Gourmet News August 2015

GOURMET NEWS

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T H E

B U S I N E S S

VOLUME 80, NUMBER 7 AUGUST 2015 n $7.00

RETAILER NEWS n

A Southern Season of Gustatory Pleasure PAGE 12

SUPPLIER BUSINESS n

McCrea’s Candies: Sophisticated Flavors from Simple Ingredients PAGE 13

NATURALLY HEALTHY n

The Italian Sauces for Consumers Who Don’t Trust Processed Foods PAGE 16

SFF WRAP UP n

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N E W S P A P E R

F O R

T H E

G O U R M E T

sofi Awards 2015 Honor Great Goats

BY LORRIE BAUMANN

“Goats are getting a lot of love tonight,” Big Picture Farm Cofounder Lucas Farrell observed as he accepted the sofi Award for Outstanding New Product for 2015 for Raspberry Rhubarb Goat Milk Caramels together with Co-founder Louisa Conrad.

The two started their farm in the fall of 2010 with just four goats and now have 44, who were very happy to see Farrell back at home after the conclusion of this year’s Summer Fancy Food Show.

“They were very happy to see us.

They’re going to go on new pastures, and I’ve got to mow the old ones,” Farrell said.

The show was a commercial as well as critical success for Big

Continuing the goat love, Fat Toad Farm Goat’s Milk Caramels won the 2015 sofi Award for Outstanding Product Line. Fat Toad Farm is run by husband and wife team Steve Reid and Judith Irving, their daughter Calley Hastings, and three employees. “We’re from Vermont,” Hastings said as she accepted the award. “Our family is back there working the goats so we get to be here.”

The awards were presented by Chef Alex Guarnaschelli, an Iron Chef and frequent judge on “Chopped,” who substituted for Ted Allen, also from “Chopped.”

Allen had been scheduled to host the ceremony but sent a video

with raw sugar, this frozen dough is an all-natural, butter-based dough that breaks out of traditional waffling by being marketed as a dough rather than a batter mix.

The Belgian Kitchen waffles are already enjoyed at five ski resorts in the Northeast and more than 60 foodservice businesses – including multiple frozen yogurt chains, and President Sean Lee has plans for expansion that will see this product targeted at the

family market and being sold as frozen dough balls in retail chains. It’s simple and delicious, says Lee: “It’s a very simple product. It’s like the WD40 of doughs.”

Southern Culture Artisan Foods Founder Erica Barrett presented her own take on waffles with her ShortStacks Pancake and Waffle mix. Sixteen different pancake and waffle mixes offer

Australia’s leading olive oil producer, Boundary Bend Olives, had been in California just long enough to get stationery printed with its address at a former John Deere dealership in Woodland, California, about 20 miles northwest of Sacramento, before the company started winning awards for its California oils at the New York International Olive Oil Competition. The April 15 competition drew nearly 700 olive oils from 25 countries for judging by an international panel of experts, and Boundary Bend took home four NYIOOC awards for Cobram Estate oils produced from California olives as well as five awards for oils produced in Australia.

Cobram Estate Ultra Premium Picual, a medium picual oil from the U.S., won a NYIOOC Silver.

Cobram Estate Super Premium Robust Blend, which combines leading varieties from California and Australia for a blend with a cut green grass nose, a strong spicy aroma and complex fruit flavors, earned a NYIOOC Gold Award. Cobram Estate Super Premium Medium Blend took home a NYIOOC Gold Award for appealing fresh fruity aromas and penetrating flavors, and Cobram Estate Ultra Premium Mission,

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BUYERS GUIDE n

BY RICHARD THOMPSON

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Heat & Serve PAGE 40

SMALL ELECTRICS n

Countertop Cookers PAGE 42

News..............................................6 Ad Index .......................................43 Smorgasbord................................43

www.gourmetnews.com

This year’s Summer Fancy Food Show introduced new and growing brands that aimed to update how we look at foods, from breakfast to all-natural desserts.

Many of these news products stood out with their focus on reinvention, health and taste.

If there was one new brand that will be hard to forget, it would be the sweetened waffles from The Belgian Kitchen. Made using brioche dough infused

Boundary Bend Comes to America

Picture Farm, which also won a sofi Award this year in the Outstanding Confection category for Goat Milk Chai Caramels. Big Picture Farm previously won a sofi in 2011 for its Sea Salt and Bourbon Vanilla Caramel, and the chai caramels also won a Good Food Award in 2013. During the three days of this year’s show, Big Picture took “a fair amount” of orders, both from current customers and some new ones who stopped by for a taste after the sofi Awards ceremony, Farrell said. “It helps bring people who might otherwise not stop at our booth to come over and put a caramel in their mouth,” he said. “That’s our main selling point, when they taste it.”

New Products at Fancy Food Show Delight with Superior Taste, Outstanding Innovation

SNACKS UPDATE

I N D U S T R Y

BY LORRIE BAUMANN

Trans Fats No Longer Generally Recognized As Safe, Says FDA The Food and Drug Administration announced on June 16 that it had finalized its determination that partially hydrogenated oils, the primary food manufacturing source of trans fats, are not “generally recognized as safe” (GRAS) for foods, giving grocery manufacturers three years to remove them entirely from food products.

Because partially hydrogenated oils (PHOs) are no longer “generally recognized as safe,” they become subject to premarket approval by FDA as food additives, and approval of

exceptions seems unlikely, even though the Grocery Manufacturers Association (GMA) will lobby for a reconsideration of a ban on low-level uses.

The terms partially hydrogenated oils (PHOs) and trans fats are used somewhat interchangeably because PHOs are the main food processing source of trans fats. Partially hydrogenated oils are created in the production of some food products when hydrogen is added to liquid vegetable oils to make them semi-solid in consistency.

In bakery applications, for example, trans fats can give liquid

vegetable oils that are cheaper, more shelf stable, and cholesterol-free the functional performance of butter, which generally sets the norm for quality expectations for baked goods.

Foods containing unapproved food additives are considered adulterated under U.S. law, meaning they cannot legally be sold. In plainer English, the FDA is essentially banning trans fats in food products, and the “no trans fats” label on food products will become obsolete.

Naturally occurring trans fats found in small amounts in some

meat and dairy products are not additives and a special case, and they do not fall under the ban.

Since 2006, the FDA has mandated that nutritional labels on foods specify the level of trans fat content. In November 2013, the FDA announced its intention to accelerate the elimination of partially hydrogenated oils from the U.S. food supply, having provisionally made the determination that these trans fats carriers are not GRAS. The intensifying glare of regulatory attention on trans Continued on PAGE 8

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Eating is an agricultural act, as Wendell Berry famously has said, and there is no better way to understand what that means than to visit northern California, where the market created by San Francisco and Silicon Valley consumers who demand high-quality food produced in alignment with their social and nutritional values is rescuing family farms from the boom and bust cycles of monocrop farming. As we go to print this month, we’ve been doing just that – visiting with family farmers to find out how they’re working to supply the food chain that has its other end on our family tables.

They’d like you to know that growing and making high-quality food isn’t easy.

