We spend a lot of time thinking about new ingredients and culinary movements inspiring today’s cooks and how to stay ahead of them with our products and recipes. We take special note of your questions to our Test Kitchen Hotline as a predictor of the type of dishes you’re cooking and the tools you’re using in the process, as well as insight shared by our vendors and product development team. And, of course, we’re always interested to consider food trend predictions that flood the many content channels this time of year. Here’s what we (and, we think, you) will be eating, drinking, and obsessing over in 2022.
1. Non-Alcoholic Drinks
Fantastic drinks that happen to lack alcohol is an ongoing trend for a reason. The movement has concentrated in the last few years to produce a few excellent books and focus on small producers of booze-free “spirits.” Think: our beloved Three Spirit, with which you can concoct a “Light and Stormy” by mixing ginger beer. We also love our lower-sugar Avec line, ideal for mocktails. We’ve followed the trend by offering non-alcoholic versions of our favorite cocktails, such as the N/A riff on our Coconut Cream Lime Margarita as well as our bracing (and booze-free) hot toddy.
2. Plant-Based Recipes
A plant-based approach to your meals, whether it’s vegetarian or vegan, strict or not, is simply better for the planet and a movement that’s been growing for years. So whether you opt for a vegetarian holiday feast or simply swap our red meat in favor of a luxurious mushroom lasagna or butternut squash lasagna, you can feel confident knowing your plant-based choices can have a positive impact.
3. Robots & Automation
“Alexa, make me a drink!” We’re pretty well there, guys, thanks to our Bartesian Premium Cocktails on Demand, a revolutionary (fast!) smart-screen toaster, and coffee makers that are smarter than we are prior to our first cup of joe. The robots are indeed taking over. Thank goodness, and pass the sugar.
4. Small-Batch Cooking
2020 and 2021 were years when many folks turned on their ovens and started to cook. That means even small households saw themselves in search of great recipes. Enter: small-batch cookery. Since we haven’t been hosting huge events or parties, many of us wanted to think small. (These small-batch baking recipes rule.) And who needs to turn on a whole oven for low-yield recipes? An air fryer can turn out donut holes like a champ, and a good toaster oven can stand in for its big brother anytime (especially when it comes to nachos. Yum.)
5. Oats
If you haven’t been living under a rock, you’ve heard about Oatly and its oeuvre: shockingly wonderful oat-based milks. But we reckon this is the year oats truly come into their own. Just look at this fudgy chocolate cake from chef Joshua McFadden. Not only is there not a lick of white flour in the whole darn thing, but both cake and frosting have oats in them. And yes, it’s delicious and oh-so-moist.
6. Hibiscus and Other Edible Flowers
Could hibiscus be the new matcha? Some trend watchers think so. Appreciated for its slightly bitter, citrusy flavor and vibrant color, hibiscus is making the culinary rounds as much more than a topper of tropical drinks. The dried flowers are steeped in liquid, then pureed or strained with deeply hued and flavorful results—as in chef Claudette Zepeda’s beauteous salad, shown here, or air-fried doughnuts decked out in a hibiscus glaze. Make this the year you learn about the many uses of this versatile bloom.
7. Korean Cooking
It’s outrageous to reduce Korean food to “trendy,” as whole nations and Korean-Americans have been eating it for generations. For those new to the glories of Korean barbecue or kimchi, though, the funky, salty, sweet, umami flavors can feel revelatory. We’re psyched to offer a kimchi-making kit for those newly hooked on the pungent condiment. (It’s so good homemade!)
8. Coffee and Tea Riffs
We’re big on coffee and tea around here, so we’re always excited to see new trends, such as when dalgona flooded our social media feeds in 2020. Now we’re seeing not-coffee and not-tea making the rounds. One might boast a fraction of the caffeine coffee has. Another might be tea modeled after and brewed like coffee! It’s a bit confusing, but also exciting, in the same way this classic “Coffee, Tea, Me?” scene is.
