Let me start off by saying that I don’t like mushrooms. It’s a sore point in my marriage, but then again my husband doesn’t like pickles so we all have our flaws (perhaps we need the help of Reggie, the Marriage Saver). Nonetheless, I recently mentioned mushrooms in a series of radio interviews about the future of candy, and mushrooms may feature more prominently than you might imagine.
Susan S. told you that we had some media folks in the office a couple of weeks ago to talk about trends in chocolate and confectionery. We actually had two reasons to assemble this group of folks. The first was that we came back from the ALL CANDY EXPO with lots of information about what is happening in confectionery RIGHT NOW. The second reason is that we just completed a big survey to find out what’s going to happen with candy and chocolate in the next three to five years.
Before we had the media folks in, I participated in about 25 radio interviews around the country to talk about the future of candy. Here’s what I had to say:
Yup. You heard me. Chocolate and mushroom. I’ll probably pass on that one, but I love chocolate and cheese AND chocolate and bacon. My love for salt and chocolate is well documented on the blog here and here and even on the Author’s Page. I’m mildly obsessed.
But chocolate is only part of the story. Flavors are going to have a major impact on every level of the confectionery industry. The reporters who came to the luncheon sampled Chili Spiced Mango from Trader Joe’s and then sampled the new Chili Mango Jelly Belly. They tried dried, candied ginger and then sampled Naughty Ginger, a ginger and lemon lollipop from Das Foods. If you think these flavors seem to have an international influence, you’re right. That’s another major trend coming down the pike.
Experts overwhelmingly agreed that products with a focus on health would be the driving force in product innovation in the years ahead. That means we can look for more super fruits in our candy flavors, more calorie and portion control packaging, less sugar, lower calories and the addition of vitamins and minerals like Vitamin C and calcium.
What do you think the future of candy holds? Is bacon a trend, or a fad? What about salt? How about in the health arena? What would you like to see candy makers do more 0f?
2:08 pm on July 30th, 2009
Co-worker Karen just sent me a link to a product she encountered at a recent trade event – Chocorooms. http://www.stauffers.net/products/meiji?pro_id=48efc35b-b2f6-4e5b-92e0-fa290effc31b Since it’s more like an animal cracker covered in chocolate and NOT an actual fungus, that’s a chocolate mushroom I can get behind. Thanks, Karen!
9:29 am on July 31st, 2009
I am with you, Susan. Mushrooms = yuck. I am looking forward to more tropical fruit flavors in candies, even mixed with chocolate. Yum!
And tell that husband of yours to get off his high horse and learn to love pickles, like a normal person. Enough is enough.
1:44 pm on September 14th, 2009
[...] readers of the Candy Dish blog have already heard most of what was discussed including the importance of flavors, the trend toward savory and the influence of global cultures on American candy. A student at [...]