EDITORS’ PICKS
Food, Beverage & Nonfood Products
Plant-Based Mac and Cheese
Plant-based pioneer Follow Your Heart has reinvented a venerable pantry staple with the introduction of USDA-certified organic SuperMac, which pairs macaroni with creamy sauces made with vegetables, beans and cashews. The dairy-free offering expands the macaroni-and-cheese segment to include a nutritious option made with whole foods. Available in Cheezy Carrot and Creamy Caulifredo varieties, the kid- and allergen-friendly, dairy-, egg-, peanut-, soy-, cholesterol- and preservative-free product line can serve as a quick meal or an easy side dish. The item comes in an 8.1-ounce box with a deluxe sauce pouch and retails for a suggested $5.99 for either variety. SuperMac was dreamed up by moms and vegan chefs Heather Goldberg and Jenny Engel, of Spork Foods, and developed in partnership with Follow Your Heart. The product is available exclusively at all Whole Foods Market locations until March 2022. https://followyourheart.com/
Strong Tea
Tea maker Twinings, which now calls itself a “wellbeing drinks brand,” recently introduced a Superblends collection, which currently consists of four varieties fortified with vitamins and functional additives: Sleep+: Wake Up Wonderful, containing vanilla, cinnamon and melatonin; Immune Support+: A Super Defense, combining mango, ginger, green tea and vitamin C; Energy+: Play All Day, mixing the flavors of apples and oranges with green tea and vitamin B6; and Heartea+: Support a Healthy Heart, a raspberry-flavored hibiscus herbal tea with added vitamin B1. Offering consumers an easy way to achieve overall well-being, the product line features prominently in Twinings’ Drink in Life campaign, which is supported by a multifaceted marketing campaign including connected television, digital promotions and in-store point-of-sale materials. A 16-count box of any of the Superblends teas retails for a suggested $5.49. More flavors are slated to roll out in 2022, and Twinings also offers teas featuring probiotics and adaptogens. https://twiningsusa.com/; https://twiningsusa.com/collections/superblends
Sustainable Salad Kits
Hummus maker Sabra and Fifth Season, a food system pioneer and robotic-farming leader, have collaborated on a fresh idea for the produce aisle: salad kits featuring sustainably farmed greens paired with hummus, guacamole and whole grains. The kits come in two varieties, Mediterranean Hummus Salad (6.7 ounces) and Avocado Ranch Salad (7.2 ounces). Thanks to Fifth Season’s end-to-end automated growing, harvesting and packing system, the salad meal kits will remain crisp for weeks in the fridge. Sabra sources chickpeas from the Pacific Northwest and produces its hummus at a Chesterfield County, Va., facility that has earned both Silver and Gold LEED certification from the U.S. Green Building Council. The chickpea is a nitrogen-fixing legume that leaves the earth nourished after harvest. Fifth Season’s unique growing process requires up to 95% less water and 97% less land than conventional farming, enabling it to conserve resources used to produce food. Either variety of salad kit retails for a suggested $5.99, with some variability. https://www.sabra.com/; https://www.fifthseasonfresh.com/
Love Your Veggies
The most recent innovation from Veggies Made Great, Keto-Friendly Muffins come in Mochaccino Chip, Chocolate Raspberry and Cinnamon Roll flavors, all of which are lower in sugar and carbs and higher in protein than the brand’s other popular frozen muffins. As with all of the other Veggies Made Great products, Keto-Friendly Muffins feature vegetables as the primary ingredient. The suggested retail prices are $5.99 for a 6-count box and $12.59 for a 20-count box. https://www.veggiesmadegreat.com/
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progressivegrocer.com