They work very hard at it, both to produce our food supplies and to navigate the regulatory structure that we all rely on to en-

sure its safety. They take food safety very seriously, and they’re hearing what the market has to say about how we want our food to be grown, how we want it to look and how we want it to taste, and they’re doing their best to produce great food that meets our highest standards. And here’s something else that they’d like you to know: they’d like us to own up to our responsibility in this market and to recognize that we must be willing to pay them properly for care they put into our food.

When we see a product on our grocer’s shelves or in the refrigerator cases, it’s fine to look at the price tag, but we should look beyond the price to the value. If we want food that tastes wonderful, looks beautiful on the plate and nourishes our spirits as well as our bodies – and we do – we’re going to have to abandon our national fixation on the cheapest possible food supply.

Over the past few decades we’ve seen where that idea has led – to the near de-

struction of our tradition of family farming, to a generation of farmers who are growing to retirement age without anyone to replace them on the farm, to widespread environmental damage from monocrop farming and to all the other evils of an industrial food system. It’s certainly true that the food system we have created has been astonishingly successful at providing Americans with more calories than many of us should have been eating, but when you look at our health statistics, it’s also easy to see that it hasn’t necessarily been the unalloyed success that our country has taken for granted for decades. If we want to make that better, it’s time to support our family farmers who are working to take us along a different path – and that means accepting that we have to pay them what they’re worth. GN — Lee M. Oser Publisher

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GENERAL NEWS

GOURMET NEWS AUGUST 2015 www.gourmetnews.com

General News Campbell Soup Acquisition a Case Study in Fresh, Local Trend Campbell Soup’s acquisition of Garden Fresh Gourmet—a Ferndale, Michiganbased marketer of refrigerated salsa, hummus, and dips—reflects an industry-wide shift among food manufacturing giants to the fresher, livelier supermarket perimeter and to natural/organic products, according to market research firm Packaged Facts.

Supermarket sales growth has largely spun out to the perimeter departments of fresh and refrigerated products, as indicated by marquee food trends ranging from Greek yogurt to the kale and cauliflower crazes.

And packaged natural and organic products, though still a niche, continue to post robust sales growth: Packaged Facts estimates a 12.5 percent jump for organic food and beverage sales in 2014. Mass-market salestracking data from IRI, in contrast, show sales continuing to lag in the first quarter of 2015 for many of the classic center store food categories, including carbonated beverages, breakfast cereal, and soup.

Campbell’s $231 million acquisition price for Garden Fresh Gourmet represents a respectful multiple for a company with $110 million in annual sales. Under Campbell, Garden Fresh Gourmet will synergize with the larger Bolthouse Farms operations, which Campbell acquired for $1.55

billion in 2012. Bolthouse Farms, a leader in packaged carrots, premium refrigerated juices, and refrigerated salad dressing, is described in Campbell’s press release on this earlier acquisition as a marketer of “high value-added natural, healthy products,” clearly signaling the path that Campbell is taking.

Bolthouse Farms and Garden Fresh Gourmet both straddle the divide between fresh produce (which, like canned soup, is mostly commoditized) and refrigerated packaged agricultural products, a higherprofit zone in which Campbell can bring its culinary trend, flavor, and marketing expertise to bear.

A Forbes (May 21, 2015) special report on “The War on Big Food” estimated that the giant packaged food companies lost $4 billion in market share in 2014 as grocery shoppers “swerved to fresh and organic alternatives.” Campbell as a manufacturer of iconic canned soup products clearly finds itself in the line of fire: the visual in Forbes was a spilt can of Campbell’s condensed tomato soup, wounded and drooping like The Dying Gaul, with Campbell CEO Denise Morrison acknowledging in the article that “Increasing numbers of consumers are seeking authentic, genuine food

experiences … and we know that they are skeptical of the ability of large, long-established food companies to deliver them.”

That’s where acquisitions like that of Garden Fresh Gourmet come in. Garden Fresh founder Jack Aronson had described his philosophy to the Detroit News in 2012 as “make everything to order,” with the signature salsas prepared in five-gallon buckets – representing the kind of locally rooted, entrepreneurial-spirited food marketers that many consumers have come to prefer. As Packaged Facts’ January 2015 report on Shopping for Local Foods observes, “local” has become shorthand for food that is fresher and higher quality, more authentic and trustworthy, and more environmentally friendly and supportive of the regional community and economy.

With acquisitions like that of Garden Fresh Gourmet, an $8 billion manufacturer like Campbell can have its soup and sell fresh, too. Campbell’s Morrison explains that the Garden Fresh Gourmet acquisition will “help us continue to shift our center of gravity,” and with this new acquisition, Campbell’s fresh division will become a $1 billion player in the supermarket perimeter, where the grocery profit action increasingly takes place. GN

Wegmans Gives $1.5 Million for Exhibition The Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of American History will open Wegmans Wonderplace December 9th as the first exhibition on the National Mall designed for the learning needs of children six and under. Made possible by a $1.5 million gift and in-kind donations from Wegmans Food Markets, this space will allow curious kids to “cook” in a kitchen inspired by Julia Child’s; plant and harvest pretend vegetables and run the farm stand; find the owls hiding in a miniature replica of the Smithsonian’s Castle building; and captain a tugboat based on a model in the museum’s collection.

“Wonderplace,” a 1,700-square-foot children’s center located in the new Innovation Wing, will provide the youngest historians with age-appropriate activities and experiences over the next 20 years.

“We know that play is an integral part of sparking invention and innovation, and Wegmans Wonderplace will ignite that innate curiosity in children and help guide them on a path to lifetime learning at the Smithsonian,” said John Gray, Director of the museum.

Wegmans is also supporting the museum’s new demonstration kitchen in the Wallace H. Coulter Performance Plaza. Part of the museum’s Food History Project, the kitchen will host a diverse menu of programs and

demonstrations that bring visitors together for relevant discussions that start with history and expand to the present and future of American food. Known as “Food Fridays,” a weekly series of cooking demonstrations will showcase a guest chef and a Smithsonian staff host as they make a dish, talk about the traditions in preparing and eating that dish, and explore a related theme in American food history. Wegmans is stocking the kitchen pantry every week with fresh produce and will provide culinary experts for demonstrations once each month.

“Wegmans’ mission is to help our customers live healthier, better lives, and that begins with children,” said Wegmans CEO Danny Wegman. “Having fun through play is the best way to inspire children to learn.”

According to the company, the opening of Wegmans Wonderplace at the end of this year will also help to usher in Wegmans’ 100th Anniversary in 2016.

Wegmans Wonderplace will feature six sections, each with hands-on, play-based interdisciplinary activities. The sections include: the Farm, the Kitchen, the Port, the Construction Site, the Gallery and the Smithsonian Castle. Each area combines artifact displays with fun hands-on activities to engage young children and their families.

Activities such as the 12 different kinds of

blocks in the Construction Site will help promote creativity and advance motor skills.

More than 100 objects will be displayed around Wonderplace to stimulate early learners’ interest in museums and American history. These artifacts from the museum’s collections will be presented in fun ways to get families excited about what they are seeing. In the Castle section, children will get to look at objects from all angles as they climb around—and even under—them. In the Farm section, kids will “find the animals” among the weathervanes, milk bottles, farm toys and lunch boxes.

