Top Chocolate Trends for 2012

Raise your hand if you love chocolate…okay, it’s unanimous—or almost, anyway. So what’s going on in the delectable world of chocolate in 2012? Glad you asked. The Food Channel has just completed its deep dive into the latest chocolate trends and compiled our Top Ten list of current trends in chocolate. Here’s a little nibble of what we found.

Coming in at #10 is Chocolate Pairings. We’ve all heard about chocolate and cheese…and chocolate + wine pairings, but today chocolate is being paired up with some more unexpected partners. Read more.

In our #9 slot is Crowdsourced Chocolate. We’re seeing crazy mash-ups of ingredients and flavor combinations, egged on, at least in part, by social media trendsetters. Read more.

At #8 we find A Chocolate for Every Dietary Need. It’s hard to think about flourless or sugar free or even dairy free when it comes to chocolate, but companies are responding to the need. And yes, gluten-free is a big part of the trend, too. Read more.

Check in here for the rest of The Food Channel’s complete Top Ten Chocolate Trends for 2012. 

Hands On at The French Pastry School

Food Channel video producer Christen Nehmer, along with one of our Food Channel chefs, Cathy Nehmer (yes, mother and daughter), had the opportunity to attend a class at the French Pastry School of Kennedy-King College in Chicago. The class was called “Fundamentals of Pound cakes, Coffee cakes, Scones and French Cookies.” The pair donned their chef whites and spent three days learning some of the secrets of the sweet art of pastry making. You can read about their three-day boot camp experience starting here.

SPAM Turns 75

The venerable canned meat brand celebrates its 75th anniversary this year, and more than 7 billion cans of SPAM have been sold in that span of time. But did you know…there’s a SPAM museum in Austin, Minn.? Or that they hold an annual Waikiki SPAM Jam Festival in Hawaii, where attendees can sample recipes made by some of Hawaii’s most innovative chefs? You’ll learn about all this and other fun factoids, right here.

Chocolate Recipe Overload
		During our excursion into the chocolate trends for 2012, we challenged our Food Channel chefs to develop some new chocolate recipes, and did they ever come through! One of our new favorites is an amazing Chocolate Cinnamon Mousse Pie. Chocolate and cinnamon are one delightful duo.
Mashup Cupcakes Here’s the DIY world of chocolate at its best. Playing with food has never had a more tasty result.	Gluten-Free Chocolate Cookies More and more people are looking for gluten-free options. This recipe gives them a sweet treat that meets a special dietary need.	French Toast with Dark Chocolate Sauce Chocolate for breakfast? Absolutely. Hey, it has fresh berries, too.

Hot and Cool Trends	Get the very latest on what’s happening and what’s going to happen. • Meet the Big Bac: A 100% Bacon Burger • Message in a Chocolate Bar   • What Women Really Want

Surfing The Channel
	Celebrate Pudding! Perhaps you somehow missed National Chocolate Pudding Day (June 26). Well, we didn’t. We saluted it with a nice little article, with links to an Editor’s pudding reminiscence and a recipe for Chocolate Brownie Pudding.
	Iced Coffee: New from Wolfgang Puck We’ve tried this new bottled beverage from the celebrity chef and give it high marks. It comes in a variety of flavors—plus you’ll also find links to some of our favorite Food Channel iced coffee recipes.
	Do I Eat the Olive…and other drink garnishes? This is from our Ask the Chef series. A reader wonders…is it bad manners to eat the garnish in a cocktail or mocktail?
	Back Issues To view previous editions of the FoodWire, click here.
	Feeding Your Facebook Appetite Network with fellow foodies from around the world. Check out the Food Channel’s Facebook fan page.