Summer Fancy Food Show logo – image courtesy of the Specialty Food Association (NYC)
The Summer Fancy Food Show is the largest specialty food show in North America, with 2,400 exhibitors and 180,000 products. In other words, it’s a glutton’s paradise.
In the dessert arena, I didn’t notice any brand new trends – gluten free desserts are still very well represented; salted caramel continues to find its way in all types of desserts; and chocolate is again paired with spices, especially different varieties of peppers.
These are a few of the interesting or unusual products I saw/tasted:
Chuao Chocolatier’s Strawberry Waffle Wild Bar and other Products – Photo Courtesy of Chuao Chocolatier (CA)
■ Chuao Chocolatier’s Strawberry Waffle Wild bar. This is one of Chuao’s breakfast-inspired flavors, with waffle pieces and strawberry pieces enrobed in milk chocolate. The other breakfast-themed bar is the Cinnamon Cereal Smooch Bar. Chuao’s marketing slogan for these two chocolate bars is “Eat chocolate for breakfast” (sounds really good to me).
Organic Coffee Barnanas – Photo Courtesy of Barnana (Santa Monica, CA)
■ Barnana snacks — no, this isn’t a typo. Barnanas are dehydrated Banana pieces with additions. The Organic Original variety is sprinkled with Banana Powder and, as you might have guessed, the Organic Coffee version is dipped in a (sweetened) Organic Coffee coating.
■ Kathi German Bee Sting Cake Mix, imported by Niche Gourmet — all you need to add is butter, water, and heavy whipping cream. What is a German Bee Sting Cake, you might ask? A yeast dough with a cream or custard filling topped with a layer of honey-almonds. And its memorable name might be due to the honey in the cake.
Meli’s Monster Cookies’ Trade Show Booth
■ “The Original” cookie — produced by Meli’s Monster Cookies. This “Monster” will not cause nightmares, is gluten free, and is chuck full of rolled oats, crunchy peanut butter, chocolate chips, M&Ms and peanut butter M&Ms.
Softer than Brittle logo – Image Courtesy of the Softer than Brittle company
■ Softer than Brittle is a peanut brittle without dairy, gluten, cholesterol, or preservatives. And as an added health benefit — since it’s softer than traditional brittle, it’s easier on your teeth.
I sure look forward to next summer’s Fancy Food Show.
Dessert Surveillance 