Flavour education
Bell Flavors and Fragrances hosted its sixth Flavorology event on Friday 15 May at the Chopping Block in the Merchandise Mart in Chicago in the US. Flavorology is a gathering of Bell’s R&D, application specialists, industry chefs and key customers, to educate on new technologies and flavour concepts.
“Bell has strategically been focusing on creative innovation across all of our flavour categories particularly supporting our new Spark trend programme. This year’s flavorology not only showcased some of Bell’s forward-looking flavours but also many of our progressive technology systems,” says Kelli Heinz, director of marketing & industry affairs.
Bell’s Flavorology event was broken into two parts. The first consisted of tabletops highlighting Bell’s latest flavour and technology developments, which were inspired by Bell’s Spark trend programme. The second part, CheFusion, brought together industry renowned chefs to create innovative cuisines showcasing Bell flavours.
Bell’s tabletops consisted of finished products inspired by three of Bell’s Spark trends. The first was ‘Be Fit’. Not skinny. Not fat. Not thin. Products featured included protein gummies, vitamin fortified hard candy and tropical lentil beverage.
The second trend featured products from Spark’s ‘From Scratch’ trend. Whether fermenting, crafting, making pasta or smoking meats, consumers yearn to return to the authentic traditions of their grandparents. This tabletop previewed Bell’s line of craft beer flavors in various applications, including ice cream, chip seasoning and barbeque sauce.
The third Spark trend highlighted was ‘Well Traveled Kitchen – Southeast Asia and Middle East’. Consumers’ pantries mirror their travels and taste ambitions. Southeast Asian cuisine is born from cultural influences of many neighboring countries; creating bold and complex flavour profiles. Flavors highlighted included red curry coconut, Thai kumquat lemongrass and kimchi. With the number of people from the Middle East living in the US increasing 51 per cent since 2000, Bell expects the flavors of this region to continue to increase. Flavours highlighted included Moroccan Spice and Ethiopian Spice.
Other technologies presented during the tabletops included organic compliant flavours and flavour enhancers to provide sensations of sweetness and dairy notes in products that lack mouthfeel for low sugar, dairy and bakery products.