Last month, the 62nd annual Summer Fancy Food Show at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center in New York debuted a wide range of specialty food and beverages to more than 47,000 attendees. Following are 6 foodie trends that emerged from the show to help spark innovative ideas for your own F&B:
1. Pickled Foods
Pickling has outgrown its cucumber roots and expanded to other vegetables, ranging from cauliflower to Brussels sprouts. Pacific Pickle Works’ Brusizzle Sprouts took home the gold trophy in the appetizer category for its semi-sweet and tangy flavor.
2. Pumpkin
Apart from the usual fall latte and beer flavors, pumpkin is starting to make a guest appearance in everything form salsas to savory packaged foods.
3. Coconut
Coconut is all the rage among foodies, showing up in a wide range of products from coconut chips to sweet snacks. Epicurean Butter’s organic cocoa coconut butter even won the gold trophy in the Dairy/Dairy Alternative category at the show.
4. Hatch Chile
Out with sriracha and in with the hatch chile, the New Mexican native pepper is making flavorful waves in various condiments and cooking sauces such as Terrapin Ride Farms’ hatch honey mustard.
5. Spicy Sweets
The sweet-and-salty fad has been overtaken by spicy sweets. Vivra Chocolate’s Chili Crunch Bar, made with crispy toasted tortilla bits, chocolate, sea salt and Red Naga chili, was one of several items to put this trend on the map.
6. Maple
This sweet ingredient shows up in everything from beverages to condiments to sweets. BLis’ bourbon matured maple syrup won the gold award for the best dessert sauce.
