutty flavor profiles, such as avocado and chia, combine well with healthy fats in nutritional snack bars and shake mixes. When it comes to wellness flavors, formulators have a broad palette available and should be emboldened to experiment with innovative combinations and formats.”
 
Flavors that evoke feelings of nostalgia, indulgence, energy, and holistic health are among the thematic trends for consumers of late. Unique and distinctive fruit and herbal flavors can also impart a degree of novelty.
 
For others, there’s comfort in familiarity, said Alex Massumoto, marketing associate at Synergy Flavors, Inc. “A great example of this was the resurgence of cereals; 28% of adults in the U.S. are buying more cereal since the COVID-19 pandemic started, according to Mintel. This nostalgic trend is also impacting flavors in nutrition as we are seeing an increase in nutrition brands developing products and entire lines exploring nostalgic, but particularly cereal flavors such as fruity cereal, milk, cereal, and cinnamon toast crunch.”
 
This is presenting a paradox between the old and the new, according to Alex Amann, junior flavorist at Prinova. “As older consumers are looking for a more sophisticated experience in their food and beverages, nostalgic flavors like birthday cake, rocket pop, and red velvet are being used in nutritional products to increase consumer appeal. Co-branding with legacy brands like Sour Patch Kids in a pre-workout or Chips Ahoy in a vegan protein gives older consumers an easier entry into an otherwise unfamiliar product category.”
 
Amann said that young consumers are fueling the growth of bolder profiles, such as spicy ingredients like chili peppers and curries. “Consumers are feeling more adventurous and are trying new and exciting flavor profiles, allowing flavorists to create profiles that bridge the gap between familiar and exotic. Profiles that use extracts of jalapeno, guajillo, habanero, and poblano add interesting depth to a flavor profile while driving consumer appeal.”
 
During times of stress, comfort-food type flavors, or nostalgic flavor types, have become increasingly popular noted Heather Young, account manager at Mother Murphy’s Flavors, a supplier of over 65,000 flavors for the functional food and beverage industry. “These classic flavors remind us of a simpler time. Some flavors that align with this trend are cinnamon roll, s’mores, hot chocolate, peanut butter, banana pudding, apple pie, chocolate chip cookie, blueberry cobbler, and chocolate brownie. Nostalgic flavors work very well with functional food and beverage applications as they deliver an indulgent flavor profile in a ‘better for you’ food or beverage.”
 
At the same time, consumers are tapping into more exploratory sensibilities, seeking out emerging and exotic ingredients and flavor profiles that might be outside of their comfort zone. “The flavor popularity of turmeric, matcha, elderberry, and ginger are established examples,” Caputo said. “Current influential ingredient categories include antioxidant-rich super foods/berries, super powders, teas, medicinal mushrooms, and ingredients with healthy fats. Actual product categories driving functional flavors are kombucha and fermented products, protein and greens drinks, herbal teas, tonics, elixirs, and cold-pressed juices.”
 
Popular functional flavors overall recently include acai, aronia, bilberry, blackberry, blueberry, elderberry, goji, and pomegranate in the fruits space, he said. For digestive health products, Caputo pointed to mints such as peppermint. He also noted significant popularity of sour flavors linked to fermented drinks or antioxidants, and earthy flavors with anti-inflammatory and antioxidant connotations, such as cocoa, ginger, matcha, mushrooms, and turmeric.
 

Top Trends to Watch
Amann said he considers fermentation to be the most exciting technology driving innovation and causing disruption in the flavors and colors landscape. “As we start to understand the chemical makeup of plant proteins and functional ingredients, the ability to generate novel materials via fermentation will be the key to creating customized nutritional products that are affordable and scalable,” he said. “Using fermentation, companies are tapping a microorganism’s natural metabolic process and optimizing proteins for a variety of market applications, from protein supplements to vegan substitutes for dairy and meat products. Fermentation processes allow manufacturers to customize the amino acid profile of a product, delivering a complete protein similar to meat, poultry, and fish.
 
