“Maté is the new chai” the founder of the new Denver-based company Pixie, Duane Primozich, said, as he poured a cup of his own brew. Maté (pronounced MAH-tay), the evergreen tree native to South American rainforests, boasts vitamins, minerals, eight times the antioxidants of green tea, and smoother kick than coffee. It’s also just one of the ingredients being touted at this week’s 52nd Summer Fancy Food Show at the Javits Center. Between Sunday and yesterday, 2,200 companies exhibited their wares in hopes of catching the eye — and purchase orders — of the 24,000 attending buyers. Buyers include major retailers such as William Sonoma and Whole Foods, along with small local shops. With more than 160,000 products on display, it’s the largest specialty food show in the country — and a good taste of what New Yorkers will be eating in the future.

Pixie, one of those hopeful attendees, offers maté tea bags ($4.59) in a variety of flavor blends and concentrated spiced syrups ($4.79) to mix with milk, like a chai latte. Mr. Primozich said he believes the popularity of South American foods and the booming coffee and tea market will make maté a winner.

“The hot beverage category is still growing,” the vice president of communications for the National Association for the Specialty Food Trade, Ron Tanner, said. “That’s also why ‘drinking chocolate’ is more popular. It’s an alternate hot beverage.” A sales representative from Schokinag Chocolate said sales of its eight-flavor line ($10.50–$17) of chocolate beverages have increased 1,100% since last year. That bodes well for new-comer Bellagio Drinking Chocolate, which offers a charming “sip and dip” pack of chocolate and biscotti for two.

Chocolate may also be popping up more on restaurant menus soon. The French chocolate company Valrhona presented Xocopili chocolate pearls, which it said was the first savory chocolate product geared to chefs, not their pastry counterparts. Already a hit in Europe, the company hopes the unusual flavor profile of cardamom, salt, Espelette pepper, and paprika will appeal to American chefs as well.

The chef and owner of Jaleo in Washington D.C., José Andrés, is joining the Spanish producer Fermín to bring the coveted Ibérico ham and sausages to America for the first time. Regarded as some of the finest ham in the world, it was banned from American importation until recently. Prices will run from $60 to $150 a pound. Will New Yorkers pay that much for ham? They’ll find out soon: An 11-ton container is on its way.

How much will they pay for ice? Ice Rocks, a French company based in Montreal (and moving to Miami soon), is betting on $3.99 for 48 ice-cubes of pure spring water, sold in disposable trays. Citing reports of contaminated ice in restaurants and Americans’ thirst for bottled water, the company’s vice president of logistics and supply, Jean-Sebastien Drouin, said he is confident the pricy cubes will be popular in both homes and restaurants.

Some of the show’s best products are made by New Yorkers. The author of the best-selling cook book “The Cake Bible,” Rose Levy Beranbaum, offered Rose’s Heavenly Cakes, a new line of cake and frosting mixes in vanilla and chocolate ($7.99–$10.99), Rick’s Picks pickle company, a favorite at the Union Square Green market, has two new items in the works: Scapes from New York (garlic scapes with tarragon and lemon thyme) and Smoky Okra (both $8). Pickle master Rick Field said he is waiting for the end of the summer harvest for both products and expects to bring them to market this fall.

The new Chelsea-based chocolate company Vere sources Arriba beans direct from Ecuador, makes the couverture in a factory on 27th Street, then whips up bars, nut cluster, and truffles ($3–$15). “We’re from bean to box,” owner Kathy Moskal said. “Our chocolate has greater anti-oxidant qualities, because we’re picking beans that are ripe and less fermented.”

Queens-based cook Nirmala Narine showed a comprehensive pantry of exotic spices, seasonings, and cooking utensils. Her line, Nirmala’s Kitchen, includes international salts with graters, Indian spice blends, and Asian sauces. She also displayed a galley copy of her first cookbook, “In Nirmala’s Kitchen: Everyday World Cuisine” (Lake Isle Press $19.95). Like so many of the products available for taste-testing at the Fancy Food Show, home cooks will have to wait: The book is due out this fall.