Hammond’s Brands Now Shipping Pumpkin Spice Popcorn and Candies
Since fall will be here before we know it, Hammond’s Brands, the parent company of Hammond’s Candies, Old Dominion Peanut Company, McCraw’s Candies, and Mellow Fluffs, has its popular line of pumpkin spice and apple-infused treats now available for shipment. Many of the candies and snacks that have made Hammond’s Colorado’s favorite handmade confectioner undergo an autumnal transformation each year.
This year, Hammond’s is offering four seasonally-inspired specials:
- Fall Popcorn Cones are a great grab-and-go snack that come in Candy Corn, Pumpkin Spice, or Apple Cider flavors. The 2-ounce cones are packaged in an 18-count assorted display with a suggested retail price of $2.99 per cone.
- Small batch Pumpkin Spice Caramels are hand-crafted, buttery delights that come in an 80-count display tub of .75 -ounce candies with a suggested retail price of $0.99 per caramel.
- Pumpkin Spice Caramel Marshmallows combine the fluffy texture of Hammond’s much-loved vanilla marshmallows, caramel and pumpkin spice. They are packaged in 1.85-ounce packs of three marshmallows and are available in a 15-count display with a suggested retail price of $3.49 per pack.
- The new Dark Chocolate Pumpkin Spice Bar balances a pumpkin-flavored cream center with decadent dark chocolate. It’s available in 12-count boxes of 2.25-ounce bars with a suggested retail price of $2.99 per bar. This is the first time that Hammond’s Dark Chocolate Bars are undergoing this seasonal makeover.
“Snackers love the nostalgic, warm flavors that they associate with fall — in fact, pumpkin-flavored products accounted for $361 million sales last year alone and that number keeps growing,” said Andrew Schuman, Hammond’s President and CEO. “We’re excited to help retailers stock up, since appetites for pumpkin spice, apple, and other fall flavors start earlier and earlier each year!”
New Confection Creations from a Company with Centuries-Old Tradition
By Lorrie Baumann
Bissinger’s is offering two summery new flavors of its Gummy Pandas. Strawberry Mango and Tart Cherry & Lime join a line-up that already included Blueberry Acai, Pink Grapefruit with Grapeseed, Pomegranate White Tea, Raspberry Yumberry and Blackberry Hibiscus Gummy Pandas. “They’re well-liked by children, but they’re sophisticated enough for adults,” said Dave Owens, Bissinger’s Chief Chocolatier and Vice President of Taste. “They have a true-to-nature taste.”
Like the other flavors in the line, the new Gummy Pandas are gluten free, dairy free and contain no high fructose corn syrup. They’re packaged in a 3-ounce pouch that retails for $4.99.
Bissinger’s also debuted its Caramelized Blood Orange bar, which is 60 percent dark chocolate. Made with a blood orange-rosemary caramel with hazelnuts and cocoa nibs, the 3-ounce bar retails for $4.99. The bar is gluten free, and the early reviews are enthusiastic.
There are 10 bars in the line, including Coconut Caramel and Honey Pepita Caramel, which has roasted salted pepitas on the back of the bar, lots of honey taste and guajillo chili for a whisper of spice.
Bissinger’s Chocolate-Covered Wine Grapes are made from Muscat grapes that have dried into raisins on the vine. They’re infused with Shiraz wine and then enrobed in 60 percent dark chocolate. This is not a new product, but the packaging has been updated. They come in a 3.5-ounce pouch that retails for $5.99 as well as an 8-ounce gift box that retails for $14.99.
Many of these products originated in the kitchen of Chief Chocolatier Owens, who’s been Bissinger’s Vice President of Taste for nine years after coming to Bissinger’s after a 30-year career in the restaurant business. His assignment at Bissinger’s includes new product development, and in that role, it’s his responsibility to ensure that the legacy brought by the company’s 350 years of history is maintained as the product line also evolves to appeal to changing tastes. Doing that isn’t about responding to trends, Owens said: “We try to be in front of our consumers to know what they want before they want it.”
Like the days when Owens was developing a new dish to serve in his restaurant, a new Bissinger’s candy starts with a concept. Owens rolls that thought around in his mind until he can taste it, and then he goes into his lab to work on it. In the case of the Caramelized Blood Orange bar, it was the rosemary that got added into the recipe in the course of that work. Its herbaceous note adds a complexity to the bar that Owens really likes and that he thinks will resonate with consumers on the hunt for a new flavor sensation.
Though the other flavors change with the times, and many of them come and go in the product line, there’s one flavor that doesn’t change, and that’s the Bissinger’s chocolate. All of the chocolate that Bissinger’s uses is made in Europe – it all comes from one liquor, so that the milk chocolate and the different dark chocolates have common flavor notes. “It’s all cohesive,” Owens said. “That’s why we have customers for life…. We meet customers in their 80s who tell us they’ve been eating it since they were a small child. They can tell me more about the company than even I know.”
Granola Barks from Viki’s Foods Turn Granola into an Indulgence #SFFS17
Viki Sater of Viki’s Foods has figured out how to take her intensely granola granola and turn it into an indulgent snack with her new Granola Bark, which she’s offering in four scrumptious flavors: Banana Walnut Granola with Milk Chocolate; Blueberry Blast, which has white chocolate and blueberry granola; Orange Blast, which has semisweet chocolate and orange granola; and Original, which features dark chocolate with her Original Granola, which includes almonds, pecans and sunflower seeds.
Viki’s Foods is in booth #5218.
“It’s a snack, and it’s granola, and everybody loves chocolate,” Sater said, after recommending that this is a treat that will make a perfect little break in the day along with a cup of coffee or tea. It’s a little better-for-you and a little indulgent, and Viki’s will be launching it in fall in time to head back to school in lunchboxes or to be served at holiday get-togethers.
Two package sizes will be offered. The single-serving size will retail for about $1.50 to $2, while the larger 4.5-ounce bag will retail for about $5.49. Depending on the retailer, this product can be merchandised in either the candy and chocolate aisle or with the packaged snacks.
