No More Smoke And Mirrors: Natural Smoke-Free Flavours

Are smoke flavours causing you a headache? Smoke-free natural flavours can make your life easier. 

With the recent boom of plant-based products, the demand for savoury flavourings has really taken off. One of the most important and most challenging flavour profiles in the savoury range is smoked flavours. They play a huge part in not just meat flavoured products, but a whole range of savoury applications.

Traditionally “true” smoke flavours would have been used, but now people’s heads have been turned by the benefits of smoke-free natural flavours. By using natural flavours you can dramatically improve smoked flavours of not just plant-based products, but a whole range of savoury and even sometimes sweet products – all whilst being completely smoke-free.

What is a “true” smoke flavouring?

“True” smoke flavourings are produced by the burning of the wood to create the smoke, then condensation of the smoke that is produced (oak, beech, applewood, hickory etc). The condensed smoke is then usually separated by physical means into a number of fractions – a water-based primary smoke condensate, a water-insoluble tar phase and a water-insoluble oily phase.

Clearly, smoke in its pure form contains components that are harmful to human health, so the primary condensate and fractions of the tar phase are purified to remove these. The oily phase is a by-product and unsuitable for use in the production of smoke flavourings.

The purified fractions are then suitable for use in foods or for the preparation of smoke flavourings through further processing and the addition of other flavourings,. additives and solvents.

Legislation cracking down on smoke flavourings

The legislation surrounding the use, labelling and declaration of “smoke flavourings” is quite distinct and sits outside of the EU legislation for flavourings and as such, many food manufacturers are becoming more reluctant to use true smokes and are looking to create the flavour and aroma of smoke by using Natural Flavourings.

Why choose natural smoke-free flavours?

I.T.S has developed a range of “Smoke-free” Natural smoke-style flavourings for use in a wide range of product applications designed to deliver characteristic smokey notes whilst being declarable as Natural Flavourings.

In addition to flavourings delivering different smokey characters, we have also combined the smoke element with a number of other flavourings such as Vanilla, Caramel, Apple, Plum, Strawberry, Maple, Cheese.
These are carefully balanced in such a way that neither the smoke nor the complementary profile dominates the overall delivery.

Get in touch to request a sample of any of our smoke range or talk to one of our specialists for further information.

The smoke-free range includes:

  • Smoke-style (Hickory-style)
  • Smoke-style (smoke-free)
  • Smoke style (soft, applewood)
  • Smoked Cheese
  • Smoked Vanilla
  • Smoked Maple
  • Smoked Caramel
  • Smoked Apple
  • Smoked Plum
  • Smoked Strawberry
  • Smoked Garlic
  • Smoked Paprika
  • Smoked Chili
  • Smoked BBQ

Potential Applications:

  • Specialist breads
  • Scones
  • Savoury pastry fillings
  • Cheese
  • Ready meals
  • Savoury snacks
  • Plant-based foods/meat analogues

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What Is The Future Of New Product Development?

We explore what NPD teams need to be doing to ensure they are best placed to get ready for future innovations.

Like most things in 2020, summer didn’t really go to plan. Back in January people were dreaming of their summer vacations, festivals and parties – all to be filled with tasty food and drink. To cater for the busy summer period, food and beverage technologists were busy developing lots of new products to help flavour the summer of 2020. Queue up a global pandemic, a severe recession and shutting down the hospitality sector for months – things didn’t really go to plan.

Along with everyone’s summer plans, also went many new exciting product launches for summer 2020. Overnight trends and strategies changed and brands needed to adapt quickly. Suddenly on-the-go and new innovative flavourings went out the window, and along came a focus on core flavour ranges and immunity trends.

New Product Development Takes a Hit

There is no hiding away from the fact that new product launches have taken a huge hit. The frightening numbers show a more than 25% decrease in worldwide launches from March – August when comparing 2020 with 2019. The beverage market seems to of held up the best with an 11% decrease in worldwide launches (Source: Innova Market Insights). Thankfully we all know this innovation isn’t going to just disappear, it will just be pushed back and adapted for the future.

Future planning has never been both so important and difficult. All the numbers are pointing to the summer of 2021 looking to be a big one. With the economy looking incredibly uncertain, people have been holding onto their cash. Once the pandemic has cooled down, consumers will start to spend and venture back out as the world begins to open up. With this will be a boom in product development for food and drink. It is important that development teams plan ahead and prepare for a big summer in 2021.

The Future Looks Tasty

With brands now looking to recoup some lost revenue and grab supermarket attention, the battle for new product development could be about to begin. Most brands are currently likely to be reviewing their ranges and getting their core range in order, but once this is done it will be time to build.

New flavour trends and flavour development will see an up rise in innovation and development for new products to try and take back some of that shelf space and grab consumer’s attention. Plant based products are also still growing at a rapid rate and sits alongside new flavour development as key areas of interest.

Focus on the Road Ahead

There is still unfortunately plenty of room for further bumps along the road. With further pandemic spikes forecast for this winter, already planned seasonal launches face the risk of being pushed back.

