What’s new from the Winter Fancy Food Show?

27-Jan-2020 - Last updated on 27-Jan-2020 at 11:59 GMT

The Specialty Food Association’s (SFA) Winter Fancy Food Show (WFFS) commenced in San Francisco last week. Dairy and non-dairy alternative products from the specialty sector exhibited for the first time in 2020.

High Road Craft Brands novelties

High Road is known for developing private label ice cream with retailers, but it has been branching out with its own novelty desserts. The Wallops product launched in 2019, and is described as snack-sized ice cream and cookie dough bites.

Nicki Schroeder at High Road told DairyReporter that classic ice cream bar and sandwich formats are a bit stale when it comes to innovation, and the company wanted to create something entirely new.

Wallops are made using a dumpling machine, resulting in a chocolate shell wrapped around cookie dough with an ice cream center. They all include cookie dough, and are available with ice cream flavors Sweet Cream, Coconut, Strawberry and Mint.

Serendipity Ice Cream novelties

Serendipity Brands has launched Roots, a new plant-based frozen dessert brand. It is made up of a non-dairy dessert sandwich in Cookies & Cream and bars in Chocolate Chocolate, Chocolate Vanilla and Chocolate Pomegranate

They join Serendipity’s 11 dairy pint flavors, which added the Unicorn Bliss Sundae flavor at WFFS.

Most Serendipity products are available in retail like CVS, Walgreens, Albertsons and Safeway.

Leaner Creamer powdered coffee creamer

Powdered coffee creamer pouches and bottles were on display at WFFS from Leaner Creamer.

The products are non-dairy, free from sugar and target the metabolism for a healthier alternative to traditional creamers.

Nutellena and Best Hot Cocoa Ever were the newest flavors from the brand, sampled alongside Original, French Vanilla, Caramel, Hazelnut, Mocha, Matcha and Birthday Cake.

The powders are made with a coconut oil base and are infused with natural supplements.

Humphrey Slocombe flavors

The San Francisco-based craft ice cream brand is expanding its retail distribution in 2020.

It’s currently sold along the West Coast, in Texas, and will be coming to New Jersey and the New York metro area this year.

At WFFS, Humphrey Slocombe exhibited four new flavors.

Throughout 2020 it will partner with a new chef each month on a custom flavor, and the first is Hong Kong Milk Tea. It’s non-dairy and made with black tea and almond cookies.

Coconut & Salty Caramel and Toasted Sesame Butter & Chocolate are also new and non-dairy, and Brown Butter & Jam is a dairy flavor.

Vermont Creamery goat cheese dips

Goat cheese brand Vermont Creamery added a trio of dips to its product portfolio at WFFS - Classic, Red Pepper & Lemon, and Garlic & Herb. The company said the bright, herby, vegetal flavors blend well with the mild freshness of goat cheese.

The dips are also made with clean ingredient labels in sustainable packaging. With the launch, Vermont Creamery wants to tap into the trend of “elevated entertaining, with sophisticated flavors.”

Adeline Druart, president of Vermont Creamery, said, “We have seen incredible growth in the goat cheese category over the past couple of years.”

“Fostering the growing excitement for new usage occasions and flavors is our passion, and we saw an opportunity to add a fresh new offering to the cheese dip category by blending fresh, creamy goat cheese with unique flavors.”

Harmless Harvest coconut yogurt alternative

This month, coconut water brand Harmless Harvest announced its debut into the yogurt-alternative category. It sources young Thai coconuts for its formulas and makes use of the entire coconut in all products.

The organic yogurt-alternatives are available nationwide in Plain, Vanilla, Strawberry and Blueberry, in 4.4oz cups.

The brand said the texture of coconut meat is a perfect substitute for traditional dairy.

Heather Cutter, senior VP of marketing at Harmless Harvest, said, "Harmless Harvest's Dairy-Free Yogurt Alternative line brings delicious flavor to the dairy-free yogurt aisle. We recognized an opportunity to give plant-based yogurts a makeover by re-imagining the taste, texture, and recipe development of a beloved household staple that can be loved by both dairy and non-dairy consumers.”

Point Reyes Toma cheese

Point Reyes Farmstead Cheese Company dipped into flavored cheeses at WFFS, sampling its line of Toma cheese. The original Toma is creamy, with a bit of a nutty flavor, ideal for melting.

Point Reyes told DairyReporter many customers requested they add flavoring to their cheese range, but they were hesitant to do so and risk covering up the quality taste from the milk they use. The three flavors they came up with blend well with the original cheese and act as a background taste, the company said.

The TomaProvence contains herbs like rosemary, basil, marjoram, savory and wild thyme. The TomaTruffle features truffles imported from Italy. And the TomaRashi balances heat with the Shichimi Togarashi, which is a blend of nori, toasted sesame, poppy seeds, chili flakes and ginger.

O’My Dairy Free Gelato

A vegan brand is diversifying its range by adding a collection of lower sugar gelato alternatives. The O’My pints are made with organic coconut cream, and the newest flavors Cake Walk and I Love Chocolate have 2g of sugar per serving.

O’My’s core line of desserts contain about 16g of sugar per serving, available in Chocolate, Vanilla Bean, Mint Chip, Coffee Chip, Orange Cream, Root Beer Float and Strawberry.

O’My also added a Cake Batter flavor to the original collection at WFFS.

Julie Bishop, COO and co-founder of O’My, said, “We tried lower sugar offerings and knew we could do better. Using allulose allows us to keep our recipe simple, without having to add additional ingredients such as pea protein and fiber.”