Flavor it up

One of my favorite sweet flavors is passion fruit. I discovered it on a trip to Australia in 2016 — the most popular yogurt flavor in that country is passion fruit.

I tasted close to a dozen passion fruit yogurts during my stay, and there is a spectrum of flavor profiles you will find — ranging from those that are “true to the fruit” to perfumy. But passion-fruit-flavored yogurts are hard to find in the U.S. market, and most of the time they are combined with other fruits

While we still have the traditional strawberry and vanilla sweet flavors — and French onion and ranch savory flavors — there has never been a better time for adding some flavor excitement to cultured products.

Savor this
Adding an ethnic twist is a trend in new savory flavor combinations. Since we haven’t been able to travel internationally for quite some time, you can get a little taste of travel through flavor. Savor a bit of Italy with combinations such as garlic parmesan in cottage cheese. Instead of the typical Mexican salsa flavors, try a “street corn” dip or creamy jalapeño cottage cheese.

Experience the Mediterranean with a yogurt dip with garlic and mint; Htipiti with roasted red peppers, spices and yogurt; or a Benedictine-flavored (cucumber) cream cheese spread. Visit the Balkans by trying a savory and tangy paprika. Or if you really want exotic, how about a Thai sweet chili dip or a coconut chicken yogurt smoothie?

Veggies are not uncommon in cultured products, but white truffle, dill pickle or avocado can provide a whole new way to add savory flavor to your yogurt or dip.

Sweeten it up
Fruits have always topped the list of sweet flavors for spoonable and drinkable yogurts and even cottage and cream cheese. Superfruits such as acai have been around for a long time, but adding beets and acai to yogurt or blueberry and acai to cottage cheese presents a new twist.

Yogurts and cream cheese from other areas around the globe use guanabana, fig or fig and raisin, cherry and black currant, and blackberry and black currant. For tea fans, cherry hibiscus tea, matcha, mango hibiscus kombucha, chai and matcha, or rose yogurt could be a draw.
If adding ingredients for health with your fruit is appealing, you can look to pineapple turmeric, ginger turmeric, orange turmeric or pineapple ginger.

Since you can’t explore the world just yet, maybe try exploring the world of new flavor combinations in your cultured products. You might be pleasantly surprised!

Kimberlee (K.J.) Burrington is director of training, education and technical development for the American Dairy Products Institute.