Here’s the second half of my notes on the Fancy Food Show in San Diego last week.

Malie Kai chocolate bars are made from cocoa beans grown on Oahu. Wow, an All American Chocolate Bar!

The cool thing about Malie Kai is that they do more than just plain chocolate, they have some combination bars as well ... and as you might expect they include Hawaiian items like Kona coffee and macadamia nuts as well as citrus and almonds. Lovely two ounce bars and wonderful hospitality at their booth. I’m looking forward to tasting the full bar I picked up.

Jeff Shepherd is always a delight when I visit at his booth displaying his goodies from Lillie Belle Farms. I got to try the Smokey Blue Truffle again ... it’s growing on me. I like the crunchy almonds and the smooth creaminess of the chocolate ganache. The bite of the Rogue Creamery Smokey Blue Cheese is pretty interesting, it creates a little buzz on the tongue. It feels more like food than candy, but that’s not a bad thing either.

The other fascinating item he had that was brand new was a wild chocolate bar ... that is, chocolate made from cocoa beans harvested in the wild, not from plantation-raised trees. I wish I had a photo of it, it’s not on the website yet. As you can imagine, there can’t be a lot of these since wild cacao is exceptionally rare and hard to harvest. Of course it’s also a very limited edition.

Haribo was also there with a their same booth. I don’t really have anything to report on their product line. I know they have their new Root Beer Gummis and as much as I’m a fan of root beer as a flavor, these just don’t do it for me (they might be too citrusy). I did have a few of their spectacular Pink Grapefruit Slices though. You can just enjoy these close ups of their lightbox display:

             

Jo’s Candies based here on the Los Angeles area will have some new Vanilla Caramels available at all their usual outlets. They were soft and tasty, perhaps a bit more milky than buttery than I’m used to, but super-traditional in plain wax paper and sold in clear bags.

I also enjoy Elegant Gourmet’s booth every year. They have stunning handmade lollipops and hard candies that look like painted ponies on a carousel.

I’ve never pictured their candies as an everyday sort of sweet, but for special occasions like baby showers, weddings and gifts, they’re something to consider.

Acapella Gourmet has an awesome new line of “coffeelatte” called Caffe Acapella ... basically, it’s cocoa butter mixed with coffee solids (coffee beans) instead of cocoa solids. So it’s not coffee flavored, it’s coffee! I have a few samples of those for a full review later.

Vosges made their first appearance at a trade show I’ve attended. They had everything in their repertoir out for tasting. I had a little sip of their white chocolate/vanilla/lavender/lemon myrtle drink (even though I’ve had it before) and had a few tastes of some other their items I haven’t tried. (No, they wouldn’t send me home with any samples for later.)

I tried a few of the caramels, being especially careful to stay away from anything with walnuts and was definitely pleased. It’s a stiff caramel, not too chewy but soft and with good buttery notes. I think the next thing of theirs I’m going to plunk down some money for is their Volcano Island Honey Truffle collection.

The Fancy Food Show always has a good showing of companies with honey and maple syrup. I picked up a few samples from Canadian company, mopure. They’re just little transparent maple leaves made from maple syrup. (I’m sure their maple syrup is awesome too, but I’m not much of a syrup user ... but if they offered me that bottle as a sample, I’d be all over it.)

Other items I picked up samples of:

Colts Bolts - gourmet peanut butter cups

Santander Chocolate - three different varieties of dark

Domori Cru - single origin tasting squares

Lake Champlain - various tasting squares

Repubica del Cacao - Ecuadoran chocolate

BruCo - olive oil chocolates and salt tasting chocolate

Black Opal - chocolate covered licorice stick

Bali’s Best Tea Candy (like their coffee candies

Honey Mints - chocolate covered creamed honey with a touch of mint

For the most part I zoomed through the show this year. I usually take all three days and spend a lot of time with each company. This year I had my priority hit list and made it to most of them. A few I didn’t get to I know I can probably visit with at ExpoWest in March down in Anaheim (like Theo’s new Phinney bars). Of course my speed meant a lot fewer take home samples (usually I have conversations to discuss what I might be interested in taking home for a full review) but the money I saved on not having to get a hotel room in San Diego can now go to buying that candy instead.

