Foraging is trending. The term implies the collection of edible things from forest and meadow – wild herbs, mushrooms, nuts, seeds, wild berries. Formerly this used to be an important and necessary source of nutrition, today it is rather a hobby but also an expression of a certain life philosophy: Pure nature, back to the roots, a careful handling with our resources.

There is a big interest in wild food: almost every second Austrian is an enthusiastic collector of mushrooms. Wild herbs, fir cones and tree tops of spruces are found on the plates of local gourmet restaurants. For some years Axel Kiesbye has created a forest beer in cooperation with the Austrian Federal Forestry Office. Foraging is an intensive form of the trend local restaurant. Trend researchers call it restaurant back to the roots.

Wild berries are the fruity aspect of foraging and in many ways they are significant. The big asset of cowberries, blackberries, blueberries and others is their variety of flavors: From very sweet to tangy, peppery notes, crunchy-leathery or juicy-fruity. They contain lots of good substances like vitamins, minerals, antioxidants and in respect to colour they offer a firework from a bright raspberry-red to an intensive blueberry-blue.

This is why esarom, an expert in taste for industrially manufactured food and beverages, has concentrated on those local super-fruits and has declared them as the trendy flavor in 2017.

Isolde Tomann, flavorist and head of the flavor creation department at esarom: “Raspberry flavors are often candy-like and strawberry flavors jam-like. With our new range of wild berry flavors the natural flavor profile of the fruit is in the foreground. The blueberry, for example, has a very forest-like note. With its tangy note the cowberry differs from the rather sweeter cranberry flavors.”

“We are currently seeing a high interest in herbs – combinations fruit and herbs are very popular at the moment. Combinations with basil, rosemary and sweet fruits plus a touch of tart herbs gives new taste profiles to the products. Wildberries and herbs are the perfect combinations.”

“Our flavorists are already working on the trend flavours 2018,” she adds.

The concentrated variety in taste offers to the producers in the food and beverage industry manifold possibilities to please customers with trendy products and moments of indulgence. Will we find a touch of foraging on the shelves of our supermarkets?