Dairy Processing - July/Aug 2024 - 35

media. The more novel the food, the more likely
it is to go viral. This makes innovation especially
important, as it is key for gaining traction among
social audiences.
Among the notable trends of the past year,
fruit roll-up wrapped ice cream was a standout.
Despite being messy to make and to eat, the
unexpected crunch as the roll-up hardened
around the ice cream bite was the big selling
point for many who tried it. The combination
also opened up possible flavor mashups, such as
strawberry vanilla or blue raspberry mango.
One of the biggest drivers in many dishes
was cheese. It was part of some of the biggest
dairy-forward trends of the last year, including
" Chickles, " a pan fried dill pickle spear wrapped
in provolone cheese, originally from Claire
Snyder on TikTok.
" I don't care if anyone says this is gross, "
she said in the original video. " It's amazing. "
Eggs are a staple in many breakfast dishes,
but when cookbook author Grace Elkus
showed off a fried feta egg, it became a gamechanger
for early risers. The quick-to-make dish
consisted of frying an egg in a ring of crumbled
feta cheese, and serving on toast or tortillas,
making it popular among people looking for an
added protein boost to start their day.
In fact, much of the consumer demand for
feta cheese in recent years has been social
media-driven, said Amie Wentz, Emmi Roth's
director of brand management.
The baked feta pasta introduced
about 1.4 million consumers
into the feta category.
Jenny Englert, marketing
director for Saputo USA,
cited the enormous role
#bakedfetapasta and other
viral social media trends
have played in feta's surging
popularity.
The #bakedfetapasta tag
garnered 108 million views
on TikTok and to date has
been used in nearly 10,000
videos of users making or
recreating the dish. And in
the weeks that followed
its initial explosion on the
DAIRYPROCESSING.COM | MON 2023 35
platform, customers using
Instacart ordered the recipe's
ingredients 4.6 times more
than normal, Englert said.
Even now, three years later, feta
continues to see momentum across
social channels due to its versatility in
recipes, she added.
COTTAGE CHEESE SHINES
There's no denying that cottage cheese is having
a moment.
The product is being hailed by health
conscious social media users as a high protein
hero. Inventive recipes from food influencers
are going viral, from cottage cheese cookie
dough, and hot honey and cottage cheese toasts,
to homemade " ice cream " starring the cultured
ingredient.
The #cottagecheese tag surged to 814.6
million views on TikTok, significantly
outperforming #sourcream (322.4 million), but
still behind #yogurt (3.1 billion).
No company has benefited from the surge
in cottage cheese's popularity more than Irvine,
Calif.-based Good Culture. As of July, the
company recorded $135,704,535 in retail sales
in the previous 52-week period, according to
Circana, which is up 97.8% from July 2023.
In fact, the company's approach to dairy's
place in the nutrition conversation may be part
The butter board trend
on social media drew a
lot of attention ... and
controversy among
audiences.
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Dairy Processing - July/Aug 2024

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