Raise a glass to innovative fruit and vegetable beverages
Remember Tang? The orange-flavored orange-colored instant powdered beverage was a breakfast staple for generations of Americans.
New Approaches to Vegetable Beverages
In the past 7-10 years, new vegetable offerings like tomato, carrot, sweet potato, squash, beet, and more in the beverage segment have burst onto the scene, moving beyond what was traditionally only V8 and Bloody Mary mixers, says Deirdre Piggott, director of applications, sweet and beverage flavors at Sensient Flavors, Hoffman Estates, Ill. (sensientflavorsandextracts.com). “We started to see vegetable juices being introduced to beverages because of their coloring properties, but initial usage levels were low, and there was little to no impact on taste,” says Piggott. She adds that as consumers have become increasingly aware of the sugar content that comes with the use of fruit juice, companies are starting to use higher quantities of vegetable juices in their products to reduce the sugar content and add to the cachet of “containing vegetables.”