Specialty Food Magazine is the leading publication for retailers, manufacturers and foodservice professionals in the specialty food trade. It provides news, trends and business-building insights that help readers keep their businesses competitive.
Issue link: https://www.e-digitaleditions.com/i/165618
Bissinger's Point Reyes Wine Grapes, Cocoa Planet Chocolate Olive Wafers, Seapoint Farms Edamame Crunch of what they are eating, where it is coming from and the newness of products." Katie Johnson, a sales and marketing representative for Beehive Cheese Company, the producer of the popular cocoa powder–rubbed Ipanema cheese, echoes Gomez's sentiments. "People are approaching food with a new sense of adventure," Johnson says of the Irish-style cow's milk cheese rubbed with Crio Bru cacao beans and Sierra Nevada cultured butter. Its quality and uniqueness have made Ipanema very popular, she adds. 3. Adding Richness and Texture There's a good reason why chocolate is so alluring—both as a standalone food and an ingredient. It boasts a robust, velvety, creamy texture and an intense, nutty, earthy flavor. This ultimate "power ingredient" can thicken watery sauces or dishes and balance out acidity with its richness. "Chocolate brings an amazing depth to savory dishes," says Fritz Knipschildt, owner of Knipschildt Chocolatier and Chocopologie Cafes, which feature several chocolate-accented savory dishes on the menu. "Years ago, we designed an eightcourse menu for the Hyatt Hotels in Japan, for which I was asked to infuse chocolate Chocolate stout and Choco Noir wine Adding chocolate boosts the taste and marketability of many savory foods and drinks—which is particularly helpful in the health category. into every dish. For us it's common sense how well chocolate works with cooking savory food." Ed Pomicter, owner of Teeny Tiny Spice Co. of Vermont, whose product list includes savory chocolate seasoning mixtures, agrees. "For us, [chocolate and spice] was a natural combination because chocolate is able to smooth out and mellow the heat of chile peppers, enhancing your ability to appreciate the many fruity and earthy tones of chiles that are often obscured," he explains. "We also love to get people to play outside of the box with their foods, like using curry masalas in pasta dishes." He recommends the company's Organic Chocolate Chili, made with cacao nibs, juniper berry, oregano and other spices, be used in making chili con carne, steak and brownies, and its West African Curry, which features cacao nibs, in fish curries. Carr Valley Cheese produces two chocolate cheeses, including the award-winning Cocoa Cardona. "The trend in artisan cheesemaking is to balance and blend new flavor combinations, textures and colors in the rind to attract the consumer first visually," says Sid Cook, Carr Valley's master cheesemaker. "I decided to start making Cocoa Cardona because I felt the flavor balance between our Cardona goat cheese and cocoa would be perfect. I had been eating Swiss cheese and chocolate for years. … Then, of course, the idea of chocolate attracts the palate to taste and buy the cheese." 4. The Lure of Decadence without the Downside Adding chocolate boosts the taste and marketability of many savory foods and drinks—which is particularly helpful in the health category. "Everyone likes chocolate, and it shows up in new products and new versions of existing products pretty consistently," says Scott Owen, grocery merchandiser for PCC Natural Markets in Seattle, who points to granolas, trail mixes, nut SEPTEMBER 2013 55