Seaweed tops list of innovative new ingredients

The market analyst features two particularly unusual uses for the ingredient, which is packed full of vitamins and minerals. One in a Japanese kelp and apricot confectionery product, and another in a Danish substitute caviar product.

For consumers who are willing to try an alternative type of seafood, Danish-based Jens Moller Products has introduced Cavi-Art, a caviar substitute made of seaweed. Distributed in the US by Norsea, LLC, Cavi-Art is said to be a good alternative for people who believe normal caviar tastes a bit too fishy and oily.

Cavi-Art comes in two varieties, the black Seaweed Lumpfish Caviar and the pink Seaweed Salmon Roe Caviar, and is promoted as being suitable for vegetarians and consumers worried about depleting sturgeon stocks. It is also said to be beneficial for people on low cholesterol diets as it is much lower in salt than real caviar.

Japan-based Lotte has also incorporated a type of seaweed in its new confectionery. Lotte Wakadama To Kombu Fumi is a sweet flavoured with kombu kelp and Japanese apricot, which is said to have a sweet and tangy apricot-tasting soft centre and a hard shell that tastes like pickled kelp. The combination is described as a new flavour in Japanese confectionery.

Datamonitor's Productscan also highlights a number of other interesting flavour applications. An affiliate of Lotte, Lotte Snow, has brought out a more conventionally flavoured product in Japan, the H and B Bigokochi Coenzyme Q10 Orange and Grapefruit Mini Stick.

These sorbet cups, which come in an assortment of orange and grapefruit flavours, are a new addition to the company's functional ices range, with the H and B of the title supposedly standing for health and beauty.

Over in the US, France-based Chocolat Weiss has launched Vinecao Vinegar, a new vinegar that is unusually flavoured with cocoa. The vinegar is recommended for dressing varied preparations of meat or seafood and is said to balance sweet, sour, bitter and acidic flavours.

At $19 a bottle, the vinegar is priced at the high end of the market, which may dissuade some coca lovers from buying it.

Another deluxe-looking product is Isigny Sainte Mere Camembert au Four, from UCL Isigny Sainte Mere in France. This is a soft cheese, presented in a round terracotta bowl and covered with a layer of breadcrumbs, which is designed to be heated in the oven.

The product is flavoured with Calvados brandy, designed to set the product apart from everyday cheeses.

And finally, Emmi Schweiz has launched a cheese that it believes will stand out from the crowd. Emmi Swiss Alp, available in Germany, is said to be the first cheese with a herb taste and an edible herb coating but without herbs in the mixture.

It is available both packaged and from the cheese counter and comes in Panorama and Bellevue varieties.