What will be the new flavours for 2017?

McCormick has released its annual flavour forecast for 2017, predicting the emerging flavours that will find their way into restaurants, retail shelves and kitchen cabinets.

Here are the five flavour trends that chefs, culinary professionals, trend trackers and flavour experts have identified for 2017:

Rise and shine to global tastes

Breakfast options with big, global flavours will include warm, sweet congee or a Middle Eastern-inspired breakfast hash of chickpeas, ground lamb or beef and roasted vegetables seasoned with a blend of coriander, cumin and fennel, topped with a spicy skhug (pronounced ‘shug’) sauce, which is a complex Middle Eastern hot sauce made with Thai bird’s eye chilies, cumin, cardamom, coriander, garlic, parsley, coriander, olive oil and lemon juice.

Plancha: flat-out grilling

Hailing from Spain, France’s Basque region and Mexico, the plancha (a thick, flat slab of cast iron) is growing in popularity around the world for creating a sizzling, smoky sear and flavour crust. Grillers can use the plancha with meats, seafood and vegetables, paired with bold sauces, rubs and glazes.

Espelette pepper-rubbed Steak a la Plancha is a zesty, Mediterranean-herb rubbed steak grilled on a sizzling hot plancha.

Egg yolks

Whether poached, fried or cured, chefs are pairing yolks with a range of spices, herbs and sauces in lunch and dinner menus.

Mediterranean vegetable shakshuka (shahk-SHOO-kah) is sunny-side-up egg yolks simmered in a tomato and vegetable sauce flavoured with a savoury spice blend of smoked paprika, cumin, pepper, cayenne, turmeric and caraway.

Modern Med

The melding of Eastern Mediterranean ingredients with Western European classics. Persian minestrone is a mix of Persian ash-e reshteh (OSH-e-resh-tay) and Italian minestrone — a thick, hearty soup made with beans, herbs, turmeric and flat noodles.

Sweet on pepper

The cedar and citrus notes of peppercorns are paired with naturally sweet ingredients like dates and dragon fruit. Dragon fruit and strawberry poke (po-kay) with pepper syrup features fresh strawberry and diced dragon fruit salad atop a dollop of peppered whipped cream and crispy wontons, with a drizzle of balsamic-pepper syrup.