I am just back from the fabulous 2010 Sweets & Snacks Expo in Chicago -- the largest candy trade show in the Americas -- and one of the many exciting things I discovered there (while experiencing the three days as a complex sort of deja vu, given the scenes in True Confections that take place at this show, where this year I was signing books in the Candy Industry Magazine booth) was that America's favorite flavor is "red." Cherry, strawberry, whatever -- so long as it's red. This is why one of the dominant new flavors popping up across a range of familiar products is pomegranate. And then there's the just-released variation of Just Born's Mike and Ike -- Red Rageous, a mix of red flavors (grape, raspberry, cherry, strawberry, melon). If Alice Ziplinsky had known that most people think their favorite flavor is red, she would have had something to say about that in the pages of True Confections.
Katharine, I think of you every time I pass the candy aisle now! I'm one of those weird people who doesn't really dig the flavor "red." I'm a lemon candy kind of gal--in elementary school, I would hoard the lemon Jolly Ranchers that everyone else skipped over. Hope the expo went well! I'd love to see some photographs from the weekend.
ReplyDeleteYou know that's what a vampire told me about his favorite food, "Tastes like red." Just joking, Roland
ReplyDeleteAvid, the excellent candy blogger Sugarpressure took a camera to Sweets & Snacks in Chicago; that coverage is here:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.sugarpressure.com/