NIGERIA – Freddy Hirsch Nigeria, a fast-growing African manufacturer of extracts for spices, ingredients, and flavours, has unveiled a range of new, authentic smoky and grill seasonings targeted at the West Africa market.

The launch is in response to Africaā€™s grilled food culture, rising consumer preference for local smoke and grill food profiles and demand for enhanced meat, soups, seafood, and snack flavours.

Developed by the companyā€™s research and development team, the new seasonings have a nostalgia element as they were designed based on what Africans experienced when they were growing up.

According to Freddy Hirsch West Africa chief executive officer, Kojo Brifo, Africans have vibrant smoke and grilled cultures as smoking was a form of food preservation for most parts of the continent.

In West Africa, eighty percent of fresh fish undergo a smoking process before consumption while the continentā€™s staples such as plantain, sweet potato, and yam are roasted as street food and other snacks, to create smoking signature profiles.

The continent also has a pervasive meat culture, with barbequed or grilled meat cultures, whether Braai/Shisa Nyama in South Africa, Suya/Chinginga in West Africa, Mushkaki/Nyama Choma in East Africa, the roasted and grilled meat culture is a pervasive one across the continent.

Increasingly, these grilled spices have found their way into other applications such as Nigeriaā€™s suya spices ā€“ a blend of ginger, roasted peanuts, and hot chilli pepper ā€“ have become a popular seasoning for noodles and pasta meals.

Just to mention, smoky Jollof is a delicacy for many Africans within the continent and in the diaspora.

Freddy Hirschā€™s grill-type flavours are available in African firewood seasoning, hickory seasoning, camp-fire seasoning, and flame-grilled seasoning.

Freddy Hirsch Nigeria is part of the Freddy Hirsch Group, a Cape Town-based supplier of industrial spices, casings, and meat processing equipment, servicing thousands of customers, including independent butcheries, major retail chain stores, meat processing factories, and poultry factories.

The company has become a reputable manufacturer of savoury flavours, seasonings for the bouillon and noodle market in West Africa.

Late last year, the seasoning maker entered into a strategic partnership with Germany-based fragrances, care, flavorings, and nutrition manufacturer, Symrise AG.

The innovative partnership is aimed to harness the flavour technology platform of the two companies to deliver authentic regional and hyperlocal African flavours and ingredients. 

Under the new partnership, the companies will mainly focus on the development, launch, and commercialization of transformational food products including ingredients for general seasoning, bouillon meat, snacks, and instant noodles.

According Symrise, the Africa food flavor and enhancer market is a small but growing market that is forecasted to witness a CAGR of 5.12% during the forecast period (2020 ā€“ 2025).   

Increasing urbanization, rising incomes, a growing regional population, and evolving lifestyle changes are driving the African food flavor and enhancer ingredient market and increasing the consumption of processed foods and beverages.

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