Specialty Foods from Trade Shows

The Happy Foodie perennially sends a representative to the to-the-trade-only Summer Fancy Food Shows at the Javits Center in NYC to seek some excellent and distinctive items to recommend to our readers. Herewith, a few of the ones that actually managed to make an impression in the incredible variety of items sampled, read about, or (occasionally) sadly contemplated from the vantage point of a hopelessly full stomach.

SWEETS

Best Chocolates:

A crowded field. HF admits to a bias towards the more exotic and unusual in general, which is only sharpened by the palate fatigue caused by sampling dozens of chocolates in a few hours. That said:

L'Estasi Dolce (www.lestasidolce.com or 360-366-1419) specializes in amazing Asian-fusion truffles and also wine-laced truffles. The Thai lemongrass/ginger and hazelnut/ginger are unique standouts, but there's nothing shabby about the champagne, pinot noir, or cabernet varieties.

Equally good in the exotic line is Vosges (www.vosgeschocolate.com or 888-301-9866) for their Red Fire (spicy chocolate), Naga (with curry and coconut milk), and other great exotic varieties. And there's also their infamous Bacon Chocolate, which comes in both milk and dark. Milk's better. Both are better than you might think.

(And while we're on the subject of infusing pork products into confectionery, there's also Sir Francis Bacon Peanut Brittle (www.baconpeanutbrittle.com or 404-372-4485), which bills itself as "a Southern non-tradition" and is way good.)

Hauser Chocolatier (www.hauserchocolates.com or 401-596-8866) makes very intriguing truffles, including standard flavors but also cinnamon, apricot mousse, Williams Pear, and Burning Passion, and many more. Their website allows you to pack a box with any customized selection for about a buck per truffle, plus shipping. Similar idea, but pricier: Roscar (www.roscar.com or 512-303-1500) a small local chocolatier in Texas, makes handcrafted bonbons and truffles in flavors as esoteric as basil, lavender, New Orleans punch, Triple Dark Pomegranate, pumpkin, Amaretto & Pecan, Rum & Lemon Curd, and horchata.

Best Liqueur-Infused Cakes: Beatrice Bakery (www.beatricebakery.com or 800-228-4030) makes a line called Grandma's, which includes their original Fruit & Nut cake (with touches of bourbon, rum, & brandy, & a happy lack of candied citron), Chocolate Rum, and Golden Amaretto. Not one of them would embarrass any grandma I ever met.

Best Hot & Runny Cakes: English toffee pudding & English lemon pudding from the Sticky Toffee Pudding Co. (www.stickytoffeepuddingcompany.com/ 512-472-0039) are mindblowing. I'd be willing to bet their sticky ginger pudding and molten-chocolate baby cakes would be too.

Best Cookies: a massive tie, really, but Dancing Deer (www.dancingdeer.com or 888-699-DEER) doesn't make a bad one. The Molasses Clove is particularly fine. I don't know how they manage their delightfully chewy-crisp texture and perfectly cracked tops, but it's all good.

Also the Fatboy Cookie Company (www.fatboycookies.com or 888-FATBOY-0) makes an aptly named Outrageous Cookie Dough, from which we tasted the oatmeal raisin, cranberry walnut, white chocolate macadamia, and chocolate chunk varieties (after they'd been baked). A two-pound box of this stuff makes 27 cookies, retails for around $15, and would be well worth it if you want to knock people's socks off with your apparent baking skills. Honorable mention to Poppie's Dough (www.poppiesdough.com or 888-POPPIE-1), same idea, available in both premade cookies and dough for fresh baking at home.

Halfway between cookies and pastry are rugelach, and if you've never had them I heartily suggest it. These bite-sized baked goods resemble little jelly rolls made with a rich cream-cheese pastry and the fillings spilling out. Curiously, they are the only pastry I know that is not improved by the addition of chocolate. Go with cinnamon raisin, apricot raisin, or raspberry walnut. Chewys (www.chewys.com or 800-241-3456) makes very good ones, available by mail-order.

Best Fudge: Country Fresh Food and Confections (www.countryfreshfood.com or 800-545-8782) makes perennially wonderful fudge in an unbelievable range of flavors. Chocolate jalapeno, Tennessee whiskey chocolate, strawberry cheesecake, Caribbean coconut rum, chocolate cheesecake, and pumpkin pie are unusual and excellent (key lime cheesecake, not so much) but standards such as vanilla, chocolate, and maple walnut are top-notch as well. Honorable mention: John Kelly (www.johnkellychocolates.com or 800-609-4243) for their amazingly silky, dense chocolate-covered fudge truffle bars in a dozen decadent varieties.

Best Caramels: Amella Caramels (www.amellacaramels.com) makes unusual cocoa-butter caramels in carrot cake dipped in white chocolate, black forest in dark chocolate, and passion fruit in milk chocolate, all as delicious as they are different. There's a store locator on their website.

Best Ice Creams: the exceptionally exotic Vosges (www.vosgeschocolate.com or 888-301-9866) My favorite is naga, sweet curry with coconut; but wattleseed with macadamia nuts, which overall tastes vaguely like hazelnut; pandan, pandan leaf in Belgian dark chocolate, and red fire, which has ancho & chipotle and cinnamon-laced chocolate, are all excellent. Runnerup: Palapa Azul (sweet corn, hibiscus, mango, Mexican chocolate, and more)

EATS

Best Cheeses: Grafton Village for their Maple Smoked cheddar and their Grafton Duet, a creative combination of Vermont cheddar with Wisconsin blue, and Cypress Grove for magnificent goat cheeses, including the Purple Haze with lavender and fennel, and the phenomenal Truffle Tremor.

