Botanicals in Bloom

The current mix of vegan, plant-based, clean label, and functional product demand is proving to be fertile soil for botanical ingredients sourced from roots, fruits, flowers, leaves, herbs, and spices.

“Botanical ingredients with specific health benefits are capitalizing on the push toward broader plant-based eating,” says Lu Ann Williams, global insights director at Innova Market Insights. “Fast-growing botanical categories within [new product development] include active mushrooms, adaptogenic plants, and algal ingredients.”

The $164.4 billion global botanical ingredients market is projected to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 6.9% from 2023–2030, according to research firm Grand View Research, dominated by the North America market.

“Botanical ingredients are generally familiar to consumers, with research pointing to ginger, chamomile, ginseng, and turmeric as being highly recognizable [according to FMCG Gurus 2023 data],” says Alessio Tagliaferri, global senior director, bioactives, botanicals, and specialties at ADM.

Spices are the top botanical ingredients segment, but flower ingredients are expected to see the most rapid growth rate from 2023–2030, per Grand View Research. Floral flavors already lead as the fastest-growing botanical flavor trends in packaged foods, says Williams, with one in three global consumers reporting they have sought out more floral flavors in their foods and beverages during the past year.

Liquid form botanical ingredients will register the fastest CAGR from 2023–2030, predicts Grand View Research, as ready-to-drink functional beverages continue to surge. “The functional beverage sector is a prime candidate for leveraging botanical ingredients, from herbal teas with ginger,   peppermint, or sage to botanical-infused waters featuring ingredients such as hibiscus or elderflower,” says Tagliaferri.

Botanicals also stand to benefit from food manufacturers’ continued efforts to fortify products with nutritive ingredients. Nearly half of Americans agree that nutrition-fortified foods and supplements are important aspects of a healthy diet, says Williams.

“As the health and wellness arena expands, we foresee more products coupling biotics and botanical extracts together,” says Tagliaferri. “Biotic components, such as prebiotics, probiotics, or postbiotics, can contribute to the gut microbiome, while botanicals like herbs and extracts offer sources of antioxidants, vitamins, and other bioactive compounds to support various aspects of well-being.”

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Indian Inspiration

Ayurveda—Indian herbal medicine—is finding greater acceptance among consumers in other parts of the world, reports Lu Ann Williams, global insights director at Innova Market Insights, with Indian botanicals mahua flower and haritaki fruit ripe for future new product development.

Foods and beverages incorporating ashwagandha, a foundational herb in ayurvedic medicine and one of the fastest-growing ingredients in dietary supplements, are poised for rapid growth in the $1.7 billion global ayurvedic food market, according to research firm Business Research Insights. Hitting grocery store shelves throughout last year, Rowdy Mermaid’s good mood soda brand is caffeine-free, low in sugar, and infused with 200 mg of ashwagandha extract and comes in orange, grape, lemon lime, and cola flavors.

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Mushroom Magic

Active mushrooms are a fast-growing botanical category for new product development, and lion’s mane, reishi, and chaga mushrooms are making strong inroads by targeting a range of health benefits, reports Innova Market Insights. The $6.29 billion global reishi extract market, for example, is expected to see a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 9.04% from 2023–2028, according to research firm Mordor Intelligence.

Look for adaptogenic mushrooms popping up in new functional beverages like REBBL Revive Reishi Vanilla, rolled out at Target stores in February with 200 mg of reishi extract, and Four Sigmatic’s organic instant teas made with mushroom extracts including lion’s mane, chaga, turkey tail, and reishi plus botanicals and other functional ingredients.

Botanicals Glossary

Adaptogen—active compound in a plant that is thought to increase the body’s resistance to adverse biological, chemical, and physical factors from stress

Botanical—plant or plant part valued for its medicinal or therapeutic properties, flavor, and/or scent

Essential oil—volatile substance obtained by distilling or expressing plant material from a single botanical form and species

Flavor—entire range of sensations perceived when eating or drinking, including taste, smell, and physical traits experienced in the mouth

Flavor extract—solution that contains essential flavor components of a complex material, produced by pressing or extracting the source ingredient flavor into a liquid base, usually alcohol

Herb—leaves of a plant used to flavor or color food

Natural flavor—essential oil, oleoresin, essence or extractive, protein hydrolysate, distillate, or any product of roasting, heating, or enzymolysis, which contains the flavoring constituents derived from a spice, fruit or fruit juice, vegetable or vegetable juice, edible yeast, herb, bark, bud, root, leaf or similar plant material, meat, seafood, poultry, eggs, dairy products, or their fermentation products, whose significant function in food is flavoring rather than nutritional

Nootropic—natural, semisynthetic, or synthetic compound that is thought to boost cognitive functions

Oleoresin—extract, typically from natural food or flavoring raw materials, that combines an essential oil and resin compounds

Phytomedicine—herbal-based traditional medical practice that uses plants for preventive and therapeutic treatments

Spice—seed, fruit, root, bark, or stem of a plant used to flavor or color foodft