Invited to a summer barbecue? You’re already moving into flavor-forward territory. According to Mintel’s Flavor Forecast 25th Edition, “Charred & Smoked” belongs to 2025’s standout trends. These bold, fire-kissed notes extend beyond the grill—they’re showing up in surprising places. Charred pineapple on pizza. Smoked bell peppers in cocktails. Even desserts are getting a smoky twist. Food Business News predicts these cooking-inspired flavors will unlock new taste experiences across the board. Want to see how smoky flavors are adding heat to everything from snacks to sips? Read on.

Exciting taste adventures await

Bold flavors like smoke and char are heating up. They tap into our craving for adventure. “Smoke and char” are pushing bold taste to the forefront, says chef Rob Corliss, founder of ATE (All Things Epicurean). Gen Z is leading the way. Younger consumers want flavors that excite, tell a story, and spark emotion.

The “swicy” (sweet and spicy) trend lit the fire. Now, smoky and charred notes take it further, adding depth, complexity, and sophistication. Expect to see them everywhere. In condiments. In salsas. On snacks. Think smoked paprika, Calabrian chili butter, charred honey aioli, and smoke-kissed sea salt on chocolate. In 2025, expect a wider variety of “named” smoke flavors like hickory, mesquite, and applewood. Consider gifting (or keeping) Colgin’s Liquid Smoke Gift Set, which features BBQ marinades in apple, pecan, hickory, and mesquite flavors.

Consumer preferences for more natural sweetening ingredients like honey are rising. That’s helped boost maple, now used to add smoky depth to proteins and spirits like bourbon. Smoky, salty snack flavors are trending, too. Just check out Smokecraftq’s Instagram post on their new Smoked Popcorn and Smoked Cheetos. Liquid taste sensations will make their way into cocktails, with subtle hints of smoke complementing existing fruit and spice notes. Fruity and spicy notes, along with a subtle hint of smoke, are also elevating non-alcoholic beverages. Consider trying these “Innovative Smoked Cocktails for the Adventurous Drinker”!

Symvision AI flagged smoke as a rising trend in sauces and processed meats. Symrise offers a wide portfolio of smoke taste solutions tailored to the individual regions and preferences either creating sauces that capture smoky complexity, a sweet heat balance, or bold BBQ vibes. Expect to see these smoky notes popping up in global dishes, chicken tenders, burgers, and also desserts. BBQ may excel where it started. For the smoky trend? It’s going everywhere.

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Exploring umami

Ready to explore the world through taste? Umami is rising! The global umami flavors market got valued at $4.79 billion in 2024 and is projected to grow at a CAGR of 7.3% from 2025 to 2030. What is driving this growth? Health and wellness shifts. Consumers are looking for natural ways to enhance flavor. Umami-rich foods—like mushrooms, tomatoes, seaweed, and fermented products—deliver a bold taste while offering essential nutrients and antioxidants. The love for Asian cuisine has also fueled demand. More people enjoy umami-packed dishes like sushi, ramen, and miso soup. Food manufacturers are responding by infusing umami into snacks, sauces, and ready-to-eat meals to enhance taste and appeal. Want to learn more about this growing flavor trend? Read on!

Emerging applications

The rise of gourmet cooking at home and the influence of cooking shows and food blogs have also increased awareness and appreciation for umami flavors. Research firm SPATE analyzed TikTok’s top 100 food and drink trends for 2024. Sweet flavors led with 45%, while Umami followed at 20%. According to SPATE, umami flavors offer a rich depth of nuances, with two key subcategories, meaty (80%) and fermented(20%). Each of them is enhancing umami’s savory appeal in distinct ways. Viral Umami Trends on the Rise (YoY Growth on TikTok): Jerky +784.5%, Bean Burger +623%, Steak Diane +508.8%, and Paneer 306.6%. These dishes highlight the crave-worthy appeal of this supposed “fifth taste!”

Australia-based Vow Food created Morsel, an umami-enhanced cultivated-quail product. The startup is actively using biotechnology to produce new and improved forms of meat, claiming that Morsel delivers “umami, roasted chicken” flavors before melting in the mouth. The New York Times recently focused on several innovative meatless umami dishes, including Japanese-style mushroom wafu pasta—excellent cold as well! More leftover-worthy options include this silky, umami-rich doenjang salmon and rice bowl and roasted dill salmon (with umami-herbal soy-dill sauce). Sauce-wise, honey hot barbecue sauce can be considered a relatively low-volume trend with rapid +239.7% YoY growth on Google searches. One great example can be found in Kinder’s Hot Honey BBQ Sauce, with a hint of umami!

Tasty snacking

Looking to elevate your snacking experience? Mushrooms & Love’s Umami Delight Crackers offer the irresistible allure of umami flavors in every crispy bite. As previously shared, Mushrooms may support immunity with antioxidants. They can also help promote heart health by helping lower cholesterol and aid weight management with their low-calorie, high-fiber content. Add the brand’s UmamiSeas Seasoning to nuts, other essential snacks, soups, salads, or stir-fries. How about Cook’s Ingredients Umami Paste? For the ultimate indulgence, if you happen to be visiting NYC, Seven Grams Caffé offers an Umami Cookie with white miso, white chocolate, and walnuts!

