May 20--The best way to describe the Sweets Snacks Expo is this: Close your eyes. Hold your breath and spin around until you're woozy. Then think Willy Wonka in a polychromatic Alice In Wonderland landscape, where free samples of candy, chocolate and savory snacks are spread out over four acres of McCormick Place. This place is a mindboggle of calories and carbohydrates.
Unfortunately, this three-day convention (ending Thursday and put on by the National Confectioners Association) is closed to the general public. So as a matter of civic duty, I attended this convention for you, dear reader, and scoped out five interesting snacks and trends you'll likely see on storeshelves in the coming year.
Beer cake
Beer in cheese soup, beer in jelly beans -- it shouldn't surprise you that beer cake now exists. Iowa-based Molly Drew has introduced a ready-bake cake flour mix in several flavors -- all the home cook needs is one egg and a can of your favorite beer. The taste? Everything you enjoy about cake, plus bittersweet and malty notes. A conversation starter, for sure.
Seaweed
Seaweed just might be the breakout savory flavor of 2015. Throughout the convention hall I saw popcorn and snacks dusted with the umami-rich flavor, one that's already popular in Japan, Korea and Southeast Asia. Besides a flavoring agent, dried seaweed (nori) itself as a snack is gaining traction in the U.S. market. Bay Area-based Ocean's Halo will begin to sell a Texas barbecue and Sriracha-flavored seaweed later this summer.
Fruit and pepper flavors
Neck-and-neck with seaweed as a savory snack flavor is the combination of fruit and pepper. Raspberry-black pepper, mango-jalapeno and pineapple-habanero are among the sweet-and-spiced pairings I saw in popcorn, potato and tortilla chips.
Pancake and maple syrup jelly beans
Every year yields a "can-we-top-that" from the product developers at Jelly Belly. A few years ago I saw BeanBoozled, a line of purposefully disgusting flavors (no joke: barf, moldy cheese) that's more a dare for kids, then I saw Tabasco, then beer-flavored jelly beans. New to 2015 is something more restrained: Pancake and maple syrup jelly beans. You know what they taste like? Pancake and maple syrup.
Beer Salt
San Antonio-based Twang Partners has come out with Beer Salt, a citrus salt you add to the moistened rim of beer bottles. This is essentially Tajin, the Mexican chili seasoning commonly added to micheladas, except Beer Salt adds a wider variety of flavors, including orange and lemon-lime. Good beer doesn't really need this; I think anything below a Rolling Rock or Corona is fine for a sprinkling.
kpang@tribpub.com
Twitter @pang
