Ingredient Spotlight

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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.

Citrus flavors have long been popular among U.S. consumers, whether the flavors appear in an orange soda or Key Lime pie.

At picnics and other outdoor events during the summer and early fall, consumers have to watch out for bees that might crawl into their unattended beverage cans.

When playing Jenga, players have to carefully remove small wooden blocks to simplify a tower’s structure without pulling out the wrong block, which can cause the tower to topple. In some ways, formulating beverages is like playing a game of Jenga: Formulators add and remove certain elements to simplify beverage processing or meet consumer interests; however, if they pull out the wrong ingredient, the beverage’s structure can fall apart.

Although some people might use the word “vanilla” to describe events, people and objects that are ordinary or boring, researchers have found that people who like vanilla flavor actually are the life of the party.