FINE FOOD SHOW NORTH 2021
FINE FOOD SHOW NORTH 2021 The editorial team at Fine Food Digest sampled products from last month’s Fine Food Show North in Harrogate. Here they talk through their top picks.
EDITORS’
CHOICE
Best in show Snow Stone Gift Tin DARK WOODS COFFEE This is the complete package from the West Yorkshire roastery. While the darker winter roast hits the mark, this product was chosen just as much for its packaging. Those distinctive colours continue to set Dark Woods apart in a sea of brown paper bags and extending that eye-catching branding to a gifting format is a great idea. These should be an easy win for retailers catering to the hamper-buying masses in December. darkwoodscoffee.co.uk
Speculoos Luxury Ice Cream ENGLISH LAKES ICE CREAM With all of English Lakes’ creations, it’s the base ice cream that strikes you first. You can actually taste the milk, and it’s creamy and so, so smooth. The on-trend flavour of speculoos (slightly gingerbready caramelised Belgian cookies) blends in seamlessly and this is one of those products that delivers exactly the flavour it says it will on the tub. Given the name, you might have to sample it to customers to really drive sales but this has potential to be a cult hit on ice cream counters and in the freezer cabinets of independents. lakesicecream.com
Conchita’s Chipotle CONCHITA’S CHIPOTLE The FFD team loves a good hot sauce but this is not a blow-your-head-off kind of product. There’s chilli warmth in this Mexican condiment but it’s the marriage of this with smokiness and sweetness that really appeals, not to mention real depth and length to this flavour. The rustic texture (there are whole chipotle chillies in there) may not appeal to everyone but it is part of the charm. It is, after all, an organic product and also passes the vegan and sustainability tests. Perhaps the branding doesn’t quite convey all of the above, but retailers could easily demonstrate its versatility (and cross-sell) by using it in sandwiches or other café dishes. conchitaschipotle.com
Borsari Limoncello Panettone TENUTA MARMORELLE The editorial team had an idea that this panettone might be something special. Tenuta Marmorelle has a nose for sourcing Italian brilliance and this product has recently won a 3-star in Great Taste. Despite all that anticipation, this was still astounding. The best panettones hit the textural sweet spot between fluffy, chewy and melting and there’s a perfectly pitched sweetness too. But the generous amount of limoncello cream added into this one elevates it beyond any panettone we had ever eaten before. It’s also very well-presented so we expect it to fly off the shelves everywhere it is stocked. tenutamarmorelle.com Vol.22 Issue 9 | November 2021
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