So that every age group can get the most out of Wonderplace, signs will guide parents and caregivers on how to help their children engage in the activities. The center will also contain family-friendly amenities to create a more comfortable environment for visitors. These amenities include family bathrooms with diaper-changing stations, parking areas for strollers and a quiet nook in the rear of the space where parents can feed and take care of infants.

Through incomparable collections, rigorous research and dynamic public outreach, the National Museum of American History explores the infinite richness and complexity of American history. For more information, visit www. americanhistory.si.edu. GN

BRIEFS Loblaw Employees End Strike Employees of 69 Loblaw-owned stores in Ontario markets from Ottawa to Windsor have voted to accept a six-year contract offer from Loblaw Companies Limited. Employees in nine stores walked off the job on July 2, and the deal was reached just ahead of scheduled strikes in 60 other stores. The stores, including select Real Canadian Superstore, Zehrs Great Food and Loblaws Great Food locations, are represented by the United Food and Commercial Workers union, locals UFCW 1000A and UFCW 175 & 633.

Meredith Acquires Qponix Media and marketing company Meredith Corporation has acquired Qponix, a Grocery Server technology, further expanding its digital shopper marketing capabilities. Grocery Server was a joint venture between MyGroceryDeals.com and Qponix that indexes thousands of local offers nationwide to help consumers find the best deals at their local retailer. MyGroceryDeals.com will partner with Meredith and continue to supply all the grocery deal data along with nearly 150,000 localized advertising specials per month, in every residential ZIP Code in the US.

Fresh Thyme Opens Two Fresh Thyme is opening two new stores on the north side of Indianapolis on Thursday, August 6. “These will be our fourth and fifth stores to open in the Indianapolis area, and I cannot say enough great things about the local residents,” said Fresh Thyme’s CEO Chris Sherrell. “Having the privilege to join two more Indy communities is very exciting, and we look forward to providing our new neighbors high quality, healthy offerings at a great value.”

artizone Opens in Denver Metroplex artizone online shop for farm-raised meat, local produce and small batch artisan products in Chicago and Dallas has made its grand opening in the Denver area. The online farmers market concept has grown to include a solid collection of local artisans including: Western Daughters Butcher Shoppe, Seafood Landings, St. Kilian’s Cheese Shop and Market, Baba and Pop’s Handmade Pierogi, Copper Door Coffee Roasters,Pacific Mercantile Company, Red Camper Picnic Supply, Spinelli’s Market, Sugarmill and The Real Dill.

Celestial Seasonings Launches Coffeehouse-Style Tea Beverages Celestial Seasonings® has launched several new lines of coffeehouse-style beverages featuring the goodness of tea plus on-trend flavors like Dirty Chai and Matcha Green. The brand’s new Celestial™ Lattes are available in both ready-to-drink bottles and concentrated formats, while new Celestial Teahouse Chai Teas are offered in traditional tea bags.

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GENERAL NEWS

GOURMET NEWS AUGUST 2015 www.gourmetnews.com

Beacon Integration Drives Consumer Participation, Increases Revenue

BY RICHARD THOMPSON

Beacon-triggered technology is estimated to bring $44.4 billion dollars of in-store purchases within the next year, and retailers incorporating it are already seeing increases in overall sales. Coordinating alongside beacon providers and app developers, hundreds of retailers, including Safeway and Target, as well as name brands like Hillshire Brands, are advertising new products and sales promotions directly to consumers through their smartphone apps.

Over a third of all retailers already use beacon technology, and by 2016, an estimated 85 percent of retail chains will have adopted its use, according to an August 2014 Business Insider report.

Restaurants and food outlets using the technology are finding that their new ability to advertise with location-based context is increasing purchasing intent as well as overall sales. Its estimated that there are more than 570 million Android and Apple smartphones in use and an estimated $44.4 billion dollars of in-store purchases to be had from beacon-triggered technology.

Beacons are small transmitters placed throughout a store that pinpoints the location of a nearby smartphone. Apps are small programs on a mobile device, like a smartphone, that provide a particular service – from games and social networking to news articles and address books – and have become commonplace on mobile phones.

When a customer strolls down the snack aisle, the beacon can “read” the nearby smartphone in the shopper’s purse or

pocket and send it a contextual message, like a promotion or coupon for a snack product, through an app that is already on the phone. For instance, if the shopper happened to be walking in the produce section, she could get a message about a discount on packaged salads.

David Heinzinger, Senior Director of Communications at inMarket, a mobile app and beacon provider, says that those contextual messages are crucial because triggering an extra sale is all about timing.

“The biggest component is location awareness. When you are in the store, we know you are thinking about shopping and can tailor those engagements,” Heinzinger said.

The strength of this marketing comes from existing consumer behavior, says Heinzinger. It’s not just that a retailer knows where a potential customer is, but that communications can be tailored in a way that a consumer appreciates. When promotions are offered from apps that consumers already engage in, those consumers are more likely to take notice and purchase something.

For the past couple years, mobile app developers and beacon providers like inMarket have helped retailers adopt beacon technology. Companies like Hillshire Brands, which worked alongside inMarket, had reported a 20 percent increase in purchasing intent by those who received messages. American Craft experienced a 36 percent increase in brand awareness. Both saw a lift in overall sales. Food chains have seen similar results. “We saw an average 19 percent in-

crease in product lift and purchase intent from exit surveys conducted,” said Heinzinger.

Beacon technology and third-party apps result in higher consumer participation than traditional loyalty programs or dedicated store apps. Loyalty programs and first-party apps are only engaged by superloyal customers and are either ignored or neglected by typical shoppers, according to Heinzinger. InMarket, which started in 2010 as a single shopping app, and other companies like it have seen that a robust app eco-system has actually increased consumer participation. “What we realized was that there are different apps for different shoppers, and [those apps] need to speak to folks based on the context of that app,” said Heinzinger.

Currently, inMarket boasts a series of both first-party and third-party apps that cater to its 32 million monthly active shoppers’ different needs. Third-party apps like epicurious, Key Ring and Favado, along with inMarket-owned apps like ListEase and Checkpoints, provide users with different services such as recipes and menu ideas, list-creation platforms and loyalty reward offerings along with promotional deals.

“Working in conjunction with retailers and third-party apps, we are able to reach different segments of shoppers depending on the type of shopper that they are. These apps are more relevant and have the most users. Those 32 million [active shoppers] are using third-party apps,” Heinzinger said.

Unified Grocers Inc. provides resources to independent retailers throughout the West Coast and partnered with inMarket to offer the “Mobile to Mortar” program last year. The program provides retailers an avenue to digitally advertise new products and promotions and is already seeing encouraging results. “Everyone wants to utilize beacons and different mobile technologies in their platform,” said Grant Lunde, Digital Marketing and Shopper Engagement Retail Marketing Services, United Grocers, Inc. Companies like inMarket work to keep a healthy app eco-system thrive so that consumers are comfortable with using the apps it provides, leaving retailers to focus on special offers and deals that they want consumers to know about. Beacon providers set limits to how often a message will be sent to a potential customer – generally three times a week – to establish a comfort level with shoppers so they feel driven enough to make a purchase.

