Flavor-Bursting Natural Food Colors for Seasoned Breadings
Elevating Breadings with Flavor-Bursting Color
Flavorful seasonings have long been popular in both restaurants and packaged goods, as well as with home cooks creating their own unique dishes. A delicious, flavorful breading can take a basic chicken nugget and elevate it to a unique food experience. Brands can succeed with line extensions into new flavors with a spicy breading, like McDonald’s® Spicy Chicken McNuggets®.
As adventurous consumers seek increasingly unique and specialized flavors, a visual indication of taste can be instrumental in elevating that dining experience. Brands looking to create a “sense of the intense” or connect with regional audiences through culinary inclusion should look to color to highlight those flavor profiles. Color and flavor are inextricably intertwined to create a multi-sensory taste experience.
Flavored and seasoned breadings are popular with traditional chicken nuggets or fish sticks, and we should expect to see the same trends begin to enter the plant-based space as well. Plant-based chicken nuggets, fish sticks, or other breaded products can quickly step above the standard offering with delicious visuals and new flavors through a colorful plant-based seasoned breading.
How to Achieve Deliciously Colored Breadings and Seasonings
Sensient’s Microfine™ technology enables seamless coating of bold natural colors for breading and seasonings so that a customer will not end up with a dissatisfying colorless patch that they might perceive to be flavorless as well. Without Microfine™, powdered natural colors could be used as well, but the color will not be applied as evenly, leaving unfavorable inconsistencies that shoppers or diners would notice.
Differentiate Between Flavor Profiles with Specific Hues
Use color to differentiate between flavor profiles with specific hues to help consumers anticipate flavor and taste perception before they get to eat the product. While a dark maroon red might signal an African spice blend with harissa, a brighter red shade could be a super spicy chili seasoning. Brown shades can range from the dark, warm hickory hues of barbeque, but a lighter brown might be teriyaki flavored.
Elevate Flavor with Color
Color can also amplify elevated flavor profiles with eye-catching shades. Five-alarm hot wings could have a neon red that indicates to consumers that they should proceed with caution! Meanwhile, a bright orange could be a delicious Cajun seasoning or have an unusual twist with a yuzu citrus zest.
connect to iconic or unique flavors with shade
Iconic flavors can be represented with corresponding iconic colors to emphasize that profile to the consumer. For example, lemon pepper standsapart with a brighter yellow hue than the warmer, darker shade that might represent curry seasoning. Classic buffalo seasoning has an identifiable orange color that fans recognize from a mile away, and love to see it in new products!
Trial any of these shades to bring bold color to your next delicious seasoning launch by requesting a sample here! If you are not sure what you need to get started or if you still have questions about Microfine™, let Sensient’s color experts help—we love to talk color!
