Ingredient Spotlight

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As health and wellness trends continue to rise, more and more consumers are looking for natural options and checking the labels before they buy.

Whether it be for weight management, immune health or a number of other motivators, consumers understand the role health and wellness plays in their lives.

New and innovative products have helped contribute to SKU proliferation throughout the beverage industry, particularly within the craft beer and craft spirits markets. However, as these craft brewers and distillers look to push the envelope with their new releases, ingredient suppliers are looking to provide them with the tools they need to maintain that edge in the market.

Since the time coffee was introduced to North America during the Colonial period, it has continued to climb in popularity, according to the National Coffee Association.

With a call-out in a phrase like “as American as apple pie,” it is not a surprise that apple has become a staple in the American diet. However, apple’s popularity does not end with food selections. The fruit also has found a home within the beverage space.

When you take a swig out of that juice-based beverage or sports nutrition drink, chances are you are gulping down antioxidants as well — and that’s not a bad thing.

As a protest against British taxation, Samuel Adams and other colonists dumped chests of tea into Boston Harbor in what would come to be known as the Boston Tea Party on Dec. 16, 1773. However, from a beverage perspective, if someone hypothetically tasted the harbor water after the Boston Tea Party, this event could have been viewed as an early experimentation of blending tea and tea flavors in Puget Sound water.

Experts agree that the protein ingredients market is in full expansion — and isn’t showing any signs of slowing.

It was only a matter of time before hot and spicy ingredients made the transition from food to beverages, according to Lisa Demme, marketing director for Fona International, Geneva, Ill. Now, there’s no slowing the flavor profiles down, suppliers say.

Although artificial intelligence could be a wave of the future for retailers and plant operators, artificial ingredients might be a trend of the past for consumers.