Lunde and Heinzinger agree that the balance needed to keep customers engaged relies on having finesse when communicating with shoppers. If a shopper feels overwhelmed, he will get rid of the app, so this type of program must be perceived by consumers as a valuable shopping experience to keep them coming back. “The usage of mobile devices helps enrich the experience of the shopper, and I think it represents an opportunity to communicate to customers where and when they want to be communicated with,” Lunde said. GN

Julie McMillin Named Retail Dietitian Of The Year Julie McMillin, RD, LD, the Assistant Vice President of Retail Dietetics for Hy-Vee was named the Retail Dietitian of the Year by the Retail Dietitians Business Alliance (RDBA) at FMI Connect in Chicago. This award recognizes a retail dietitian who shows leadership in utilizing business skills and industry knowledge to positively impact consumer behavior change through the retail sector.

“Julie has an enormous job where she’s not only a skilled dietitian, but a business person who works with varying corporate departments to implement innovative and successful campaigns and services to every Hy-Vee store,” says Phil Lempert, CEO and President of the

RDBA. “We applaud Julie and recognize her as a role model for every retail dietitian in the country.”

“I’m honored to be named the RDBA Retail Dietitian of the Year,” says McMillin.

“The award highlights the importance of retail dietitians and how we impact the lives of our customers, communities and employees by providing an accelerated customer service that cannot be matched. This award recognizes the profession as a whole, which is really exciting.”

As an Assistant Vice President for HyVee, McMillin supports 228 in-store dietitians, three retail dietetic supervisors and one corporate dietitian by helping them define services and accomplish their

goals. McMillin also serves as an integral component to the retail experience, working with store merchandising, buying and marketing. She’s also is a liaison for the Hy-Vee health and wellness program to both the community and corporations, and also internally with employees.

McMillin serves on Hy-Vee’s Innovation Committee where she helps bring new ideas, products and trends to the company and stores.

She says RDBA is helpful in her career: “Being an in-store dietitian you have to build your customer base from the store up, and RDBA provides promotional ideas, guidance with vendor relations and creates a community where other RDs can share

ideas. It’s learning to walk-the-walk and talk-the-talk of retail,” says McMillin.

McMillin began her career working parttime in a Hy-Vee deli and kitchen. After college she took the traditional clinical route and worked in a hospital setting for almost five years. She then rejoined the retail industry, becoming an in-store dietitian and working her way up the Hy-Vee corporate ladder.

She is a member of the Iowa and American Dietetic Associations and a board member of the American Diabetes Association.

She’s also a board member of ChildServe, an Iowa nonprofit that partners with families to help children with special health care needs. GN

Trans Fats

to be labeled as “0g,” so that zero didn’t mean what consumers would logically interpret it to mean. That loophole, too, is closing.

In terms of consumer confidence, the mainstream food industry has paid a price for foot-dragging and sleight-ofhand on nutritional and labeling issues, leading to consumer counter-revolutions including the current clean label movement. A November 2014 survey by Packaged Facts showed 23 percent of U.S. adults strongly agreeing and 38 percent somewhat agreeing that, “Grocery manufacturers often mislead by highlighting only the positive nutritional qualities in

their products, not the negative ones.” At the other end of the spectrum, only 3 percent strongly disagree and only 6 percent somewhat disagree. The findings were published in the Packaged Facts report, “Food Formulation Trends: Ingredients Consumers Avoid.”

From the perspective of public health, trans fats have been especially linked to coronary disease, Type 2 diabetes, and obesity. Trans fats raise the level of LDL (bad) cholesterol while lowering the level of HDL (good) cholesterol. Various health organizations have long fought the use of trans fats. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the

American Heart Association both cite research published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (2012) estimating that a trans fat ban could prevent 10,000-20,000 heart attacks and 3,000-7,000 coronary heart disease deaths in the U.S. annually. Dr. Steven Nisssen, chair of the cardiovascular medicine department at the Cleveland Clinic (long top-ranked nationally for cardiology) describes trans fats as “clearly harmful” and praises the FDA’s ban. The ban is also consistent with First Lady Michelle Obama’s signature Let’s Move initiative, with its focus on childhood obesity. GN

Continued from PAGE 1 fats has already spurred extensive reformulation in the food market, such that trans fat has been reduced by 78 percent since 2003, according to an FDA estimate, and by 86 percent, according to the GMA. Nevertheless, partially hydrogenated oils are still commonly used in many popular food products, including many bakery products, coffee creamers and microwave popcorn.

Moreover, FDA regulation previously allowed less than a half gram of trans fats

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GENERAL NEWS

sofi Awards 2015 Continued from PAGE 1 presentation in his stead. “You know how much I love food I’m eating, and you know I’m quite passionate about it,” she said. “I really love food, sometimes too much, and nothing gives me more joy than to eat food made by people who love it too.”

Awards were presented in 32 categories, with winners selected from more than 2,700 entries. Products were tasted and judged by a panel that included journalists and restaurateurs to select finalists, while the winners of the gold trophies were selected by the votes of retailers and distributors who tasted the products during the show.

Callie’s Charleston Biscuits took home two sofi Awards for Outstanding Frozen Savory, which went to the company’s Country Ham Biscuits, and for Outstanding Bread, Muffin, Granola, or Cereal, which went to Cheese and Chive Biscuits. There was a tie for the sofi for Outstanding Cooking, Dipping or Finishing Sauce, and dual sofis went to Charissa for Authentic Moroccan Seasoning and to Kitchens of Africa for Zanzibar.

Boundary Bend Continued from PAGE 1 from olives ultra cold-pressed within four hours of picking, received a NYIOOC Silver Award. The company’s NYIOOC awards for Australian oils included two Best in Class Awards for Cobram Estate Ultra Premium Hojiblanca and Cobram Estate Super Premium Premiere, a Robust Blend oil that also won a Best in Class Award in 2014; Cobram Estate Robust Flavour Intensity, a full-bodied blend from Australia that was pressed within six hours of picking, which won a Silver Award; Cobram Estate Classic Flavour, a medium blend from Australia also pressed within six hours, which won a Gold Award and Cobram Estate Ultra Premium Picual, which was ultra cold-pressed within four hours of picking and won a Silver Award in both 2015 and 2014.

Boundary Bend Co-founder and Executive Chairman Rob McGavin announced the company’s plan to expand its operations to the United States in May, 2014, and in January of this year announced that it had set up operations on eight acres near Woodland, California under the guidance of fifth-generation California farmer Adam Engelhardt, formerly of California Olive Ranch, and now CEO of Boundary Bend’s U.S. operations. The company had a small crush last October using another company’s plant for trial runs with small batches of oil. Boundary Bend plans to be in commercial production in California this calendar year. “We do plan to plant our own groves. We’ve got the trees for the plantings ready and are assessing suitable land and expect to have that in process within the next year,” McGavin said.

“We’re just waiting for all the balls to line up.”

The company is eager to enter the American market because the country’s olive oil consumption is quite high, but domestic production is quite low, McGavin said. The U.S. is the fourth-largest consumer of olive

GOURMET NEWS AUGUST 2015 www.gourmetnews.com

Three Lone Mountain Wagyu products were selected as sofi finalists: 100 percent Fullblood Wagyu Beef Summer Sausage in the Appetizer, Antipasto, or Hors d’Oeuvres category; 100 percent Fullblood Wagyu Beef Sausage Links in the Frozen Savory category; and 100 percent Fullblood Wagyu Beef Jerky in the Savory Snack category. The gold award went to the summer sausage.

