What does your family do for fun over Memorial Day? Camping? Boating? Swimming? See a movie? Shopping? Whatever you’re planning, make it special. And don’t forget why we have a Memorial Day to begin with!

Memorial Day, which started as  Decoration Day, is a day in which we remember those who have died in our nation’s service. Traditional observance of this great holiday have diminished over the years as many American’s have forgotten the meaning and traditions of Memorial Day and believe it to be just another day off work or school. This year, remember those who have gone before us, those who were veterans, and those who are not. This is a special day to remember those who are not with us anymore, and honoring them should be included in any festivities we plan.

This is a very special day to me, as I have family members who have and are serving in various capacities in the military. It is important to me to show my appreciation to them for their service. I treasure each and every opportunity that I get to go sit by the headstones of my family members who have gone before me, and reflect on the influence they had in my life.

Despite being a more somber holiday, my family doesn’t fail to have a good time. Whether we go camping, boating, or just have a barbeque at home, it is always special. Do you have any special traditions that your family observes on Memorial Day?

Here are our top ten family activities to do on Memorial Day:

1. Visit your local cemetery and place flags on the graves of veterans.
2. Write letters to the troops, especially those from your local area.
3. Attend a minor league baseball game or other sporting event.
4. Visit a National Park. Visit www.nps.gov to find one near you.
5. Have a picnic in the park or mountains.
6. Take a road trip to a famous landmark near your home.
7. Check out all the local festivities in your area. Parades, breakfasts, parties, etc.
8. Get your family, friends and neighbors together for a barbeque.
9. Spend the day in the water. The lake, water parks, or the sprinkler at the house.
10. Do an activity outdoors with your family. Ride bikes, play tennis, or go on a hike.

Mothers Day is only a couple weeks away! And every mother I know is always trying to do better!

I’ve discovered recently how informative Instagram can be!  I searched the hashtag #BestMomEver to find some great advice on how to be the world’s greatest mom!!

Here are our top 5 ways we found to be the #BestMomEVER!!!

1. Children really like to be licked. So bring out your inner feline and lick away! Ha Ha!

2. Give your children snacks, like cookies. But make sure to try them first. Don’t worry, they won’t notice the big bite out of it.

3. Leave love notes along with your bribes! That way they won’t notice you are bribing them.

4. When your child is crazy, act crazy too! It will make them feel better.

5. Encourage your child’s candy hoarding habit by sending them extreme amounts of sugar.

I love May, not only is it my birthday this month, but the flowers start blooming, and it starts getting warmer. Oh, and because it’s Mother’s Day! I love my mom and I think she is pretty special. To show you just how awesome my mom is I wrote a poem.

My Mom is Awesome!

My mom is awesome!

There’s many ways this is true! Need examples, here’s a few:

She is patient and kind, makes me laugh to unwind.

She loves to have fun- rain, snow, sleet, hail, or sun! 

To others she’s nice, and always gives great advice.

She loves a great deal, and can bait a fishing reel!

She cooks really great food, to feed her big hungry brood!

And why I love her you see, is ‘cause she loves me!

I hope that you feel like your mom is pretty special too! As you read in the poem, one of the reasons I love my mom is because she cooks really great food! I wanted to share one of her favorite recipes with you!

Cottage Potatoes

5-6 large Klondike Rose® potatoes, boiled diced and cooled

¼ lb. cheddar cheese, diced

5 slices white bread, diced

1 tsp. garlic salt

½ celery salt

2 tbsp. parsley flakes

1/8 tsp. pepper

¼ C. onion, diced

1 cube melted butter

1 cup milk

Preheat oven to 350°F.

Dice the potatoes and boil them for 15 minutes or until tender. Drain and pour into a 9×13 inch casserole dish. Add cubed cheese and bread, salts, parsley, and pepper.

Put diced onion in a microwave safe bowl, put cube of butter on top. Microwave for 2 minutes or until onions start to get tender. Pour over potatoes.

Toss potato mixture together until well mixed. Pour milk over potatoes. Do not stir. Place in preheated oven. Bake at 350°F for 1 hour.

I love to cook outdoors. Grilling, Dutch oven or over an open fire, everything seems to taste better out in nature. I’m not sure if it really is better, or just that I am starving, but at least it seems to taste better!

