Fresh Takes on Dips and Spreads

Years ago, my cousin taught me the secret to preparing the perfect French onion dip. It was as simple as mixing dried French onion soup mix with sour cream. Later, I was introduced to spinach dip. At the time it seemed exotic.

Many of us still appreciate these traditional treats but our palates are changing. Were seeking healthier snacking alternatives, and the market is reflecting that. The 2007 Consumer Snacking Study, Information Resources, Inc. (IRI), Chicago, reveals the growth rates for healthier snacks are three times the growth rates of indulgent snacks. Furthermore, IRI predicts dips or dip mixes will be a high-growth category this year.

Beans, beans, beans

Hummus is becoming mainstream and moving beyond Middle Eastern flavors. The basic recipe for hummus is mashed chickpeas (otherwise known as garbanzos) seasoned with lemon juice, garlic, and olive or sesame oil. Traditionally, its served as a dip with pita bread. Its sometimes used in wraps. Nutritionally, hummus is a winner: high in protein and fiber, with no saturated fat or cholesterol. These products tend to be thicker than dairy-based dips. Hummus is sometimes marketed as a dip, but it might be more accurately described as a spread. A spread is a little bit chunkier, but salsa is chunky and they call that a dip, says Mark Bento, technical director, savory flavors, Mastertaste, Teterboro, NJ. The terminology dip and spread is somewhat interchangeable, but Ive noticed the word spread more in use lately.

Because the base is relatively bland, it literally can serve as a blank canvas flavor-wise. Youre seeing very specific ethnic types of hummus like Arabic, Moroccan and Jakarta, says Bento. These very specific regions inspire use of cumin, chili, paprika and, in the Jakarta formulations, curry. Tribe Mediterranean Foods, Taunton, MA, offers Spicy Chipotle Hummus, Horseradish Hummus, French Onion Hummus and Sun-dried Tomato Hummus, among others. The possibilities for hummus flavorings seem without end.

Most Americans were introduced to bean dips by way of the Mexican dip made from refried beans. Yet the consumer appetite for healthy bean-based dips is broader. Although hummus seems to dominate the category, opportunity abounds for the creation of dips made with white beans, black beans or more exotic beans.

According to Alan McGuirt, marketing manager, Van Drunen Farms, Momence, IL, drum-dried beans are an excellent product for using in dips and spreads. They are all-natural and rehydrate quickly, he says. Drumdried bean flakes and powders are fully cooked, producing great flavor and a smooth, creamy paste upon reconstitution, and are an economical ingredient choice. The amount of moisture added is dependent on the individual application and the consistency desired by the manufacturer. In addition to dips and spreads, drumdried beans could make a great flavoring for tortilla chip coatings. Van Drunen Farms offers a line of IQF herbs, vegetables and roasted vegetables for use in salsas and dips of all kinds.

The Tribe Mediterranean Foods website (www.tribehummus.com) suggests using hummus to top baked potatoes, spread on bagels in place of cream cheese, and use as a condiment on hamburgers, chicken, turkey or grilled fish sandwiches. Their recipes include fettuccini Alfredo with hummus, carrot hummus pita pizza, and Caesar salad made with hummus. It also claims their hummus is Cool for School, suggesting that kids will love it.

Athenos, Weyauwega, WI, suggests using hummus in quesadillas. Sabra posts recipes for serving chicken skewers with hummus and grilled veggie wraps with hummus.

Multiple benefits

Traditionally, dips were served with fried salty snacks. Now, theyve moved beyond sinful snacking to healthful eating. Nearly anything can be dippedfrom fresh veggies to pita breadand the dips themselves offer a delicious way of eating vegetables. Take salsas, with their tomato, vegetable or fruit base, which provide sound nutrition and important phytonutrients.

But creativity is needed for salsa formulations. The salsa market has been saturated, says Bento. The better brands have a following. Youre seeing some regional, specialty sauces. Chunky is probably more of the bigger trend. In addition, salsa with fruits, with variations such

Nutritionally, hummus is a winner: high in protein and fiber, with no saturated fat or cholesterol.as peach, strawberry, pineapple and different flavorings and spices can pique consumer interest.

Part of what drives sales of dips and spreads is that they are multifunctional and can be used as condiments and in cooking. Salsas have long been used to accompany meats and to create dishes like pizza, desserts and pastas.

But tomatoes arent the only veggies that are joining the party. Tapenade spreads consist of puréed capers, black olives and anchovies, mixed with olive oil. Other ingredients often seen include lemon juice, seasonings such as fresh herbs, and garlic. Bento suggests adding an olive spread to chicken broth to create a Siciliantype sauce to serve with sautéed chicken. People can get creative, he says. People like trying different things and using it in a variety of different ways.