This year’s Outstanding Baking Ingredient, Baking Mix or Flavor Enhancer was the Blood Orange Olive Oil Brownie Kit by Sutter Buttes Natural and Artisan Foods, while the Bay Blue from Point Reyes Farmstead Cheese was named the Outstanding Cheese. The Dangerously Delicious Black Licorice Chocolate Toffee from Laurie & Sons was named Outstanding Chocolate. Read more about Laurie & Sons in the snacks supplement in this issue. The Outstanding Cookie, Brownie, Cake or Pie was Organic Molten Chocolate Cake – Dark Decadence from Hot Cakes Molten Chocolate Cakery, while the Outstanding Dessert Sauce, Topping or Syrup was Salted Caramel Sauce from Coop’s MicroCreamery.

Vermont Creamery’s Cultured Butter Sea Salt Basket was named the show’s Out-

standing Classic Product, while the Blackberry Sheep Milk Yogurt from Bellwether Farms was named Outstanding Dairy or Dairy Alternative Product. The Speculoos Cookie Butter Ice Cream from Steve’s Ice Cream took home the award for Outstanding Ice Cream, Gelato or Frozen Treat.

Tea Forte’s Vanilla Pear Tea was named Outstanding Hot Beverage, while Owl’s Brew’s White and Vine was named Outstanding Cold Beverage. The award for Outstanding Condiment went to Sir Kensington’s Special Sauce, while Grains of Health took home the Outstanding Cracker award for Laiki Black Rice Crackers. Crown Maple’s Grade A Very Dark Color Strong Taste Maple Syrup was named Outstanding Foodservice Product.

The award for Outstanding Jam, Preserve, Honey, or Nut butter went to Manicaretti Italian Food Imports for Sicilian Pistachio Spread. Fra’ Mani Handcrafted Foods’ Salametto Piccante was named Outstanding Meat, Pate or Seafood; Castillo de Canena Smoked Arbequina Olive Oil, imported into the U.S. by Culinary Collective, won the award for Outstanding Oil. The Outstanding Vinegar was Organic Apple Balsamic Vinegar from Ritrovo Italian Regional Foods.

Nella Pasta’s Corn, Caramelized Onion & Thyme Ravioli won the award for Outstanding Pasta, Rice, or Grain. The award for Outstanding Pasta Sauce went to Pumpkin and Kale Alfredo Sauce from Sauces ‘n Love. Cracked Sesame Miso from Nago Foods won the award for Outstanding Salad Dressing, and Sweet Chili Chickpea Chips from Maya Kaimal Fine Indian Foods were named the Outstanding Savory Snack. Kettle Pipcorn from Pipsnacks won the award for Outstanding Sweet Snack.

Look for more about Pipsnacks in the October issue of Gourmet News.

Tate’s Bake Shop’s Gluten Free Ginger Zinger Cookie was named the Outstanding Vegan or Gluten-Free Product. Nona Lim Thai Curry and Lime Broth from Cook San Francisco was named Outstanding Soup, Stew, Bean or Chili.

Finally, the Outstanding Salsa or Dip was Kiwi Lime Salsa Verde from Wozz! Kitchen Creations. Wozz! won sofi Awards in 2014 for Ginger Soy Infusion, which was named Outstanding Dressing, and for Triple Ale Onion Spread, which was named Outstanding Condiment. “I’m an Australian in America, winning with a Mexican condiment,” Wozz said as he accepted the award.

“God bless America!” GN

oil globally, with consumption growing spectacularly over the past 25 years from a bit more than 100,000 metric tons per year in 1990 to the current figure of almost 300,000 metric tons per year, according to the International Olive Council. Per capita consumption in the United States is only 0.9 kg, which is comparable to per capita consumption in the U.K. and Germany, and the vast majority of that is imported, with only 3.8 percent of the olive oil consumed in the U.S. produced domestically. “Consumption of U.S.-produced oil is growing but is limited by supply,” McGavin wrote in a May 2014 letter to Boundary Bend stockholders in which he announced the plan to expand to the U.S. Boundary Bend Olives, founded in 1998 by college buddies McGavin and Paul Riordan, currently sells more olive oil in Australia than anyone else, and its Australia production, from its own groves in the Murray Valley region of Victoria, is greater than the entire volume of olive oil currently produced in the U.S. “We’ve grown from nothing 10 years ago to the number-one selling brand in Australia,” McGavin said.

To his stockholders, he wrote that, “We believe we can replicate, in the USA, the success of our Australian integrated business, but we will be taking a conservative, longterm approach to our business strategy.”

Boundary Bend is starting up agricultural operations in California at a time when the state is in the midst of a historic drought.

Agricultural economist Richard Howitt and others from the University of California, Davis and ERA Economics reported to the California Department of Food and Agriculture in May of this year that following three critically dry years, many irrigation districts had exhausted their surface water reserves and the groundwater table had been drawn down in many parts of the Central Valley. The economists estimated that this year’s drought, coming on top of the three previous drought years, will result in the fallowing of about 564,000 acres and an $856 million reduction in gross crop

farm revenues across the state. About 18,600 full-time, part-time and seasonal jobs may be lost this year, and the total economic loss to California’s agriculture industry is estimated to be $2.7 billion.

None of that scares McGavin one whit.

“We know it’s going to be difficult. It’s never, ever easy, but if we do it in a methodical way not to sound arrogant, but we are confident that what worked in Australia’s severe drought conditions will work in California,” he said.

He points out that he and his company have had some experience with drought in Australia. “We had the most awful drought.

The scientists were calling it a thousandyear drought, and it went on for seven years,” he said. During the drought, the farmers at Boundary Bend learned how to monitor the water needs of their trees through telemetry-equipped sensors that monitor the percolation of irrigation water through the ground to the tree roots. They learned when the trees needed to be irrigated and when they could stay dry and still survive, thus minimizing the amount of irrigation necessary. “Olives really came into their own in Australia during the drought, and having that experience is something that we can bring to the U.S.,” McGavin said. He added that the experience in the best watering practices to make olive trees thrive on the least possible amount of water was a painful lesson, but he thinks that his neighboring California olive tree farmers will be eager to see how Boundary Bend does it, and that will be beneficial for California agriculture in the long run.

In addition, olive trees require half the irrigation water of nut trees, so replacing some of the nut trees currently growing in California’s Central Valley with olive trees will save water too, he said. “Being able to plant twice the area of olives versus nut tree crops for the same amount of water is a good use of the water,” he said.

When it has secured the land, Boundary Bend will plant the olive trees much less

densely than the typical California super high-density planting. While Boundary Bend’s groves will have fewer trees planted per acre, the overall yield of olive oil per acre will be similar because the trees will grow bigger. They’ll also be more droughttolerant.

The trees will be a mix of varietals rather than the Arbequina monocrop that’s typical in California. This will result in extra-virgin olive oils with outstanding shelf life, better health benefits and complex flavor profiles as well as lowering the risk of crop failure, McGavin said. A good Arbequina oil has a shelf life of 18 months if it’s stored properly, while other oils, such as the Coratina variety originating in southern Italy, can last on the shelf for up to three years because they contain more antioxidants. Those antioxidants are also credited with some of the health benefits of extra-virgin olive oils. “A mix of olives extends the harvest and offers different flavor profiles,” McGavin said.

