These still exist today, but the trends for natural, E-number free products, premium variants with high-quality ingredients and ethnic foods are also finding their way into the cheese spreads category.
In line with developments in the food market as a whole, ‘naturalness’ is very popular in the cheese spreads sector and is a major sales proposition. Manufacturers are increasingly striving to use only natural flavours or to leave flavours out completely.
In some regions – Scandinavia, for instance – a label that’s free from flavours and colours has become a ‘must have’, which means that ingredient suppliers have to provide manufacturers with new solutions that enable them to satisfy these demands.
With this in mind, Frutarom has developed its natural solutions also in an E-number free version, fully tailored on the customer’s needs. The company’s VeriTaste technology is, for example, used to produce naturally wholesome ingredients.
Based on Ohmic heating, a very gentle heating process, it enables herbs and vegetables to keep their original shape, colour, crunch and taste profile, making additives largely unnecessary. This results in premium preparations with crunchy pieces that are as close to nature as possible, both visually and sensorially.
Ethnic food containing its corresponding ingredients is another major trend at the moment. In Frutarom’s labs, creative concepts that embrace this trend have already come to life, every single one of them tailor-made and especially created for each individual client.
Felix Kellenberger, head of development food systems at Frutarom, says: “There is no limit to the number of new varieties of spreadable cheese we can create. Usually, the client will come to us with a rough idea of what they would like. We will then work on this idea and create prototypes within a very short space of time.”
One example which came into being in the Frutarom labs is a cheese spread concept containing real Serrano, originating from Spain, and able to be labelled as such on the pack. Another current trend is for new herbal preparations that step away from the well beaten track of parsley and chives. Concepts containing a cross section of fresh alpine herbs, perhaps from a specific region are, for instance, possible.
Mediterranean preparations are a constant feature, but what would once have been a simple tomato-Mozzarella flavoured cheese could now contain grilled bell peppers, tomatoes, zucchini or aubergines, finely seasoned with Mediterranean herbs such as rosemary, sage or basil (organic, if requested).
It isn’t just herbs and vegetables that are in demand. Fish and seafood is on the menu, says Kellenberger. Shrimp, tuna, salmon, and so on, are supplied in all-in-one preparations that clients incorporate into their own recipes, minimising their own risk in terms of R&D investment and processing safety.
Although cheese spreads are becoming more creative, the decision to offer new and innovative products is still an important one for manufacturers wary of developing a marketing flop. Seasonal products or ‘products of the year’ enable manufacturers to test consumer acceptance of new varieties without over-committing themselves.
Frutarom’s tailored all-in-one preparations are ideal in this respect: they can be developed quickly so that manufacturers can react flexibly to new trends without having to invest in long-term development processes and test series.
Furthermore, the knowledge and expertise of the Frutarom team is present at every stage of every single cheese spread preparation’s development.
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