Anaheim, Calif. was abuzz in activity as 80,000 members of the natural products industry congregated over the weekend for the Natural Products Expo West trade show where 3,100 exhibitors set up shop, among them, 500 first-timers. Since 1981, Expo West has operated as a meeting place for retailers and manufacturers as well as a hub for discovering the latest innovations in the natural segment of the culinary industry. The show continues to grow as exhibitor booths have trickled into neighboring Marriott and Hilton hotels as part of the hot products pavilions. In 2018, work on an annex to the convention center should be complete.
To try and put your finger on one or two 2017 Expo West trends is a complex undertaking. Some 2016 trends only gathered speed such as seaweed crisps (sheets of seaweed with almonds, coconut or quinoa inclusions in the middle). Fermentation bubbles on, with this trend taking interesting forms this year. Get ready for a new buzz term, upcycling, which gained energy as one company used spent grains and another upcycled bananas into new products, tackling food waste. The frenzy of gluten-free products has slowed (even while the allergen-friendly food category continues to grow). Turmeric, chia, coconut water, acai and matcha—trends of former years occasionally pop up, even jerky has not completely gone away. Some old stand-bys received sophisticated approaches landing them on this list too. Here are trends to watch for coming to store shelves later this year.
Annelies Zijderveld’s first cookbook, Steeped: Recipes Infused with Tea, is available now. She has been published in Curator magazine, Arthouse America, and Sated Magazine.
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Yo Good: Several companies dabbled in the alternative milk space with yogurts, including Silk's almond yogurts. A few companies took inspiration from the cheese wheel,introducing super creamy yogurts. Stonyfield Farm launched several flavors of double-cream yogurt. As the company declared, "fat is back" and this yogurt's supple thick texture takes whole milk yogurt to another level. Siggi's Icelandic-skyr introduced a trio of triple cream yogurts, low in sugar and with 9 percent milk fat in raspberry, vanilla and lemon. A different spin on yogurt, Morinaga introduced their Japanese-style yogurt line, Alove mixed with chopped aloe and available in original aloe, strawberry and blueberry. Yogurt showed up in a new line of yogurt-based Maio a lower calorie alternative to traditional mayonnaise from Bolthouse Farms.
Photo: Annelies Zijderveld
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Expect More from Your Meatless Burger: Gone are the days of the simple black bean burgers, as the only meatless main patty. Qrunch out of Colorado offers quinoa burgers made with quinoa and millet (a whole grain that's coming wholly into its own as a superstar in products this year), in savory flavors like saucy buffalo and green chile. Thinking outside the bun, they also introduced four options in a waffle, pancake and French toast alternative line, "toastables" in rich maple. Austin-based Good Seed sampled two hempseed burgers from their paleo grain-free line in wild mushroom cauliflower and curried sweet potato, as well as two options from their sprouted line: all-American and spicy Italian. Ohio company, Foodies launched Thai Coconut and Italian herb flavors in their VegNews best of awards 2016 line of vegan artichoke burgers. They also impressed with new pumpkin seed frittatas, fluffy vegan alternatives in six flavors including delectable Carrot Dill.
Photo: Annelies Zijderveld
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Bananas Break Out of the Norm: Speaking of chips, Justin's released snack packs of their popular nut butters with banana chips. At Banana Joe's the humble banana chip's taken a cue from slender crunchy plantain curls, where Thai Hom Tong bananas are picked while still green so they won't be sweet. Their thin, delicate crisps come in tasty Thai Sweet Chili and Sriracha and other flavors. Santa Monica-based Barnana released crunchy tiles of upcycled bananas with coconut butter in four flavors of banana brittle including peanut butter and chocolate. Bananamilk, a dairy-free alternative to cow's milk offered rich texture and taste, clinching a VegNews 2016 best in show award.
Photo: Annelies Zijderveld
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Wow Baobab: Dubbed the next superfruit, African fruit, baobab has begun its campaign in the U.S. The pods hanging from the baobab tree encase the fruit, which is naturallydehydrated and powdered. Its flavor is a bit tart but its benefits of antioxidants, vitamin C, potassium and fiber are what make this fruit one to watch. Powbab out of Oak Park, Illinois sampled it in powder format and also in superfruit chews made with pomegranate and acai juice. BaoBest offers a line of baobab fruit chews in six flavors including Meyer Lemon and Blood Orange.
