Beverage innovation taps into trending flavors and textures.
Abby’s Better Nut Butter is releasing a seasonal flavor, mint chocolate chip almond, formulated with dry roasted almonds, coconut oil, unsweetened cocoa, pure mint extract and pink Himalayan salt.
Danone North America is introducing Activia+ Multi-Benefit Probiotic Yogurt Drinks, formulated with vitamins linked to immune system support. Flavors include raspberry, peach and strawberry.
Ben & Jerry’s newest ice cream flavor is Chewy Gooey Cookie, which combines milk chocolate and coconut ice creams, fudge flakes, shortbread cookies and caramel swirls.
“This flavor is loaded. Period. You cannot add any more chunks than what we’ve packed in there,” said Craig Koskiniemi, the “flavor guru” who led the development of Chewy Gooey Cookie. “It has a perfect balance of milk chocolate and coconut as a base, the caramel swirl for sweetness, and a great cookie crunch for texture. Ben & Jerry’s fans are going to love it.”
Bragg is launching a line of flavored nutritional yeast. Available in smoky barbecue and roasted garlic options, the seasonings add “cheesy” notes to a dish while delivering protein and B vitamins, according to the company, which claims to be the first to offer flavored nutritional yeast flakes to the US market.
A limited-edition peach kombucha is rolling out from Brew Dr., an organic kombucha and tea brand. The beverage was created with loose leaf green tea and blended with five different organic peach varietals. The flavor is described as a balance of “sweet, ripe and tart” with “hints of honey and summer flower.”
GT’s Living Foods is launching Synergy Peach Paradise kombucha, an organic fermented beverage with notes of peach and tropical red papaya. The product is packed with 9 billion living probiotics, according to the company.
Low-sugar brand HighKey has debuted a pair of chocolate confections. HighKey’s caramel filled bar has a chocolate coating and caramel filling with 2 grams of sugar and 2 grams of net carbohydrates per serving. Chocolaty Stix bars have a layer of soft and creamy peanut butter nougat and a layer of caramel enrobed in a mil chocolate-style coating, with 9 grams of fiber and 1 gram of sugar.
“Chocolate and sugar are synonymous, but they don’t need to be,” said Joe Ens, chief executive officer of HighKey. “If you look at the top selling chocolate bars in the world, they’re all milk chocolate and packed with more than 20 grams of sugar per serving. It was important for us to replicate that same sweet and creamy milk chocolate taste that people crave in low sugar form. By using our custom blend of best-in-class sugar substitutes, we were able to create our delicious Chocolaty Stix and Caramel Filled Bars, which each have only 1 to 2 grams of sugar per serving and taste just as good as the original.”
National Beverage Corp. is expanding its LaCroix sparkling water lineup with the launch of a cherry blossom flavor, which a company spokesperson described as “a botanical twist of sweet and just a ‘kiss’ of tart.”
Partake, a brand of allergy-friendly cookies and baking mixes, has added limited-edition lemon soft-baked cookies, formulated with a gluten-free flour blend, organic fair trade cane sugar and organic lemon juice. The product is free from the top nine allergens.
New from PepsiCo, Inc. is Nitro Pepsi, a nitrogen-infused cola described as “creamy and smooth” with a “frothy foam head.” Flavors include draft cola and vanilla draft cola.
“While soda has been a beverage of choice for so many consumers over the past century, some people still cite heavy carbonation as a barrier to enjoying an ice-cold cola,” said Todd Kaplan, vice president of marketing for Pepsi. “With this in mind, we wanted to come up with a new way for people to enjoy delicious Pepsi cola, but with a new experience around the bubbles. Nitro Pepsi is a first-of-its-kind innovation that creates a smooth, creamy, delicious taste experience for fans everywhere. Much like how nitrogen has transformed the beer and coffee categories, we believe Nitro Pepsi is a huge leap forward for the cola category and will redefine cola for years to come.”
Red Bull is adding a previously seasonal product to its permanent portfolio. Red Bull Green Edition Dragon Fruit energy drink has a “burst of red berries, a hint of plum and notes of florals,” according to the company.
Tropicana has unveiled Tropicana Light, a range of juice beverages with no sugar added and 70% fewer calories than the brand’s other offerings. Flavors include Berry Colada, which has notes of strawberry, pineapple and coconut; and Tropical Sunrise, with mango and passion fruit.
Apr
2024
May
More product innovation introduced at the show, including new plant-based offerings.
New introductions debut in the pantry aisles and refrigerated sections.