Symrise supports balancing trending flavors, offering the richness and complexity of umami, delivered without adding MSG or yeast. Comment below on which tastes you want to balance!

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Pumpkin spice makes an early return

Have you noticed pumpkin spice products appearing earlier each year? Despite seemingly recent popularity, After the British East India Company’s emergence in 1600, nutmeg, ginger, cinnamon, and cloves quickly entered everyday cuisine.McCormick, the world’s largest spice seller, then introduced “pumpkin pie spice” blend to America in 1934. Once Starbucks® debuted their Pumpkin Spice Latte in 2003, sales of pumpkin spice and nearly anything pumpkin began to grow alarmingly. Starbucks® Pumpkin Spice Latte, celebrating its 20th anniversary, has propelled the #PSL TikTok hashtag to over 7 billion views. Read on to learn more!

#PSL in extreme

The pumpkin spice craze is on fire with endless creative expressions. For the extreme pumpkin (or autumn) lover, Angelic Diamonds offers a £10,000 “Pumpkin Spice Latte Ring,” perfect for coffee enthusiasts. The company markets the ring as “the perfect pairing to level up your coffee cup selfies,…designed to add a little spice to proposals and jewelry collections this season.” It boasts a center diamond shaped like whipped cream, surrounded by white diamonds and orange sapphires. Buyers can customize the inside band with a hidden message for a personal touch. On a more accessible note, “pumpkin spice hair color” gains popularity. Global color company Wella considers this one of the top 17 Fall 2023 Hair Color Trends to Know Right Now. Wella defines the trending color as a red-brown blend, offering a multi-tonal twist on copper hair with rich highlights and lowlights. Blog Haircut of the Day provides 32 Pumpkin Spice Hair Color Ideas for 2023, with inspirational drink images to match.

Pumpkins offer cosmetic advantages

Last year, pumpkin began to trend in the beauty world, showing promise as an ingredient with cosmetic value. Traditional and Japanese pumpkins exhibited potential for antioxidant, antibacterial, and hydrating benefits. They had been previously shown to have photoaging and UV damage prevention potential. In their July newsletter, trend agency Spate spotlighted increased interest in pumpkin enzyme masks on TikTok. They observed a 27.4% year-over-year growth in Google searches for pumpkin enzyme masks, particularly videos addressing acne and exfoliation.

Pumpkins + spice for beauty and home

Celebrity favorite Biba Los Angeles was early on the trend with the Thermal Peel Mask. Consider indulging in this “delicious pumpkin and nutmeg scented grainy mask,” which creates a warming sensation on the skin. When removed, the skin feels clean with a “blushy glow.” Another to try: Peter Thomas Roth’s Pumpkin Enzyme Mask, a triple-threat resurfacer that exfoliates, peels, and polishes while working on all skin types. Ideal for sink décor, Nest’s Pumpkin Chai Liquid Soap utilizes wild pumpkin’s antibacterial qualities and cleanses with a blend of spicy masala chai, cardamom, ginger, and cinnamon. Voluspa’s Spiced Pumpkin Latte Candle adds a perfect home touch, blending kabocha pumpkin, warm spices, coconut milk, and vanilla marshmallow. Upcycle the keepsake pumpkin-colored glass container after the last 50 burning hours. 

Cozy up to autumn with many ways to embrace pumpkin spice mania. Let us know your favorite ways to take advantage of this flavorful trend!

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The frozen scoop

Are you tempted to indulge in an ice cream treat once the weather heats up? You got plenty of company. Last summer, a survey conducted by OnePoll, on behalf of I Love Ice Cream Cakes for National Ice Cream Month produced many nostalgia-laden findings. Overall, the average person associated eating ice cream with summer and said they returned to their 10-year-old selves. Eating ice cream makes people feel happy (36%), satisfied (34%), and relaxed (30%). More than half noted their flavor preferences had changed since childhood. Many desire to beat the heat with innovative ice cream products in the warmer months ahead. At the same time, the market and social media respond to the demand for unique flavors and texture collaborations. 

Viral ice cream trends

Hardly anything remains off-limits in the brave new world of ice cream meets TikTok trends! If you like dipping your French fries into milkshakes, then the McDonalds’s hash brown ice cream sandwich has made your dreams come true. You can achieve the controversial combination by scooping the contents of a McFlurry between two crispy hash browns. TikTok user Golnar Ghavami, aka @golisdream, shared her “sweet guilty pleasure” of ice cream wrapped in a Fruit Roll-Up. Adding ice cream to the fruit-flavored sheet allows it to freeze instantly, producing a pleasantly spine-tingling crunch Ghavami calls “so satisfying.” If you want a healthier hack, try TikTok innovation cottage cheese ice cream. Lainie Kates shared her strawberry-cheesecake cottage cheese-based ice cream recipe, gushing, “I still can’t get over this healthy ice cream hack that has almost 60 grams of protein.”