One of my favorite ways to cook outdoors is with the Dutch oven. I love its versatility and its many uses. You can bake breads and rolls, cook meat, stews, soups, roasts, chicken, ribs, or sauté veggies, and cook up a delicious au gratin potato. And did you know that you can cook up more than just a simple cobbler for dessert too? Cheesecakes, cakes, cinnamon rolls, and more can all be baked in a Dutch oven. Wow. Now I’m hungry!
Now I’m ready for summer so that I can get outside and get cooking! I am excited to cook with my Dutch oven! In order to get you started with your outdoor cooking, I wanted to share one of my favorite Dutch oven potato recipes! It’s delicious!

Dutch Oven Potatoes
1 lb. bacon, cut into small pieces
10-12 large Klondike Rose® Potatoes
3 Tbsp. Johnny’s Hunter’s Blend Seasoning Salt
1 can cream of chicken soup
3 c. shredded cheddar cheese

• When the Dutch oven is hot add the bacon and heat until fully cooked.
• Drain about half of the bacon grease, and add the potatoes.
• Add 3 Tbsp. of the seasoning salt blend. Cover and cook about 20-25 minutes stirring occasionally (or until potatoes are no longer crunchy, but do NOT overcook).
• Add cream of chicken and cheese. Heat through and serve – YUM!

I am pretty sure that almost everyone feels this way about their mothers! I know I think my mom is awesome!

With Mother’s Day fast approaching, we want to know why you think that your mom is the best mom ever! Head on over to our Facebook page and tell us why your mom is the best mom ever! Then share your comment with all your friends and family and get them to vote for your comment!

The post with the most votes wins!  Posts and votes will be accepted until May 17th. Winner will receive a prize pack for themselves and a one for their mom!

So come on over and tell us why your mom is so awesome!

Do your kids like to color?

Would they like the chance to win some awesome prizes?

We are holding our first children’s coloring contest!

All you have to do is print off the coloring page here and have your kids color them. Then upload either a scan of the colored picture or a photo of it to our contest page. Easy as that! There will be 2 winners chosen from each age group! Contest is open (to upload picture) from May 1- June 30, 2013. One entry per child.

Winners will be posted on the Klondike Brands website as well as on the blog. Winners will be notified via email. Winners will receive a potato prize pack valued at approximately $35.

Print off the coloring page today! Color it, and then submit it! Click here for more details.

Age Groups/Categories

5 yrs. and under

6 to 10 yrs. old

11 to 15 yrs. old

This month’s Mash Up side dish is Paprika Potatoes and Green Beans! I absolutely love this recipe! It is a delicious combination of two of my favorite veggies, and the paprika adds a great kick! I love to use Smoked Paprika to give it another dimension of flavor!

Here are some of my favorite additions to this wonderful dish that I like to use for meals!

Today’s Side Dish: Paprika Potatoes and Green Beans

Entrées:

Grilled Tilapia

Swedish meatballs

Chicken Cordon Bleu

Bacon Wrapped Sirloin Steak

Baked Ham

Desserts:

Lemon tart

Chocolate Brownie Trifle

Baked Apple

Macaroon Cookies

Banana Splits

Which combination sounds good to you?

Spring is upon us. It is time to get out some fresh ingredients and make a delicious new salad recipe. We love potato salad, but that classic picnic potato salad can sometimes be a little too heavy for spring. So we suggest a light, fresh, vinaigrette salad dressing on some new potatoes with fresh herbs. What a delicious way to start your spring!

Do you have any favorite spring potato salad recipes?

Fresh Spring Potato Salad

Serves 4-6

Ingredients
1½  pounds Klondike Gourmet Medley potatoes
¼ cup chopped green onion
1 clove garlic – minced
1 Tablespoon fresh tarragon – finely chopped
¼ cup red wine vinegar
1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil
1 Tablespoon Dijon mustard
2 teaspoons Kosher salt – divided
½ teaspoon black pepper

Directions

• Fill a medium saucepan full of cold water. Add 1 tsp. salt and set aside. Wash potatoes and cut in halves or quarters. Add to the water.
• On medium heat, simmer potatoes for 10-15 minutes until tender, but not mushy.
• Mix the rest of the ingredients together until well blended while potatoes are cooking.
• Drain potatoes and rinse in cold water.
• Add potatoes to dressing and toss gently to cover. Refrigerate until ready to serve.

Everyone knows that potatoes can be used for side dishes, salads, and sometimes for entrees. But did you know that potatoes are often used in desserts too?