(All above photos by Emanuel Treeson.)

Yesterday I had the great fortune of attending the Fancy Food Show in San Diego and then sleeping in my own bed.

As with my usual style when attending a trade show with a lot of food, I rarely eat any of it on the floor, I take it home for sampling later. But here are some brief thoughts of what I did see (and wasn’t able to bring home for a full review). I also brought along a photographer! (My husband was so kind to record some important football game and come with me instead of sitting around the house all day.)

K. L. Keller Imports was showing a lot of stuff that I’ve already had before, like lavender honey from Spain and Suprem’ Nougat by G. Savin from France. They also had some new nougats from South Africa from Walters that are a little lighter and fluffier and feature pecans and macadamia nuts instead of the traditional almonds, hazelnuts and pistachios. They also had some great chocolate covered candied nuts called Cude Catanies from Spain. Fantastic. Crunchy, sweet, chocolaty, nutty ... everything you would want from those ingredients.

I spent a few minutes at Coco-Luxe which makes truffles and the candied almonds covered in chocolate and cocoa shown here called Block Party Almonds. Like so many chocolatiers that show off at the Fancy Food Show, Coco-Luxe is based in San Francisco and was founded by Stephanie Marcon.

The bulk of their products are truffles, made in the tile-style. In the case of Marcon’s, they little transfer design on top is usually a good indication of what’s inside. Her flavors are usually based on popular desserts such as Banana Split, Devil’s Food, Gingerbread and Mocha. However, I asked for something that was not out on display that I’d read about, which was their Rose for Valentine’s Day. It has a touch of honey and is made with rose water (instead of rose flavoring). It was fresh and light and not the slightest bit like eating soap. Their other two flavors for the Valentine’s box are Champagne and a plain dark chocolate they call Pure Devotion. Awwwww.

I was happy to see another west coast confectioner there called Cary’s of Oregon. They make excellent toffee and are featured at CocoaBella in San Francisco. I wanted to try more of their items though, so they were on my list as a must-stop.

Most of all I wanted to try their Milk Chocolate with Chai Tea Toffee. It’s a nice fluffy crunch that doesn’t become a tacky lump in your teeth. The flavor is buttery and of course the milk chocolate goes really well with the spice of chai. (They have another with Mango Tea and dark chocolate, but that wasn’t really up my alley)

Sweetfields isn’t quite a candy company, but I thought I should at least put them in my notes. They make candied flowers. They had a beautiful display right on a corner at the show that did stop me dead my tracks. They had piles and piles of sparkly, preserved violas.

They’re stiff but look velvety soft in their “crystal glaze”. They don’t taste like much, a little bit of raspberry essence is thrown in, which is a nice floral flavor. The sugar melts away and of course there’s a teensy bit of the flower petals left. They had larger displays of pansies with their dark throats and primary-bright petals. They’d be wonderful on desserts like petit fours or of course wedding cakes. I could also see them as a lovely garnish for a dessert plate or on top of a truffle.

Also in the “not candy” category were the vanilla vendors. But they smelled fantastic. This one Aust & Hachmann had bundles and bundles of vanilla. It just smelled so good!

They also had some lovely little kits for true vanilla obsessionalists that have beans from all over the world so you can do your own taste test. See their site for more.

One of the people at the top of my list (but who wasn’t on the official list of exhibitors) was Larry Slotnick, who was showing off his new stone ground chocolate from his company, Taza Chocolate. Stone ground, you say?

Yes, big plates of stone grind together to create a slurry of ground cocoa beans to make the cocoa liquor that is the basis of this food of the gods. He has an array of three bars so far in his repertoir 60%, 70% and 80% plus the Chocolate Mexicano which is a traditional style Mexican puck. I tasted this and I can say, as you might think, it’s very rustic. It also has a wonderfully different flavor profile and texture. First, it tastes like bananas and caramel, the texture is grainy but still smooth in that it dissolves pretty easily on the tongue (I’m guessing more available cocoa butter to melt and distribute the flavors on the tongue). I’ll have more on this later when I get a hold of an actual full-sized sample.

I had a lovely time visiting with the women at the Belgium’s Best Chocolates booth. First, the packaging and sheer quantity of chocolate bars on display was stunning. Galler has a great package design that always reminds me of art supplies - like they’re boxes of paints or oil pastels. They also carry Dolfin which I’ve reviewed before in their lovely large bars in “tobacco pouches”. The new mini bars I picked up are White Pepper & Cardamom and Lavender & Dark Chocolate. (I also have a super-dark bar sitting around that I need to review as well.)

Poco Dolce knocked my socks off with their Burnt Caramel Bittersweet Tiles. Not quite toffee, there was no butter getting in the way of this intense burnt sugar flavor along with a nice complement of salt and smooth dark chocolate. But the real reason I stopped at their booth was because I saw that Kathy Wiley, the creator of these San Francisco confections, was also introducing a line of nougats. Drat! She didn’t have them with her. Oh well, I get to San Francisco quite often and of course they have a web store.

Whew! I’m only about a third of the way through my notes, so more tomorrow. (You can peek at all the photos here.)

Be prepared ... some fancy candy updates from the Fancy Food Show in San Diego this year.

I’ll have more later. Here’s a tease ... stone ground chocolate ... all-American chocolate grown on Oahu ... chai tea toffee ... honey and lemon licorice ... new nougats. 

Here’s what others observed at the show:

SFGate noticed the salty side of things, and I’m not just talking about the sea salts.

C(h)ristine has a great photo array that captures things far better than words (well, not better, but it sure takes up less space) as well as her observations. Pay careful attention to those “collagen marshmallows.”

Bay Area Bites covered the keynote by Eric Schlosser of Fast Food Nation fame (I think Michael was sitting in front of me at the keynote). Take special note of the mackerel in a tube photo later in the post. See, being so focused on candy means I don’t have to give those things a second thought!

Elise has a fantastmic photo of Mashti Malone’s Lavender Ice Cream ... love their stuff! She also profiles quite a few other items I missed and links to even more coverage.

Dvorak was even there, with some video of the Whiffle machine - which makes these puffed tortilla shaped waffley things. I didn’t eat them and the machine scared me (seriously, it SHOT those things out with a bang all day every day).

If you want more video, definitely check out YumSugar (they have a lot of coverage) and their video from the floor.

Anna’s Cool Finds mentions things on the savory end but covers the Monkey Treats which were frozen fruit covered with chocolate - I had the banana and it was very tasty, something I’d buy in the summer. YummySF covered the tea scene (there was a LOT of tea) and finally, as I mentioned on Tuesday, there’s a lot of trading and giveaways at the very end of the expo, Jalepeno Girl, who worked the show as a “booth babe” has the goodies to prove it (and some fun rules for attending food shows).

I have a huge pile of chocolate and candies and I’ll have lots to write about for the next month or so. Stay tuned. 

Related Candies

1. Show Notes - Fancy Food Show - Tuesday
2. Show Notes - Fancy Food Show - Monday
3. Show Notes - Fancy Food Show - Sunday
4. Fancy Food Show

I have to say that the vibe today on the floor was vastly different from yesterday. I picked up lots and lots to sample at home.

- Hammond’s Candy had their Mitchell Sweets on display. They’re a marshmallow covered in caramel. Tasty looking ... I’m looking forward to it! Their booth was awesome looking with racks and racks of their hand twisted candy canes and lollipops. They have both a regular line and a new natural line (no artificial colors or flavors).

- I stopped by les Anis de Flavigny booth and was enchanted by their new package design. (They candies themselves are a panned sweet, with a center of a simple anise seed coated with layer upon layer of matte white sugar - an ancient tradition in Europe.) They didn’t muck around with it too much, they’re still classic oval tins. I’ll take photos and talk about them more in the future. They also have a new line that’s certified organic in Europe.

