It seems like the holidays bring out some more unique flavors in our food. If you roam the aisles in the store right now you’ll easily find a pumpkin spice flavored version of many things, while others have released their limited edition peppermint or gingerbread flavors, too. While cookies and coffees make sense, we’re seeing these holiday flavors in some extraordinary places.

Perhaps one of the biggest surprises of the holiday flavor rage is coming from Pringles, the potato chip company. For the 2012 holiday season you can find the tubes of chips in a Cinnamon and Sugar, White Chocolate Peppermint, or a Pumpkin Pie Spice flavor. Once you pop we hope you’ll be able to stop – a serving of 16 chips in the cinnamon and sugar or white chocolate flavors match the nutrition facts for their original with 150 calories, 9 grams of fat, and 2 grams of sugar.

Since those chips will probably leave you thirsty, why not wash them down with a Jones Soda? Every year the soda company releases the wildest holiday flavors. While nothing may ever top their Turkey and Gravy flavor that was first released in 1994, the annual sodas are typically a huge hit. This year the sodas are Gingerbread, Pear Tree, Candy Cane, and Sugar Plum. While we couldn’t find nutritionals for these seasonal flavors, we imagine it can’t be too far off the traditional options. A Jones Soda cream soda has 190 very empty calories and a shocking 48 grams of sugar!
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This summer, Burger King is giving the term ‘baconator’ a whole new meaning. It’s taking this savory, smoked treat and adding to an ice cream sundae. You heard right: bacon and ice cream in one dish.

We reported earlier that Burger King was testing out their bacon sundae at a few select locations in Nashville, Tennessee. And apparently after seeing a fair amount of success, the fast food giant announced this week that it will be debuting the unlikely dessert at stores nationwide starting Thursday, June 14.

The sundae won’t be showing up alone; it’s bringing several meaty friends along with it. As part of a special summer menu, Burger King is also introducing a handful of chicken, pork and beef sandwiches as limited-time offers.
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Burger King announced some very interesting news. As the world’s third largest burger chain, they have pledged that all of their eggs and pork will come from cage-free chickens and pigs by 2017.

This move comes as a rise in consumer demand for humanely produced food has increased. Many animal welfare activist have been pushing to see livestock out of cages. Burger King is the first to make the official move while many other companies are responding as well.

Traditionally, conventional eggs come from hens that are confined to “battery cages.” These are cages that give the hen about as much space as a sheet of notebook paper. Most pork comes from sows who are confined in narrow crates during their four-month pregnancies.

These conditions are pretty rough and have many activists upset. The cage-free hens will be housed in barns with room to move and they’ll have perches and nesting boxes. The cage-free sows will be indoors but no longer in crates while pregnant. These methods raise production costs according to egg and pork producers.
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As the self proclaimed queen of ice cream in my family, I’ve tried some pretty out there flavors over the course of my life. Cappuccino chocolate chunk, bubblegum, birthday cake, french toast; my adventurous palette has never led me astray!

But I just don’t get the whole bacon in dessert thing – it doesn’t seem right. Bacon belongs on my breakfast plate next to my eggs, toast and and coffee – not on my ice cream sundae. But, if Burger King has anything to say about it, that’s exactly where it belongs.

The fast food giant has introduced a bacon sundae that features vanilla soft serve, chocolate sauce and several pieces of crispy bacon. The over-the-top treat will set customers back about $2.49 and is only available at a handful of locations in Nashville, Tennessee.

Company spokesperson Randi Farynyk told NPR that “The company is currently testing menu items in a small sampling of U.S. restaurants. The brand does not have plans to expand the test to additional markets at this time.”
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Fast food giant Burger Kingis launching 10 new menu items as an attempt to gain back their place as the number two fast food burger chain after being edged out by Wendy’s last year. This is the first time since opening in 1954 that Burger King has undergone a menu expansion of this size. When you see the new items on Burger King’s menu, you might think you wandered into a McDonald’s. The new items Burger King is offering bear a striking resemblance to items that number one burger chain McDonald’s has introduced over the past few years. Burger King now offers chicken strips, caramel frappe coffees, Caesar salads and strawberry-mango smoothies.

There’s no denying that Burger King’s previous stance to cater to young men in their menu offerings has seen a struggle recently. Between a down economy and people looking for healthier options, Burger King’s focus on big beefy burgers has helped contribute to lax sales. “Consumers wanted more choices,” said Steve Wiborg, president of Burger King’s North America operations. “Not just healthy choices, but choices they could get at the competition.” The new menu items offer consumers those choices as well as some healthier options than the standard Whopper and fries.
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