Chocolate trends for 2015

The 20^th edition of the Salon du Chocolat is taking place between 29^th October and 2^nd November in the French capital. The event is going to present chocolate art through various live performances of some of the best modern artists, designers and producers of one of the most mysterious foods in the world.
The visitors will contemplate an impressive exhibition of almost 150 chocolate dresses, made in the last 20 years by the collaboration between fashion designers and chocolatiers. We are raising the curtain presenting to you some of the trends in chocolate production in 2015, based on Mintel’s market research.

Lemon and chocolate
The friendship between chocolate and orange has a long story, but now a new citrus is taking the lead – lemon. According to Mintel the number of chocolate lemon-flavored products has doubled in the last year.

Dessert within a dessert
Not too long ago confectionary makers started using chocolate in desserts that do not include this ingredient in their traditional recipes. Just imagine some crème brulee, tiramisu, milkshake or ice cream-flavored chocolates.

Chocolate cover for… vegetables?
In Asia where the sweet tooth is not as strong as in the Western world, vegetables serve to counterbalance the sweet taste of chocolate. In 2013, there was wasabi-flavored chocolate and now chocolate-covered edamame and sweet potato chocolate, made with white chocolate are added to the list.

Raspberry chocolate is old-fashioned
Strawberry, raspberry, cherry – all of them have already had a close relationship with chocolate. In Poland, however, a new temptation has been created – peach filling, an underestimated but really good partnership.

Hibiscus
Hibiscus is usually present in tea, but now it finds its way to chocolate. Floral-scented chocolate is not that popular yet, as Mintel notes, but we expect this area to be deeply explored.

Marou Chocolate from Vietnam
The notion terroir (specific features that the geographic region transfers to the flavor of the wine, coffee and tea) is becoming more and more popular when talking about chocolate. Real chocoholics know that cocoa from different regions – Venezuela, Ivory Coast and Vietnam, have different flavor profiles.

Pistachio
The best partner to the chocolate among nuts traditionally is hazelnut, followed by almond. According to Mintel however, chocolate lovers can expect more diverse combinations with pistachio and different seeds.