5 summer food trends you should be following

Spring gave us the chance to clear out last year’s boring old routine, and now’s the opportunity to put new plans and ideas in place – and we’ve found the 5 summer food trends you should be following to help you on your way.

New roots

Forget your bog standard potato mash; experimenting with funny shaped, gnarled root veg is a real trend this year. Kohlrabi, celery root and turnip are replacing the humble potato, offering tons more flavour and a heap of added nutrients. Don’t be intimidated by these obscure-looking vegetables, experimenting is half the fun! Whether you mash them, fry them or roast them, impress your foodie friends by getting ahead of what’s sure to be a big autumn restaurant trend this year.

Vegetable yoghurt

Butternut yoghurt anyone? OK it sounds kind of crazy, but Murray’s Cheese Store in New York has started serving vegetable yoghurt and it’s fast taking off as a ‘thing’. Savoury cucumber and yoghurt dip has been a standard dish alongside houmous and pitta bread for years in the Middle East, now it seems the trend is becoming increasingly popular in the US and London. Tomato and beets are popular flavours of choice, while in a similar vain in Japan, luxury ice cream makers Haagen-Dazs are enjoying success with carrot and tomato ice cream. Forget your sweetened strawberry yoghurt with its heaps of sugar and sneaky calories; enjoy a savoury beetroot serving with some warm, toasted pitta bread instead.

Sprouting

Our love of sprouting really took off towards the end of 2014 and has continued strongly into this year. Sprouting at home is such a simple, inexpensive way to create live, fresh salad ingredients and sandwich fillers. Alfalfa sprouts led the craze, with mung beans, red clover, fenugreek and broccoli seeds all proving increasingly popular this year.

Mushrooms

Button mushrooms and those slightly healthier looking chestnut mushrooms used to be the only more unusual alternatives to your traditional, white, closed cup varieties available in the supermarket. Bigger stores have begun to take advantage of consumer demand for more less conventional options such as wild, Asian and shiitake. Not only do they look weird and wonderful, shiitake mushrooms hold some incredible immune regulating properties, which have been proven to both boost and calm an out-of-sync immune system. Plus their distinct flavour and unusual shape make them a much more interesting addition to your breakfast omelette.

Millet

Once the primary ingredient in birdseed, it seems millet is fast becoming as popular a choice for humans as it has been for our avian friends for quite some time. It’s gluten-free, protein-rich and high in fiber, but more importantly millet retains its alkaline properties even after being cooked. An alkaline-focused diet has been proven to reduce internal inflammation, making this super grain ideal for those with wheat allergies and digestive issues.