Here at I.T.S. we have been working closely with our customers to ensure they are best placed to deal with any changes in the market. We constantly evaluate data and new developments to ensure we are best placed to help our customers.

If you’d like to find out more please don’t hesitate to get in touch to talk to one of our team about how to best plan your flavour ranges.

Are You Ready For Change?

The food and drink industry is changing. Are you ready for the change?

Over the last few months the world changed around us very quickly, with very little warning. Life as we knew it changed over a matter of weeks as the biggest public health crisis of a generation swept across the world. Our busy and fast paced lives ground to a halt as millions of people switched to staying indoors to stop the spread of COVID-19.

Suddenly everyone’s daily routines and habits had to change. In the food and drink industry it is essential that new product releases follow consumer trends and fit in with people’s daily lives. The recent pandemic has hit the food and drink industry hard, especially those in the hospitality sector. Retail sectors have had to be fast to adapt by limiting SKUs and focusing on larger multipacks as the stockpilers filled up their baskets in supermarkets.

Our team have put together the list of key developments we think you’ll see in the food and drink industry going forward. We have also given some helpful tips of how to best position yourself to come out of this crisis.

1) Prepare at home

With more people working at home and staying indoors, preparing your own food at home is on the rise. Cake baking mixes, or baking bread are the new on trend activities to share on Instagram. People are also on the search for new food to eat for lunch whilst working from home to fill the void of grabbing a Pret on-the-go.

2) Core flavours

Now is certainly the time to revisit your core flavour range and ensure they are up to scratch. Many retailers and manufacturers will be focusing on their main ranges and battling out for shelf space with their core products.

3) Immunity

Consumers will be looking for health boosting foods to best protect themselves. Searches for “immunity” have sky rocketed on Google as consumers are looking for health options. Revisit your formulations for ways to feature key health ingredients.

4) Mood food (and drink)

It’s not just physical health that is a danger during the recent pandemic. People’s mental health is also taking a huge hit. People are isolated and stuck indoors, which has seen a rise in mental health issues. Food and drink that can help people relax will be a big market. Look for buzz words such as “calm”, “relax” and “soothe” to be highlighted on pack. Could this also be the moment CBD needed to finally make its break into the mainstream?

5) Escapism

At times of hardship, escapism and innovation have always flourished. People look for ways to escape the daily issues and loose themselves in something. Food and drink can play a huge part with new and exciting flavours. Try looking for a refreshing flavour that takes consumers on a holiday in their mind – sat on a beach sipping a cocktail. Or how about a crazy fantasy flavour that they simply haven’t heard of before?

6) Digital world

Without a doubt technology is one of the biggest advances in recent months. People are now more digitally connected than ever thanks to the help of services like Zoom, Tik Tok and House Party. With retail on the high street closed, consumers logged-on in their millions and ordered their weekly shop online with Ocado, or their new fitness equipment from Amazon.

It isn’t just the big players or retail that has benefited from technology. Many small and independent hospitality outlets have adapted by focusing their business on takeaway or delivery services by ordering online. It’s key to see how your offering can be adapted for an online world.

7) Buying local

With most people calling the end of the high street, could this actually offer the high street a life line? As people avoid the larger retail spaces, they are looking to their local shops and rediscovering the benefits of small retailers. Bakeries and butchers are seeing new customers, or old customers flood back in a bid to avoid the crowds.

Whatever happens, change is certain. It is important to not stand still and to make sure you are prepared for what the future brings.

Get in touch if you’d like to discuss these concepts in further detail and how we can help improve your range, or maybe develop something new and exciting?

The Flavour You Never Knew You Loved

Kiwi and Cucumber is a flavouring that has been getting customers taste buds bubbling with excitement with almost everyone that has tried it.

We like to do things a little differently, that’s why we put so much focus on new and emerging flavour trends. We are well underway presenting our top flavour trends for 2021 to our customers and there has been one surprise stand out of the bunch in our beverage flavour trends.

Kiwi and Cucumber has been getting our customers taste buds bubbling with excitement with almost everyone that has tried it. It’s a great refreshing combo that pops up a lot in the smoothie category. It’s an interesting flavour, it doesn’t sound like much, but it has a delicate balance of sweetness and that refreshing feeling to make it fit perfectly with our Summer Flavours trend.

Keeping beverage healthy and reducing sugar with flavourings

The unique flavour combo also works perfectly with the growing trends and in health and immunity. What’s even better is we have been pairing kiwi and cucumber with our market-leading sugar reduction solutions to help make beverage concepts both tasty and healthy.

We can already see this one popping up everywhere in the summertime, perfect partner to a BBQ or garden party, or even at pubs and bars when the hospitality sector opens up at the end of this year *fingers crossed*.

Looking for the alcohol or an alcohol alternative? Flavourings have got you covered.

It’s a perfect match for hard seltzers, or even the low and no spirit category as it really does give that extra ‘zing’ with a premium flavour twist.  If you want to give the kiwi and cucumber flavour an extra boost, pairing it with one of our alcohol flavour boosters really makes it pack a punch – presenting a ready-made perfect zero alcohol premium summertime beverage.

