Today’s smart foodservice operator recognises that it’s important to ensure your menu items are both eyecatching and on-trend to keep customers coming back.
Nowhere is this more important than in the desserts category – where colourful, ‘Instagrammable’ dishes which still deliver on flavour and mouthfeel are the key to success.
The latest trends in desserts include contrasting sweet with sour – hence the rise of such flavours as salted caramel – and quirky modern twists on traditional favourites, such as marrying beetroot with chocolate.
There’s also greater use of herbs and spices to add greater flavour complexity, in keeping with the increased diversity of today’s customer base. Another emerging dessert trend is the use of Asian style flavours and ingredients such as a green tea ice cream and sesame praline and ginger syrup.
You also need to bear in mind the growing demand among diners for healthier dessert options, and consequently you should be taking a close look at fats, sugar, sodium and kilojoules per serve.
Fruit has always been a key ingredient in desserts and the current demand for plant-based meals is helping to drive more fruit onto the menu. Remember though that in creating desserts, presentation and taste is always key – and taste is not just about flavour, it’s also about texture. Customers are looking for contrasting textures in their desserts – crunchiness and smoothness go well together and help create a balance that delivers overall satisfaction.
Fruit is the ideal ingredient to add both colour and texture to dessert dishes, while the syrup in packaged fruits makes a terrific flavour enhancer. And thanks to the extensive range of quality fruit available from SPC Food Solutions, you don’t have to worry about seasonal availability – you have your pick of the best fruit Australia has to offer all year round!
SPC fruit is expertly processed and packaged and comes from the Goulburn Valley – one of Australia’s most fertile areas with great sunlight and irrigation, ensuring superior quality. It’s hand-picked and handled with care, with all SPCs growers certified by a rigorous independently audited environmental assurance program.
As we begin to enter the warmer months, it’s time to look start preparing the spring and summer menus – and see what fruit can do to enhance your dessert dishes. From flavoursome fruit tartlets to a homestyle baked apple pie, peaches and plums served with cream and a tasty coulis, poached pears soaked in red wine or served with brown sugar syrup, a moist chocolate sour cream and pear cake or a fruit and yoghurt mousse, fruit is the perfect choice for contemporary dessert presentation.
For more information on the SPC foodservice product solutions go here.
