Herbal-Flavored Confectionery

Herbal-Flavored Confectionery Trends: Global Market Overview

Herbs are reshaping the confectionary category by blending wellness, flavor, and indulgence

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Herbal-Flavored Confectionery Trends: Global Market Overview

October 7, 2025 – When it comes to confectionery offerings, consumers are looking for options that combine tradition, trust, and taste in recognizable formats. While herbs like mint, ginger, or chamomile were once associated with teas or at-home remedies, they are now emerging as important growth drivers in confectionery to target both flavor and functional innovations that consumers desire. Innova’s report “Trending in Herbal-Flavored Confectionery Global” investigates these trends and how the confectionery category is evolving in the global food and beverage market.

Healthy & Indulgent Treats

Globally, consumers say they trust herbs when it comes to making healthy choices. For instance, 25% of consumers say they look for herb flavors, such as basil, lemongrass, or cilantro when they desire a healthy food or beverage selection. At the same time, consumers are looking for depth in flavors, and herbs add both complexity and an upscale feel to everyday candies. This presents brands with an opportunity to tap into the healthy consumer looking to indulge, while also addressing their health-consciousness, reflecting herbal-flavored trends in the market.

Consumers’ Evolving Flavor Preferences

Confectionery trends show that 36% of consumers report indulging in premium food and beverage offerings to alleviate their mood. The chocolate and sugar confectionery categories are driven by the consumer desire for products that evoke pleasure, relaxation, or indulgence. Nevertheless, recent category growth has been driven by consumers’ changing taste preferences, with novelty, variety, and unique ingredient flavorings rising in importance. Therefore, herb infused confections present brands with new opportunities to offer distinctive flavors with added benefits.

Engage Young Millennials

On social media and online platforms, news articles discussing herbal-infused confectionery achieve a reach of 5.2 million per mention. Social media buzz emphasizes the strong curiosity consumers have with herbal-infused confectionery products, and young millennials, aged between 25 and 34, are the most engaged. Within this age bracket, the majority of posts are shared by female consumers highlighting their excitement for herb-based confectionery innovations, with mentions featuring popular flavors like mint, eucalyptus, and garlic. Young millennial males are interested in the taste of these candies, reviewing them, or commenting on availability.

Herbal-Flavored Confectionery Trends global

Natural, Feel-Good Wellness

The rise in popularity of herbal-flavored confectionery highlights the importance of natural wellness for global consumers, showing current confectionery trends. For example, medicated confectionery is the leading subcategory of herbal confectionery, accounting for 69% of new product launches. This demonstrates that consumers are no longer settling when it comes to health or indulgence. As wellness expectations rise, herb-infused and medicated confectionery offers consumers a functional, flavorful, and convenient way to balance routine health with enjoyable experiences. Honey lemon echinacea, menthol eucalyptus, and lemon balm with vitamin C are a few examples from brands that are blending traditional herbs with modern, flavorful delivery systems.

Eucalyptus is the leading flavor in the global herbal confectionery market, making up 52% of total new product launches. Other rising flavors include chlorophyll, thyme, and sage, which underscore consumers’ desire for natural, functional, and refreshing flavor experiences. As confectionery evolves, brands can look to these herb flavors to deliver indulgence with a purpose to consumers.

Blending Heritage with a Boost

Korean red ginseng candy is one example of how the global confectionery market can blend new products with heritage. Made from red ginseng roots, a medicinal plant traditionally recognized for its energizing properties, the candy is known for its bold herbal flavor, with slightly bitter and mildly sweet notes. Ginseng has been widely studied and shown to provide a range of health benefits, including decreasing fatigue. The herb is popular as a natural alternative to coffee or energy drinks, and despite containing no caffeine, ginseng provides consumers with a caffeine-like energy boost.

Guilt-Free Relaxation

According to Innova’s consumer trends research, consumers prioritize emotional wellness during uncertain times and prefer flavors that uplift or calm them. As a result, sugar-free herbal-flavored treats offer global consumers a guilt-free confectionery option to target both indulgence and relaxation. For example, Ricola’s “Sugar Free Cherry Herbs Sweets” combines the natural sweetness of cherries with a unique herbal blend to provide a drop that soothes and refreshes without extra sugar. Mivolis also offers sugar-free throat candies with a blueberry and thyme flavor that calms the throat.

Turn Consumer Advocacy into Brand Traction

Brands are increasingly collaborating with influencers to generate buzz around functional health benefits and the lifestyle appeal of herbal confectionery. Ricola recently partnered with K-Pop star Cha Eun-Woo to promote its Strong Icy Lemon Swiss herbal drops. This special collaboration featured a wellness bundle that paired the candies with stylish stationery bearing the singer’s image. Collaborations like this one, driven by fan and lifestyle appeal, can help create buzz around herbal candies and drive interest.

What’s Next for Herbal-Flavored Confectionery?

For the future of herbal confectionery, there is an opportunity to create products tied to specific moods and moments, such as seasonal or limited-edition offerings. There is also the potential to expand beyond medicated confectionery into indulgent formats. For example, brands can combine culinary herbs like basil or rosemary with premium chocolates or dessert-style chews to transform them from functional products into a form of sophisticated indulgence.

 

This article is based on Innova’s Trending in Herbal-Flavored Confectionery – Global report. This report is available to purchase or with an Innova Reports subscription. Reach out to find out more

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