15 Delicious Garden-to-Table Trends

Find out what food trends will shape what you grow and cook: think veggie-flavored yogurt and pepper-infused honey, among others.

By: Felicia Feaster

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Kohlrabi is King

Every year the Whitman Report, a restaurant and dining trends report from New York consulting group Baum and Whiteman, tracks the foodie trends we'll be seeing more of, including many with a direct impact on what we grow in our gardens and what we then whip up in our kitchens. One hot trend: lots and lots more veggies. Step aside kale, there's a new sheriff in town! Root veggies will be big says the Whitman Report, with celery root, parsnips and kohlrabi pushing aside fave chef veggies like Brussels sprouts. Try our recipe for kohlrabi fries >>

Savory Yogurts

Veggie-flavored yogurts incorporating beets and other savory flavors are a big food trend.

Savory-Infused Honey

Infused honeys have been popular for some time. But now, driven by adventurous chefs, honeys infused with peppers and other piquant flavors are big: think chili honey, habanero honey, jalapeno honey, ghost chili honey and ginger-citrus honey. Learn how to make honey infused with rosemary, citrus and other delicious flavors >>

Hummus Is Hot

Step aside salsa, and make way for America's newest favorite dip, hummus. This Mediterranean chick-pea based dip has been gaining ground, and Google reports it is now more popular than our beloved salsa. Look for ever-more exotic varieties, like this Sweet Potato hummus recipe, and flavors like beet, pumpkin, spinach-artichoke, edamame and guacamole hummus.

Seaweed Soars in Sea-to-Table

Seaweed is an emerging food trend, beyond its familiar use in sushi. This kale of the sea obviously won't be grown in gardens anytime soon, but foragers who search the wild for mushrooms, berries, nuts and other edible resources, can add seaweed to their list of harvest-able ingredients. Chefs love the savory flavor seaweed brings to soups and risottos.

Garden-Infused Beer

In Mexico, they're known as Micheladas or cerveza preparada: beer infused with a variety of flavors from corn powder to ponzu, hot sauce to tomato juice. One more way for gardeners to put their produce to new, novel use. Try this Food Network recipe for a Michelada doused with hot sauce and Worcestershire sauce or this tasty flavor featuring salt and fresh lime juice.

Herbal Liqueurs

Botanical ingredients, from herbs to citrus peel, and flowers to spices, are adding interest—and garden chops—to cocktails. Learn how to infuse your booze with garden ingredients >>

Flavored Salt

Salt with eau de bacon, saffron, vanilla, porcini and smoked paprika, among other flavors are already hot stuff. Put a garden spin on your flavored salt by adding herbs or citrus to sea salt with this tutorial.

Flavored Waters

Cucumber and coconut water have had their day in the sun. But get ready, say the folks at the Whiteman Report, for ever more exotic flavored waters, as in coffee, mango, maple and even birch sap waters. Find our recipe for delicious aguas frescas sparkling waters here >>

Insect Protein

Most gardeners are probably more concerned with keeping grasshoppers and other insects out of the garden. But according to the food trend experts at the Whiteman Report, bugs are becoming the hottest thing in the food world since sliced bread. The ultimate renewable resource, bugs have already yielded all manner of interesting eats, from protein bars to ladybug flour to grasshopper pasta.

Pistachio Tree

Pistachios are a rising food trend say the experts at the Whiteman Report. Get our recipe for pistachio pesto >>

Pimm's Cup

The perfect garden cocktail: the herbacious and delicious Pimm's Cup trending big time. Make your own with this easy recipe from Food Network.

Fermented Food

From sauerkraut to kimchi, fermented food has been trending big time in the garden and homesteading worlds. Now it's also making big waves in the rest of the world, called one of the biggest recent food trends by the experts at the Whiteman Report. Shown above, our recipe for Fermented Bean Paste Stew With Sweet Potato Leaves is delicious way to try this food trend at home.

Bitter Greens

Bitter greens—kale, collards, rabe, mustard, dandelions—hold some major sway. The toothsome texture of these substantial greens makes them ideal for a variety of cooking techniques—chips, sauces, soups—which is why chefs love them. Start the new year right with this recipe for braised greens and black-eyed peas >>

Plant-Based Proteins

As Americans become more and more concerned with health (and more and more likely to have a vegetable garden in their front or backyard), legumes, greens and other quality proteins are moving to the front of the menu, replacing the typical steak or chicken breast.

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Photo By: Johnny’s Selected Seeds

Photo By: Image courtesy of Ben Alsop/Blue Hill

Photo By: Photo by Mick Telkamp

Photo By: Excerpted from Homemade Liqueurs and Infused Spirits (c) by Andrew Schloss, photography by (c) Leigh Beisch Photography, used with permission from Storey Publishing.