Also, this one also really stands out in dairy. Now, a kiwi and cucumber milkshake may sound a little crazy, but it is absolutely mind-blowing. Trust us on this one.

If you’d like to book in a Flavour Trends workshop or just request a sample of our new favourite flavour then get in touch and our team will help you out

I.T.S. Unleashes New Plant-Based Flavour Solutions

I.T.S. have announced a market leading range of plant-based flavour solutions to help with the growing trend of brands looking to make the switch.

I.T.S. have created a fundamental building block for masking proteins in plant-based foods and beverages.

By utilising ground-breaking technology, I.T.S. plant-based flavourings and maskers have the lowest impact on macronutrients in industry.

I.T.S. maximise the tasty flavours and protein content, whilst removing any off-taste. All of I.T.S.  flavours come from completely natural sources and are suitable for plant-based and vegan products.

For the past decade, I.T.S. have been working closely with new and exciting plant-based food and beverage start-ups, helping them become household brands and dominate supermarket shelves.

Mike Bagshaw, Owner and Founder of I.T.S. explains “From the beginning we have always been about making food taste great. That’s what we do. We started to see so many plant-based products on market that just did not taste very good. Just because something is plant-based, doesn’t mean you should have to sacrifice on taste.

That’s where we have been able to work with our customers and consistently demonstrate that plant-based food can taste great.

With a growing reputation of great tasting natural flavours and news that the plant-based market was set to soar by 327% in 2019, the business decided it needed a dedicated approach. Setting up an innovation team to focus on making great tasting natural plant-based flavours ensures the business is able to work with a wide range of sectors.

I.T.S. have expertise in working with bakery, dairy, sports nutrition and just about any business that needs help making great tasting plant-based products. The I.T.S. team are able to rapidly develop new flavours with its on-site test bakery, innovation kitchen and newly built pilot plant. This helps the team work closely with its customers on-site to achieve the best tasting results.

Low and No Beverage Natural Flavour Range

Discover our range of tasty natural flavours for the low and no beverage sector.

Our Marketing and Development Teams are always making sure we have all the hottest flavour trends available to our customers. With low and no beverage ranges exploding over the last year we have been busy working up some tasty natural flavourings for this sector.

Waitrose reported their low & no alcohol beer sales were up 50% on last year, with alcohol-free spirits up 49%. Searches for ‘virgin cocktails’ on its site were up 100%, it said, while ‘non-alcoholic’ was up 211%. These stats show that all beverage manufactures should be dipping their toes into this growing market. The deciding factor for this sectors success will ultimately come down to taste. Can low and no beverage still deliver the intense and strong flavour profiles of alcoholic drinks?

There are many factors to consider with low and no beverage flavour profiles to ensure there is no sacrifice on flavour. Our flavour range ensures low and no beverage can still offer exciting flavour and provide that extra depth and experience consumers crave from alcoholic drinks.

One of the major profiles we have been innovating with is floral and botanical themes. These work perfectly in gin style beverages and other refreshing long drinks. We have also developed a range of classic cocktail flavours such as Mojito, Woo Woo, Pina Colada, Margarita and Strawberry Daiquiri.

The real magic comes when you try one of our Tequila, Whisky or Rum flavourings that perfectly deliver that intense flavour profile without any alcohol needed.

Get in touch to discuss our alcohol flavours in more detail and how they could work for you.

I.T.S. Celebrate 10 Years Of Success

I.T.S. celebrated 10 years of success with its customers and suppliers for a day and night full of explosions of the senses.

On Friday 27th September, I.T.S threw open its doors to customers and suppliers alike to help celebrate the companies 10th Birthday. Founded in 2009 from his kitchen table in Berkshire, Mike Bagshaw has developed I.T.S into an award-winning business that supplies natural flavours to over 20 countries worldwide.

Mike wanted to mark this important milestone of the company’s journey with all his staff, suppliers and customers that have been part of his eventful journey. Guests would meet at Newbury Racecourse for lunch and welcome drinks before being escorted on a red double-decker bus to I.T.S HQ.

Everyone gathered at I.T.S offices for a special tour of the facilities, getting exclusive access to every department of the business. On the tour, guests had an explosion of senses with many different tastes and smells to try out. The I.T.S team are passionate about building close relationships with suppliers and customers and this event was the start of things to come for building closer working partnerships.

The Mayor of Newbury attended the event to help Mike cut the ribbon on a new plaque marking the special occasion. Guests would then meet back at Newbury Racecourse in the evening for a Willy Wonka inspired night full of colour and flavours. I.T.S held raffles and auctions to help raise over £32,000 for charities close to its heart: Surfers Against Sewage, The Rosemary Appeal and Byte Night.

The night included fancy dress, with Mike Bagshaw donning the Willy Wonka outfit accompanied by staff in Oompa Loompa outfits. The drinks were flowingn and the dance floor booming.

The event marks an important time for the business with even more exciting things planned for 2020 – watch this space!