To facilitate education on the applications for cranberry beverages in bakeries and bakery products, on May 10th the U.S. Cranberry Marketing Committee (CMC) held the first U.S. Cranberry Beverage Innovation Application Seminar in Kerry Hotel Pudong, Shanghai. It was held in tandem with Bakery China 2018, the largest bakery show in China. More than 40 attendees participated in the seminar, most of whom were traders, retailers, bakeries, media, among others.
Mabel Zhuang, China Representative of the U.S. Cranberry Marketing Committee, gave a presentation on the U.S. cranberry industry, which encompassed cranberry’s history, harvest, production, and market. This was followed by Dr. Yi Gong, the consultant for CMC, who delivered a presentation on “The Features and Innovative Applications of Cranberry Juice & Concentrate.” Dr. Gong began with the question ‘Why do we need cranberries?’ to which he followed up with 4 key reasons people use cranberries: they possess the characteristics of a consumer keen to consume cranberries, the myriad of health benefits associated with using cranberries, cranberries’ ability to be processed and retain their flavor and healthy characteristics, and cranberries’ wide application in various beverages. He also highlighted the various forms and applications of different cranberry products, including dried cranberries, cranberry concentrate, cranberry powder, and cranberry puree. The attendees showed great interest in cranberries and were keen to know more during the Q&A session. Eddy Yang, the master mixologist, also shared his ideas on how to use cranberries in drinks for each meal of the day, exploring cranberry-based beverages for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Video demonstrations of the three drinks played onsite, and after tasting the prepared beverages, attendees spoke highly of them and some even said that they were inspired by the drinks.
34 attendees completed post-seminar questionnaires, in which 100% of respondents stated that the cranberry presentation helped them to increase their technical knowledge of cranberries. 71% responded that they were considering adopting key training recommendations and using U.S. cranberry juice and concentrate.
MZMC live-streamed the seminar, which can be viewed at the following link:
