As National Popcorn Day approaches (January 19th), EHL Ingredients, a leading importer, blender and packer of natural food ingredients, has reported that sales of its popcorn kernels have risen by 5% since 2013.
EHL accredits the growth in the popcorn market to the emergence of a range of premium popcorn brands in recent years, with manufacturers offering a variety of unusual and exotic sweet and savoury flavours, including pepper and chili, curry, salted caramel and cheese and herb and even gin and tonic.
Additionally, its perception as a low-fat snack, and the rise of the home cinema has led to more UK consumers choosing popcorn as an in-home snack and an alternative to popular snack foods such as crisps and nuts.
Tasneem Backhouse, sales director at EHL Ingredients, says: “Popcorn has experienced huge success in the UK in recent years, particularly with the growth of the gourmet popcorn market, as snack manufacturers look to cater to the increasingly discerning tastes of UK consumers.
“It is crucial that food manufacturers continue to develop new products and flavours in order to compete in the wider market. When it comes to snacking, popcorn is a great alternative to crisps, and the fact that it can be easily flavoured makes it the ideal base for a wide range of sweet and savoury seasonings and toppings, including spices, sugars and syrups, herbs and oils. The health benefits of popcorn are also well documented. Research shows that plain popcorn is far healthier than other snacks such as nuts or crisps which can be high in fats, with more fibre, polyphenols – a natural antioxidant – and less calories.
“With this in mind, we would only expect our sales of popcorn kernels to increase in the coming months, and Popcorn Day will certainly help to boost awareness of it as a tasty snack, and increase demand from consumers and manufacturers alike.”
EHL Ingredients supplies dried popcorn kernels ready for packing into bulk 22.68kg bags, or which can be ordered in smaller quantities if required and packed down to 1kg bags. It is available to pubs and bars, snack manufacturers and wholesalers.
