SIAL 2024 live: Blue Diamond Growers taps regionality trends with flavored almonds

As snacking habits evolve, dried fruits and nuts are gaining ground as a versatile and nutritional on-the-go option. Blue Diamond Growers, a cooperative representing more than 3,000 growers in California, US, is presenting flavored almond snacks at the ongoing trade show SIAL 2024 in Paris.

Food Ingredients First catches up with Christopher Cummings, director of Ingredient Sales-International at Blue Diamond Growers, to explore the importance of regionality and sustainability in the company’s portfolio of almond and almond-derived products.

“We’re showcasing our full line of products, which includes in-shell, whole kernel and manufactured almonds, and we’re presenting a new strawberry flavor in the flavored snack almonds category,” Cummings tells us from the show floor.

The almonds are also available split, diced, slivered, sliced, whole in different sizes, as well as in a flour form.

Regionality in snacking

Other snacking flavors from the cooperative include Salt and Vinegar, Honey Roasted, Wasabi and Soy Sauce, Hickory and Smoke, and Cinnamon Sugar.

“It’s very trendy for consumers to want healthy snacking, something they can indulge in but still stay healthy. And we think that our flavored almond snacks check that box.”

As Blue Diamond expands into international markets, tailoring products to meet diverse consumer demands across regions and regulatory requirements remains critical.

“Consumer preferences and taste preferences differ broadly depending on the region. We are tailoring flavors specifically to each region. Currently, we’re doing more of the savory and sweet flavors in Europe, such as strawberry.”

Blue Diamond Growers says it is tailoring flavors specifically to regions in Europe and Asia.“But these flavors would not make sense in Asia, so we would do something a little more culturally appropriate, like a fish or a seaweed type of flavor,” he explains.

“Additionally, we formulate our flavors to be EU compliant for natural flavors.”

Sustainability concerns

Almond cultivation is known to be water-intensive. Blue Diamond Growers collaborates with the Almond Board of California to increase investment and research into efficient water management.

“We have a team that helps our grower members with their sustainable practices, with practices such as micro irrigation and micro drip irrigation, to help with more efficient water usage and to reduce runoff,” says Cummings.

For instance, the company’s Orchard Stewardship Incentive Program links growers with irrigation resources to meet an industry goal of lowering almond water usage by another 20% by 2025.

“Sustainability is at the top of our minds. Recently, Blue Diamond was awarded a US$45 million grant from the USDA over the course of five years to help with climate-smart practices.”

The grower cooperative is using the funds to strengthen on-the-ground regenerative practices. These initiatives help sequester carbon and improve the biodiversity of orchards and the soil as global market volatility and climate change make production challenging.

Protein trends

With consumers seeking diversified protein sources, Blue Diamond has plans to expand in the category, especially with plant-based and clean label almond protein that has application uses in RTD beverages, bars and smoothies.

“We’re focused more on our value-added products such as protein powder, almond butter and some of the downstream products that may not be so well known to consumers yet.”

“[These are] for consumers looking for healthier products with higher protein on the label,” Cummings concludes.

With live reporting from Anvisha Manral at SIAL 2024 in Paris, France