Some of the top-trending herbal flavors today are taking a more floral turn, Young said (e.g., hibiscus, chamomile, orange blossom, rose, and elderflower). “Herbal and botanical flavors provide complexity and depth while fruit flavors contribute balance and sweetness that create a unique flavor combination,” Young said. “These flavors are best when used as a background note and paired with a fruit flavor. This pairing delivers an unexpected twist on traditional beverage flavors.”
 
Some novelty flavors consumers are gravitating toward include yuzu, calamansi, quince, starfruit, pink guava, mango, ube, coconut, cherimoya, and pomelo, according to Young. While consumers on the whole are interested in unique flavor profiles such as these, they catch the greatest degree of interest from Millennials and Gen Z.
 
When it comes to reliability, crowd-pleasing flavors which have an inherent health connotation for consumers include pomegranate, dark chocolate, lemon, matcha, almond, ginger, turmeric, pumpkin spice, berry, and citrus flavors, Young said.
 
From a health platform perspective, consumers are most interested in immunity, heart health, and bone and joint health, according to Oscarson. “In addition, we are also seeing that consumers are interested in purchasing products that contain botanicals (56%), adaptogens (57%), and nootropics (59%). There is definitely an educational opportunity for consumers in the overall familiarity of these three classes of functional ingredients, but the overall interest in the functional benefits that they provide is present in consumers.”
 
According to Caputo, “Botanicals are emerging across all nutritional drinks and snack supplements such as hydration drinks, gummies, candy, chocolate, and relaxation drinks.”
 
More than ever, formulators feel encouraged to mix and match flavors, or swap out a more conventional ingredient for something with a bit more novelty and functional connotation. “Think mashups, hybrids, and ingredient swaps for creative functional flavor development inspiration—a chia almond butter and elderberry jelly bar, mocha mushroom protein drink, apple cider vinegar strawberry basil kombucha gummies, or a spiced vanilla turmeric avocado oatmilk latte meal replacement,” Caputo said.
 
There’s been a good deal of momentum in matching citrus and fruit flavors with novelty ingredients, which have been leading the charge throughout the pandemic, said Schroeder. Additionally, the candy-like experience of gummy supplements is appealing to a wave of supplement newcomers who began taking nutritional products to support their health during the health crisis. “Our teams have seen a number of requests for natural colors for items all the way from gummies to beverages, where not only is coloring a beverage essential, but also the pulp it may contain. Over the last year, we’ve noticed a surge in requests for colors for gummy supplements where pinks, reds, oranges, and yellows are the desired shades, and we feel this directly coincides with the pandemic and the health awareness it has created. It’s not always possible for a consumer to swallow a large capsule, and gummies are vibrant shades similar to candy, creating a delivery system that’s appealing to all age groups.”
 
On the topic of gummies, Caputo said flavors such as dark berries and superfruits, as well as botanicals, have all seen a major boost due to a groundswell of immune support products.
 
Zapp’s top trend of today in the realm of flavors is Earth, he said, indicating that what most consider to be “off-notes” might actually work in harmony with an overall taste profile. “Natural flavors will bring some earthy elements that can be pungent and bitter, but that is not necessarily a bad thing,” Zapp said. “According to Google, earthy flavors have shown 25% growth and are trending as the most prominent flavor searches across the beverage category. Consumers also perceive earthiness and bitterness as being healthier.”
 
He believes that adding earthy and other challenging flavor dimensions to more indulgent products create a “puzzle for the mouth to figure out,” and that, combined with the newly-marketable aspects of texture, can play a pivotal role in how consumers experience food and beverages. 
 
“Luckily for formulators, on-trend earth-tones like turmeric can complement a variety of flavors as well,” Zapp continued. “Being fortunate enough to work with thousands of food and supplement products, we have seen a few winning combos of this nature. The best way to describe this is by thinking of it as balancing the palate. For instance, a kombucha company we work with makes a pineapple/turmeric/lion’s mane flavor. Pineapple can be too sweet, and when combined with kombucha, it can be over-the-top. But by grounding those top notes with our turmeric powder and the mushrooms, they have successfully created a more complex puzzle for our taste buds to figure out. Another great example was a recent project where a craft distiller canned a lavender turmeric spritzer. These flavor pairings allow gravity to draw an otherwise herbal fragrant-forward note around your tongue and ground it with the earthy, musky rooted element in turmeric.”
 
