The Mince
Pie trends influencing
consumers in 2024

Zeelandia UK is a leading manufacturer of mincemeat in the baking and retail market, with significant expertise working with customers on industry-leading recipe innovation.

Ranging from traditional recipes featuring crumbly short-crust pastry filled with spiced, brandy-laced mincemeat to modern innovations focusing on new and unusual flavour and filling combinations, broadening their appeal to a new generation of mince pie consumers. It is easy to see why these festive treats remain a perennial favourite.

As we tuck into the wide variety of mince pies on offer, industrial bakers will already be thinking carefully about the trends that will influence next year’s consumers to help their range stand out in the market.

Hard at work on a range of new filling concepts for this year and beyond,  Pam Ashall, New Product Development Manager at Zeelandia UK,  shares her thoughts on the trends she has noticed and how they will evolve for Christmas 2024.

1. Adding sweetness through new flavour inclusions While ‘traditional’ mince pies will always have a strong consumer demand, this year we are seeing more recipes combining mincemeat with other on-trend flavours and expect this to continue to build for 2024. Adding a layer of chocolate or salted caramel sauce, a sweet cherry jam, or a cranberry compote adds extra indulgence for consumers, which after all is what Christmas is all about. Cinnamon, ginger and even cardamom could also feature more heavily in the future, driven by our appetite for sweet and spicy or ‘swicy’ flavours in the colder winter months – pumpkin spiced mince pies could even become the next big thing!

2. That’s the Christmas spirit! The inclusion of alcoholic spirits in your mincemeat often determines its luxury positioning in the market, but trends in spirit consumption are changing and this is clearly reflected in the mince pie market.  No longer is brandy the only spirit of choice, we have seen an increase in recipes using spiced dark rum, whisky and even gin, whilst flavour combinations such as cherry and amaretto, or Valencian orange oil and cranberry puree are a clear nod to our growing love of Cocktails. We expect to see this trend going from strength to strength and will be trialling recipes with a range of alcohol infusions for 2024.

3. Mixing up your fruit content Whilst mincemeat purists would expect only a combination of the finest vine fruits and mixed peel used in their festive treats, this year we have seen an increasing use of Bramley apples, Amarena cherries and apricots, as well as more use of citrus flavours with lemon zest, orange peel and even Japanese Yuzu juice, bringing a refreshing complexity to the usual dried fruit. Going forward the growth in botanicals could see these start to be introduced with winning combinations such as apple and hibiscus working in perfect harmony with sultanas and raisins.