Stretching out the harvest allows the olives to be picked at optimum ripeness and rushed to the mill for pressing within hours.

The precise timing of the harvest and the speed of that processing is important in the protection of the volatile components of the oils. What makes a good extra-virgin olive oil is the minor components and how fresh they are and how much is expressed in the oil to contribute to flavor as well as health benefits, according to McGavin. “We think it works well here [in Australia], and we think it’ll work well in the USA, and we’re really excited about coming over and bringing it to American consumers,” he said. “A really important part of our strategy is to introduce the varieties that we grow in Australia and our way of growing them – different varieties of olives that give greater complexity to the oil.”

“We’re all a bunch of farmers,” he added.

“Our company stands by farmers. We’re farmers, and today we own 2.5 million trees on our own land, and the reason we’re successful is that we love what we do and have a brilliant product.” GN

HOT PRODUCTS

GOURMET NEWS AUGUST 2015 www.gourmetnews.com

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Hot Products

New Percolator Teas from eSutras Organics Preserved Figs in Syrup New from Can Bech comes luscious figs preserved in a rich syrup for perfect pairing with foie gras and farm cheese or for adding a new dimension of flavor to salads. Serve with mascarpone or ice cream. A 10 -ounce jar retails for $9.99.

For more information, call info@wagshalsimports.com.

202.595.3505

or

email

eSutras Organics is introducing two new organic percolator teas to an already fantastic lineup. New varieties include High Chai Tea and Revive Tea. All eSutras Organics teas and tisanes are the company’s own specialty blend, small batch produced in Chicago, Illinois.

For more information, call eSutras Organics at 773.583.4850 or visit www.esutras.com

Hammond’s Candies Brittle Crisps Hammond’s Candies has taken a timeless recipe for peanut brittle and updated it with unique, delicious flavors in a new line of Brittle Crisps. Crunchy, sweet brittle, loaded with coconut, cayenne, jalapeno and maple syrup are just some of the flavors you will find in this new line. All display-ready cases will contain 12 resealable nine-ounce bags.

For more information, visit www.hammondscandies.com.

Heartland Gourmet Introduces New Summer Time Mixes – Both Gourmet and Gluten Free Heartland Gourmet’s new Funnel Cake Mixes, in both gourmet and gluten-free versions, bring a favorite fun fair treat into the home kitchen.

To get a complete listing, pricing, or find a distributor near you, call Heartland Gourmet at 402.423.1234 or email susan@heartlandgourmet.com.

Frontier Soups Homemade In Minutes Arizona Sunset Enchilada Soup Top-selling Arizona Sunset Enchilada Soup from Frontier Soups™ satisfies consumers’ taste for culinary adventure and easy preparation for family meals. Certified gluten free, with warm chili seasonings, the mix provides authentic Southwestern flavor. The colorful blend of golden non-GMO corn, beans and red peppers generates point-of-purchase appeal in 5.75-ounce clear packaging. Suggested retail price is $5.95.

For further information, call Frontier Soups at 800.300.SOUP (7687) or visit www.frontiersoups.com.

Wixon Dry Mixes and Seasonings Wixon is your source for non-GMO, organic, gluten-free, nutritional and functional dry mixes and seasonings. Wixon’s formulation expertise helps create great-tasting products that can serve as line extensions or brand platforms that meet the needs of nutrition-seeking consumers.

For more information, visit www.wixon.com.

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RETAILER NEWS

GOURMET NEWS AUGUST 2015 www.gourmetnews.com

Retailer News A Southern Season of Gustatory Pleasure

BY LORRIE BAUMANN

A visit to one of the Southern Season stores in Chapel Hill, North Carolina; Charleston, South Carolina; Richmond, Virginia; or Raleigh, North Carolina; isn’t just a grocery shopping trip; it’s something like a quest for the specialty foods, the wines or beers and the kitchen gadgets and skills in using them that can elevate dinner into a celebration of life. Also, it’s fun. The four-store chain will celebrate its 40th anniversary this fall, says President and COO Dave Herman.

He’s been running the operation for a little more than a year after a 35-year career as an executive for a variety of companies that make or sell high-end products, including a stint as Vice President of Retail for Lenox and one at DANSK. This is his first foray into specialty food retailing, and the only real downside is that he’s having to spend more time at the gym, he says.

Southern Season is often described as a culinary mecca or a food-lover’s paradise.

Three of the stores are each roughly 50,000 square feet displaying about 80,000 SKUs of specialty groceries, kitchenware, prepared foods and deli, floral, candy, coffee and tea, small electrics and tabletop items. There are 4,000 kitchen gadgets, 5,000 wines, more

than 1,000 craft beers and 500 cheeses. The smallest and newest store, located in the Cameron Village shopping center in Raleigh, is called A Taste of Southern Season, and the 3,000-square foot store offers a curated selection of specialty food, wine and beer, often to customers who’d been driving the 26 miles to the Chapel Hill store.

“Our customers cut across the spectrum. If we have a wine festival or we celebrate wine, we get a more mature audience. When we celebrated beer, the audience skewed a lot younger. Candy goes across the board,” says Herman. “The spectrum of customers is very wide. It depends on what that person’s individual passion is.... There are people who are very, very passionate about their cheese. There are people who are passionate only about blue cheese.”

Catering to those passions has made each of the three larger stores a destination for shoppers who bring their friends and come to hang out in the store for a few hours at a time, sampling tea or coffee or a locally-made barbecue sauce, indulging in an ice cream cone from the old-fashioned soda fountain, having lunch at the in-store restaurant, taking a class at the cooking school or planning an event with a menu supplied by each store’s special events coordinator “We give a lot of small vendors a chance to start.

It could be someone who was an investor on Wall Street and who decided to quit and make his grandmother’s jam,” Herman

says. “That’s when the magic happens – when people walk through the doors, and

they meet these vendors, and they learn the stories of these products.”

Providing that entertaining shopping experience for customers is one of the three legs of the triangle that make Southern Season what it is, according to Herman. The other two legs of the triangle are the stores’ dominant assortments of products and the customer service skills and passion of the stores’ sales associates.

The stores’ product assortment varies by location, with each of the three large stores incorporating 10,000 products made in its home state. Each department manager in those three stores has a say in exactly what the product assortment for his or her department will be, especially with respect to locally-made products. “Each department manager in each store has the ability to tailor the assortment and localize it. You’re trying to be a big company, but you never want to lose the fact that the department managers speak to people every day,” Herman says. “They want to do something; let them try it. Customers come in and ask for the department managers be-

cause they trust their opinions, but no one’s ever asked for me.”

Excellent customer service is a natural outcome of hiring sales associates who love the products and love to help customers, Herman says. “They come with a born passion for the product, and they probably learned to be nice from their parents. They get to share the products they love,” he says. “They come to us with a passion for cheese or a love of wine. I don’t think we can take a lot of credit for that..... We have a sales team that’s exceptionally passionate about what they sell.