This past week we were down at the International Dutch Oven Society’s World Championship Cook-Off in Sandy, Utah. Chef Bryan did a demonstration for everyone! It was wonderful! And he shared with us that you can not only use potatoes for savory dishes, but also desserts and treats. He made a wonderful Potato Galette! (A Galette is traditional a flat, round free form pie or tart.) You have got to try this for dessert tonight!

At the show, Chef Bryan cooked this in a cast iron skillet over a camp stove, but you can prepare it in your oven at home too! Let us know what you think!

Klondike Goldust Potato Galette

Recipe Courtesy Chef Bryan Woolley

2 Klondike Goldust potatoes, julienned

4 tbsp. butter

2 tbsp. canola oil

1 tsp. cinnamon

1/2 tsp. nutmeg

1/4 tsp. all spice

1/3 cup sugar

Batter:

2 cups flour

3 cups milk

1/4 cup milk

5 eggs

1/4 cup sugar

1 tsp. salt

1. Melt the butter in a skillet and add the canola oil to the melted butter.
2. Add the potatoes and sauté for 2-3 minutes.
3. Add the cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice, and sugar.  Continue sautéing for 3-4 minutes longer.
4. In a large bowl, whisk together the batter ingredients until smooth.  Pour the batter over the potatoes directly into the skillet
5. Bake in a 350 degree oven for about 30 minutes or until golden brown. 
6. Remove from the oven and cool.  Serve with fresh fruit jams and fruit.  Enjoy!

Ah. The dreaded spring cleaning!

Even the thought of cleaning usually makes me run the other direction! But don’t fear! It really doesn’t have to be an overwhelming proposition!

My suggestion is to take it one step at a time. Don’t feel like you have to get everything deep cleaned in a day or even a week! Just do at least one thing on our checklist each day. Soon you will be done and you won’t have to stress or worry.

Top 5 cleaning tips!

1. Turn up the music! Great music always helps give motivation to clean. Find your favorite playlist and crank it up! (Not so loud as to make the neighbors worry that you opened a nightclub in your basement, but you get the idea!)
2. Many hands make light work! Get your family involved. Give each child (and your spouse) a task and once everyone has their task completed go out for ice cream or a treat! Your kids will learn how to work and you will get multiple things crossed off your to-do list.
3. Make sure that you have enough cleaning supplies to get you through! Stock up on cleaners, trash bags, paper towels, rags, and any other supplies you use to clean with. There is nothing worse than running out of cleaner when you are only halfway done with the bathroom!
4. Organize while you clean! Instead of taking one day to clean and another to organize, do it all at once! Be prepared with bins, buckets, boxes and labels! Nothing better than killing two birds with one stone!
5. Carry your supplies with you! Wear an apron with big pockets or get a tote bucket to carry all your cleaning supplies around as you clean. This will save you time and energy as you are able to carry everything you need to clean any room in your house!

Now get to cleaning!

If you need some help determining where to start, check out our FREE Printable Cleaning Checklist!

Print it here:

OK.. so failure is never sometimes an option!

Have you ever failed miserably at some craft project or recipe? Do you wonder how people make those projects and then skillfully photograph their final product?

Although I think of myself as an accomplished girl with lots of talent, I reflected on how easy these projects look online, in magazines and on television, and how many times they look much easier than they turn out to be.

My current passion, Pinterest, has lots of these wonderful project ideas, beautifully photographed with only a few small steps to do it yourself. Do you think you can make a Santa from strawberries and whipped cream? How about making that delicious looking microwave cookie? Looks easy, right?  But a whole lot of people are failing epically (read hysterically) at those projects and sharing their fails at www.pinterestfail.com or www.epicpinterestfail.com.

As I try these projects, which nearly never look as wonderful as in the picture, I realized that although some of the projects don’t turn out as promised, many of us want to see those fails as much as we want to see the successes. I want to know that I’m not the only one that can’t seem to cut those potatoes in thin enough wedges or get the fabric ruffles to lay just right on my project.

At Klondike Brands, we have lots of delicious recipes on our website, some are tried and true recipes we got from you, some were created by Chef Bryan and some were created in test kitchens.  Our newest recipe, Chipotle Potato Stacks was developed here in our test kitchen (and it is delicious!). But even as we were taking photos of it for the website, we were tweaking the recipe. Even those of us who are creating these recipes can find new ways to make them easier for you.

And yes, some of what we try fails miserably but those fails sometimes lead to great breakthroughs and new ideas. Want to share some of your successful (or less than) potato recipe stories?  Share them with me on Facebook and watch for my fails (and successes) there too!

Oh. And remember!

Print off your own copy of this poster! 

Spring is one of my favorite times of the year. I love when the flowers start to bloom and the weather starts to get warmer. I especially love when I get to spend time with my family and gather around a table of tasty food and enjoy each other’s company.

I love traditions.  Easter holds a lot of tradition in my family. My family has always dyed eggs and then done Easter egg hunts. We always serve ham and potatoes and consume more deviled eggs than any human ever should. Another tradition at our house is Frog Eye Salad, a sweet, refreshing salad perfect for any holiday (and NO, it doesn’t actually contain any frog eyes!!)

Since Easter at my house always revolves around food, I wanted to share some of my favorite holiday recipes!

Frog Eye Salad

1 cup sugar
2 Tbsp. flour
½ tsp. salt
2 ½ cups pineapple juice (use juice from canned chunks below)
2 beaten eggs
1 tsp. lemon juice
1 box Acini de Pepe pasta
2- 20 oz. can pineapple chunks, drained
2 cans mandarin oranges, drained
2-8 oz. tubs of cool whip

Add sugar, flour, salt to sauce pan; add juice and eggs.

Stir constantly over medium heat. Bring to boil and cook until thick. Remove from heat. Add lemon juice and cool.

In 3 quarts of boiling water, cook pasta for 10 min. Drain and rinse in cold water and drain again.

Stir pasta in with cooked mixture in bowl and refrigerate overnight.

Before serving add the fruit and cool whip.

Deviled Eggs

1 dozen large eggs

1/3 cup mayonnaise

2 tsp. Dijon mustard

3 tbsp. dill pickle relish

1 tsp. garlic salt

Smoked Paprika

Place eggs in a large saucepan. Cover eggs with at least an inch of water. Add a pinch of salt to the water. Bring to a boil. Cover and remove from heat. Let sit for 12-15 minutes. Drain hot water and run cold water over the eggs until cool enough to handle. Peel eggs.

Using a knife, slice the eggs in half lengthwise. Gently remove the yolks and place them in a separate bowl. Arrange the egg white halves on a platter.

Add the mayonnaise, mustard, relish, and salt to the yolks. Mix until smooth. Using a scoop, spoon or piping bag, add the yolk mixture back to the egg white halves. Sprinkle with paprika. Keep in refrigerator until ready to serve.

I love to make candy! And what better time to make candy than at Easter! I know that I would rather get some great homemade candy in my basket than some nasty stale jelly beans (I apologize if you like them)! Some of my favorite candy to make includes English toffee, nougat, and fudge.

Did you know that you can make fudge with potatoes?

In fact, many different candies are made with potatoes as a base. These are some of our favorite recipes! Treat your family to some special homemade potato candy this year!

Do you like Cajun food? How about having a Cajun Celebration! Klondike Brands Potatoes has joined Johnsonville to bring you a Cajun Celebration you won’t soon forget! March 11th through April 14th you can host a party with the help of Johnsonville and Klondike Brands.

Register your party and you can send invitations, plan menus, and get recipes. Those who register will receive party kits to help them host the best Cajun bash your friends have ever seen! Then share your party with us through social media for more chances to win! See all details here.

Don’t miss out on the opportunity to host the Cajun Celebration of the Century!

What is your favorite Cajun food?

This is the one day of the year to turn your potatoes green!

I love to entertain and celebrate. It doesn’t matter the reason, and I especially like to incorporate food into my holiday traditions. Whether that is heart shaped pancakes on Valentine’s Day or awesome cookies at Christmas, food always goes with the holidays.

So in the spirit of St. Patrick’s Day, I decided to whip up some fantastic St. Patty’s Day dishes just for you!

I love the tradition of having green mashed potatoes on St. Patrick’s Day, however, I’m not a huge fan of just adding green food coloring to otherwise plain mashed potatoes! We are going to spice those potatoes up with some great fresh herbs and in the process, turn them green! Yummy!

St. Patty’s Day Green and Gold Mashed Potatoes

5-6 large Klondike Goldust® potatoes

1 bunch fresh parsley

1 bunch fresh basil

¼ cup sour cream or plain Greek yogurt

2 tbsp. butter

2 tbsp. milk

Salt and Pepper

Chop the potatoes into ½ inch chunks. Boil on medium for 15-20 minutes or until potatoes are tender when pierced with a fork. Drain.

