One can never be too thin, too rich or, apparently, too gross. At least, if you make candy for a living.
Last week at the nation's biggest gathering of candy manufacturers, sophisticated tastemakers discussed over cocktails whether 2005 would be the year of dark chocolate. They debated the comeback of licorice and the appeal of nostalgia candy.
But on the trade floor of the All Candy Expo, where the real candy trends emerge, the talk was of vomit-flavored jelly beans, cheddar cheese-flavored larvae and toy dogs that poop candy.
"Gross-out comes and goes," said Henrik Anderson, managing director for Dracco, the Danish candy company selling the candy-pooping dog, which he described as being "like Pez, but gross."
Anderson is also fond of a line of Stinkers bubble gum. Each piece comes attached to a smelly character, such as Anti-Deodorant Rod, Rat Breath and Garbage Boy.
"Right now, there are a lot of gross-out factors driving the market and we want to capture that moment," Anderson said, sounding like a loyal company man.
As innovative as his products might be, the buzz of this year's All Candy Expo emanated from the booth of a Chicago company called Brand New Products. There, two of this year's big candy trends came together: licensing television and movie images, and gross things.
The result is a line of Fear Factor candy, based on the reality television series. The products are expected to be on store shelves in August.
"What appealed to us was the gross-out factor and the longevity of the Fear Factor brand," said Steven Faso, the company founder. "We were looking and looking on how we could match up candy concepts and we finally found it."
A slimy, sour candy Fear Factor octopus is so wet and sticky you can picture the stains on the couch before it's even pulled from its plastic pouch. A plastic tray holds green gummy frogs' legs with white candy bones and a tub of red candy blood for dipping. The Gross-Out Gummy Pig-Out Platter features subtle smoky bacon flavors.
But the company's pride and joy is a carton of crunchy larvae, made with real baby worms from California that have been freeze-dried and coated with flavors like cheddar cheese and Mexican spice.
"We could have done crickets, but we chose the larvettes," said Faso. This is not the company's first venture into the gross-out category. It jumped in last year with a line of lollipops featuring disembodied, rotting ears and fingers.
Worms, body parts and candy shaped liked toilet plungers remain popular, especially in super sour flavors. The category of extreme or novelty candy is the fastest-growing segment of the US$23 billion candy market in the United States, according to a recent report in the American Wholesale Marketers Association's magazine.
In 2000, Harry Potter turbocharged the gross-out category. The characters in J.K. Rowling's books regularly treat themselves to Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans, which the Jelly Belly Candy Co. has faithfully created. Among the classic flavors are earwax, booger, dirt and soap.
This year, in keeping with the move to more savory gross-out flavors like spaghetti and pork, Jelly Belly has created two new flavors, bacon and rotten egg.
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