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Sweet Flavor Trends

Candy and chocolate makers are finding inspiration in everything from vegetables to honey to old-fashioned desserts.

by Nicole Potenza Denis

There are a lot of things making candy and chocolate more intriguing this season. Classic ingredients such as butterscotch, honey, brown sugar and maple are stirring up feelings of comfort and are being seen in hard candies, jellybeans and old-fashioned caramels and marshmallows. Vegetables are becoming a trendy ingredient for chocolate treats. (Don’t be surprised if your customers begin asking for sweet potatoes in their chocolate this fall or crunchy chocolate-covered beets or edamame.) Dessert flavors once only seen in cakes, pies and ice cream (think Key lime pie or banana split) are making their way into caramels and lollipops, and cocktail flavors are turning up in jellybeans, taffy and jazzed-up nuts.

Discover these latest flavor trends and be the first to tell your customers what is hot in sweets this season.

Comfort Candy

Kara Nielsen, trendologist at the Center for Culinary Development in San Francisco, touts ‘brown’ flavors such as butterscotch, caramel, honey, maple and brown sugar for evoking a familiar security for consumers who want a sweet treat. “People still seek out comfort in their food choices, and sweets are no different,” she says.

Artisan Candies in San Jose, Calif., is one company that’s built an entire line around these classic brown flavors. The company was founded on its soft caramels and now has a product range that includes brown sugar-based fudge, brown sugar fudge pops, chocolate-covered caramels on a stick (one of its best sellers), maple-based pecan brittles and honey-sweetened marshmallows. “Our company has taken off due to the rising popularity of these old-fashioned brown flavors,” says Kristen Scott, owner and founder. Scott notes that there is a renewed interest in caramels, especially for older customers because the flavors remind them of their childhood.

Brown flavors, by way of Vermont maple and honey, are also highly regarded at Lake Champlain Chocolates. The Burlington, Vt.-based company’s Honey Caramels and Maple Crunch are the most popular flavors in its Chocolates of Vermont line. The chocolates even illustrate the ingredients inside by showcasing an image of a honeycomb and a maple leaf on the product.

Honey, in particular, is coming up a winner in a variety of other sweets. In a poll of more than 11,000 Jelly Belly fans, honey was recently voted as the preferred flavor. Honey Bean, made with real wildflower honey, is the 92nd flavor in the Fairfield, Calif. company’s bean repertoire. “There is huge consumer interest in honey flavors,” says Tomi Holt, director of communications. According to Holt, honey shows up regularly in consumer feedback on the company’s website.

Honey Lovers, a heart-shaped fruit chew line made with real honey from Gimbal’s Fine Candies in South San Francisco, is available in 16 flavors including Pomegranate Honey, Honey Vanilla and Huckleberry Honey. The company, which manufacturers in an allergen-free facility, touts a 25 percent RDA of vitamin C in its Honey Lovers. It also donates five percent of Honey Lovers’ proceeds to the University of California Davis Honey Bee Research.

Honey has inspired Nobel Ingredients, the U.S. subsidiary of French chocolate maker Michel Cluizel, to carry Tal, a line of French hard candies made with premium honey. “Honey is a natural sweetener that has the particularity of being not too sweet,” says Jacques Dahan, president of Nobel Ingredients. “It also is a great carrier of flavor.” The company’s bestseller is Tal Honey Balls but it also carries popular flavors such as Rose, Mint Garden, Green Tea and Cranberry.

Chocolate and honey is a hit with customers of all ages. For example, it is found in new products from the Hammons Product Company of Stockton, Mo. The company has been harvesting black walnuts since 1946, and is now offering its Black & Gold Blend, a savory confection combining the walnuts with 60 percent cacao dark chocolate and a sugar and honey glaze.

The combination of honey and chocolate is showing some interesting merchandising potential. Chuao Chocolatier’s newest creation, Honeycomb, a 60 percent cacao bar made with caramelized honey, complements a variety of beverages as well as cheese. “The bar goes well with craft beer with notes of caramel, floral IPA’s, fruit-forward wines with residual sugars like a Brachetto or fortified wines like Port, Madeira or Banyuls, as well as black or green tea,” says Michael Antonorsi, chef and founder of the Carlsbad, Calif. company. The product’s flavor profile also makes it friendly to strong cheeses like Stilton, Gorgonzola, tart goat or young Manchego. Chuao suggests merchandising the bar with these cheeses or in the beer aisle.

New Savory Influences

Customers looking for unusual sweet and savory combinations are going to have plenty from which to choose. Root vegetables—especially sweet potatoes—are becoming popular add-ins to chocolate creations. The Sweet Potato Pie Tasting Bar from DeBrand Chocolatier in Fort Wayne, Ind., is a crunchy sweet potato pecan brittle with a sweet potato orange hue, complemented by a mix of white and milk chocolate. According to owner Cathy Brand-Beere, the bar is best enjoyed with room temperature sparkling water or a mild hot tea, like English Breakfast, offering some possible cross-merchandising opportunities.

