Salt of the Earth has introduced Mediterranean Umami Bold, a formulation designed to to boost flavour and cut salt from comfort foods such as pizza and tomato soup.
Datassential reported pizza sales in the US more than doubled last year, and Statista predicts that the $16B global frozen pizza market is expected to jump by about 50% in the next five years. MarketWatch found similar growth trends for another comfort food, soup. Not only has soup benefited from the same situations driving pizza sales, the particularly harsh winter of early 2021 also helped drive strong soup sales, with the research group predicting the more than $16 billion market will rise at a steady CAGR of 5% or so for the next five years.
“Consumers are working from home and do not enjoy active social lifestyles as before, so eating at home and turning to comfort food have become the new normal,” said Tali Feingold, Business Unit Director of Salt of the Earth. “Yet these same consumers are more conscious about what they put in their bodies and study labels to ensure ingredients are all-natural, without additives.
Mediterranean Umami Bold aims to enable manufacturers to craft cleaner-label products, reduce the sodium, and maintain flavour. It’s plant-based, vegan, kosher, and halal and can replace synthetic ingredients and other artificial additives as well as salt replacements.
“Removing salt from a recipe and adding Mediterranean Umami Bold enhances all of the flavours in the application, without influencing texture or mouthfeel,” said Rakefet Rosenblatt, Food Technologist for Salt of the Earth. “Mediterranean Umami Bold helps keep the flavour systems balanced, even with reduced sodium.”
The product can also be used to reduce the amounts of certain ingredients, such as flavourings and spice blends. The easiest way to use it, the company says, is to add to the aqueous phase in the recipe. It’s reportedly functional across various processing conditions, being heat- and pH-stable. It’s suitable for meats and fish, sauces, soups, RTE meals, plant-based meat analogs, and specialty bakery.