Cost-Effective Natural Colours Enhance Staple Ice Cream Flavours
Deliciously Indulgent Ice Cream Starts With A Mouthwatering Visual: Consumers Looking For The ‘Wow-factor’
Pursuing daily decadence through incremental upgrades to everyday purchases is a common theme in the market today. While the majority of European adults tries to eat healthy on a regular basis, most of them sees room for indulgence in their diets. Due to its highly indulgent nature, ice cream is seen by people as the perfect way to treat themselves, and 70% of buyers would rather eat less than compromise on quality (Mintel, 2023). Flavour is therefore by far the most important factor in consumer purchasing decisions in the ice cream category, and brands can leverage consumer research on colour to highlight and intensify flavour profiles.
Consumer research shows clearly that colour has a significant impact on flavour perception.
Optimized colour matching a product’s flavour profile improves flavour perception +15% in food and beverages. (Sensient Consumer Research 2019) Since taste is the #1 priority of shoppers purchasing ice cream, choosing the right colour to optimize flavour emphasis can have a much-needed impact on the bottom line.
Choosing the right colour for your ice cream base improves consumer liking, flavour perception, and ultimately purchase intent.
Creating Naturally Vibrant Ice Cream Shades
When purchasing ice cream, similarly to other food and beverage items, consumers look for products made with natural ingredients, as they connect health with naturalness. Europeans adhere to the natural trend even when it comes to ice cream, with over 60% of them interested in ice cream made with all-natural product (Mintel, 2022), and associating naturalness with health, with 65% of Italians considering ice cream made of only natural ingredients healthier.
The Europeans’ preference towards natural is reflected in the number of ice cream launches in 2023 using colours from natural sources, that were the chosen colour solutions in almost all launches, while only 1.9% of them had artificial colours among its ingredients (Mintel, 2023).
As the demand for botanically sourced colour solutions increases, it is even important to offer standardized high-performing colours, but also considering their food safety.
To ensure this, all of our botanical sources and vendors are carefully and individually inspected through our Certasure™ program to ensure that your products are never put at risk by our ingredients. We hold all of our natural colours to the highest global food safety standards on the market, so you can be confident that your colours are safe as they are vibrant!
NATURAL PINK
Natural pink colours like beet are perfect for strawberry ice cream and other red and pink flavours like raspberry or red velvet. Sensient’s Uberbeet™ platform includes stabilized natural colours and colouring foods based on beetroots, with extremely efficient colour properties. Moreover, Sensients’s vertical integration of beetroot creates global supply chain security of this in-demand botanical source and enables potential cost savings for customers.
Sample Natural Pink for Ice CreamNATURAL Brown
Indulgent flavours like caramel, toffee, and coffee are trending, and often these rich flavours connect with brown shades. Sensient’s highly stable Natural Brown™ portfolio, is a caramel-free range of browns with clean label possibility, thanks to its natural origin. For light caffe-latte brown to intense caramel colour, Fusion Hazelnut Brown™ and Macchiato Brown™ are good natural options, while darker Espresso tones can be achieved with clean-label Terra Brown™.
Sample Natural Brown for Ice Cream
Natural green
Cupper chlorophyllin creates a wide range of natural green for ice cream, that fit beloved classic flavours like Pistachio or Mint, and fresher trends like Matcha or Avocado. To get the right green shades to match the ice cream flavour, we recommend our Cardea Pistachio Green™ from Cardea line, the most natural and palm-free range, made entirely of natural ingredients.
Sample Natural Green for Ice CreamNatural yellow and orange
Sensient’s broad natural colour portfolio also includes sources like Beta-carotene and turmeric, which enables developers to target highly specific hues for maximum flavour representation. Sensient Maracuja Yellow™ could give just the right shades for a pumpkin spice latte ice cream, while Intense Yellow™ can provide the extra bright and intense colour for a summer inspired flavour, all naturally.
Sample Natural Yellow & Orange for Ice Cream
Natural Vanilla
Despite the appeal of novel ice cream flavours, classic flavours are still the best-sellers, with Vanilla ranking 1st place as the most sold flavour in most of European countries (Euromonitor). Vanilla shade expectations may differ by country and culture ranging from light yellow to darker tones. However, even best-sellers benefit from a subtle colour boost, especially when ice cream consumer prioritize quality over quantity (Mintel, 2023). Cardea Vanilla Yellow™, a colouring food from the Cardea™ platform, can bring hints of yellow to a basic white base for a richer, creamier appearance characteristic of high-end vanilla ice cream.
Sample Natural Vanilla for Ice CreamIce Cream Coatings and Colour Crystals™
Following the interest of consumers for combinations of different textures in ice cream (Mintel, 2023), coatings and colour crystals can support the demand for improved sensory experiences.
Colourful coatings can be coloured with different shades and patterns to elevate water ice’s visual appeal and make it stand out with Sensient’s rainbow of natural liquid oil-dispersible colour solutions.
For a cross-sensorial experience, Sensient’s Colour Crystals™ can provide a special look and an added textural element, giving slightly crispy feel to the coating. The colour crystals come in a variety of colours, all based on colouring foods, hence with clean label possibility, and if needed, flavour options can be added to enrich the taste experience.
Sample Sensient’s Colour Crystals™
Whatever flavour you’re creating next, we’re here to help you unleash nature’s rainbow for delectably vibrant ice cream. For troubleshooting assistance or colour recommendations, reach out to our team for a free consultation. To get started quickly, request a sample to add to your library.
