This website requires certain cookies to work and uses other cookies to help you have the best experience. By visiting this website, certain cookies have already been set, which you may delete and block. By closing this message or continuing to use our site, you agree to the use of cookies. Visit our updated privacy and cookie policy to learn more.
This Website Uses Cookies By closing this message or continuing to use our site, you agree to our cookie policy. Learn MoreThis website requires certain cookies to work and uses other cookies to help you have the best experience. By visiting this website, certain cookies have already been set, which you may delete and block. By closing this message or continuing to use our site, you agree to the use of cookies. Visit our updated privacy and cookie policy to learn more.
Anne-marie Ramo is a Seattle-based research chef and food writer with more than 25 years of experience in flavor development; sauces, seasoning blends, and marinades; home meal replacements; and formulation of meat products and further processed meat products. She was director of culinary development for Revolution Foods Inc., executive chef of Fork in the Road Foods LLC, and served as executive chef for Aidell’s Sausage Co. Ramo is a regular industry contributor and writer, and co-authored The Great Meat Cookbook (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, October 2012). You can read more of her work at www.preparedfoods.com or contact her at aramo@me.com.
Adding fruit to formulations has become not only easier, but more exciting with the continuously expanding variety of fruits to choose from and the near disappearance of seasonality
Adding fruit to formulations has become not only easier, but more exciting with the continuously expanding variety of fruits to choose from and the near disappearance of seasonality. When it comes to product formulation, developers can choose from a multitude of fruit-derived ingredients and types, including whole or prepped; fresh or frozen; freeze-dried, dehydrated, or puréed; and concentrates, juices, or powders.
Whether assembling kits themselves at a local meal kit assembly shop, signing up for a subscription service online, or picking up a kit from their local supermarket, consumers show no signs of abandoning this time-saving meal option.
From large food conglomerates to boutique artisanal companies, product developers are creating higher-end products designed specifically for quick preparation, such as cooking in a microwave.
Call them bits, pieces, inclusions, mix-ins, or add-ins, inclusions bring both flavor and textural elements to foods. Color, too, can make it to the show by way of inclusions.
Pasta is one of the few dishes that weathers any storm of shifting trends. On the American dinner table—and those of many other nations—there always seems to be room for pasta.
The use of beans as an ingredient has been trending strongly lately. And, while a lot of this interest has to do with their being a primary source of plant proteins, they also are well-known sources of fiber and gluten-free/non-GMO carbohydrate.
For food developers, the challenge is to meet this demand for foods that look, smell, and taste fresh—that hold onto their perfect texture—yet maintain extended shelf life and meet consumer demand for being “quick and easy.”
