Sweet Goods & Dairy Social Media Listening
Listening Dates: January 1, 2019 – March 31, 2019
Better Baking with Brown Butter
Looking to bring more flavor to your next batch of cookies? Look no further than brown butter! This French-inspired take on butter will bring the warm flavor of caramel and a nutty aroma to your baking. Recipes for salted brown butter butterscotch oatmeal and rosemary walnut brown butter cookies have been on the rise recently. Not just a tool of the amateur baker, Knead Doughnuts in Providence, Rhode Island is serving up a gourmet brown butter pecan flavor.
Brown butter will also bring out the best in your winter veggies! Add some brown butter and capers to your broccoli to imbibe it with a wonderful nutty flavor that packs an additional salty, briny punch. So, the next time you reach for a stick of butter, make sure you’re grabbing your whisk and pan too!
Dairy-Free? Love Bagels? Fear Not!
Einstein Bros. Bagels has taken the feedback received from customers requesting dairy-free options and turned it into reality. A new dairy-free shmear is being tested by the beloved bagel company. Creamy, light in texture, as well as salty and tangy, the new shmear will satisfy bagel lovers with dairy sensitivities or who desire plant-based foods. The Vegan Shmear debuted nationwide this year on February 28th.
Tour the World with M&M’s
M&M’s is asking you to send your taste buds on vacation and travel the world with their three adventurous new flavors. Beginning on January 28th, the limited-edition flavors Mexican Jalapeño Peanut, Thai Coconut Peanut, and English Toffee Peanut were released at retailers nationwide. Whether you’re looking for a treat that’s spicy, savory sweet, or deliciously elegant, M&M’s has got you covered. Only one flavor can remain, so after you try these globally inspired candies, cast your vote online daily through May 17th at www.flavorvote.mms.com for which one you’d like to join the M&M’s family.
Yogurt as Unique as You
As the most important meal of the day, breakfast should be something to get excited about! One of the recipes that has caught our eye is a Blood Orange and Beet Salad over Honeyed Yogurt. Rather than opting for the same old avocado toast, bagels, or eggs that everyone else is having, start your day with this refreshing preparation of yogurt that’s simple and naturally sweet. However, if you’re looking for something that fits better in your hands than in a bowl, NuGo Nutrition is recommending yogurt, fruit, chopped pieces of your preferred NuGo Bar, and peanut butter as toppings to your morning toast. Your mouth will be thanking you for combining the creamy, sweet, salty, and savory flavors!
McDonald’s is going Do-nuts!
Starting in February, McDonald’s expanded their breakfast offerings to include Donut Sticks for a limited time. These tasty morning treats are reminiscent of the churro, a traditional morning fare in Spanish and Portuguese-speaking countries made of fried dough. McDonald’s has crafted their Donut Sticks with sweet golden-brown dough and sprinkled them with cinnamon sugar to offer something sweet to perfectly pair with your morning cup of coffee.
Looks like Chocolate Milk is All Grown Up
TruMoo has cultivated a reputation as a healthy and delicious way to replenish the growing bodies of kids after a hard day at play. But what is refueling their parents after a hard day at work? Cue the entry of TruMoo After Dark into the chocolate milk market place! Ingredients such as cardamom, cinnamon, and ginger are being used to enhance the new flavors, which include Mexican Style Chocolate, Dark Chocolate Salted Caramel, and Vanilla Chai Spice. Thanks to TruMoo, now parents can enjoy the comforting sweetness of flavored milk and unwind after a long day with a beverage designed specifically for them.
Diet Products, Not Diet Flavor
People aren’t one size fits all, yet companies are making product lines that are. This simple observation has launched GNC’s Programs That Fit campaign, which aims to provide high quality, full-flavor diet supplements, such as Slimvance, Lean Shake 25, and Keto-Friendly products that fit the needs of their customers. Natural herbs such as turmeric, moringa, and curry leaves have powerful flavors and claim health benefits. Lean Shake 25 and various Keto-Friendly products are offered in a myriad of flavorful options, including Mixed Berry, Cookies and Cream, Coconut, and Orange Dreamsicle. Being on a diet doesn’t mean you have to fit into limited options or compromise the tastes in your life!
Green cheese, if you please.
St. Patrick’s Day is known for green – everything from green fast food milkshakes, to green beer, to rivers dyed green in some of our largest cities. And now, Aldi has thrown green cheese into the holiday mix. You heard that right…green cheese!
Ahead of the Irish holiday, the supermarket chain introduced two new flavors of fromage: Pesto Gouda and – coming a little closer to the isle of Eire – English Sage Derby. At a cost of $3.99 each, the new emerald indulgences are offered alongside Aldi’s returning Cheese Truckle assortment, which includes cheeses infused with whiskey and beer, along with other Irish-themed offerings such as Irish Cream Cheesecake and Irish Soda Bread, as well as O’shea’s Irish Stout, Connelly’s Mint Chocolate Country Cream and O’Donnell’s Irish Cream. This continues Aldi’s approach of deliberately enhancing holiday offerings by providing flavors celebrating the occasion.
- In November, the grocer launched its first-ever cheese and wine Advent calendar (which sold out in minutes).
- Valentine’s Day featured heart-shaped cheeses and chocolate red wine.
- Also in February, Aldi celebrated the soundtrack of the 80s, featuring cheeses such as Pour Some Gouda on Me, Girls Just Want to Have Fontina, and Total Eclipse of the Havarti.
Aldi continues to prove what we all have learned – good eats are often the very best way to celebrate any holiday.
Not your grandfather’s Peeps!
The Peeps we know today may have started in 1953, but in the run-up to Easter of 2019, the purveyor of those indulgent marshmallow chicks continued to press its all-out attack across the flavor spectrum. Here are just a few examples that expanded its lineup with unusual and bold tastes:
- For those who crave fruity sweet flavors, there is Blue Raspberry and Fruit Punch.
- Looking for something a bit tangier? Sour Cherry might be the one for you.
- On the creamy sweet side, Peeps is rolling out Vanilla Crème and Chocolate Caramel Swirl.
- Peeps even boasts a Pancakes and Syrup offering for those maple-lovers out there.
Perhaps the most intriguing new Peeps are the three new mystery flavors. Designed to launch throughout the Spring holiday, these plain white Peeps challenge consumers to guess their flavors, providing an opportunity to engage with other Peeps-lovers on social media.
Today’s consumer continues to drive demand for new, different, bold, and (especially) unexpected flavors – in some pretty unexpected places. It is probably best that we regularly remind ourselves: Flavor innovation is anything but child’s play.
Think small.
A few years back, it seemed there was constant competition among coffee shops and snack sellers to see who could sell the largest Rice Krispies-style treats. Today, with consumers focused more on portion-size and portability – but not willing to sacrifice taste – Kellogg’s has introduced Snap Crackle Poppers.
Touting them as “bite-size magic,” Kellogg’s delivers these small oven-roasted cubes coated with an extra layer of sweetness, with three different gooey and delicious options to choose from: Chocolate, Vanilla Crème or Cookies n Crème. Drop a couple in your kids’ backpacks. Stash some in your desk for a small indulgence after lunch. Did someone say, midnight snack? At a suggested retail price of $5.29, Snap Crackle Poppers come in a reusable 7.1-oz pouch, making them ideal for on-the-go-snacking.
Just goes to show that these days, big indulgences can come in very small packages.
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