Fancy Food Show 2012-Highlights

I have to say I was fairly impressed this year. I managed to avoid most of the scary, dye filled unpronounceable stuff, so I must say a hearty 'yay' to that! I came across more than one product that I would willing buy. Some of them are fairly well known and others totally new. I was also really excited to see so many people finally coming to the dark side of spices and using Cardamom! I have been a cardamom addict for years and so I adored Three Twins Cardamom Ice Cream (also really, their Lemon Cookie!), Helliemae's Cardamom caramels and Numi's Cardamom Pu-erh.

I know Lemonaise has been around for quite a while, but I honestly have never tried them before today. Now that I have, I can see this be a product I'd like to have around. I adore lemon so the richness and the lemon combined are a real winner for me. On the new product tip, I went out of my way to find the Almond water because I was quite curious. I agree with their own words: refreshing!

I had the chance to try the new Kerrygold premium butter, which is quite lovely. And for all you low fat fans, they have a reduced fat version which doesn't lack flavor. A highlight for me was the fun family behind SchoolHouse Kitchen. They actually engaged me on Twitter, which I loved, and when I showed up to see them they were so friendly and had super tasty offerings! I love their Ginger Lime Vinaigrette, the orange & Chili chutney and the Cherry Blackberry Jam. Mmmmm....jam.

Speaking of fruit filled goodness, I also loved the sunshine of Fran's1941 Apricot Magic from La Bonita and the jams from Tropical Fruit Stand, including the surprising (because I don't really like them) Banana, Passion Fruit and Pineapple.

I also adored Sonoma Brinery because pickles are a weakness of mine though I rarely buy them. These however may have a permanent place in my fridge alongside the pulp filled Blue Monkey coconut water. Fresh, clean and no bitter aftertaste makes this a good choice.

Last but not least, I was happy to see an old favorite roll out two new flavors. Plush Puffs has a mango marshmallow and a cherry chocolate marshmallow now and I gotta say, that chocolate cherry really hot the spot! I will be writing about some more good finds soon, so stayed tuned!

Sir Francis Bacon Brittle

After being told by Ed of Choclatique not to miss out on this, I made sure to hunt it down at the Fancy Food Show. Sir Francis Bacon Brittle does it right: crunchy, peanuty and just the right amount of slight smoky bacon to make it tasty rather than scary.

They even have little chocolate covered bacon brittle bites for the chocolate lover. I love these yummy decandent little bites of wonderfulness!

Happy Goat Caramels: the Magic of Michael Winnike

What's fun about sitting down with Michael Winnike is that it soon degenerates into a verbal orgy about food.

I met Michael the Saturday of the Foodbuzz fest with my friends Arnold and Stephanie when he randomly gave us samples of his goat milk caramels in the parking lot...

This, for me, was fortuitous, as I have had since had the pleasure of making a new friend who just happens to work some serious magic with caramel. The first afternoon I spent with him actually turned into my favorites kind of day: a food adventure.

We started with tea at Roger's in the Mission and then stopped for a honey tasting at HMS Beekeeper. I have been missing something vital on my world cause I gotta tell you: Fireweed Honey is kickass good! After purchasing some honey sticks, we headed to Michael's place for some tastes of the sweet gooey stuff.

I originally went for the caramels so I was delighted to discover that he has been working on some bean to bar chocolates at home. We tasted the 70% bars alone, with wine and believe it or not, Nordlinger cheese, which gave me a tasty idea....

I was also lucky enough to get to try his goat milk chocolate bar and compare it to one he had purchased. Michael's was a wonderful balance of not too sweet and creamy which paired beautifully with wine. It is truly exciting to sit and chat with others who are excited about eating, creating and enjoying delicious foods and dreaming up new flavor comibinations. For example: he used Orange Blossom honey and made honey almond butter caramels. Talk about true love!

I can't wait to join Michael in his kitchen the next time he is doing bean to bar chocolates, which will be a total first for me! Though he his currently focused on his deliciously interesting goat milk caramels, I trust that his caramel sauce and chocolate bars will be a huge hit.

With great pleasure I give you: Luna's Kitchen Magic's very first giveaway!! Michael has generously handed over two of these, one small and one medium!

here's how to enter: Leave a comment on the blog. For an extra entry, Tweet this: "Win Happy Goat Caramels from Luna’s Kitchen Magic! http://lunaskitchenmagic.blogspot.com/2010/01/happy-goat-caramels-magic-of-michael.html”

It would also be really cool if you would sign up for the Happy Goat Newsletter!

You will be able to enter from now until midnight January 23rd at midnight. The winner will be chosen at random January 24th. The contest will be open only to US residents so I don't get into any trouble for shipping food out of the country. Be sure to include your email address so that I can actually get a hold of you if you win!

The Trends at the Fancy Food Show 2009

The trends have been clear: innovative, spicy, organic, and natural ingredients.

Foods that help heal, have low salt, are good (and fun) for you and your kids are the order of the day. There are some great new companies offering wonderful new products and old favorites rolling out new items.

Some of the highlights were: Hudson Valley Foie Gras, the first purveyor in the U.S. to hire a humane auditor in an attempt to change the face, and the reputation of the foie gras industry.

Zebra Mix, whose creators made healthy, easy to use cookie and cupcake kits for kids and their adults.

Coco-Luxe, whose Devil’s Food truffle is simply not to be believed!

Fentiman’s makes a delightful series of drinks: my own favorite was the Dandelion and Burdock which is just fantastic!

You need to try the Firecracker candy Bar by Chuao. It has chipotle chili, sea salt and popping candy! It was a really fun treat in the mouth. They also come in mini pods.

The Dry Soda Company has introduced two new flavors to their already fantastic set: Vanilla Bean and Juniper, each of which adds just that extra bit of yum to your drinking power.

A special shout out to the girls from The Dry Soda Company, who were delightful and let me hang out at their booth a lot.

There will be blogs on my favorite new items and even better ambush interviews with Dulcet, Zebra Mix, Fentimans and more!

Next week I will be unveiling a contest, so make sure you tune in to the show!!