This is one of The Food Channel’s Top 10 Chocolate Trends for 2012, based on research conducted in conjunction with CultureWaves® and the International Food Futurists®. For the full list, click here.
Chocolate in Unexpected Places. Just when you thought we weren’t going to talk about bacon. Well, this isn’t about bacon dipped chocolate, but since chocolate is showing up more and more at breakfast, you can expect to find more and more of those flavors together. In fact, chocolate flavors are enhancing all kinds of food experiences. It’s not just for the dessert cart anymore. Consider it a flip of the way other ingredients have been used in chocolate, with chocolate the predominant flavor. Now, some other ingredient may be king and simply enhanced by chocolate. You want examples? Think about biscuits and chocolate gravy, or the mole sauce over slow-cooked pork. It opens up a whole new world for savory treatments when you think about it that way. We think the tables are now turning and we’ll find chocolate in more and menu items. It’s partly the reinvention of old standbys (like biscuits and gravy), part flavor distinction, and part pure surprise.
For more evidence, see:
15 Things You Didn’t Know About Chocolate
Chuao Master Chef Pursues Visions of Unexpected Chocolate Experiences
Book Review: Chocolate for Breakfast
Recipe evidence:
