2015 Summer Fancy Food Show: Highlights And Trends

Bonnie Shershow is as cute as they come, not only with her petite stature, but with her line of jams, Bonnie's Jams, that she has been making and selling for several years. Her inspiration for the line, was her childhood growing up in a house surrounded by acres of citrus trees. She helped her mom gather the fruit and make jams as a hobby. The business idea grew from there and became an instant hit with buyers and the national media, including Oprah magazine, The New York Times, and Food + Wine. New for 2015, two new versions of pepper jelly, peach pepper jelly and blackberry pepper jelly that join the existing red pepper jelly. 

The world's first jerky made without honey, maple, juice, sugar, or syrups, Epic Bars feature some of the most interesting flavors on the market. These meat, fruit, and nut bars include flavors like bison bacon, lamb currant mint, turkey almond cranberry, chicken sesame barbecue, and more. They source their meats from ranchers that are deemed "EPIC"—animals living in live pasture-centered locations that receive the utmost humane treatment. 

It is exciting when you see people from other countries bring their foodways and make it available to others around the world. That is the exact premise behind the Kitchens of Africa. Based in Raleigh, NC, owner Jainaba Jeng, a native of Gambia, West Africa, wanted to introduce the diverse and exotic cuisine of Africa to the rest of the world. Her line features a variety of sauces and marinades that when added to dishes create the essence of her country.

What started out as a pickle company with a mom, dad and two son team making pickles using their great grandmother's recipe, is now a multi-facet brand that features potato chips, relishes, tapenade, bloody mary mix, pickle brine, and a variety of pickles. New for 2015, is a Michelada brewed by Detroit based brewery Atwater. This is the world's first craft Michelada, part lager, part Mcclure's bloody mary mix. 

During a trip to Brazil, owner Michael Kurtz was introduced to the idea of chili-infused honey and had an "ah ha" moment. He came back to the U.S. motivated to create something similar and worked hard on his recipe for several years. He started sharing his honey with friends mostly while topping it on his favorite food: pizza. During a pizza apprenticeship at Brooklyn-based Paulie Gee's, he started sharing the practice with the owner, who was quickly sold and became the first customer for Mike's Hot Honey. The business exploded from there and the rest is history. It can now be found is some of NYC's hottest restaurants including Blue Hill and Birds & Bubbles. 

Two separate companies, but both doing similar and interesting things by bringing produce to consumers in unique and enviro-friendly ways. The Radicle Farm Company has launched the Radicle Salad — a living baby salad that comes in a fully recyclable container. It comes ready to cut, rinse, and serve or you can grow the lettuce for longer term use. A similar concept, Back to the Roots offers two products — the Mushroom Farm and Garden-in-a-Can. For Garden-in-a-Can, you put seeds in a can, add water and watch it grow....and then eat them.

Sisters Ann and Janet Chung loved sharing a good Korean meal with friends and family, and they turned that love into a sauce they now bottle and sell. We Rub You is a delicious sauce that makes cooking a Korean inspired meal easy to do. Made in the USA, the Korean cooking sauces are all-natural, non-GMO, and made without MSG, high fructose and artificial ingredients. They sell three flavors: the Gochujang Korean Hot Sauce (new for 2015), the Original barbecue sauce and a Spicy Korean barbecue sauce.