The French Food Connection rolled into Chicago yesterday, the first stop of a three-city tour bringing French confections, cheeses and other treats to people in the food industry. The tour stops in Las Vegas on April 13 and San Francisco on April 15.The Fancy Food editors attended the show and we left with full tummies and a lot of great new products to share with you. Below are a couple of our favorites:
• French Cheese Club’s Crème de Chaource
Crème de Chaource, a new product from Didier Lincet, is both versatile and delicious. The creamy, mild cheese is light and can be used to replace cream or butter in sauces. It can be mixed with pasta, spread between slices of bread for grilled cheese, and more. It also makes a great fondue.
• Mag’m’s Macarons
Hailed by some foodies as the “new cupcake,” macarons are a delicate French confection. Not to be confused with the sweet coconut clusters, macarons are made with almonds, sugar and egg whites and feature a crisp shell with smooth filling. Mag’m offers the delicacies frozen, so it’s possible to have French flavors any time of day. We liked the raspberry and coconut passion fruit flavors.
• Le Manoir des Abeilles’ Lavender Honey
Le Manoir’s honey is entirely unlike anything you’ve ever tasted. Raw and unpasteurized, the honey is creamy and packs great flavor. Le Manoir also offers flower, acacia and chestnut tree flavors, but the lavender really stands out.
• Chocmod USA’s fruit pates
Chocmod has been selling truffles in the U.S. for 20 years. While the truffles are undeniably tasty, we’re still thinking about the fruit pates. Jelly-like squares coated in sugar, the pates come in apricot and blackberry. The blackberry tastes like you just popped a fresh berry in your mouth.
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