Best of the best food and kitchen innovations discovered at BlogHer Food

A couple of weeks ago, I had the chance to sample many new food products and gadgets at BlogHer Food. I wanted to share the handful that most stood out.

Most innovative food item

McComick’s has come out with an intriguing and delicious new line of roasted spices- Roasted ground ginger, Saigon cinnamon, ground cumin, and ground coriander. The roasting process has brought out a complex richness and aroma of each spice, and I’m busy swapping them out by my oven for the conventional variations. I love the depth of flavor the roasting adds to the taste. These definitely got my vote for best food innovation I saw at the conference.

Most practical for everyday cooking

A new fridge-to-oven baking four cup round clear glass baking TrueSeal dish by Anchor Hocking that comes with a bright green air tight seal lid. What better for storing leftovers in the fridge and reheating them in the toaster oven?

Most delicious baking chocolate

I love, love dark and bittersweet chocolate, and Scharffen Berger serves up some of the best I’ve tasted. Their unsweetened fine artisan dark chocolate baking squares with 99% cacao proved my favorite, along with the unbridled passion, enthusiasm and savvy of their PR manager, Anna Lingeris whom I had the pleasure of really getting a chance to talk with for the first time at this conference. Came away highly impressed.

Be sure to check out as well their mocha dark chocolate bar and semisweet baking chunks along with their fourth annual contest for original cupcake recipes, with a $10,000 prize.

Why didn’t I think of that?!

Kudos here goes to Magnet and Go who has come up with a set of magnetic dish towels (a small flat round magnet sewn into the top of the towel) that stick to your fridge or oven, and still can be machine washed.

Best home cooked-tasting snacks

Full Bloom Kuko Bites, moist and chewy all-natural small moist and chewy rounds stock full of dried fruits, seeds, nuts, gojii berries and cacao nibs. They’re wheat and dairy free.

Turns out as I went afterwards to check out their site, and Kukos along with Full Bloom have been featured in People Magazine, carried now by Whole Foods, and raved about the supermarket guru Phil Lempert. Founder and CEO, Karen Trilevsky, the mom entrepreneur who created them truly deserves all this fuss and accolades.

Stacy DeBroff is CEO of Mom Central and Mom Central Consulting.

_____________

Disclosure: As a BlogHer Food attendee, Stacy received a sample of each of the above products so she could try them out.

Anne-Marie Nichols