Claire Phoenix is FoodBev Media managing editor – magazines. This is a personal blog and views expressed are her own.
As a trendwatcher I am always looking out for new flavours and seeing how more established flavours proliferate and cross over into new sectors.
At a recent event I opted for a cocktail entitled English Garden – a combination of gin, apple juice and elderflower – and was left wondering why it isn’t already available in a bottle.
I have been drinking Bottlegreen Elderflower since 2000 and Belvoir Farms’ version not long after, but mainly as a soft drink with sparkling water. I know that Hügo from Germany is a bottled elderflower cocktail that stormed to success there a few years ago. Just this week I spotted an elderflower cider on the supermarket shelf and I know it is being used in cocktail bars up and down the country. It adds natural sweetness and a floral piquancy that is second to none.
I took a look at our FoodBev.com site to see what has been going on in elderflower recently and saw that UK-based Koji Drinks has bolstered its sparkling soft drinks portfolio with the addition of a new Elderflower & Lime variant. Available in 330ml glass bottles, the new drink offers 14.8kcal and 3.5g of carbohydrates per 100ml portion. Koji Elderflower & Lime contains Japanese persimmon, goji berries, hops, cranberry, lemon zest and apple. The new drink also includes carbonated water and a range of natural flavours and concentrates, including elderflower, lime, apple, safflower and lemon.
Also on FoodBev.com is Hooper’s, which introduced a strawberry and elderflower beer style drink last spring with 4% alcohol and Bottlegreen’s new flavoured tonic waters come in two flavours: Elderflower Classic and Pomegranate & Elderflower.
Last year I tried elderflower’s sister plant, elderberry in the intense fruit drink BBerri from Virtus Natura in Chile, from the same plant – which as you can imagine is the complete opposite of this light, delicate refreshing flavour with rich, deep and earthy berry notes that is nowhere near as sweet. Both plants have so much more potential – if you are into beverage formulation whether beer, wine, soft drinks or cocktails I urge you to take a look.
Elderflower is moving into other categories too, with an exclusive cheese launch for Cheese Cellar from Quickes called Quickes Elderflower. Tom Chatfield, sales manager at Quickes, suggested adding elderflower to Cheddar after meeting Tracey Colley, retail account manager and exhibition co-ordinator at cheese and speciality food supplier Cheese Cellar. It was a combination that she thought would work well and has always wanted to try. The cheese has taken 18 months to develop, to ensure that the addition of elderflower created a top-quality cheese for Quickes, as this is an important new step for the business.
So who knows where elderflower is going to appear next. If you have any great plans for it do let us know. Could be a great entry for the IFE World Food Innovation Awards too.
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