- I tried Mademoiselle de Margaux, which I admired from afar the whole show. Their package is elegant and the confection itself looks like simple twigs of chocolate. I sampled the whole line in chocolate, orange, mint and coffee. I can’t say much else because it appears the flyers I picked up are in French.

- As trends go, and everyone’s been talking about them now that the show is over, the one that I noticed is folks talking about their product being “All Natural” for the most part indicating that they’re courting Whole Foods.

- Brown & Haley has a new limited edition Raspberry Mountain Bar. Sounds tasty. (I actually liked the Peanut Butter one best so far.)

- Melville’s Candies, which is known for their fantastic barley sugar candies in bright colors and fun shapes, was really pushing their Honey Spoons. They’re spoons shaped lollies with loads of real honey in there. You can eat them or stir your coffee with them. I picked up both Tupelo and Clover varieties.

- Guittard was showing some new chocolates, including a 90% cacao. It was definitely dark, but rather buttery with some interesting vanilla notes.

- I gave Haribo‘s gummi Root Beer Barrels a couple of tries this week. They’re certainly interesting and I do like Haribo quite a bit (their Happy Cola is very good) but I wasn’t thrilled with these. They were spicy tasting but too sour and tangy to ring true for me.

- I tried a really local line of fudge from John Kelly Chocolates. They describe their fudge as being more truffle than fudge. I enjoyed the orange flavored stuff quite a bit and soon I’ll try more of it. They’re based right in Hollywood!

- I have lots more tasting notes and of course oodles of samples, cards and press kits to go through, so I’ll keep tonight’s notes briefer (I just got home from the airport and the neighbors came over to make look at me while I tried to organize my samples on the dining room table). I did got back to both of the crabby booths today that ran me off before, just to give them another chance. One had a different person there and it was an entirely different experience. The second was a booth where I not only got a cold reception earlier this week but also didn’t have a good interaction in Chicago at the All Candy Expo. I’m not naming names, but I am saying that by giving everyone another chance, the whole show is battin’ 1,000 for a warm welcome.

- Finally, at the end of the show the booth folk were more interested in making their exit. The fascinating part is that they don’t want to take their own stuff home. Most of the open cases can’t be sold, so they were either extremely generous with the visitors to their booth or they would trade with other vendors. There were even signs on some booths that said “we will barter” ... I was rather suprised to see it on an upscale Belgian chocolate vendor and there was the staff loading fine chocolates into plastic bags. I wonder what they got in return. A wheel of cheese? A tub of fine olives? Maybe some honey ... I’m just glad it seems like everyone is going home happy.

I’m home. I’m happy. 

Yup, no real organization here, just a data dump as I go through my samples and notes from the day:

- I spent most of the morning with Dawn & Irene from Artisan Sweets (yes, Dawn’s the one who gave me those awesome Apothecary’s Garden hard candies). I followed them around as they visited some of their current suppliers and looked at new products and opportunities. I also introduced them to Mashti Malones (I had some of their new Lavender ice cream), which is a Persian-style ice cream shop based in Los Angeles.

- Dagoba (now owned by Hershey’s “Artisan Chocolates” division) has a bunch of new products including four bars for their Classic line:
Seeds (Hemp, pumpkin and sunflower seeds ... I’m not sure why there’s no flax in there)
Superfruit (acai, goji berries and currants)
Nibs (yeah, nibs)
Lemon Ginger (crystallized ginger and lemon essence ... crunchier than you’d think)

- Veritas who makes Thins for Trader Joe’s & Choxie is coming out with a line of single origin chocolates later this spring.

- I tasted a bunch of “comfort candies” at Allie’s Edibles and really liked the Chocolate Pretzel & Toffee Bark, which is a fun mix of pretzels and toffee bits in chocolate. Both the pretzels and the toffee provide a salty hit and a distinct crunch. It’s all Kosher too (she has Marshmallows as well).

