5 food trends featured in summertime specialty food show

Last week, Jacob Javits Center overflowed with jams, chips, chocolates and cheese, once again hosting The Specialty Food tradeshow. Known in the industry as the Fancy Food Show®, you’ll often see smaller brands, start-ups and lots of gift basket eccentricities showcased, but it’s an incubator of innovative food trends as well. Here are a few take-aways to watch for this year.

Yogurt’s Gone Veggie: While you may think that sticking to black cherry, strawberry and simple vanilla are the safest bets, we encourage you to consider Blue Hill’s catalog of colorful alternatives. Tomato, carrot, beet and butternut squash are among the veggies mixed into their creamy yogurt to offer an entirely different experience. Consider how these same favors are incorporated into juices and smoothies and suddenly it doesn’t seem like such an outrageous idea after all!

Smoked those Sweets: We’ve seen smoked BBQ sauces for years, but looks like this savory craze is now getting a little sweeter. Between Hot CakesMolten Chocolate Cakery’s Smoked Chocolate Chipsand Millionaire Shortbread with Smoked Hickory Sea Salt
from The Sticky Toffee Pudding Company, complex desserts are simply the in style.

Bourbon is the new Black: Prohibition-style bars are once again prompting a surge in Bourbon beverages and as a result consumers are eating it up. Yes, in addition to those trendy new takes on the Side Car, bourbon is spilling over into the food aisles. From Bluegrass Soy Sauce
 by Bourbon Barrel Foods to Spicy Maple Bourbon Pickle
, Brooklyn Brine Co. to Bourbon Nib Brittle
, Olive and Sinclair Chocolate Co. and Brown Sugar Bourbon & Pecan Ice Cream
 Batch, you’ll never have to wait for cocktail hour for another tipple.

Crunchy Alternatives Abound: Move over potato chips, other fruits and veggies want in. From Eda-zen’s Cruncha Ma-me spicy jalapeno roasted edamame to aptly named Dang Toasted Coconut Chips, which are sprinkled with just enough sea salt to keep you coming back, there are plenty of options. Combining nuts and fruits in a sweet and savory crispy chip Wild California brings a whole different point of difference to snack addicts.

Jerky’s on a Health Kick: Just like Bill Niman and Bruce Aidells changed our perception of hot dogs and sausages years ago, companies like Krave and Vermont Smoke and Cure are taking on jerky. With RealSticks Turkey Pepperoni
 and Krave’s Pineapple Orange Beef Jerky, what used to be gas station snacking has just gone way gourmet.