Consumers are increasingly attracted to products featuring fruit ingredients. Fruits enhance sensory characteristics and offer numerous health benefits.
The popularity of fruit as inclusions, or as foundations for beverages and desserts and flavorings, always has remained high. Within the trend, certain types of fruits ride a roller coaster of popularity. The 1990s saw pomegranate in everything, and the 2000s saw exotic tropicals, such as açai, go through the roof. However, the economic downturn of five years ago tapped into a return to comfort that led to reinvigorated application of “classic” favorites, like blueberries and stone fruits—especially cherries.
Blueberry and cherry growers could not have timed it better: They were the lucky recipients of several years of bumper crops. In fact, the production of blueberries experienced an incredible raise in the last 10 years. Consumers embraced blueberries, associating them with health benefits, and the flavor is well-accepted and able to complement a variety of different formulations and food applications.