While potatoes are cooking, add fresh herbs to a small food processor. Add sour cream or yogurt. Pulse until smooth and green.

Add butter and milk to potatoes, mash until smooth. Add herb mixture and combine. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Serve while hot.

My second St. Patrick’s Day dish is a special treat! Everyone knows that the Irish love their potatoes (almost as much as we do here at Klondike Brands). Did you know that there is a candy made just for them?  I love Irish Potato Candy. However, it is traditional made with divinity, and just made to look like potatoes. I decided to make my own Irish Potato Candy recipe, actually using potatoes, and then shape them to look like potatoes too! Perfection!

Klondike Irish Potato Candy

1 cups plain mashed Klondike Rose® potatoes, cold

1 tsp. butter, softened

1 Tbsp. peppermint extract

2- 1/2  lbs. powdered sugar

3/4 cup cocoa powder

1 cup chopped nuts

Mix potatoes, butter, and extract together until blended. Add powdered sugar and mix until smooth. It should be thick enough to hold its shape. Stir in cocoa powder and 3/4 cup of nuts (reserving the remaining nuts for decoration) Place potato mixture in the refrigerator to chill for 1 hour. Shape by the spoonful into oblong, potato shaped mounds. Roll in additional cocoa powder and push nuts into outside to represent the eyes of the potato. Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator.

Now you will have all kinds of goodies to share with your family this upcoming St. Patrick’s Day!

Do you have any fun food traditions for St. Patrick’s Day?

Well it has been a great month! Lots of great Fry recipes were shared and I hope that you had a great time trying out these delicious recipes, just as I did. I wanted to share all 28 days recipes with you in one spot so that if you missed any of them, that you can go back and get those recipes! So here goes:

Day 1- Oven Baked Parmesan Seasoned Fries from Playing with Sugar

Day 2- French Fries with Dipping Sauces from Coupon Clipping Cook

Day 3- Purple French Fries from Make Happy

Day 4- Baked Potato French Fries from Vegan Richa

Day 5- Baked Chili Cheese Fry from Joy The Baker

Day 6- Triple Fried French Fries from I Am A Food Blog

Day 7- Beer Soaked Fries from Edible Perspective

Day 8-Lemon Fries from About.com

Day 9- Baked Fries with Chile Peppers and Cilantro from Cookin’ Canuck

Day 10- Crispy Sweet Potato Fries from The Art of Doing Stuff

Day 11- Fresh Potatoes French Fries from Out of the Box Food

Day 12 Baked Cajun Fries from Honey What’s Cooking

Day 13- Furikake French Fries from Steamy Kitchen

Day 14- Perfect French Fries from Pioneer Woman

Day 15- French Fries with 5 dipping sauces from Gourmet.com

Day 16- Buffalo Ranch Fries from Damn Delicious

Day 17-Fries with Homemade Ancho Ketchup from Scarletta Bakes

Day 18- Matchstick Fries from The Tart Tart

Day 19- Healthier French Fries from Skinny Taste

Day 20- Baked Garlic and Cilantro Fries from The Talking Kitchen

Day 21- BBQ style French fries from Dine and Dish 

Day 22- Homemade Cajun French Fries from Picky Palate

Day 23- French Fries from My Crowded Kitchen

Day 24- Triple Fried French Fries with classic Fry Sauce from Klondike Brands

Day 25- Beach Fries from Leites Culinaria 

Day 26- French Fries with Creamy Sriracha Mayo from White on Rice Couple

Day 27- Smoky Chipotle Parmesan Fries from Cooking on the Weekends

Day 28-Sweet Potato Wedges from Wayne E. Baily 

Didn’t get enough fries? Here are some other great fry recipes!

Baked French Fries with Indian Spices, cumin, and coriander from Cookin’ Canuk

Garlicy French Fries with Parmesan and Parlsey from Shape.com

Purple Potato Wedges from MyRecipes.com

How to make the perfect French fries, from The Art of Doing Stuff

Garlicky Baked Fries from The Purple Foodie

Which recipe is your favorite?

I checked in with our favorite culinary artist, Chef Bryan Woolley this month.  Chef Bryan is working hard on his CBS television show, Cooking  With Chef Bryan, where he recently changed the format to a culinary talk show which allows him to be more interactive with guests.  The show is fun to watch and showcases Chef Bryan’s personality and his love of cooking. When I traveled to Salt Lake City to check it out, I got to appear on the show to talk about using our Klondike Gourmet potatoes on his Superbowl show.

