Products from Goya Foods, Inc.,
Beans have widespread appeal because they are economical and nutritious. “Beans are a typical daily part of Hispanic/Latino cuisine,” says Víctor Lobo DiPalma, technical manager, Latin America, ADM,
“True Latin American bean dishes are commonly prepared with very simple, fresh ingredients—lots of onion, some garlic and finely chopped celery sprinkled with oregano,” continues DiPalma. “While beans themselves are fairly bland, they are great flavor carriers. They can be cooked and added whole to a sauce or mashed into a paste combined with diced, sautéed vegetables, then whipped for a ‘mashed potato’ everyone will love.”
Mainstreaming flavor
The heightened spiciness of Hispanic dishes is a common misconception. “Many people think of chiles when they think of Latin cuisine,” says Amy Marr, vice president of marketing, Gilroy Foods and Flavors,
Marr also notes that “citrus flavors, such as lime, play an important role. Herbs like cilantro and oregano, and spices like cumin and annatto, are combined into pastes and rubs for meat and fish.”
However, heat is still a draw for some consumers. At McClancy Seasoning Co.,
Wilkerson finds that many manufacturers are not reducing the heat to accommodate American consumers. “People are looking to create products that are more authentic and more true to the actual recipes and things that they’re seeing. That’s even spilling over into the prepared-food segment,” he says.
At times, less-fiery chiles do the trick. Poblano,
Roasting chiles for meat sautés, soups and stews is a technique offered by Chris Keegan, R&D chef, Cargill Flavor Systems,
No doubt, the most-popular flavors are chipotle, cilantro, chiles, masa, cumin and lime,” says Keegan. He predicts increased use of “spices like cinnamon and clove, as well as increased use of an herb called epazote. During the next few years, I expect the next big push in a couple of years will be the
Guaijillo chile is a typical Hispanic flavor, as are coffee, chocolate, lard or fried flavors, notes Justin Young, executive chef, Kraft Food Ingredients; and “lard flavor or fried corn chip flavor” can help manufacturers develop “authentic tastes in moles, sauces and marinades while minimizing ingredients and processing steps.” Other robust flavors “can serve as a foundation for developing the regional applications which are very much on-trend, such as Oaxacan-style or Monterrey-style dishes,” he says.
Grilled flavors can replicate notes obtained by grilling or slow roasting over a wood fire. “High-heat searing and grilling is also common for dishes such as arrachera (flank steak),” says Sanders, and can be achieved with seared beef flavors and/or charbroiled flavor.
Soy sauce may seem an unlikely flavor in Hispanic dishes, but Debbie Carpenter, senior marketing manager, foodservice & industrial, Kikkoman Sales USA, Inc.,
Consider queso
Cheese can add mainstream appeal to most any dish. “Traditional Hispanic cheeses have a mild, easy flavor, unlike French-style cheeses with big, bold flavors,” says Young. “These mild, fresh cheeses are able to blend well with spicy and/or hot flavor profiles, as well as to incorporate other subtle flavor nuances that are traditionally Hispanic in origin and are found in simple, homey peasant foods.”
Conventional Hispanic cheeses, such as queso fresco, queso blanco, queso asadero and queso
Monterey Jack’s mild profile “blends very well with other distinctive flavors,” says Pamela Schoenster, associate principal scientist, Kraft Food Ingredients. “The ability to make the Monterey Jack cheese flavor profile available in several different melt modifications allows for its use in a broad range of applications.”
Schoenster recommends using high-melt Monterey Jack with jalapeño for fillings or appetizers that need melt restriction. “This cheese can be shredded or diced, which makes it very easy to blend with other ingredients,” she says. “Also available is a restricted-melt Monterey Jack cheese sauce with jalapeño peppers. This cheese sauce can be pumped or dispensed at refrigerated temperatures, which is great for incorporating into taquitos and other wrap-type applications.”
The Monterey Jack profile is also available in a restricted-melt cheese-sauce powder. That “allows the end user to determine how it is rehydrated and used. It can be used in fillings containing IQF vegetables. These types of vegetables often give up excess water which, if allowed for in the rehydration ratio, will be picked up by this sauce,” says Schoenster.
Young also suggests other “restricted-melt cheeses with mild flavor profiles that exhibit similar qualities to fresh queso in meltability, form and function in particular dishes and applications.”
