The top five food trends for 2012 have been picked by a panel of trendspotters at the 58th Summer Fancy Food Show in Washington, D.C., which ended yesterday at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center. The show is the largest marketplace for specialty foods and beverages in North America, with 180,000 products on display including cheeses, sauces, snacks, oils and natural and organic products from the U.S. and 80 countries and regions.
The trends are:
Chocolate Change Ups
Stonewall Kitchen – Chocolate Jam
Tea Forté – Coconut Chocolate Truffle Tea
Sea Salt Superstore – Chocolate Fleur de Sel
Droga Confections – Put Your Money on Honey Caramels
Cookie Cracker Crunch
Seth Greenberg’s Authentic New York Brownie Crunch
HannaMax Baking – All Natural Cookie Chips
Trump’s Food Interest – Slims Dessert Crackers
Effie’s Homemade – Sea Salt and Lavender Crackers
Local Global
Chulita’s Famous – Sofrito
Taste of Ethiopia – Misir (spicy red lentils)
Wild Thymes Farms – Moroccan BBQ Sauce
That Indian Drink – Blueberry Orange Cardamom
The New South
RR Enterprises – Rodger’s Banana Pudding Sauce
Callie’s Charleston Biscuits – Pimiento Cheese
Steve’s Ice Cream – Bourbon Pecan Pie
Luquire Family Foods – Carolina Creole
Small Batch Mixers
Morris Kitchen - Ginger Syrup
Royal Rose - Simple Syrup
Ritrovo Italian Regional Foods - Cherry Drinking Balsamic
Gingras Vinegar - Gingras Extraold Apple Cider Vinegar
Other trends identified are pistachio, in butters and desserts; beer as an ingredient in jams, chocolates and crackers; coffee and chocolate combinations; and rosemary in sweets.
The trendspotters are: Mary Beth Albright, freelance writer; Bonnie Benwick, The Washington Post; Kate Donovan, InStyle Magazine; Nancy Wall Hopkins and Erin Simpson Lozier, Better Homes and Gardens; Lisa McManus, America’s Test Kitchen; Susie Timm, Girl Meets Fork; Joan Nathan, contributor to The New York Times and Tablet; Nycci Nellis, The List Are You On It, Foodie and the Beast Radio; Denise Purcell, Specialty Food Media.