Doing More with Less
Consumers today are savvy, and more demanding when it comes to their food and beverage choices overall. The same is true when it comes to the particulars of color and flavor ingredients. While natural sourcing was once enough for large-scale appeal, there is now an added pressure to ensure flavor and color components can fit within organic and non-GMO product profiles.
 
The onus on formulators to incorporate natural flavors into formulations has provided a major boost for botanical extracts. “An often overlooked appeal that drives consumers’ interest is functional benefits,” Amann said. “Energy, immunity, and relaxation are examples of physiological effects that can be elicited by clean-label ingredients that also provide flavor and color. Acerola cherry powder, for example, is extremely high in antioxidants and vitamin C for immunity claims, but also contributes color and flavor to the product […] Some of these botanical extracts have perceived functionality beyond flavors, as consumers look for multi-benefit food and beverages […] Expect flavor profiles like black currant, elderflower, and orange blossom to be combined with other berry, botanical, and citrus profiles to highlight these botanical ingredient blends.”
 
Consumer focus is now even honing in on the less-functional ingredients present on a label, said Rachel Dannemeyer, senior nutrition application technologist at Synergy Flavors. Survey results suggest that consumer interest in products with no artificial colors or flavors almost tripled over the past decade. “Consumers want to pronounce and know exactly where the ingredient comes from. This can be tricky for tablet and capsule manufacturers since ingredients used for ease in production are the ones that are difficult for the consumer to understand. For tablets and capsules, traditionally, artificial colors have been used. However, natural colors are increasing in popularity. This makes manufacturing a tablet or capsule more difficult since a developer needs to use significantly more color to give a similar visual impact as an artificial color.”
 
Furthermore, the clean label movement demands that flavor formulators do more with less. “They are looking for products with higher quality ingredients, and fewer ingredients,” Young said. “Sustainable proteins are also key. This can create a challenge for developers as they try to formulate a product that not only tastes great but can remain stable throughout the shelf life of the product. Flavors and bitter blockers can help to significantly increase the palatability and acceptability of a functional food or beverage.”
 
Luckily for formulators, extraction technology has come a long way in separating active compounds from botanical raw materials, allowing for separation of both bioactives and flavors to create natural flavors with function at greater solubility.
 
“Ginger and turmeric are great examples of this,” Zapp said. “AFS’s highly soluble extracts remove the share of these insoluble fibers and non-essential plant matter to help make these flavors more realistic to incorporate into formulations at scale. Circumventing the labor required to typically juice these flavors from the root is reason enough to make the switch, saving hours of overhead and eliminating lots of waste. Even in a juice, or micronized powder, ginger or turmeric will eventually fall out of the solution leaving sediment and grittiness in the finished formula. There is also a great variance of potency from crop to crop. With our branded PurGinger and PurTurmeric, manufacturers can achieve complete solubility, brilliant color, and complex consistent flavor while cutting costs significantly.”
 
On the colors end, keeping things natural comes with its own set of visual challenges. “While every consumer is not looking for a natural color on a label, a good number are—making this an important and growing audience,” Schroeder said. “For our super-stable natural colors, we find the best way to market our products is by focusing on the entire package our customers can expect and the story they can share with their customers.”
 
With a business model centered around the belief that everyone has a right to wellness (and to purchase sustainable products), Schroeder said Lycored can share with its customers the important factors consumers are interested in—such as vertical integration, a zero-waste production system, the global acceptance of lycopene and beta-carotene, kosher and halal certifications, and non-GMO/vegan status.
 
“Some of the most common reasons natural colors might create a challenge to formulators are high heat, pH instability, and light exposure, which all work together to create shelf-life instability,” Schroeder said. “At Lycored we’ve kept this in mind when developing our super-stable natural color portfolio. We rigorously test our products in a wide range of applications, subjecting them to the harsh processing conditions they would typically undergo, followed by evaluation in controlled storage conditions to ensure pH, heat, and light stability.”
 
Schroeder said that natural colors are also inherently variable based on the seasons, and certain shade changes are inevitable. “This makes it important to partner with a team that can deliver consistent hue and stability while also working with you to educate the consumer to accept some natural variability.”
 
