Citrus Flavors for Beverages

Citrus is a perennial top flavor choice for beverages. According to Chicago-based Mintels Global New Product Database, citrus flavors are the No. 1 choice for retail beverages around the world. And The Nielsen Company, New York, has reported that the top-selling ready-to-drink tea flavors include citrusannually yielding more than $1.25 billion and taking 41% of the flavored-tea market.

Ton Mesters, vice president, business development for citrus, Kerry Ingredients & Flavours, estimates that 60% to 65% of all flavored alcoholic and nonalcoholic beverages contain some type of citrus ingredient, such as orange, lemon, lime, tangerine or grapefruit. With the continued development of its Citrus Center, Lakeland, FL, Kerry has positioned itself as a leader in citrus flavor technology. Combined with the companys beverage expertise and its large-scale industrial aseptic-packaging facilities, Kerry has created a one-stop shop for bringing citrus-flavored beverages to market.

As a core specialist in the area of citrus, we offer our customers a wide variety of high-quality products, from ingredients to finished flavors," says Walter Crawley, director of marketing. We also provide our clients assistance with concept and application development."

The companys flavor capabilities include emulsion, molecular distillation, encapsulation and extraction. It offers add-back flavor systems for 100% juice products, as well as beverage flavor modulators. Although customized formulas are always an option, Kerry has developed several off-the-shelf options for on-trend natural citrus flavors, including its collection of Citrus Varietal Flavors, which focuses on regional and species-specific flavors: Blood Orange, Clementine, Meyer Lemon, Rangpur Lime, Kusiae Lime and Pomello. Other recent citrus-centric R&D has yielded flavors like Tuscan Lemon, Mexican Key Lime and Clementine.

Although beverages are a clear focus for citrus flavors, Kerrys citrus capabilities also extend into confectionery, bakery and dairy.

Kerry Ingredients & Flavours

3400 Millington Road

Beloit, WI 53511

Phone: 608/363-1200

E-mail: [email protected]

Website: kerry.com