- I sampled a few candies from B.T. McElrath of Minneapolis. They specialize in local ingredients and of course lovely-looking candies. The Salted Caramel Butterfly I tried was really nice, the caramel was dark and flowing with a strong and distinct smoky deep caramelized bite to it but also a smooth buttery mouthfeel.

- Since I enjoy Chuao Chocolates so much I visited their source chocolate supplier, El Rey. Their beans are all Venezuelan but a mix of all three varieties (Criollo, Forestero & Trinitario). I tried their nibs and a few of the single origin but I really enjoyed the Icao White Chocolate. What sets this white chocolate apart from all others is obvious when you taste it ... it tastes like chocolate even though it doesn’t look like it. They don’t “deodorize” the cocoa butter, so it retains some other woodsy scents and it’s not freakishly white, more like a pale yellow. I’m definitely going to be checking out more of El Rey in the future.

- I dropped by a booth called Mrs. May’s Naturals ... how could I pass them up, they’re named after me? They have dry roasted nut brittles that are so jam packed with nuts, there’s barely any room for the candy. The sweet toffee/candy is just there to hold it all together. Some are a mix of fruits and nuts but I liked the pure crunchiness of the Sunflower, Pecan and Cashew.

- It wasn’t all happiness and smiles, there were a couple of odd experiences where the booth-cops didn’t want me looking or tasting things. I can’t quite figure that out, but hey, there were literally thousands of things to look at. If they don’t want me trying their tea infused chocolate disks or gourmet lollipops, me and my blog can go elsewhere ... and we did!

- Harry London Chocolates is once again under new ownership (now 1-800-FLOWERS) and they’re taking a turn towards the dark side now. I was impressed by their new packaging and their dark tasting squares in 70% cocoa content (all natural) with flavors of Raspberry, Orange, Espresso and of course plain Chocolate. The proof will be in the pudding ... well, the chocolate tasting anyway. If the Raspberry is any indication, it’s some tasty stuff, but perhaps a little odd. More on that later.

- I had more fun at Jelly Belly today as they let me preview some new items that aren’t quite ready yet for the public. What I can tell you about is their new Pomegranate bean ... tasty and complex. I tried it when I was there in ‘05 and they were still working on it, the tinkering resulted in a tasty bean with some nice dry finish much more like a real pomegranate. It also has some Vitamin C and antioxidants in there! In other new product news they’re also putting some focus on Black Licorice and have a new Licorice Bear that will be presented soon.

- Brown Paper Chocolates has to take the cake as the most novel presentation of chocolate for the week so far. Think of it as a solid ganache that you treat like a fine parmesan and shave off pieces. It looked kind of strange, like a hunk of fudge, but the flavor was anything but grainy. Smooth and infused with herbs and spices, it was really impressive. The white chocolate went like this, “Fragrant with Lavender, Pimm’s(r) No.1 and Chervil with a cracked pepper and lavender fleur de sel afterthought.” Check out the whole line here.

I’m sitting in on another panel discussion (the other two I did were kind of “State of the Industry” ones that weren’t sweets oriented) but the one on Tuesday morning is about Chocolate. So I may post some session notes about that on Wednesday. 

I made it about 3/4 of the way through the show floor today. It’s a huge show with 22 million square miles of booths (okay, I have no clue how big it is, but it covers the north and south hall of the Moscone Center if that means anything to anyone). Though some of the booths were grouped by region of origin, there wasn’t much else to help navigate through the show. Lots of sampling and I have to say that I was pleased that the reception I got at every booth, including the ones where it was obvious I was there as a consumer, not a member of the press. Here are my notes, in no particular order.

- Figs are great. I enjoyed many figgy things such as Orchard Choice dried figs, several different fig pastes and a fig jam.

- Caffarel (represented in the States by Daprano.com) has some new products, including a chili pepper gianduia.

