Supplying Non-traditional Fruit Ingredients for Food and Beverages

The race is on among ingredient suppliers to find new flavors and taste sensations to satisfy consumer demand for something more exciting and diverse. Exotic fruits are standing out in the food industry as new flavors for products not only for their purported health benefits, but for their aroma and texture as well.6 Surprisingly, not all exotic new fruits are tropical fruits (Table 1), nor are they classified in the same category by botanists (Table 2). These new and non-traditional fruit flavors are starting to make an appearance across food and beverage categories and are typically derived from fruits not native to the United States. For example, yuzu, a citrus fruit native to Asia, is predicted to be a trending new flavor in high-acid sports nutrition beverages.5 Ot