Chef Bryan’s website, www.cookingwithchefbryan.com, houses the recipes he makes on his weekly show while those from his nightly appearance on KUTV 2News’ What’s For Dinner segment can be found at www.kutv.com.

Aside from his television duties, Chef Bryan teaches culinary chemistry at the University of Utah and recently catered parties at the Sundance Film Festival.  He also actively participates in a number of charitable organizations and will be the master of ceremonies for this year’s Days of ’47 Royalty Pageant.

Want to see Chef Bryan is person?  Come see him as a guest judge at the World Championship Dutch Oven Cook-off in Sandy, Utah on March 16 and also at the Healthy Lifestyles Expo at the South Towne Expo Center, March 22nd and 23rd.  You can also follow him on Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest.

Introducing: Meal Mash Ups!  A meal planning tool!

Our website has a lot of side dish recipes, because potatoes are great for side dishes. But do you ever find yourself with a great side dish, but nothing to go with it?

This happens to me all the time. I can do a lot with a potato, but I need a WHOLE meal to satisfy my family’s big appetite. So in order to assist myself (and you) I am starting a new monthly feature called Meal Mash Ups! This segment will take a popular potato side dish and give you ideas as to what to prepare it with. We will gather both entrée and dessert ideas for you.

The only thing that would be better is if I came and cooked it for you!

Today’s side dish: Chipotle Potato Stacks.

Main Dishes:

• Grilled Chicken
• Grilled Panini Sandwich
• Mushroom Burger
• Meatloaf
• Pork Chops
• Baked Chicken Tenders
• Pulled Pork Sandwiches

Desserts:

• Caramel Flan
• Raspberry White Chocolate Mousse
• Mango Sorbet
• Pineapple Upside-down Cake
• Key Lime Pie

Now, just pick an Entree and a dessert and you’ve got a meal! Easy as 1, 2, 3.

Insanity. Frenzy. Intense Enthusiasm. These are just a few words to describe the madness that is March Madness, the annual NCAA basketball tournament that determines the national champion of college basketball.  Now I’m not a basketball fan, far from it, but I find myself getting caught up in this frenzy every year, meeting friends to cheer on the favorite team, feeling the pain of upset for the losing team and betting on who will go all the way to the end.  I will never forget watching Gonzaga lose their storybook season in the last seconds of the game and their team crying on the court.  What I never seem to grasp is what is a pod and which seed do they belong to, so here are some quick tips to keep up.

1. March Madness is also known as The Tournament, The Big Dance or The Road to the Final Four.
2. The madness begins with 64 teams divided into four regions.  Each region has teams that are assigned to a seed, 1 through 16, with the best teams in the region awarded the number 1 seed.
3. Pods refer to the method of grouping seeds.  One pod includes seeds 1, 16, 8 and 9. A second pod includes seeds 4, 13, 5, 12. The third pod includes seeds 2, 15, 7 and 10. And finally, the fourth pod includes seeds 3, 14, 6 and 11.
4. The lower seeds represent potential “Cinderellas.” A Cinderella team is one that unexpectedly achieves success in the bracket by beating higher-seeded teams.
5. Sweet, Elite and Final Four. The first two days of the tournament, the field of 64 is cut down to 32, and then to 16.  The final sixteen are referred to as the Sweet 16. During the second week, the field is then trimmed to the Elite 8 and then to the Final Four.

So this year, with this new knowledge in hand, gather with friends, put out some eats and cheer for your favorite teams on The Road to the Final Four!

Traditionally food profiles are categorized into four primary flavors: Sweet, Sour, Bitter, and Salty. The Japanese believe there is a fifth flavor- Savory- which they call “Umami.” Umami comes from foods that are high in glutamates (you might be more familiar with the term MSG, which is a type of glutamate). So whether you believe that there are four or five primary flavor profiles, the fact still remains that these are the only flavors that your mouth can actually taste. The way prepared food balances these flavors is called a flavor profile. Very unique and interesting dishes can be created using different combinations of these flavor profiles.

McCormick has recently released their 2013 Flavor Forecast. They have put together some of the most interesting and forward thinking trends for food!

The Flavor Forecast brings together a lot of sweet and bitter flavors as well as some very interesting ethnic ingredients. Here is a visual look at the information thanks to McCormick.