Guacamole is another healthful, crossover dip, equally at home atop a tortilla chip or a salad. The basic formula is mashed avocados, lemon, garlic, tomato and spices. Avocados are rich in vitamin C, vitamin E, fiber and monounsaturated fats. They are naturally sodium free.

When exposed to air, avocado flesh undergoes an unattractive enzymatic browning reaction. Lemon juice helps prevent browning, but processors often add ascorbic acid and/or citric acid for additional protection.

Calavo, Santa Paula, CA, a leading grower of avocados, offers refrigerated and frozen guacamole dips, in addition to frozen avocado halves, pulp and sauce. Texture profiles range from chunky pulp to IQF halves. These products have a two-year frozen shelf life. In the retail sector, IRI reports Calavo as a top ten supplier of dips for the 52- week period ending June 17, 2007. Sales of $9.1 million represented a 21.6% increase from the previous year.

Simplot Foods, Boise, ID, produces a deli guacamole. For manufacturers, they offer IQF avocado halves, slices, dices and pulp.

Beyond sour cream

Sour cream and cream cheese are the standard dairy dip bases. However, Were seeing more products using yogurt as a dairy base now, Bento says. Again, the healthiness of yogurt is probably the key. Its good marketing. Yogurt complements the healthy connotation of a vegetable dip and inspires less snacking guilt.

One hundred grams of cultured sour cream has 214 calories, 3.16 grams of protein and 20.96 grams of fat. In contrast, plain whole milk yogurt has 61 calories, 3.47 grams of protein and 3.25 grams of fat. Sour cream has a richer flavor and thicker texture than yogurt, which is slightly more acidic in flavor and has a thinner body. Sour cream has a pH of around 4.5, while the pH of yogurt tends toward 4.1.

Health-conscious consumers often substitute yogurt for sour cream, either as a half or full replacement, and make their dips by adding packaged seasonings.

In the ready-to-serve market, the Wicked Good Company, Bristol, RI, sells a Yogurt Dill Sauce and Dip, and T. Marzetti, Columbus, OH, offers a Light French Vanilla Yogurt Fruit Dip, in addition to its line of cream cheese and caramel fruit dips. Litehouse Foods, Inc., Sandpoint, Idaho, manufactures a Chocolate Yogurt Fruit Dip.

Bento believes sales opportunities lies within the Hispanic community for sweet dips such as honey, vanilla, fruit flavors and dulce de leche. With increased consumer awareness of ethnic food, development opportunities exist for raita, a refreshing Indian yogurt dip typically flavored with cucumber.

Dip development

Dip formulations are more complex than combining a base and flavoring. Stability, storage and shelf life must be considered. Use of appropriate stabilizers will prevent separation and an unappetizing layer of oil atop the dip. Hydrocolloids will aid in ingredient suspension, as well as reduce syneresis. And with the priceand caloriesof traditional dairy, product designers are looking for alternatives that supply the textural and functional characteristics of milkfat or solids, or both.

Its critical to make sure you know all the parameters that youre working on in terms of the pH, solids and processing conditions so that you can determine which is going to be the best stabilizer system for your product, says Maureen Akins, food scientist, TIC Gums, Inc., Belcamp, MD. Its really critical to make sure that you know all of the particulars of the product before you try to stabilize it, because every system is going to be slightly different, especially if youre working with proteins or other ingredients that could have incompatibilities, especially when you start altering pHs.

Xanthan is used extensively throughout the industry as a suspension agent without the addition of a significant amount of viscosity. It can be used in extreme conditions, such as very low pHs, or very low or very high salt concentrations, Akins says. It is often used with products that have a substantial amount of large particulates like fresh herbs.

Carrageenans are not effective in low pH systems such as yogurt-based products. Milk proteins are not especially compatible with xanthan. We suggest you use agar or pectin to stabilize your yogurt to prevent syneresis, says Akins.

Pectins form a gel network. In addition to being very viscous, they are going to have some kind of gelling aid, Akins continues. Pectins must be used in very low pH systems to form a gel. Generally, they require a significant amount of soluble solids, sugars and fruit solids to make sure they have the proper conditions in order to gel. Pectins work very beautifully in acidified milk products at low pHs. Stabilizers used for sour creambased dips might contain combinations of starch, guar and locust bean gum. Emulsifiers and phosphates also play a key role in stability for these types of dips.