Photo: Annelies Zijderveld
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Beyond the Bean Burger: Getting the pulse on beans means looking outside savory hummus or bean burgers. Pulse pastas and roasted chickpea snacks continued making appearances. Cybele's Free-to-Eat went deeper with the trend by introducing superfood noodles. Vibrantly hued rotini noodles come in five colors of the rainbow such as superfood purple (red lentils, sweet potato, beet and carrot) and all flavors are free of the top eight food allergens. Chickpeas have crossed over to the sweet side as Delighted by introduced dessert hummus in vanilla, brownie and snickerdoodle flavors, following Hope Hummus which launched chocolate hummus several years ago. Brooklyn-based Rule Breaker bakes chickpeas into brownies and blondies which clinched the 2016 NEXTY award for best new dessert at Expo East.
Photo: Annelies Zijderveld
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Ghee Grows Up: In the spirit of compound butters, this year's batch of ghee, clarified butter offerings included several explorations in flavor. Out of Los Angeles, 4th and Heart sampled three flavors of ghee butter including a Madagascar vanilla bean, California garlic and white truffle, also available in squeezable pouches for ghee on-the-go. Austin company Tin Star Foods introduced a brown butter ghee that they said is popular with bakers. Their grass-fed ghee won the NEXTY 2017 best new condiment award.
Photo: Annelies Zijderveld
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Can You Chip It? Sweet potato, kale and beet chips lay the way for this next breed of chips. Austin, Texas-based Siete introduced chips made of cassava and coconut flour that crunch as a grain-free tortilla chip alternative and come in flavors like nacho or lime. Farmhouse Culture's bid for all things fermented extended this year to their new Kraut Krisps, a savory snack in five flavors like dill pickle that nabbed the 2017 NEXTY award for best new snack. The most curious addition to the chip category without question goes to meat chips. One company cuts to the chase with their moniker: Meat Chips, where chicken is the second ingredient after white corn flour, available in four flavors such as illuminacho, and rachet ranch. Boulder-based Wilde showcased their new chicken chip bags even though the product isn't officially launching until summer in sea salt, jalapeño and BBQ. Made of chicken breast and tapioca starch, they're fried in coconut oil yielding light, crispy and surprisingly tasty morsels.
Photo: Annelies Zijderveld
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Eat Your Tea and Coffee: The Burmese tea leaf salad phenomenon's starring ingredient has made the leap from salad to dip. San Francisco-based Burma Love, the retail arm of local restaurants, Burma Superstar introduced fermented tea aioli, a dairy-free and egg-free condiment made with fermented Burmese tea leaves, laphet. This creamy spread that they created to complement their lotus chips got a nod as a NEXTY 2017 finalist for best new condiment category. Boston outfit, Eat Coffee introduced coconut mocha, mocha latte, and caramel macchiato energy bars which derive their kick from ground coffee beans, tapped as a NEXTY 2017 best new snack finalist.
Photo: Annelies Zijderveld
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Kegs of Kombucha? Kombucha taps into the taproom as Humm Kombucha out of Bend, Oregon introduced hopped grapefruit. Born out of a brewer's batch they tested in their taproom, inspiration for this blend that uses citra and cascade hops comes from the teeming breweries around Bend. Last year, I noted the Portland, Oregon's Dr. Townshend's Teas introduced a citrus hops flavor and this year, they've continued pushing flavor development into uncharted territory with the winter seasonal release, Vanilla Oak, and Mango Habanero, a spicy fruity pairing that's not too sweet.
Photo: Annelies Zijderveld
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Eat Your Veggies ... in Unexpected Ways: From Pinterest to plate, cauliflower pizza crust cropped at Caulipower. Available in the freezer section, the company produces three fully loaded pies and plain crust. Hybread takes veggies and bakes them into green loaves of bread, available in romaine, kale & romaine and spinach flavors. They add in pureed vegetables instead of water to bake to fluffy sliced bagged bread. The humble tater tot got tapped with a once trendy ingredient that's now eponymous at Dr. Praeger's with their new vegan and non-GMO kale puffs. Wellesley, Massachusetts-based Farmwise expands that idea with their veggie tots in broccoli and sweet potato. They also sell veggie fries with a crispy exterior and a middle consistency resembling mashedpotato mixed with veggies and available in flavors like broccoli potato, carrot potato, and kale Tuscan herb, as well as a chickpea red pepper flavor. Kale also made an appearance in the savory granola bars from Mediterra with one flavor reading like the components of a really good salad: kale, apple, quinoa and almonds.
Photo: Annelies Zijderveld