Best Cheeses Readily Obtainable at Supermarkets: Cabot, which is spectacular across the board, including plain and chipotle and horseradish variations. Even the 50% less fat cheddars taste like the real deal. Brand new for 2010: Smoky bacon cheddar. Yum!

Best Cheese Straws or Sticks: We admit a great weakness for baked cheese goods, so we tend to enjoy them all. But the cheese straws from Carriage House Products (www.cheesestrawsva.com or 804-615-2400) and their unusual cheese-laced Pecan Biscuits, seem extra good to us on repeated tastings.

Best Prepared Meat Entrees: Tandoor Chef (www.tandoorchef.com)makes dynamite Channa Masala (a vegan dish of chickpeas with onions, tomatoes, peppers, and spices) Chicken Tikka Masala in a creamy sauce, Palak Paneer (spinach with cheese) and Samosa that were all incredibly hard to stop eating, even at the Fancy Food Show when I knew I was filling up space that could be spent at a hundred other booths. Worth seeking out. Email through their site to find a store near you.

Honorable mention: Tryst Gourmet Foods (www.trystgourmet.com) makes "passionately gourmet" chicken salads, in dynamite flavors like Curry Ginger chicken salad wit a Mango-Raisin Chutney, Cranberry-Apple, and the inevitable but ever-welcome Chipotle.

Best Artisanal Meats and Pates: D'Artagnan, Fabrique Delices, and Trois Petits Cochons are long-running favorites, and deservedly so. Most surprising was the salmon pastrami from Marine Harvest, which can be mail-ordered from www.ducktrap.com.

Best Vegetarian Prepared Entrees: Next Generation Gourmet (www.nextgenerationgourmet.com or 310-601-3091) in meatless variations that very tastily mimic beef stroganoff, chicken parmesan, and the like.

Ass Kickin' Peanuts (www.asskickin.com or 800-536-3131) from Southwest Specialty Food Inc, which also makes hot sauces and even a chocolate chip cookie mix seasoned with Habanero Pepper.

SAUCES & DIPS

Original Juan's (www.originaljuan.com or 800-568-8468) features Pain is Good sauces, Diva salsas, Fiesta dips (artichoke/spinach and smoked jalapeno) and the inspired, addictive Cheesecake in a Jar (in regular, amaretto, and hazelnut). In theory, you could use the latter product to actually make a cheesecake, but practically speaking, I bet virtually no one ever goes to the trouble. Evil stuff, in the best way!

Best Snacks or Party Fare: Rising Sun Farms (www.risingsunfarms.com or 800-888-0795) makes layered cheese tortas to die for, in combinations such as Mild Curry with apricots, cranberries, & cashews; Mediterranean, with roasted sweet red peppers & kalamata olives; Marionberry, with roasted hazelnuts, apricots, & cranberries; Gorgonzola, with hazelnuts & cranberries; and Pesto Dried TOmato with basil & garlic. Must be tasted to be fully appreciated.

Best Pestos: Pestos With Panache (www.pestoswithpanache.com) lives up to its name with six bizarre-sounding but delightful combos including pumpkin chipotle, bangin' blueberry, prosciutto & smoked almond, succulent strawberry, fig & gorgonzola, and dark chocolate with ancho chili. We're told they can be added to things you're cooking as well as eaten on their own, but have not tried it. Note: These are savory, not sweet, despite the fruity names.

Best Hot Sauces: Sweet Sunshine Chili Sauces (www.sweetsunshine.com or 866-SWEET-01) offers thick, sweet BBQ-style sauces from sweet and faintly spicy, to Roasted Shallot & Garlic with medium spice, to Jamaican Jerk, to Hot and Atomic. Someone else will have to vouch for the Atomic as we were too chicken to try it, but the medium ones have excellent taste and texture to go along with the heat. We've been eating these with steamed vegetables and using them for cooking with great enjoyment. Peps up most anything.

Wildest Jams: Harvest Song (www.harvestsong.com) makes walnut preserve and rose petal preserve (among others) that are award-winning and unreasonably awesome. Available at Whole Foods and other gourmet markets.

Best Oil: Smoked Olive Oil from Miguel and Valentino (www.miguelvalentino.com) is an artisanal knockout. (You will need to ask them where it's available locally, because it's hard to find. Trust us, it's worth chasing down.)

DRINKS

Best Juices: Ceres (www.ceresjuices.com) bills itself as "Nature's perfect juice", with no added sugars or preservatives. I've tried their Passionfruit, Youngberry, Mango, and Pomegranate & Lime. All are wonderful, so it's safe to guess the whole line rocks. Honorable mention to Jans Juice, which comes in soursop, lychee, guava, mango, apple, and orange, as of this writing. (www.efooddepot.com)

Best Chai: David Rio (www.davidrio.com) makes a massively impressive Toucan Mango chai and Tiger Spice chai. Runner up: Rishi Tea (www.rishi-tea.com) has an intense Indian-spiced Masala Chai, available at Whole Foods.