If you’ve never tried purple asparagus or black garlic purée, you might get your chance starting next year.
On Tuesday, Whole Foods released its predictions for 2017’s hottest food trends—a list that’s compiled by experts who track consumer behavior at more than 400 of the chain’s stores.
One of the more colorful food trends of the new year is “purple everything,” the company says, such as purple asparagus, purple cauliflower, and purple sweet potatoes, among others. And environmentally-friendly shoppers will be happy to know that Whole Foods predicts that food made from byproducts—whether it’s leftover whey from strained Greek yogurt or spent grains from beer—will be trendy, too.
As for coconuts, Whole Foods thinks consumers will branch out from tropical fruit-flavored water in 2017: Coconut, which is a fruit, a nut, and a seed all in one, will be used to make sugar, beauty products, and its white flesh will be more commonly found in flours, tortillas, chips, ice creams, butters, and more.
Here’s the list of the top eight potential food trends of 2017:
- Wellness tonics: Ingredients include kava, Tulsi/holy basil, turmeric, and apple cider vinegar.
- Byproducts: Whole Foods says brands like Atlanta Fresh and White Moustache are using leftover whey from yogurt production to create probiotic drinks.
- Coconut everything: Think: Chips, ice cream, butters, etc.
- Japanese food beyond sushi: Like dried kelp, wakame, and Japanese-style pickles.
- Creative Condiments: Such as black sesame tahini, habanero jam, ghee, and black garlic purée.
- Alternative pasta: Alternative grain noodles made from quinoa, lentils, and chickpeas will be on the rise.
- Purple foods: Also will include black rice, elderberries, acai, and purple corn and cereal.
- Oven-ready meal kits: Fresh oven-ready meal kits and vegetable medleys will be on the upswing.