Salsas, which are generally in the 4.0 pH range and vegetable based, naturally contain pectin. This will provide some particulate suspension and viscosity. Addition of a small amount of pectin can improve suspension of ingredients.

Akins suggests, depending on the pH, youll find guar used in salsas and youll find xanthan used in combination. They are synergistic. In combination, guar provides added viscosity. Xanthan provides suspension benefits. If a modified food starch is added to thicken a salsa, its important that the starch be heat, shear and acid stable.

Reducing fat

If less-indulgent products are the key to healthful dipping, its important to look at the fat contentboth type and level. Olive oil suggests a healthful connotation, and it is easily incorporated in bean dips and tapenades. Fat flavors, such as an olive oil flavor, can be used to boost sensation in lowerfat products. Ingredients like mushrooms, roasted vegetables and balsamic vinegar can add richness without fat. For some dips, fat can be reduced by increasing vegetable solids by way of purées or dried vegetables.

According to Bento, pectin and starches will improve mouthfeel. We also use other flavor systems to give mouthfeel, he says. Some of these systems have high molecular weight compounds, like lactones, to simulate a fullness in the mouth.

Whey protein concentrate at 2% to 5% usage can be added at low levels to dairy-based dips to retain water, provide full-bodied texture and add viscosity. High-protein WPCs, such as WPC 80, provide a clean, dairy flavor. Lower-protein WPCs contain 34% to 35% protein. These are functionally designed to add certain flavor attributes, such as milkiness or tartness.

Standard fare

Some traditional ingredients remain popular in dips, such as onion, artichoke, spinach and red pepper. Bento recommends using IQF vegetables in dips and spreads for vibrant texture, flavor and color.

Cheese dips still hold court on Mexican restaurant menus. When selecting cheeses for use in dips, melting properties are key. Although the generic name for a Hispanic white cheese is queso blanco, this cheese is dry, crumbly and more suited for use atop enchiladas or other entrées. Purists might pursue use of chihuahua, asadero or Oaxaca melting cheeses. Suppliers such as Kraft, Sargento and Land OLakes offer cheeses with specific melt properties.

As Americans expand their culinary horizons, blue cheese, Stilton and other stronger flavors are appearing on restaurant menus and consumers are finding they make flavorful dips. Choice of powders vs. natural cheeses is often dictated by economics and storage capabilities.

Seafood dips, such as hot crab or salmon, continue to entice. No doubt, the healthful connotation of salmons rich omega-3 content contributes. IRI named Salads of the Sea, manufactured by Future Food Ltd., Carrollton, TX, one of the top ten refrigerated dip brands for the period ending June 17, 2007. The companys retail and institutional offerings include Smoked Salmon Spread, Cajun Smoked Salmon Flavored Spread, Cheesy Cheddar & Shrimp Dip, Krab, Spinach & Artichoke Dip, Cajun Crawfish Dip and Chipotle Shrimp Dip.

Phillips Foods, Inc., Baltimore, manufactures Maryland Style Crab Dip, Crab Artichoke Dip, Creamy Crab and Spinach Dip. Dennis Gavagan, executive corporate chef, suggests using small pieces of pasteurized processed seafood in developing seafood dips. Shrimp or crabmeat contains approximately 25% moisture. We use a natural modified food starch, he says. The amount will depend on whether the dip will be served hot or cold.

Most seafood dips are made with a cream cheese, mayonnaise and/or sour cream base. Sour cream contains lactic acid, which provides some natural antimicrobial protection. Food safety is dependent on pH, Gavagan says. Under 5.5 is ideal. Sodium bisulfite and sodium benzoate can be added for additional protection.

For inspiration, the Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute, Juneau, offers recipes for Wild Alaska Salmon, Baby Leek & Crème Fraiche Dip with Roast Sweet Potato Wedges, and Hot Artichoke, Alaska Salmon and Parmesan Dip.

The possibilities for dip and spread development are as boundless as the imagination. While French onion dip and salsa are mainstays, opportunity lies in innovation. Dipping into current trends and effective marketing is key.

Buzzwords, such as better for you, can drive sales, says Bento. The trend is definitely toward natural and pure formulation. Organic is doing very well. All natural and fresh are other buzzwords. Low-fat claims are up there. Americans can now snack for health rather than subscribe to guilty indulgence. And perhaps well eat more vegetables as we move beyond the traditional spinach dip.

Cindy Hazen, a 20-year veteran of the food industry, is a freelance writer based in Memphis, TN. She can be reached at [email protected].