Fruits galore
Wilkerson observes many convenience stores are now stocking Hispanic foods. “You’re seeing a lot of bottled juices and soft drinks imported from
Lime is key to many Hispanic beverages. While the mojito flavor is associated with an alcoholic drink, Angelich notes that flavor is finding its way into all kinds of beverages, such as energy drinks, teas and vitamin waters. “Some of it is labeled as such. Some is influenced. You’ll see the growth of lime that may or may not be attributed to mojito on a label or in marketing,” he says.
Angelich suggests care when formulating for an ethnic audience, because there’s great variation among flavors. For instance, “there’s something like 2,600 cultivars of mango,” he says. “The mangos that are in South Asia and
Angelich also believes that “we’ll probably see more things coming out of
Because of this influence, Angelich sees tropical fruit flavors such as pineapple, lemon, lime and some mandarin oranges continuing to expand. However, he cautions, “something that you find in a Mexican market taste-wise is very different from something that originated here. It may be flavors that are of the same kind, but with a different kind of taste and skewed to them.”
It’s important to consider perception when formulating with flavors Americans are familiar with. “To non-Hispanic Americans, cinnamon is associated with a much more narrow taste base,” says Angelich. “It goes with apple pie. It goes with certain pastries. People in the mainstream are not used to putting cinnamon in red tea or in pineapple or into something else. If you’re trying to capitalize on something like a cinnamon taste that appeals to Hispanics, you’d have to put it at levels where it doesn’t seem incongruous. If you put cinnamon at high levels, it may taste like apple pie. But as a subtle background note, it’s pleasant.” The quality and character of the cinnamon is equally important. The cinnamon flavor associated with a farm-fresh apple pie is very different from a Red Hots® candy.
Fruits in the Hispanic market are also influenced by the health-and-wellness trend. “A lot of Hispanic people are starting to get very interested in nutrition and health from diet,” finds Angelich. “In the research we’ve done, we’ve found pretty high levels of interest in superfruits and interest in trying things they haven’t tried before in that area, like pomegranate and açaí. The media is reaching these people. These products are advertised and show up in a lot of places. You may end up with some fusion, maybe a pineapple-açaí or a pineapple-pomegranate.”
To successfully launch new products, Angelich cautions that “you link that to a chord of familiarity. Some of them may not like an açaí or a pomegranate. It may not be as pleasant-tasting as strawberry, vanilla or chocolate, but if you blend it, you get the perception of health benefits and couple it with something that’s familiar. We’ve done some interesting research with drink flavors for tea. We found high levels of interest in Hispanic consumers wanting to try pomegranate, blueberry, lime, lychee, which, except for lime, are things that are not traditionally associated with Hispanic heritage flavors. Other ones they wanted to try in tea and hadn’t are more classic things like cinnamon, tangerine, mango, papaya and pineapple.”
Crossing over
As the burgeoning Hispanic demographic becomes more enmeshed in
Authentic Latin American foods are as healthful as the black bean and corn salsa that is commonly showing up on restaurant menus. These dishes are flavored with fresh ingredients like lime and cilantro, rather than fat.
According to Marr, the culture’s street food fits in with
The key to developing products with true crossover appeal largely comes down to credibility of the product if it has a Hispanic name or bilingual information on the package. “One of the things that’s very important in positioning anything that has a Hispanic connection to it,” says Angelich, is to ask: “Is it just a taste that you deliver? Is it a Hispanic message you deliver? Does it go with the package, or does it work against the marketing effort? Somebody may say it’s foreign. It’s too distant. It’s not meant for me. Or does it have some magical appeal? This has to be tested against your target audience. In looking at products that you want to market for the mainstream population that has Hispanic elements to it, you have to see how wide you can be and still have some credibility.”
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A Powerful Market
Hispanic purchasing power totaled more than $980 billion in 2008, according to “The Hispanic (Latino) Market in the
The total Hispanic food market is considerably larger, because purchasing within this ethnic group is only one of the market drivers. As Americans become more exposed to Hispanic food through restaurants, travel, cooking shows and trips down their own grocery aisles, consumption of these foods will only continue to grow.
The Refreshing Flavors of Pan-Latino
A new wave of authentic Latin American foods emphasizes pure ingredients, vivid flavors and lighter recipes, according to “Latino Foods: The Next Wave,” a recent Culinary Trend Mapping Report from the Center for Culinary Development, San Francisco, and Packaged Facts, New York.
“Just as Pan-Asian foods have brought new flavor and ingredient excitement to the American plate and palate, now it’s time to make way for Pan-Latin,” says Kimberly Egan, CEO, Center for Culinary Development.
Regionally authentic ingredients like the Mexican herb epazote, Yucatecan sour
The Latino population in the
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