29 Sep 2017 Döhler on emerging technologies and future NPD drinks trends
Döhler presented a broad innovations portfolio of natural ingredients, ingredient systems and product applications that meet consumer lifestyle trends at this year’s drinktec expo in Munich earlier this month, highlighting beverage concepts tailored to the 25+ age group.
Adult Soft Drinks and Adult Teas impress with their high-quality ingredients such as fruit juices, healthy botanical extracts, brewed ingredients, exotic spices or malt extracts.
Marco Schmidt, chief technology officer at Döhler, discussed the company’s move into emerging technologies for food and beverage innovation: “We are really focused on technology improvement around pasteurization. Here we are talking about gentle pasteurization for different ingredients and gentle processes. So everything where we can avoid too much stress for the product, especially at a B2B level.”
He notes an overall shift at the company in recent years, to offer a greater dried portfolio.
“We are shifting our portfolio from the liquid area into the dry area too. Especially here we are busy with defining drying technologies and also those after drying, in order to achieve better products for the different industries that we are serving.
“We are able to try new things and develop new products such as dry smoothies, without any carriers or premium qualities. Now our challenge is to explain to the consumer how a powder can be diluted back with water and have an excellent product that is pure nature.
“There are a lot of trends of developing on a smaller scale, a couple of years ago we started with juices and smoothies and cold brewed coffees, the technology used now is not new but now is the right moment in time where consumers are willing to pay the right amount of money for these products to make it feasible.”
“There is a bigger demand which makes the technology accessible,” he adds. “3/4 years ago we stepped into the dry area, so far we have always been a liquid company, we try to combine our experience in the company we see a lot of overlapping things leading to a lot of innovation.”
“This can be challenging but we have been able to produce a better juice now without adding too much heat to it. These gentle pasteurization processes are important to bring a better quality product with a longer shelf life,” explains Schmidt.
“We are really focusing on plant-based ingredients and making these ingredients available to consumers,” he notes. “There are so many proteins on the market. Our role is to formulate technology and make them really enjoyable to consumers and bring these products to the market in different applications to increase the nutritional value of these drinks.”
Another step towards authenticity is in the space of orange wines and natural wines. They are still a niche area, but these adult soft drinks are served in locations most passionately discussed in social network forums.
In most cases, bio-organically or bio-dynamically operating businesses are behind “natural” wines. The wines themselves are usually spontaneously fermented, i.e. without selected yeast. They are also not sulfurized and filtered, or only to a slight degree. As little technology as possible is the motto.
As a result, the white wines have a gold or even an orange shimmer to them. In terms of taste, the wines are completely out of the ordinary. Due to the high levels of tannin, they are slightly bitter and have herbaceous undertones. Also, they have no or a very low amount of primary fruit aromas. This is the sign of real authenticity according to the natural scene movement.
Christoph Witte of Doehler notes: “A true pioneering spirit has broken out in the alcohol industry: classic spirits, wine, and sparkling wine are getting more and more unusual tastes through botanical extracts, exotic fruits, tea, coffee, and even vegetables.”
Even champagne is part of this trend: Veuve Clicquot, who recently introduced really sweet champagnes, Rich and Rich Rosé, is seeking to penetrate the world of cocktails. Recommended ingredients for mixing with this include cucumber, celery, paprika, ginger, pineapple, hibiscus blossoms, and grapefruit zest…..