Foodie culture, and social media in general, is adding a greater importance to the color of foods than ever before, and perhaps the industry could look to social media analytics when it comes to coloring their products, Zapp said. “When 80% of human experience is through the eyes, we start to understand that color is critical,” he said. “Consumers want to snap pictures of vibrant, colorful drinks and food, and instill FOMO (fear of missing out) in their peers on social media. Pantone Color Institute studied over 8 million Instagram photos and found that blue beats reds and pinks by 24% more likes. Meanwhile, the fastest-growing colors for food and beverage launches featuring colors were yellow, orange, and purple.”
 
Mounting Innovation Challenges
Functional foods and beverages fortified with plant proteins, superfoods, and other challenging ingredients are on track to become even more influential in the future. Flavor and color formulators are challenged to come up with novel solutions to mask off-notes and bitterness.
 
Meanwhile, consumers are seeking out “health halo” products with exotic flavors and ingredients appearing in novel delivery formats. Creativity and advanced formulation techniques are paramount to provide best-in-class products that taste and look great.  “Off notes from functional ingredients can sometimes overpower the overall benefit coming from the product,” said Oscarson. “Using proprietary technologies and focusing on flavor pairings, we are able to mask the unpleasant tastes associated with ingredients to deliver on the high taste expectations of consumers.”
 
“Plant-based proteins and fortified foods are a huge trend right now as consumers are looking for more sustainable protein sources and healthier options to increase immunity and boost overall health and wellness,” Young said. “While plant-based protein sources and other immunity boosting products check the box of ‘better for you,’ they can be difficult to work with considering the off notes that some contain. Bitter blockers and masking agents play a big role in ensuring these are palatable and acceptable to consumers. Mother Murphy’s offers an effective and low cost-in-use bitter blocker that works well to reduce off notes from plant-based proteins and other functional ingredients.”
 
Synergy flavors conducted a study in August 2020 to assess hang-ups consumers may have about plant-based functional foods and plant-based alternatives. The company found texture was the biggest deciding factor, with aftertastes and bitterness ranking just below as significant aspects of taste challenges. 
 
“With the results, and drawing on years of experience in delivering captivating taste performance in high protein products, Synergy Flavors has established an analytical-based approach to help fuel plant protein product development and mask those taste challenges,” Massumoto said. “By identifying the perceived volatile flavor compounds in key plant-based offerings, our flavor creation team was able to develop solutions to optimize flavor profiles specifically formulated to perfectly pair with plant-based proteins. With these solutions, formulators will be able to deliver a much more aligned product to what consumers are expecting. There is a long way to come in this ever-evolving food and beverage space, but this is just one of the few great initiatives that Synergy Flavors and the flavors industry have in place to meet consumer taste requirements.” 
 
Caputo said that with plenty of “acidity, aftertaste, astringency, bitterness, chalkiness, and metallic notes,” to worry about from dairy and dairy alternative analogs, vitamins, minerals, proteins, amino acids, fatty acids, and high-intensity sweeteners, it’s also important to understand that everyone’s palate is different.
 
“Bitter taste, for example, is a positive attribute to some consumers regardless of the product, while others find it appealing only in specific items like coffee. Some find any bitterness completely appalling,” he said. “There’s no one-size-fits-all solution for taste making, so the best solutions come from collaborating with market experts.” 
 
There’s more than meets the eye to countering flavor challenges, Amann said. “If a novel ingredient is bitter, for example, what is causing the bitterness? What type of molecule is it? The challenge for the flavors industry is the identification, isolation, and production of novel compounds for bitter blocking and off-flavor modulation, as well as working with regulatory bodies to achieve FEMA (Flavor & Extract Manufacturers Association) GRAS status. New ingredients need to be fully vetted before they are used in foods, and the process to fully approve a novel bitter blocking or off-flavor modulating compound can take months. The time-to-market for novel nutritional ingredients is much shorter than the time it takes to develop food and beverage products utilizing the ingredients while maintaining favorable sensory characteristics.”  

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Mike Montemarano has been the Associate Editor of Nutraceuticals World since February 2020. He can be reached at MMontemarano@RodmanMedia.com.