Flavoring the Trend: Healthy Snacking

Millions of words have been published about the “snackification” of the American consumer. Essentially, everyone snacks, everyone snacks multiple times a day and snacking has even encroached on meal time, often acting as a convenient replacement. The snack category has responded to this eating evolution by offering more healthy snacks to balance indulgent favorites.

Bean-flour chips sit on shelves next to potato chips. Healthy seaweed snacks are supplementing pretzels for a more nutritious option. And, nuts and seeds have thrived on their nutritious and indulgent attributes.

Creating healthy snacks is easy, creating great-tasting healthy snacks is quite the challenge, especially when non-traditional base ingredients are used, such as bean flours or gluten-free flours. That’s where Osage Flavors comes in. We develop flavor systems that make healthy snacks taste as great as their indulgent counterparts. 

When looking at the work we’re doing in the healthy snacking market, these three categories stand out for opportunities:

• Snack Foods: From meat sticks to ancient grain crackers to alternative flour chips
• Beverages: Yes, beverages can be snacks, especially functional and meal-replacement beverages.
• Bakery: Single-serve portions of your favorite permissibly indulgent treats.

When developing a flavor system for healthy snack, focus on flavor solutions with a health halo, such as these three flavor platforms:

• Rose & Honey: Botanicals are on trend, and this combination provides the perfect floral flavor with a hint of sweet honey for added balance.
• Ginger & Lime: The health halo of ginger has found this flavor profile used in everything from beverages to meat sticks. Combined with lime, ginger provides the perfect spicy and fruity notes to any snacking product.
• Wasabi Apple: Consumers can’t get enough spice, and this flavor profile provides the perfect amount of kick with the familiarity of apple to entice consumers concerned with spice levels.

Need help flavoring your healthy snacks? Contact Osage Flavors and we’ll send you samples and help you launch an innovative product.