New Approaches to Coloring Savory Boxed and Packet Mixes
Color is important
in savory dishes.
Visual differentiation between a hollandaise sauce and a gravy can help consumers anticipate taste and adds to the overall experience.
Color improves flavor perception by +15% in food and beverage products.
Savory boxed and packet mixes are staples of many North American homes and are rising in popularity for convenience-seeking shoppers. Much like sweet baking mixes, savory mixes require developers to consider multiple stages of the product when formulating with color.
Tips for Using Color in Savory Mixes
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Tips for Using Color in Savory Mixes
1. Avoid Specking
Incomplete color incorporation due to solubility issues can create an unappealing visual for consumers as they cook or eat at home. Using colors that mitigate incorporation challenges can help avoid specking and create a consistent, attractive appearance for the dish.
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2. Use Bold Colors for Bold Flavors
Because color influences flavor perception, research shows that if a product is marketed on a bold flavor such as spice or richness, the color should visually support that claim to enhance the consumer experience. Choose colors that match visual expectations to avoid consumer disappointment.
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3. Color Multiple Stages
Developers should ensure that color is fully incorporated at every stage, from the powder mix to the hydrated sauce or base. Finally, noodle staining is often an important aspect of the product experience, so ensuring the color experience meets consumer expectations is key.
Natural Colors for Packet Mixes for Sauces, Noodles, and Meals
Plant-Based Sausage Gravy Mix
Sensient’s Sienna™ fruit juice enables developers to achieve rich savory brown shades without caramel coloring for applications like plant-based gravy mixes.
Smoked Cheddar
Mac n Cheese
Paprika and annatto create delicious cheesy orange sauces and boxed mixes. Every batch of botanical raw materials is carefully inspected and tested under Sensient’s Certasure™ food safety program.
Green Curry Sauce Mix
Sensient’s green Microfine™ solutions include blends of natural blues like spirulina or vegetable juice and natural yellows for applications like a green curry sauce packet.
Hollandaise Mix
Sensient’s Microfine™ portfolio includes several yellow options, including those based on turmeric and beta carotene, that enable developers to achieve the perfect yellow shade for a hollandaise sauce mix.
Tzatziki Sauce Mix
To create bright, clean white sauce mixes without titanium dioxide, developers can use Sensient’s Avalanche™ portfolio of clean label whitening solutions.
Hot n Spicy Plant-Based Ramen Packet
Sensient’s Blazing Red Microfine™ has been developed for brands seeking cost-effective, bold red hues for the spiciest flavor profiles with clean ingredient labeling.
Caribbean Jerk
Marinade Mix
For darker red hues like a Caribbean jerk marinade packet mix, blends of red Microfine™ solutions like Blazing Red™ and brown hues like Sienna™ create rich, delicious visuals.
Gluten Free Cream
of Chicken Soup Mix
The flour typically used in Cream of Chicken soups adds opacity. Adding Sensient’s Avalanche™ maintains the opacity expected of this product while meeting gluten-free labeling requirements.
Creating delicious savory dry mixes for sauces, marinades, soups, noodles, and more is possible with nature’s rainbow.
Let Sensient’s team help you unleash the power of nature’s true colors in your next project!