They love these products, and I think that our levels of service, our passion comes across. They’re telling incredible stories behind these products. Our story is the stories: the stories of our sales associates, the stories of our vendors.” GN

Kroger Promotes Two Harris Teeter Executives Fred Morganthall, formerly President of Harris Teeter Supermarkets, has been named Senior Vice President of Retail Divisions for The Kroger Co. Rod Antolock, formerly Harris Teeter’s Executive Vice President, has been named President of Harris Teeter.

Morganthall, 63, has been president of Harris Teeter Supermarkets since 1997. He brings more than 37 years of grocery industry experience to his new role. He began his career in grocery retail in 1978 at Spartan Stores in Grand Rapids, Michigan, and joined Harris Teeter in 1986 as director of grocery merchandising, then went on to serve in several key leadership roles including Vice President of Merchandising, Vice President of Distribution, and Vice Presi-

dent of Operations, before taking his current role as President. Morganthall has also been an active leader in industry organizations, including the Food Marketing Institute.

“Fred is an exceptional leader who is respected throughout the industry,” said Mike Ellis, Kroger’s President and Chief Operating Officer. “We continue to learn a lot from Fred about building even stronger connections with our customers. We are delighted that he is taking on this broader role at Kroger.”

Rod Antolock, 56, began his retail career in 1978 with Albertsons, where he held a number of leadership roles before joining Harris Teeter in 2000. He has served in several executive positions, including Senior

Vice President of Operations, and Senior Vice President of Operations and Merchandising. He has been serving in his current role since 2012, where he is responsible for merchandising, operations, marketing, human resources, loss prevention, store development, quality assurance and distribution, as well as manufacturing.

“Rod’s leadership has contributed to Harris Teeter’s success for more than 15 years,” Ellis said. “He has been instrumental in developing Harris Teeter’s exceptional customer service and product quality. We look forward to his continued leadership in his new role.”

Kroger, one of the world’s largest retailers, employs nearly 400,000 associates who serve customers in 2,625 supermarkets and

multi-department stores in 34 states and the District of Columbia under two dozen local banner names including Kroger, City Market, Dillons, Food 4 Less, Fred Meyer, Fry’s, Harris Teeter, Jay C, King Soopers, QFC, Ralphs and Smith’s. The company also operates 782 convenience stores, 326 fine jewelry stores, 1,330 supermarket fuel centers and 37 food processing plants in the U.S. Harris Teeter Supermarkets, Inc., with headquarters in Matthews, North Carolina, is a wholly-owned subsidiary of The Kroger Co. The regional grocery chain employs approximately 28,000 associates and operates stores in North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia, Georgia, Maryland, Delaware, Florida and the District of Columbia. GN

SUPPLIER BUSINESS

GOURMET NEWS AUGUST 2015 www.gourmetnews.com

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Supplier Business BRIEFS Fermin and Wagshal’s Introduce Raw Chorizo to US After a decade of negotiation with the USDA and the Spanish government, raw chorizo made from Iberico pigs is now available in the US. Wagshal’s Imports, which has the largest portfolio of Iberico products in the US, is currently the exclusive importer of the Fermin brand chorizo. The subtly flavored sausage is flavored only with smoked paprika and garlic, and contains no nitrites or nitrates. Fermin’s chorizo is 100 percent Iberico. Mild seasoning and rich texture make the chorizo applicable in many different recipes, from hearty breakfasts to elegant fish dishes.

Tomato Fruit Preserves from Can Bech New Tomato Fruit Preserves from Can Bech are made with vineripened tomatoes from the Murcia region in Spain. The tomatoes reach Can Bech at their optimum maturity, allowing everyone to enjoy fresh, authentic Spanish taste throughout the year.

The product retails for $9.59 for 10 ounces.

For more information, call 202.595.3505 or email info@wagshalimports.com.

McCrea’s Candies: Sophisticated Flavors from Simple Ingredients

BY LORRIE BAUMANN

McCrea’s Candies is a small New England candy maker with a product line exclusively composed of high-quality caramels elegantly packaged for gift-giving. Founded almost five years ago by husband-and-wife team Jason and Kate McCrea, McCrea’s Candies are made without corn syrup or artificial colors, flavors or preservatives.

“Our flavors are done just like you’d do it in your own kitchen,” Jason says. “For ginger, we juice the root and add the juice to our candy. For our Single-malt Scotch flavor, we use real single-malt Scotch and pour that right into the batch.”

The McCreas were research biologists before they decided to start their candy company, and they use that scientific bent as they develop new flavors of their caramels today. “Understanding food chemistry helps enhance the flavors, and I use chemistry to understand how flavors come together and how to make nice balances.

That’s really what we do,” says Jason. The McCreas currently offer 14 flavors, including Irish Coffee, Cafe Noir, Dark Roasted

Eggland’s Best fans across the country entered the Eggland’s Best “2015 CEO Search” Contest and Eggland’s Best has announced which three candidates are just one step away from receiving the honorary title of “Chief Egg Officer.” Eggland’s Best asked consumers to vote for a winner on its website. The 2015 Eggland’s Best “CEO” will be revealed on September 15, 2015. The Grand Prize winner will receive the honorary title of “Chief Egg Officer,” a $5,000 cash prize, a nutrition consultation with the world-renowned registered dietitians Lyssie Lakatos and Tammy Lakatos Shames (The Nutrition Twins), and a year’s supply of Eggland’s Best eggs. The two runners-up will each receive a $500 cash prize and a six month supply of Eggland’s Best eggs.

Morton Salt Expands Specialty Salt Portfolio Morton Salt has expanded its specialty salt portfolio by introducing Morton® PureSun™ Culinary Crystals, a new food grade solar salt naturally harvested from the waters of the Great Salt Lake. Morton PureSun Culinary Crystals meet FCC purity requirements and were developed for use in a variety of food processing applications including soups, sauces and snacks.

This is the first food grade product developed at Morton’s solar salt production facility in Grantsville, Utah. Morton expanded its technical capabilities at the facility this year to enable food grade salt production, which is expected to begin in the third quarter of 2015.

what they want. They’ll tell you the truth; ‘I like this; I don’t like that.’”

“We thought that was very interesting,” he continues. “We never had been going to gift shows – we had been going to food shows, but we decided to listen to our consumers and what they want to have and how we can accommodate them.”

As a result of those conversations the McCrea’s recently redesigned their packaging to focus less on the candy’s allnatural simplicity and more on its sophisticated flavors and high quality – without changing the recipes for the candy inside the packages. The product line’s packaging now includes two sizes of cylindrical sleeves plus a new-to-the line pillow box and a large party box that’s popular with customers who take them to dinner parties instead of a bottle of wine or present them as corporate gifts.

For more information, visit www .mccreascandies.com. GN

Sunburst Trout Farm Offers Gourmet Aquaculture

BY MICAH CHEEK

Eggland’s Best Reveals Contest Finalists

Mocha, Ginger Fusion, Rosemary Truffle Sea Salt, Highland Scotch and Tapped Maple.

