KANSAS CITY — Sweet and spicy is the flavor profile heating up new product launches.

Noosa is embracing the sweet heat trend with its new Blackberry Serrano yogurt. It features sweet blackberries and hot serrano chilies blended into a yogurt base.

“We believe sweet and spicy is the next big food trend — especially in yogurt,” said Chanel Sedeno, spokesperson for Noosa. “Noosa founder Koel Thomae recently went on a food trek through high dairy-consumption cities and saw savory and spicy yogurt combinations all over. This inspired her to experiment with Noosa’s tart and sweet foundation with notes of heat, which led to the development of Blackberry Serrano Noosa. Koel found that when you start to think about adding subtle heat to sweet, the combinations get exciting, and Noosa plans to continue to explore this sweet and spicy trend.”

The sweet and spicy culinary combo continues with Halfpops’ new Anrgy Kettle Corn. The half-popped popcorn snack mixes the sweetness of classic kettle corn with a blend of spices for a hint of heat. The snacks are gluten-free, and contain no preservatives, corn syrup or hydrogenated oils.

“In the United States, the increasing level of interest in hot and spicy will keep spreading into every food category,” said Garth Vdoviak, product development manager for Mizkan Americas, Inc. “The sweetness mitigates the intense heat while driving more consumption by creating a craving for more.” 

Click to view a slideshow of new products.