Every year, McCormick names a Flavor of the Year. For 2026, it picked black currant―and now it’s making its case, one collaboration at a time. Its latest attempt? A dessert pizza.
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The spice giant is teaming up with Prince St. Pizza―the New York pizzeria known for its Sicilian-style square pies―for a limited-edition Black Currant Big Apple Pie Pizza. It’s topped with McCormick’s Black Currant Finishing Sugar and a frosting drizzle, pairing the berry’s tart, jammy flavor with the familiar sweetness of apple pie. It’ll be available at all Prince St. Pizza locations from August 3rd through August 31st, with nationwide delivery through the pizzeria’s website, Uber Eats, and Postmates.
Yes, it’s a dessert pizza.
No, that doesn’t entirely explain the black currant. We’ll get to that.
Wait, Why Black Currant?
Here’s the part that makes this more than a novelty pizza.
McCormick didn’t pull black currant out of a hat. The berry was named the company’s 2026 Flavor of the Year as part of its annual Flavor Forecast―a report the company has published for 26 years to identify the ingredients it expects to shape menus and home kitchens in the year ahead.
These collaborations are part of that rollout. Rather than simply announcing its pick, McCormick is putting black currant in front of consumers through limited-edition menu items, giving people a chance to experience the flavor beyond the spice aisle.
So the pizza is really just the opening move.
The Pizza Is Just The Beginning
The dessert pizza is the splashy opener, but it’s part of a one-two rollout.
The moment the Prince St. pizza wraps at the end of August, a second collaboration starts: Go Greek Yogurt is launching a limited-edition black currant frozen yogurt, running August 31st through September 28th at participating locations. Same flavor, completely different format―tart berry over creamy, tangy frozen yogurt instead of drizzled over dessert pizza.
That’s the actual strategy on display.
McCormick isn’t trying to sell you one black currant product. It’s trying to show the flavor can go anywhere―sweet, baked, frozen, and beyond. Because that’s how a Flavor of the Year becomes an actual trend instead of a press release.
Get it onto a pizza and into a fro-yo in the same six weeks and suddenly black currant looks less like an obscure berry and more like something you keep running into.
Will It Actually Catch On?
That’s the real question, and it’s pretty open.
McCormick has the reach to put black currant in front of a lot more people, and the berry has a real case. Its sweet-tart, deep-berry profile is more complex than the standard strawberry or blueberry flavor, giving it plenty of room to work in both familiar desserts and more unexpected combinations.
And because black currant isn’t already a staple of the American flavor landscape, there’s no fixed idea of what it “should” taste like. That gives McCormick a rare blank slate to work with.
For now, the experiment starts with a square dessert pizza and a frozen yogurt shortly after. Whether black currant becomes the next big berry or silently stays in the jam aisle, at least it’s getting an unusually strange debut.
Which is more than most berries can say.
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