sofi Day 3: Still Eating

The sofi judges have saved the biggest day for last and are tasting a whopping 643 products. They tackled confections and appetizers first thing this morning and are currently working their way through pasta sauces as well as 106 different snack foods, from chips and nuts to dried fruits and trail mixes.

Watching all of these products get rolled past us on their way to the tasting rooms has given us a chance to spot more flavor trends. Here are a few:

Judges tasted more than
50 pasta sauces before
moving on to snacks

• Yuzu: This Japanese citrus fruit about the size of a tangerine with lemon/lime flavor lends an exotic taste to dressings, marmalades, cooking sauces and even candy in the form of lemon ginger yuzu gummy pandas.
• Peach: Though it never completely went away, peach is making a comeback. Some products we noticed were peach Greek yogurt; peach poppyseed dressing; peach vanilla salad dressing; hot peach chutney and peach rosemary spreadable fruit.
• Pomegranates: Before there was acai everything, antioxidant-heavy pomegranate was recognized for its superfruit powers, especially in the juice aisle. It’s popping up in new places this year, including popcorn and savory appetizers.
• Pumpkin: Everything from dips to crackers to chocolate is highlighting pumpkin. We saw chipotle pumpkin salsa; roasted pumpkin chunky dip and pumpkin rye flatbread to name a few.
• Maple: Cheese, crackers and even seafood is adding a little sweetness with a hint of maple. Vermont maple smoked Cheddar; maple-smoked salmon; maple crackers and maple apple compote to top cheese are just some foods you’ll be seeing in stores soon.

Day 3 isn’t over yet. Nearly 105 chocolates are up next, and the afternoon will be rounded out with frozen savories and meat, pate and seafood among other categories.

Click here to see all sofi Award news, photos and more.

0 comments