Naturex unveils botanical infusions range
Naturex, part of Givaudan, unveiled a range of botanical infusions at FiE 2019 aiming to tap into the health and wellness trend among consumers. Made by gentle water extraction, these infusions preserve the plant’s authentic taste and help manufacturers add the trendy ‘Infusion’ labelling to front of packaging. Available botanicals include chamomile, hibiscus, elderflower, lavender and a peach flavour from Givaudan.
Naturex set up a ‘hipster-style coffee shop’ at its stall to illustrate the hot and cold drink applications offered by its botanicals. This included an organic Peruvian superfood cafe latte with Andean maca root extract, a blue moon milk made with Naturex’s Ultimate Blue Spirulina for a tranquil pastel blue colour, and energy-giving sparkling water containing guarana extract and acerola, which has naturally occurring vitamin C and which allows a product to use an energy claim.
“This is addressing the trend of bringing more to water, not just more flavour but more functionality, more reasons and purpose to water,” Romain Thevenot, Global Product Manager of Wellness at Naturex, told FoodNavigator.
He added that botanical ingredients are rooted in “ancient wisdom and traditions” which “brings meaning to consumers, connected with health and wellness, as well something exciting and fun”.
“Flowers are very hot, which is why we are addressing them with chamomile and lavender concentrated infusions. It's all about experiencing wellness throughout the day. Adaptogens for example is a very hot trend because it’s all about using ancient wisdom to give you energy and relaxation and lift your mood throughout your day.”
Visitors to the Naturex stall were also invited to taste mini cup tacos filled with a meat analogue. The texturised vegetable protein filling was coloured with Naturex’s range of colouring foodstuffs, giving it both an appealing meaty taste and appearance. For complete nutrition, the addition of Ultimine iron, a whole food fermented mineral, provides 15% of the recommended daily value of iron.
The iron “avoids the problem of when you have a big peak and your body absorbs it but doesn’t last quickly,” explained a Naturex spokesperson. “Through fermentation we’ve made a form of iron which is much more bioavailable in the body. With this technology we also reduce a lot of the off notes of iron.”
The tacos also came with a choice of two sauces: a mayo-like sauce that was stabilised against oxidation with Xtrablend RN, a clean label alternative to EDTA.
The spokesperson said the plant-based space was a big trend at FiE. “The real trend here is plant-based and how to replace meat and still make it super tasty with a good nutritional profile and with an appealing colour,” she said. “We’ve developed a full new line of colours dedicated to meat analogues. There’s a challenge with meat analogues: you want it red at the start then brown during the cooking process. We’ve developed the technology which allows this change of colour during the cooking process and we’ve combined our capabilities into natural colours and preservation to make the blends last longer during the shelf life of the product so it stays redder for longer.”
Naturex also launched at the show its VegeBrite Golden Yellow colour, which is obtained from carrot concentrate and provides a great alternative to beta-carotene for creating a ‘golden glow’ in bakery and dairy products. Available in liquid and powder forms it answers the “clean label” demands of European consumers, removing E-numbers from the list of ingredients, the company said.