The culture team recently visited New York City for this year’s Summer Fancy Food Show. It was three days of meeting and mingling with talented food producers from around the world. In a setting where tastes are made and trends begin to take form, we noticed that certain flavors were taking center stage. Here are several that stood out.
Plymouth Artisan Cheese Black Truffle. Photo credit: Empress Branding
Truffles . . . real ones!
While truffle-flavored everything seems to overwhelm the food world at large, in the specialty food market we’re seeing high-quality products flavored with real truffles instead of the artificial stuff currently crowding shelves. People lined up to try Plymouth Artisan Cheese’s Black Truffle cheddar, and throughout the trade show floor, we heard people buzzing about Charlito’s Cocina dry cured black truffle sausage. Our favorite new find in this category? Gran Tartufo Toscano, an Italian farmstead cheese by Il Palagiaccio.
Flavored honeys and honey-flavored products
Honeys abounded at #SFFS17, and among this year’s sofi Award winners were Coriander Honey from Italian Harvest, Inc., Propolis Hazelnut Cocoa Raw Honey from SBS Americas Inc., Local Honey Kefir from Five Acre Farms, and It’s Hot, Honey dark chocolate bar from Lake Champlain Chocolates.
Lake Champlain Chocolates’ It’s Hot, Honey bar. Photo credit: Lake Champlain Chocolates
KoKos Banana Gouda
Is banana on the rise?
It’s so difficult to predict what the next flavor craze will be, but we kept our eyes peeled for interesting new candidates. We sampled KoKos Banana Gouda, the newest offering from Cheeseland. Its tropical sweetness was creamy and pleasant, and we loved that unexpected hint of banana that added to the experience. And we were told by Clearbrook Farms that they will be debuting a banana jam in the coming months.
Of course, we tasted countless incredible cheeses at #SFFS17, and we want to give a shout out to those who took home Specialty Food Association’s sofi Awards in April among this year’s very stiff competition.
Cheese – Cow Milk category:
Cheese – Non-Cow Milk, Mixed Milk category:
Brandi Wills
Brandi Wills is the former editor-in-chief of culture. During her career, she has launched and managed multiple brands and publications, and her work has been recognized by The James Beard Foundation, Editor & Publisher magazine, FOLIO, MIN, New York Public Library, and The Tulsa Press Club. At the moment, her favorite cheese is cheddar.
