Editor’s Picks: Jenna’s Favorite Bites and Sips of the Quarter

Startup CPG brands' dedication to innovation, taste, and both human and planetary health has been incredible to witness, and only validates our core belief: that emerging CPG brands represent the future of food + beverage. While so many of our brands deserve a spot in your kitchen, these are a few worth checking out:

Dripdash

Dripdash is the frst ready-to-drink Japanese style Kyoto drip cofee. In less non-cofeesnob terms, this means that it was brewed for 16 hours – quite literally one drop at a time. Te resulting cofee is ridiculously smooth, balanced, and low-acid. Dripdash has three SKUs of their rich iced cofee: their traditional Kyoto, Oat Milk + Black Sesame, and Oat Milk, Maple + Lavender. My favorite of the bunch was the maple and lavender. Perfectly smooth and creamy oat milk, lightly sweet and warm maple, and foral and fruity lavender come together to make better-than-barista quality cofee in a can. Plus, Dripdash ethically sources their beans and roasts them in the world’s frst zero-emissions commercial roaster in small batches.

Already Spaghetti

If you’ve ever attempted to prep your own spaghetti squash at home, you understand the struggle. As delicious as the resulting product may be, spaghetti squash is on a mission to break your knife and also give you carpal tunnel, if not simultaneously. Te labor expenditure never seems worth it, until you’re reminded of this miracle vegetable that genuinely mimics a top tier pasta shape. Already Spaghetti is a brilliant innovation that takes all of the labor out of the process for you, leaving you with an already spaghetti-ed squash – just the innards sans the seeds in a perfectly compact ring, and all you have to do is heat it through. Already Spaghetti is dedicated to reducing food waste by upcycling spaghetti squash that are typically tossed due to cosmetic scarring. Te team even partners with non-proft organizations to provide nutritious spaghetti squash to food insecure areas.

Rooted Fare

It’s not ofen that you come across a brand that completely shifs your standards for home cooking – but Rooted Fare did just that. Rooted Fare makes a variety of authentic Asian sauces that fully shapeshif any meal. Teir Roasted Peanut Dan Dan Sauce, made with freshly roasted peanuts and spicy peppers sourced from Sichuan, is jam-packed with warm, spicy, slightly umami favor that I now refuse to eat any vegetable without. Tey even bring sweet to the table, with a Black Sesame Crunchy Butter that adds a rich, nutty sweetness and perfect crumbcake-like crunch to anything from ice cream to oatmeal. Best of all, Rooted Fare’s products are all made by immigrant chefs who share proft with the brand – bringing an income and visibility to chefs who selfessly share their culture through ridiculously delicious food. Tat’s a win-win-win.