- Lara Bar has reformulated their chocolate bars, now called Jocolat. I didn’t like them the first time around (they were called Maya the nibs were intensely bitter and acrid for some reason) but the new ones are fantabulous and sure to be one of my new faves for snacking.

- Terra Nostra has come out with a new Robust Dark & Roasted Almonds (60% cacao) bar - all organic and with a new package design.

- Jelly Belly has come out with a bunch of new stuff, but the thing that interested me most was their new lollipop which reminds me of Linda’s Lollies. They’re big, very sold and in true Jelly Belly fashion come in oodles of flavors. I picked up Tangerine, Root Beer. Cotton Candy and Lemon. (I might go back for seconds & thirds this week.)

- Jelly Belly was also really pushing their new acquisition of Sunkist Fruit Gems from Ben Meyerson. The best part? I picked out a handful of just the grapefruit from the samples bin. You think I’m alone? I watched two other people pick through the sampling tub and choose the grapefruit and other citrus over the cherry.

- Choco-luxe had an amazing white chocolate/matcha truffle. I’ll have to swing by there again and try some of their other truffles.

- Honey is great. Honey from the Leatherwood Tree in Tasmania is awesome.

- My prediliction for nougats precedes me. Larry from Tassie Naturals actually had a huge handful of the stuff for me (both hazelnut and chocolate covered hazelnut) with some exciting news about a pepper and hazelnut version to come soon. I can’t wait!

- Peanut Butter and Curry is an awesome combo. I could definitely eat that slathered on a piece of bread.

- Awesome chocolates I need to learn more about:
Art Bars from Ithaca Fine Chocolates
Santander single origins from Colombia
Valrhona - I really need to explore their whole line
Alter Eco - fair trade chocolate bars from Bolivia and Ghana - no emulsifiers and made in Switzerland

- The Ginger People have come out with a super-charged Gin-Gin (their ginger hard candy) with TWICE the amount of ginger in it (just in time for Whale-Watching season).

- Carica is a fruit from Chile that I hope gets wider distribution - it’s like a mango, apricot and honeydew melon all in one. Right now it’s being distributed in jars of lightly sweetened syrup.

- Lillie Belle Farms was one of those cool finds on the floor. I had no idea they existed, but now I know that they’re toiling away in Oregon growing their own berries and making organic chocolates by hand in inventive flavor combinations. Though the Black Pepper Ganache didn’t do anything for me, I really enjoyed the Lavender Caramel and the simplicity of the caramlized Nibs (Lillie Rocks).

- BruCo has some awesome new “Salt Tasting Chocolate”, Mole Chocolate and something else that’s slipped my mind but was also spicy.

- Chocolove has a Chilies & Cherries in Dark Chocolate they’re pushing for Valentines Day as a limited edition item. 55% cocoa content, it’s dark and fruity with a pretty good, long burn. Not really my thing (with the cherries) but a good bar overall.

- Hawaii has some pretty good honey with light yet complex flavors. My favorite from Big Island Bees was the Wilelaiki Blossom.

- Sensible Foods has something called “Crunch Dried Snacks” which I could really see myself getting into. They’re completely dried fruits and vegetables yet instead of being leathery and chewy, they’re rather crunchy and retain all the flavors. The bananas in their Tropical Blend are insanely crisp and tasty. (Some are even organic.)

I didn’t take any photos. Trade shows are exhausting but it’s nice to know that food is never far away. I’ll have lots more to report tomorrow!

Guess what? I snuck out of town to San Francisco for a few days to attend the Fancy Food Show.

Unlike the All Candy Expo, this trade show is devoted to all things tasty from olive oils, honey, flavored waters, cheeses, sauces, and dressing but includes a fair amount of sweet treats. In fact, candy and chocolate is well represented on the show floor ... from high end chocolatiers like Charles Chocolates & Chuao to the fun and mass-manufactured fare from Jelly Belly & Gimbals. 

So, I'll be bringing you my notes and impressions from the show floor through Tuesday when the show ends - click that logo to keep up with just the show notes. Regular reviews will continue below as usual.