Symrise Marketing went on a NYC trek to get a taste of the ingredients keeping consumers cool this summer. Across beverage, savory and sweet categories we saw a mix of classic and novel ingredients that helped us power through the heat.
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DOMINIQUE ANSEL BAKERY & KITCHEN
What we ordered: Meyer Lemon Wildflower Honey Cronut (July cronut of the month), From the NYC Collection the Haute Dog and Pretzel, and the Watermelon Ice Cream.
The Dominique Ansel Bakery and Kitchen are all about the instagrammability trend with an artistry that’s matched by the quality and rich flavor of Ansel’s pastries. The Meyer Lemon Wildflower Honey Cronut was the monthly rotating flavor for July making it an original summer delicacy. The dainty cronut layers were coated with homemade Meyer lemon curd and the sugared casing was topped with a fragrant wildflower honey ganache.
In celebration of 15 years in NYC, Dominique Ansel paid a tribute to the city with intricately detailed treats. We ordered the Haute Dog and Pretzel – some of our favorite NYC delicacies that outdid the street cart originals. The Haute Dog was truly couture with raspberry cremeux, coconut infused biscuit à la cuillère (ladyfingers), topped with passion fruit curd (mustard) and shredded coconut (kraut). Whereas the Pretzel was an elevated peanut butter delight with pretzel bavaroise, soft caramel, and crispy peanut butter feuilletine.
At the Dominique Ansel Kitchen we cooled off with the refreshing Watermelon Ice Cream. This summer treat was a great way to beat the heat with sweet watermelon flavored soft serve swirled into a carved out watermelon slice. The chocolate watermelon seeds were a great touch and a flavor pairing we encountered more than once on our trek!
SWEET MOMENT
What we ordered: Watermelon Bingsoo (seasonal)
Bingsoos are a Korean milk shaved ice dessert and Sweet Moment has them down to a science. The seasonal bingsoo is all about watermelon: fresh watermelon balls topped with chocolate chips, condensed milk, rainbow jelly, rice cake, superman ice cream, meringue cookie and apple syrup. Can you say that 10 times fast?
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Between flavors and textures, this 14oz treat had a lot going but upon first bite it became clear that it was formulated with intention. A mouthful of ingredients equated to a mouthful of flavors that complemented each other with an ease that we may not understand but nonetheless enjoyed!
WAYLA
What we ordered: Sway Wayla
Homestyle Thai comes to life at Wayla in the Lower East Side. We stuck to liquids with the Sway Wayla, a gin cocktail that combined summer ingredients with two of our 2019 Flavor Trends: butterfly pea flower and shiso. This trendy drink was a summer refresher with the revitalizing flavors of lemon and cucumber—made vibrantly visual by the potently purple butterfly pea infusion. According to Technomic's Seasons Eatings Summer 2019 report, there has been a 10.8% increase of cucumber in adult beverages over the past two years—so keep an eye out for the summery ingredient!
A SUMMER DAY CAFÉ
What we ordered: Crudité & Hummus
A Summer Day Café’s Crudité & Hummus starter is perfect for a summer day in Tribeca. The hummus is a smokey blend of red bell pepper and sunflower seeds served with a colorful selection of summer vegetables for dipping: celery, carrots, cucumber, radicchio leaves, watermelon radish and red radish.
THE DOUGHNUT PROJECT
What we ordered: Those Beetz are Dope
This ricotta filled doughnut is topped with a sweet and savory beet flavored glaze. Beet is a summer veggie we know and love, and this delicious pastry proved its versatility as a key player in sweets. The beet doughnut is a house favorite and we can tell why. It’s gooey, dense and a ‘dope’ blend of ricotta and beet.
SPOT DESSERT BAR
What we ordered: Frozen Summer
We encountered another intricately concocted shaved ice dessert with Spot Dessert Bar’s Frozen Summer. This bowl played with textures and temperatures, featuring an intriguing juxtaposition of cool lychee granita and a warm, creamy milk pudding based core. The sweet lychee flavor was balanced with the refreshing combination of watermelon cubes and mint—making a dessert that hit the spot!
FREEMANS
What we ordered: Summer Tomato Salad
Gooseberries are an underappreciated summer fruit that took the spotlight in the Summer Tomato Salad at the charming eatery at the end of Freemans Alley. Their tart and mildly sweet flavor was properly balanced by a blend of summer tomatoes, caraway flatbread croutons, wild basil and Makrut lime vinaigrette. The carefully crafted salad was fresh, light and summery dish that we’ll crave for the rest of the season.
MISTER PARADISE
What we ordered: Party Lobster
Earlier this year the East Village was graced by the high-end cocktails crafted at Mister Paradise. As an NYC newcomer, Mister Paradise is founded by Will Wyatt a bar veteran with a knack for fun and inspired cocktails. The Party Lobster didn’t fall short of our expectations. This new-age margarita is consciously crafted with blanco tequila, mezcal, campari, watermelon, lime, fermented habanero and garlic.
Watermelon is one of the most popular summer ingredients, especially when it comes to foodservice beverage menus. As a beverage ingredient watermelon has increased by 67% between 2016 and 2019 (Mintel, July 2019). Paired with habanero (another late summer bloomer) and garlic, the Party Lobster had enough heat to kick us into the fall!
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Seasonality is about novelty, flavor, functional benefit, association, excitement, and priming. It is also a reflection of our world — weather, time of year, ingredients, locales, cultures, etc. Seasonality can be a good product development tool with the right balance of market curation and experimentation. At the same time, it can be expensive and hard to pull off without a healthy balance of change and stability.
This is backed by our Seasonality Initiative where we help our customers develop pipelines of new concepts and flavor ideas for the seasons and major holidays. If you have questions or would like to learn more about our initiative please contact us.
