Stock is defined as a cooking liquid that is flavored by simmering animal bones and/or meat, fish, in water or wine with vegetables typically comprised of onion, celery, and carrots (also known as mirepoix) and sometimes other vegetables (or vegetables alone) until a desired flavor is achieved. The classic stock flavorings are beef, chicken, fish, and vegetable/mushroom/miso, and each type finds itself at various stages of use on today’s menus.

The 2019 International Food Information Council (IFIC) Food and Health Survey reported that limiting or reducing sugar in the diet, along with eating more fruits and vegetables, topped the dietary changes consumers were making. Of those surveyed that year, 38% said they followed some sort of special diet. Of that number, 80% declared some intention to limit or avoid sugars in the diet.

It’s a new era of baking. New ingredients and innovative discoveries in the bakery sector continue to push the envelope when it comes to meeting consumer demands for clean-label, “keto-friendly,” low-sugar, plant-based, non-GMO, and, especially, gluten-free products.

With more than three out of four consumers worldwide claiming to read ingredient labels, it has become critical that food and beverage manufacturers offer clean-label products consumers can trust. Like the term “natural,” “clean label” has no legal definition, so when it comes to innovative approaches, reformulating, and developing products to carry an allergen-free and clean label, research chefs and manufacturers can find ingredient options confusing.

Vegetable oils still lead the field over animal-based fats when it comes to new food oil developments. Perceived as healthier in that they contain more unsaturated fatty acids, they have faced challenges when it comes to cooking or baking, as they are not normally robust at the high temperatures needed in heat processing.

The explosion of plant-based meat and dairy analogs has created a paradigm shift in the ways food product developers are considering fats and oils. There’s plenty of innovation around plant-based meat alternatives, especially as they expand beyond burgers, sausages, and poultry into mimics of bacon, pork, and even such highly specific items as turkey burgers.

Sauces, dressings, and condiments, such as mayonnaise, benefit in obvious ways from the emulsifying properties of the egg yolk. While it is easy to observe the importance of a stable emulsion in mayonnaise or a dressing where one can witness the battle between immiscible liquids (typically water and fat) as they strive to separate from each other, emulsifiers play an important although less obvious role in other formulations.

Prepared Foods talks dips, sauces and condiment trends with David Bezenyei, sales manager, Columbus Vegetable Oils. Based in Des Plaines, Ill., Columbus Vegetable Oils produces a wide range of sauces, dressings, condiments and oils for private label and contract manufacturing customers. Likewise, it supplies a Butcher Boy sauce line to foodservice operators.