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Flavors of Change: Taste Trends Evolve in Pandemic’s Wake

The COVID-19 pandemic has upended many aspects of our daily lives, and it’s having quite the impact on the food and beverage industry, too. Food Technology Magazine explored the taste trends that are emerging through the pandemic in a recent article featuring Virginia Dare’s Marketing & Consumer Insights Manager Philip Caputo. “Functional flavors will shapeContinue reading “Flavors of Change: Taste Trends Evolve in Pandemic’s Wake”

Listen to our new podcast: Doing vanilla right is an art

Andy Warhol. Aretha Franklin. Frank Lloyd Wright. Virginia Dare. All artists have a different medium – ours is vanilla. For more than five generations, vanilla remains our life’s work. Historically the standard against which the rest of the industry’s quality is measured, our vanilla extracts, concentrates, and oleoresins deliver the rich and complex flavor and aromaContinue reading “Listen to our new podcast: Doing vanilla right is an art”

Final Proof: Flowers meet Flour

Nothing says the spring and summer like a field full of vibrant flowers. Why not capture that same feeling in baked goods? Baker’s Journal featured our Marketing & Consumer Insights Manager Philip Caputo in an article on the rise of botanical flavors in baked goods. “Bored with conventional fare, many consumers, especially Millennials, want anContinue reading “Final Proof: Flowers meet Flour”

How to naturally erase off-flavors in baked foods

Baking Business recently featured Virginia Dare on an article about overcoming off-tastes in baked goods. Whether working to delivered preferred taste in high-protein, reduced-sugar, or plant-based baked goods, your solutions is often tailor-made for your product. You can read the full article here, and please get in touch if we can help with your next plant-based product innovation!

Lemonade Stand: A taste collection to squeeze

Adored for its fresh citrus taste, sour-sweet profile, and childhood nostalgia, lemonade is the beverage to squeeze for flavor innovation. It’s the perfect platform for highlighting unique and exotic flavors like botanicals or tropical fruit. It’s ever-evolving, a hybrid hotspot, the darling of seasonal LTOs, a kid-friendly favorite, the sweetheart of sour—a MAGICAL profile that works everywhere! Fun-flavored RTD andContinue reading “Lemonade Stand: A taste collection to squeeze”

WEBINAR: Forever Young: How nostalgic, comforting flavor profiles can make your next innovative product memorable

An extension of the nostalgic trend of the past decade, childhood favorites and child-adulthood hybrids are associated with happiness, positive taste memories, and childhood bliss. From fruity cereal milk to gummy bear to rainbow sherbert, we have a portfolio to please the inner child. Whether for a performance nutrition product, a delicious beverage, or beyond,Continue reading “WEBINAR: Forever Young: How nostalgic, comforting flavor profiles can make your next innovative product memorable”

Nostalgic taste of vanilla shines as perennial favorite

When you ask someone to name their favorite flavor, you’re going to hear vanilla quite a bit. Despite it being so familiar, vanilla is an incredibly complex ingredient. Beverage Industry recently featured our Marketing & Consumer Insights Manager Philip Caputo in an article on this very topic! “The growers we work with understand that deliveringContinue reading “Nostalgic taste of vanilla shines as perennial favorite”

WHITE PAPER: Overcoming Flavor Challenges in Performance Nutrition

Sports nutrition brands face three primary product development challenges: 1) selecting ingredients that effectively enhance athletes’ performance and recovery 2) offering distinctive, compelling products that stand out among an over-abundance of choices and 3) delivering a delicious, satisfying experience that will inspire repeat purchase. Success in this category depends not only on understanding how trendingContinue reading “WHITE PAPER: Overcoming Flavor Challenges in Performance Nutrition”

Ingredients for coffee, tea and juice provide new opportunities

The past few years have been exciting ones for the tea and coffee spaces. Virginia Dare’s Marketing & Consumer Insights Manager Philip Caputo was recently featured in a Dairy Foods article on the trends shaping these two exciting markets. We’re anticipating lots of hybridization in these categories over the next few years – including RTD hard/spikedContinue reading “Ingredients for coffee, tea and juice provide new opportunities”

Find inspiration with our 2020 flavor trends

The consumer love affair with trying novel flavors is still going strong into 2020 as demand for taste innovation continues to grow. According to the recent Technomic US Flavor Consumer Trend Report, 66 percent of consumers like trying new flavors, while close to 40 percent define “new” as simply a twist on the familiar. We’veContinue reading “Find inspiration with our 2020 flavor trends”