Cone collaborations and more

Häagen-Dazs and world-renowned pastry chef Pierre Hermé, known for his exquisite macarons, have developed a magical new macaron ice cream range hitting shelves in the UK & France. How about trying one of the three variants: Double Chocolate Ganache, Strawberry and Raspberry, and Yuzu and Lemon. Additionally, in the UK, flavors inspired by afternoon tea include Orange & Pomegranate Tart and Blooming Blueberry Tart. The company’s new Butter Cookie Cone, a “cone for grown-ups,” wraps classic ice cream choices “in luxury.” Speaking of luxury, European ice cream makers and academy irca challenged themselves to consider what consumers want in 2023. Together with their Ice Cream Masters, they rethought three classic flavors, Coffee, Caramel, and Pistachio. The union of research and balance of flavor/texture resulted in two new variety creams JoyCream Caffè Biscotto and JoyCream Caramellato, and the flavoring base JoyPaste Pesto Pistachio. In the U.S., Hidden Valley Ranch and their signature dressing teamed with Van Leeuwen on Hidden Valley Ranch limited-edition ice cream.

Everything but the kitchen sink

For ice cream connoisseurs, adventurous new options abound with plenty of sweet and savory kitchen ingredients. Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams has dropped limited-time flavors such as Homemade Banana Bread and a brief return of Everything Bagel ice cream. Salt & Straw enters as an innovative ice cream company. It continues to receive buzz-worthy praise for its unique flavors. They recently partnered with Sri Lankan Hoppers restaurant in London on Hoppers Caramelized Roti with Bone Marrow Fudge.

Creamy & conscious

Salt & Straw has also been making news in the ice cream industry by upcycling ingredients. Their Upcycled Food Series of eco-friendly flavors linked them with Portland-based Urban Gleaners to source Day-Old Bread Pudding & Chocolate Ganache Ice Cream. Upcycled barley from Evergrain beer production adds to Malted Chocolate Barley Milk ice cream, the first allergen-free non-sorbet. On the non-dairy side, Breyers released an oat milk version of their classic vanilla ice cream with sustainably sourced vanilla. Climate-conscious Alec’s Ice Cream creates their product with certified regenerative organic ingredients and stomach-friendly A2 milk protein milk. You may purchase more traditional flavors and inventive Honey Blueberry Lavender solo or in alec’s “Super Sampler” pack of your favorite picks!

Look out for new savory flavors, creative collaborations, and sustainable entries in the global ice cream market. Let us know your favorites and if you try anything else that sparks your interest and taste buds!

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The Wish for Naturalness

Does this feel familiar to you? Baking- banana-bread-daily had become a comforting routine to many of us. Now that we have left the quarantine stage, our interest in cooking and baking continues to grow. Globally, the pandemic influenced a whole new meal-prep trend—with more and more people cooking at home. Most of us have significantly heightened our concern regarding food ingredients, from formulation to production. While the last year has brought many challenges, we create opportunities (and even new hobbies!) out of obstacles. 

This perfectly summarizes the significant shifts the year 2020 heralded as traditional ways of living were entirely upended by the global Covid-19 pandemic. After almost two years of living through different new normals, adapted behaviors have become the current norms. With the hope of a post (or managed) pandemic world on the horizon, people are relooking at their values—finding the silver lining in challenges and exploring new interests.  

Health as a Top Priority

With that being said, a focus on all things natural stands top of mind for moving forward. While COVID-19 brings light to concerns, the emphasis on health continues to guide many consumers. We notice what we put into our bodies and how it affects us. Natural ingredients and taste help us feel confident and assured that we are making the best health decisions.  

At Symrise, we have understood this and always focus on providing technology combined with the ideals of nature. This way, we are addressing the demand for natural food that has grown significantly. So, allow us to introduce the code of nature Symrise’s global taste solution platform, which unlocks and amplifies the authentic taste of nature. A commitment to signature taste solutions made with the best of nature. 

The Symrise Promise

Symrise truly understands and creates natural and holistic flavorings and products by acting as a consumer-driven company. Analyzing consumer trends and developing natural taste experiences that consumers will love confirm we pursue the right track with our code of nature experience. Additionally, Symrise understands that to get the best ingredients, responsibly and sustainably sourced raw materials matter. As a result, we can provide natural tastes with unique flavor profiles by using our exclusive technologies and gentle preparation methods.

Does it come as a surprise to you that consumers accept long lists of ingredients as long as they can follow them (with emphasis on understanding them)? With this knowledge, Symrise’s all-encompassing code of nature approach supports food and beverage manufacturers in creating labels that consumers understand and trust—showing that pure ingredients genuinely make a difference.  

As in tomato sauce used for pasta dishes, for instance, the citrus fruit in your lemonade sipped on a hot summer’s day. Because more than ever, consumers want fresh ingredients at the center of all food purchases. In addition, they focus on food quality, and the maker occupies many consumers’ minds. That is why today, many of us consider food more than a mere fuel to propel them. Instead, we see it as knowledge, awareness, and a greater understanding of different cultures. And we have learned to appreciate better the process that comes with preparing a meal. As a result of COVID-19, consumers look for health-conscious foods and seek products that support a healthy lifestyle, with naturalness providing a key ingredient in all of this. 

What natural ingredients do you like to include when cooking? Let us know in the comments!

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