New year, new flavors.
If you’ve never heard of or tasted tamarind, 2024 is the year to introduce it to your taste buds.
McCormick & Company, the top-selling maker of seasonings and spices, announced its Flavor Forecast 24th Edition Flavor of the Year: tamarind.
The annual Flavor Forecast is a report “illuminating the latest culinary trends shaping the way people prepare and enjoy food worldwide,” according to a press release.
The spice — sometimes referred to as the “date of India” — is native to that country, Africa and the Middle East, and the pod-like fruit is expected to become an essential ingredient worldwide this year.
Tamarind can be utilized in cooking and for medicinal and household purposes, according to Healthline.
The acidic, tangy-sweet flavor can be added to a variety of foods such as potato chips, ice cream and coffee. It is often used in sauces, marinades, chutneys, drinks and desserts —- and is one of the ingredients in Worcestershire sauce.
It also contains antioxidants that can boost heart health, such as flavonoids — some of which can help regulate cholesterol levels.
Tamarind is high in magnesium, which can help lower blood pressure and has anti-inflammatory and anti-diabetic effects.
“For nearly 25 years, McCormick has forecasted global flavor trends through our Flavor Forecast report. After all this time, there is still no shortage of trends to uncover which allow us to continue to shake up the way people cook, flavor and eat,” Tabata Gomez, chief marketing officer at McCormick, said in a statement.
A team of 50 people around the world chose tamarind as the flavor of the year because it “brings out all of what we saw for this year,” Hadar Cohen Aviram, executive chef and senior manager, Culinary Development, U.S. Consumer at McCormick, told CNN.
Aviram noted that the flavor lined up with three of the main trends identified in the brand’s flavor forecast: “sour power,” “thoughtfully borrowed” and “indulgence redefined.”
Sour is not “just another ingredient,” with acidic agents — such as tamarind and coconut vinegar — coming to the forefront “to open our senses, boost craveability and even help ‘cook’ without heat.”
Reinventing regional-traditional cooking is referred to as being “thoughtfully borrowed.”
“Starting with a dash of something that’s ‘you,’ these conscious cultural combinations pay homage and respect to both roots and backgrounds,” the press release said, adding that “from time of day to season, flavor sensations link to emotions, memories, and all lived experiences” — leading to redefining indulgences.
“Indulgence redefined” comes to life in two ways, according to McCormick: “newstalgic” and “food maximalism.”
The company defines “newstaglic” as: “What’s old is new again, with restaurants re-introducing childhood favorites with a gourmet twist.” Meanwhile, food maximalism is explained as: “By layering flavors and textures in creative, fun, and always thoughtful ways, you can experience flavor to the max.”
“All of those trends that we saw this year, we see them projected through this one flavor,” Aviram told CNN about tamarind.
The newly announced Flavor of the Year will be featured in limited-edition, Tamarind-infused menu items co-developed for Black Tap Craft Burgers & Beer locations nationwide starting Feb. 1, 2024.
Menu items at Black Tap will include a chicken burger, fries and milkshake that “infuse the seasoning in intriguing ways.”
“We love to tap different regional influences for our recipes – Tamarind inspired us to borrow flavors from Southeast Asia, the Iberian Peninsula, and Latin America for this exciting collaboration,” Stephen Parker, corporate executive chef at Black Tap, said in a statement. “We look forward to inviting everyone into our restaurants to experience these new creations this February.”