There have been so many changes to every aspect of life over the last year. Some changes, however, are part of our sense of normal and we look forward to exploring them each year. I’m talking about trends! Specifically food and flavor trends. What is 2021 serving up? According to flavor leading experts, Beck Flavors, 2021’s fruit of choice is yuzu. The new innovative flavor is dill pickle. If you like botanicals go for cherry blossoms and the people’s choice for the year is honeycomb toffee.
If you are like me then you may not have heard of yuzu. They resemble a cross between mandarin, lemon and grapefruit with a tart, citrus flavor. According to Great British Chefs, “Think of yuzu in a Japanese context alongside other traditional flavours like ginger, matcha, shochu and soy. The citric acidity means that yuzu works in similar scenarios to orange, lime and lemon — flavouring everything from marmalades to sorbets and light crab or fish dishes.”
Dill pickle might not be your cup of tea but many couples are using the flavor on snacks like chips and popcorn. My go to would just be to have some tiny gherkins as an accompaniment to cheeses and cured meats. You either love them or you hate them.
Cherry blossom, or sakura, is a flavor America is finally catching up on. Already a favorite in Japan, sakura is a sweet and floral flavor used mainly for tea, alcohol and sweets. This spring maybe we will see some sakura flavored wedding cakes to show off the season. Better yet, opt for a japanese fluffy, moist castella cake with the traditional springtime flavor!
Honeycomb toffee… It was people’s choice for a reason. The possibilities are almost endless. This intensely sweet, caramelly, melt-in-your-mouth sweet can be broken up and used to sprinkle over your wedding cake or cupcakes, used as chips in toffee cookies, or dip half of a bar in chocolate for a treat your guests can grab as they mingle, or skip the chocolate and serve the toffee plain, use it for a unique ice cream flavor, or make dalgona toffee coffee! Whatever you have going on at your wedding, honeycomb toffee could fit into it easily.
A bonus flavor to keep your eye on is not necessarily new, but continues to make a big impact each year. Coffee. I mentioned dalgona coffee which is a newer, extremely sweet, whipped coffee and of course there is the recently popular nitro coffee which brings the creamy texture to the drink without adding the extra fat. But say goodbye to cold brew and welcome snapchilled coffee which rapidly cools a freshly brewed cup, capturing more flavor and eliminating wasted cold brew coffee at the end of the day. Also look for more mushroom coffee and buttered coffee this year.
We hope you have fun with your flavors and that this at least inspires you to think outside the box and go for what you really want at your wedding!
Links: https://beckflavors.com/flavoroftheyear/