Sweet potato also makes an appearance in products from Sweet Marguerites Artisanal Chocolates, South Portland, Me. Sweet Potato Caramel is one of five pieces in the chocolatier’s umami collection, which also features savory and tangy flavors of Malted Bacon and Plum Sake. According to founder Marguerite Swoboda, the sweet potato—naturally high in umami flavor—is not a stretch to be paired with desserts because it complements flavors like cinnamon and nutmeg. Swoboda’s creation incorporates the Indian spice garam masala, which consists of cardamom, nutmeg and cinnamon.

On the crunchier side, the earthy flavors of beets, taro, sweet potato, parsnip and celery root are being dipped in dark chocolate at Heidi and Arthur Chocolatiers, a father-daughter team creating handmade, all-natural chocolate confections in Valley Cottage, N.Y. Owner Heidi Caren says the chips are popular with people who tend to like things that are not too sweet and who usually choose vegetable chips (over potato chips) as a snack. And, at Cocoa V, a chocolate shop in New York City’s Chelsea neighborhood, chocolate spiced edamame clusters are on the menu. The vegan chocolate and wine boutique marinates edamame in lime, cayenne and salt before roasting it and then covering it in vegan chocolate.

Old-Fashioned Dessert Flavors

Eating sweets like Coconut Cream Pie or Strawberry Cheesecake no longer requires a fork. Classic pie and cake flavors are now available on a stick, as a chewy treat or in a squeeze pack. For instance, New York City’s Dylan’s Candy Bar will be offering candy corn in flavors such as Crème Brûlée and Pumpkin Spice this fall, notes Founder and CEO Dylan Lauren.

Another New York City-based company, Linda’s Lollies, offers ten dessert flavors ranging from Coconut Cream Pie to German Chocolate Cake. In addition, The Original Gourmet Co. in Medina, Ohio, offers a new line of dessert-flavored Cream Swirl Pops that are high in pie flavor. The technology used to create the pops—which come in flavors like Lemon Meringue Pie, Blueberries and Cream and Butterscotch Sundae—swirls the flavors rather than blending them. The pops are center-filled and have a soft real cream center that creates a bold, intense flavor, true to real dessert flavors.

In Atlanta, Innovative Candy Concepts is creating gel squeeze candy out of its pies and cobblers. According to President Armand Hammer, the company’s new Guilt-Free Cheaters are going to be attractive to non-candy eaters, not only because they are sugar-free, but also for their dessert-like flavor profile. Available in flavors such as Cinnamon Apple Pie, Strawberry Cheesecake and Blueberry Cobbler, the 11-calorie, sugar-, fat-, and sodium-free gel squeeze candy is made with high-quality ingredients such as cheese and real strawberries. They can be eaten as is, or frozen to a sorbet-consistency. “The candy industry has been stalled with line extensions for the past few years. I’m positive that dessert-based flavors will contribute to industry growth,” says Hammer.

For customers who like their cakes more chewy (and still no need for a fork), Amella Carrot Cake Cocoa Butter Caramels contain fresh carrots and roasted pecans. Blended with white chocolate, these caramels are all natural and closely mirror the flavors of classic carrot cake.

Cocktail Candies

Inspired by shaken, stirred and poured classic cocktails, several companies are serving up candies with bar-friendly flavors. These ‘mocktail’ treats come in both chewy and crunchy varieties.

“Candy appeals to all ages and when you combine flavors of popular alcoholic drinks or desserts with popular candy treats you can attract new customers that might not have thought about buying that particular candy before,” says Lauren of Dylan’s Candy Bar. Dylan’s carries different flavored malt balls such as Mimosa and Cosmopolitan. “Alcohol flavors have always been popular in chocolate as centers in truffles and more recently have found their way into other types of candies and chocolate,” she notes.

Another example is Jelly Belly, which has added several flavors (Mojito, Pomegranate Cosmo, Peach Bellini) to its Cocktail Classic line, launched in the spring. Mojito flavors are also strong in taffy, chocolate and nuts. Primrose Candy Company offers homemade salt water taffy in Mojito as well as Piña Colada, Rum and Coke, Margarita and Strawberry Daiquiri, and a Mojito Ganache Dark Chocolate Truffle is a big seller at Heidi and Arthur’s.

Nature’s Best Nut Company, Modesto, Calif., recently introduced a line of liquor-infused nuts. Popular flavors such as Mint Mojito, Whisky, Margarita, Piña Colada and Island Rum—the company’s projected best-seller—are infused into almonds during the roasting process. Nuts are then coated in 100 percent milk chocolate and wrapped in an all-natural candy shell. They are available in a 4-ounce tote and in bulk. Harrison Mershon, creative director for KM Food Concepts, the brand manufacturer for Nature’s Best in Jenison, Mich., recommends the nuts be merchandised in the candy aisle or with liquor as an add on.

Many of these new flavor trends may appeal to candy shoppers during the upcoming months for their distinctiveness and often festive tastes. Lauren believes in the versatility of cocktail candies, especially during the holiday season. “They make great hostess gifts and interesting conversation starters at parties,” she says. |SFM|

Nicole Potenza Denis is a contributing editor to Specialty Food Magazine.