Trend watch: Butter beer, sliced mushrooms

Harry Potter mania

Butterbeer is the beverage of choice during trips down to the Hogsmeade village from Hogwarts School of Witchcraft & Wizardry. Apparently, it's also the beverage of choice for tourists to Orlando. Universal Orlando opened The Wizarding World of Harry Potter theme park in June. During the holidays the one-millionth mug of the nonalcoholic concoction was sold. The recipe for Universal's butterbeer — a fictional drink — was approved by J.K. Rowling, author of the Harry Potter books, and is served cold or frozen.

If you think Harry Potter mania is dying down, you only need to look at how well Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows — Part 1 movie is doing. Or the park, which boosted summer attendance at Universal by 36 percent.

Sliced, not buttoned

Consumers want convenience. Think baby carrots. Now, the same trend is obvious in the sale of fresh mushrooms, where a recent article in The Packer, a produce industry trade publication, states that sales of sliced mushrooms are now on par with whole mushrooms. Sliced mushrooms are growing at a faster rate than whole mushrooms, and in some supermarkets in certain parts of the country, that is already the case, according to the article.

The Mushroom Council recommends to retailers that sliced mushrooms account for half of their mushroom displays. Stuffed, ready to cook mushrooms are also an emerging trend, notes The Packer.