At the Winter Fancy Food Show in Las Vegas, companies across categories showcased how they are helping consumers blaze new trails in the kitchen with convenient delivery platforms or by pairing new or unknown ingredients with more familiar formats and flavors to lower the bar for trial.

In this episode of FoodNavigator-USA’s Soup-To-Nuts podcast, the founders of the brisket spray brand Spritz King and flavored powder sugar brand Whipzi show how they are making it more convenient to add flavor to barbeque and baked goods. In addition, an executive with the Danish chocolate coated licorice brand Lakrids by Bülow shares how the Danish company is making the controversial flavor of black licorice more approachable. And finally, the founder of Un Chin! Seasoning Company shares how she is reassuring hesitant and health-conscious home cooks with better-for-you spice blends that are culturally comforting, safe and just as aesthetically pleasing to look at as to eat.

While many consumers may talk a lot of game about wanting to try new flavors, research from Innova Market Insight published late last fall found only about one in four consumers are actually drawn to exotic tastes and around half prefer familiar flavors.

Consumers’ hesitancy to try new or unfamiliar flavors, dishes and products likely stems in part from a fear that they won’t like how something tastes and will regret spending money on it.

Jennifer Donnellan, the vice president of US sales and business development for the premium confection company Lakrids by Bülow is all too familiar with consumers’ hesitancy to try a new flavor or one about which they have preconceived negative opinions. The company makes gourmet licorice – a flavor that she acknowledges can be “quite divisive,” but which she said the company can make anyone love with surprising flavor combinations, exceptional ingredients and craftsmanship.

“Eight out of 10 people think that they don’t like black licorice,” but “once we have someone who we lovingly call a ‘hater’ try a piece of our licorice, it can be a transformational experience,” she said.

She attributed this near-universal about-face to the product’s high quality ingredients, including rice flour which creates a chewier texture, gluten-free and which also has a neutral taste so as to allow the other “very carefully sourced ingredients” to come through, including licorice root and molasses.

The fact the company coats most of its licorice in gourmet chocolate and either a candy shell or flavorful cocoa powder also helps.

To coax consumers out of their comfort zone and give black licorice a try, Lakrids employs several strategies, including pairing it with a wide range of familiar flavors, like Strawberries & Cream, Passion Fruit, Salt & Caramel, Peaches and more. These combinations are determined not only by the company’s confection experts but also by its consumers.

The company also leans on texture and visual appeal to entice consumers to try something they may have negative preconceived notions about.

Consumers who are interested in adventurous flavors may still favor the familiar if they are unsure how to replicate the taste of a global or regional dish at home or how to incorporate a flavor for best results.

According to startup Spritz King founder Toby Forsberg, convenience and consistency are key to recreating perfectly flavored barbeque, which is one reason why he said he is commercializing two premium spritzes for grilling, smoking and air frying.

“Spritz King was designed to build the bark on the exterior of your meat. Pitmasters and barbecuers have been doing that for a long time. They have been making their own spritz in their kitchens and applying it to their meat through spray mechanism to ensure that the amino acids and sugars react accordingly through the Maillard effect and build that bark on the exterior of your brisket or your ribs,” he said.

The company decided to commercialize the spray for added convenience for home cooks and backyard barbecuers who may not be pitmasters but who still enjoy crunchy, flavorful grilled meat and veggies. The sprays include the right balance of ingredients and an easy to use bottle and nozzle that lets them adjust how much is in its spray as well as its velocity and pressure.

The Spritz King is current available in a few retailers in the Portland, Ore., area where the company is based in the larger Pacific Northwest, but Forsberg said he is eager to expand distribution and will soon sell the spray product on Amazon.

Another brand making it easier to incorporate trendy but sometimes fussy flavors into baked goods is Whipzi, which “simplifies baking for the not-so-simple baker” with its flavored powdered sugars. Founder Angela Powell explained the inspiration for the product came from a pandemic problem.

“During COVID, my kids came home from school colleges, and we were trying to learn how to cook and bake. One of the problems we had was adding flavors to our baked goods, because eggs were scarce, flour was scarce, butter was scarce, so you really didn’t want to ruin it once you found that. So, we found that we put too much flavoring in it, and then you can’t go back and take it out. So I was like, ‘There has to be an easier way, somebody else has to be doing it, right? So let’s just buy it already, pre-made.’ I went online, couldn’t find it, and I was like, okay, and I’m going to try and make it myself,” she said.

The company’s offerings are plant-based and free from artificial colors. They can be used in baking as well as beverages, such as coffees and cocktails, she added.

Like Lakrids, Powell says Whipzi offers a broad range of flavors based primarily on consumer feedback. She also leverages limited-time offerings to meet shifting consumer desires while still maintaining the size and scope of her portfolio and production requirements.

Consumers often feel stymied when trying to recreate international, regional or cultural dishes when they do not have easy access to key ingredients, spices and flavors. While pre-made spice blends, sauces and even kits can address this challenge, they often come with undesirable tradeoffs, like high sodium and sugar or artificial flavors and fillers that modern consumers want to avoid.

Grace Urena founded the startup Un Chin Seasoning Company to help bring the flavors of the Caribbean and Latin America to US kitchens but without ingredients that can compromise consumers health.

“Un Chin! is my love letter to my community. I was born and raised in the Bronx” with a diverse Caribbean family whose traditions often centered on food, Urena explained.

But, she said, many of the ingredients accessible to her grandparents and older generations were not available to her in the Bronx. And while there are some spice blends that try to replicate the flavors, Urena said they often have undesirable ingredients, including high sodium and sugar, food dyes and fillers – all of which she said contribute to the diet-related chronic disease that are rampant in her community.

Her blends are low in or free of sodium, use hard-to-find regional ingredients and very little sugar, making them a better fit for consumers who want the flavors of their heritage but may be trying to manage high blood pressure, diabetes and other health conditions.

Each of these companies not only are elevating home cooking, but they are addressing consumer pain points that give them a competitive edge in the market – be it added convenience, like that which Spritz King and Whipzi offer, cleaner ingredients and healthier nutritional profiles like Un Chin! offers or a strategic combination of familiar and unfamiliar flavors, textures and visual components that lower the bar for trial.