4 Most recent chocolate trends
Chocolate love and fascination are age-old and timeless. For thousands of years, cocoa beans have been considered to be a medicine, aphrodisiac, luxurious candy. As time went on this cocoa treat started to become more and more popular and accessible.
The chocolate industry has grown to an overwhelming size and is still systematically developing. Even though chocolate as such a wanted and widespread product speaks for itself, there’s a constant race of ideas on the market.
Not only the food industry is flooded under chocolate. The cacao craze possessed cosmetic brands, as well. Almost every year you can stumble upon new choco ideas that become great trends. Some are undoubtful hits, others we find kitschy a year later. What are the most recent chocolate industry attractions, and how long will they last? Let’s see!
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Organic chocolate products
Organic is a very wide and common term nowadays and is often accompanied by fairtrade. The ecological trend occupies the world of chocolate, as well, and we’re very happy about it! What is hiding under the mysterious term of organic chocolate? A harmless cacao trees cultivation! That is taking care of the precious trees without pesticides, hazardous fertilizers, and other toxic substances.
Organic and fairtrade farming is not only environment-friendly but also safe for consumer’s health and the health of people hired to work on the plantation. The organic trend stimulates our social awareness and responsibility and gives us the possibility of enjoying the best quality chocolate products.
It should also teach us a particular kind of respect for the production aspects. We tend to forget or pretend not to notice what the consequences of mass production are. With organic and fairtrade chocolate policy we support the good of our planet and other people. An organic chocolate bar may cost us a little more, but the idea behind it is priceless. It’s healthier, for sure!
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Delicious SPA
Organic cocoa powder for baking and facial beauty masks, crunchy ecological cacao nibs perfect as a replacement for nuts in your homemade cookies and as an additional ingredient of a body scrub, hot chocolate will warm you up after taking a walk in the snow either if you drink it or take a long bath in it!
Chocolate intrigued cosmetologists with its soothing and regenerating properties. Cacao is a real beauty bomb full of antioxidants, zinc, selenium, iron, potassium and magnesium. Zinc and selenium are especially crucial for skin with acne problems. Antioxidants are widely known for their anti-carcinogenic activity. The rest of the nutrients is mostly beneficial for our general health.
Cacao containing cosmetics will bring relief for various skin inflammations, eliminate acne scars, and prevent wrinkles. They also have amazingly therapeutic effects. The characteristic smell of chocolate reduces stress and is a real mood booster. Have you ever smelled a cacao-based shower gel at a store without smiling immediately?
TIP: I’ve tried a chocolate massage a few times in different spa centres around the world. A good one was for example in Tawan in Karlovy Vary.
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Vegan-friendly treats
Confectioners managed to produce and popularize vegan variants of many kinds of sweets — including chocolate. Vegan candy doesn’t necessarily have to be a choice of people faithful to the vegan ideology and lifestyle only.
Generally, people who are lactose-intolerant or allergic to cow’s milk are more than grateful for this variety of chocolate. The vegan option makes chocolate a safe gift pick for someone we don’t know very well — a bar of white vegan chocolate (some people can be allergic to cacao powder, as well) will be an elegant and safe choice!
Dark chocolate with high cocoa content is usually automatically free from animal products. But there are days when you have an extremely sweet tooth and would kill for a piece of white or classic milk chocolate. Now you can enjoy all kinds of cacao treasures regardless of your diet or ideology preferences!
TIP 2: If you are not vegan yet, you can read about my vegan diet change since 2013 and its health benefits in my ebook How to be fit when traveling.
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Unexpected flavors
The results of experiments with different, untypical flavors of chocolate are just stunning! As consumers, we’re getting more and more open for culinary novelties and eager for new, surprising experiences. Artisan chocolatiers and corporate chocolate factories are trying to keep up with our whims.
If you’re a chocolate geek, you must have heard of the ketchup-peanut butter pralines made by the Austrian chocolatier Josef Zotter to celebrate Barack Obama’s victory. It was such a breakthrough in the approach to chocolate sweets that we now expect more!
Rose and lavender, salty cornflakes, tahini, superfoods, kohlrabi, wormwood… sounds like a perfect recipe for tummy aches? You couldn’t be more wrong. These are just a couple of examples of chocolate flavors that chocolatiers have been working on! We honestly can’t wait for what exciting 2020 will bring in the sugary cacao world.
As you can see, chocolate gives us endless opportunities for experimenting and creating new cacao wonders. It’s actually hard to believe that such a simple product has been one of our favorite treats for over 4.000 years already and we still can come up with new chocolate products. May the chocolate inspiration always be with us!