McCrea’s Candies are now elegantly packaged for the gift trade after the McCreas learned from their customers that they loved the candies so much that they wanted to share them with their friends, so they were buying them as housewarming and hostess gifts, to send to children away at college or to present to dads on Fathers Day. “We do a lot of farmer’s markets around here, and customers would tell us,” Jason says. “They’d say, ‘I bought three sleeves and we ate them all, but I’d meant to give them to my son when he comes home from school, so now I need more.’ There’s no substitute for being out and talking to customers and listening to them telling you

To the northeast of Lake Logan in North Carolina, rainbow trout live in luxury. The lake water courses through Sunburst Trout Farm at 6,000 gallons per minute, creating the ideal current for the fish to swim against. Rainbow trout are exercised by the current, forming large and healthy muscle structures. The lake is fed by a river coming out of the Shining Rock National Wilderness in the Pigsah National Forest, free from industrial runoff or waste. Trout eat an all-natural and hormone free diet that includes antaxanthin made from phaffia yeast, resulting in fillets colored a rosy red with no synthetic dyes. These robust, flavorful and wholesome fish are the end result of 65 years of trial and innovation.

Wes Eason, Director of Sales at Sunburst Trout Farms, is part of the third generation of family working at the trout

farm just outside of Canton. Originally named the Jennings Trout Farm, the company was founded in 1948 by Dick Jennings, Jr. Today, his grandson, along with his brother, his family and 25 employees, produce 10,000 pounds of trout fillets every week. This is a relatively small amount compared to other fish farms, but the focus at Sunburst is on quality. After growing in the fresh water with their natural feed, the trout are killed, cleaned and chilled within an hour of harvest. Then they’re shipped overnight to restaurant and grocery customers, so trout can be swimming on a Monday morning and on a restaurant menu Tuesday night.”

Sunburst’s fillets are sold fresh as well as hot smoked over hickory wood. An on-site cold smoker flavors the company’s smoked caviar, trout jerky and smoked tomato jam.

“We use hickory because it’s indigenous to the Southeast. It’s what people traditionally use for barbecue,” Eason says. “It’s not the most widely used for fish. Hickory has a stronger flavor, but there’s a lighter smoke on the product.”

Farmed fish are gaining popularity in the market despite that misinformation that has confused consumers, according to Eason. “There are a lot of rumors that simply aren’t true,” he says. “They think that it isn’t a good feed conversion, but the conversions are amazing. For every pound of feed, you get a pound of growth.” Eason has begun to see practices in the industry start to fall more in line with more natural raising styles. Synthetic antaxanthin and hormone-treated feed are losing favor. “I don’t think it’s as common as it used to be,” says Eason. “More people feel better about doing it the natural way.” GN

Kedem Foods Recognized by Whole Foods Kedem Foods of Bayonne, New Jersey, also known as KAYCO, has been named by Whole Foods Market as winner in the Outstanding Innovation category of its 2015 Supplier Awards.

With its annual Supplier Awards, Whole Foods Market recognizes and celebrates the company’s supplier partners who best embody its mission and core values. Kedem’s recognition for Outstanding Innovation is one among 15 award categories named by Whole Foods Market.

Other categories include: Environmental Stewardship, Dedication to Responsible Sourcing and Product with a Purpose. According to Harold Weiss, Executive Vice President of Sales, “Kedem Foods is especially proud to receive this honor from Whole Foods Market, which is widely known for its broad array of offerings, all meeting the highest food quality standards as well as top-notch customer service in the grocery retail industry. We very much look forward to a long relationship that contin-

ues to support Whole Foods Market mission and its customers’ needs. “ “We ask a lot of our suppliers and they go to great lengths to deliver the highest quality products possible from sources we can trust,” said Jim Speirs, Global Vice President of Procurement, Non-perishables. “This year’s Supplier Award winners represent the very best in our industry.

We’re grateful for their drive, true partnership and commitment to growing their business with Whole Foods Market.” GN

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SUPPLIER BUSINESS

GOURMET NEWS AUGUST 2015 www.gourmetnews.com

Matt Anderson Named CEO of Frontier Soups Matt Anderson has been named CEO of Frontier Soups™, bringing a second generation into management of the company, which has produced gourmet soup mixes since 1986, according to company founder Trisha Anderson, who will remain in the role of President.

Matt, who is Trisha Anderson’s son, has immersed himself in company operations for the past year and now has assumed responsibility for business operations, including financial oversight, strategic planning, sales, and production. Trisha will retain responsibility for product development and marketing, she said. Both of them will be at the 2015 Summer Fancy Food

Show, Booth 4121, to continue Matt’s introduction to customers and others within the specialty food industry.

“Matt has been on a fast track for the past year learning all aspects of our business, and it’s now time for our continued growth and development to be a function of the strength and initiative the younger generation represents,” Trisha said. “Matt and Frontier Soups literally grew up together.

I’m thrilled with the business and financial expertise he brings to the company and that this business, which I started at home while my children were young, is now transitioning to a second generation of our family.”

Matt has 15 years of experience in the financial services industry. He began his career in 1999 at Lehman Brothers and then joined Goldman Sachs in 2010, where he worked until joining Frontier Soups last July. “Working for these firms taught me the importance of developing my relationships with both my clients and my team,” he said. “I’m looking forward to meeting more of our customers and to continue developing the outstanding workplace that my mom has built at Frontier Soups. I’m also excited about taking on management of a growing business and moving it into its next phase of development.”

Frontier Soups produces 36 non-GMO soup mixes accommodating a variety of consumer tastes and dietary needs. No salt is added, and the mixes contain no preservatives, artificial ingredients or MSG. The company, which has two lines of soup mixes, now offers 13 vegetarian options and 30 of its soups are gluten free. The Homemade-InMinutes line of quicker-cooking soup mixes serves four to five, and the Hearty Meals™ line serves from eight to 10.

More information is available at www.frontiersoups.com or by calling 800.300.7687. GN

Annie’s, Inc. President Honored for Entrepreneurship Annie’s, Inc. President John Foraker was named the EY Entrepreneur Of The Year® 2015 in the Retail and Consumer Products category in northern California. The award recognizes outstanding entrepreneurs who demonstrate excellence and extraordinary success in such areas as innovation, financial performance, and personal commitment to their businesses and communities. Foraker was selected by an independent panel of judges, and the award was presented at a special gala event at the Fairmont, San Francisco on June 11.

“This award is a tremendous honor to

me, my family and the entire Annie’s team,” said Foraker. “Annie’s’ success lies in the decision to do business differently.

From our sustainable business practices to offering consumer products made with the best ingredients nature has to offer, we are committed to doing well by doing good.”

Foraker came to Annie’s in 1998, when the company’s only offering was macaroni and cheese. His vision was to extend the loved brand into additional categories beyond pasta and to build real depth and leadership into the company’s sustainability and corporate social responsibility ef-

forts. Today, Annie’s offers a robust product portfolio with a variety of offerings in categories like snacks, meals, frozen, condiments, dressings and more. Annie’s corporate culture remains strong as a leading purpose-driven brand in the industry.

After taking Annie’s public on the New York Stock Exchange in 2012, Foraker built the company to $200 million in revenues.

In October 2014, General Mills acquired Annie’s in an all cash transaction for $820 million. Foraker remains Annie’s President and continues to leverage this partnership to strengthen product distribution and

make organic and natural products more accessible to consumers.

As a northern California award winner, Foraker is now eligible for consideration for the Entrepreneur Of The Year 2015 national program. Award winners in several national categories, as well as the Entrepreneur Of The Year National Overall Award winner, will be announced at the annual awards gala in Palm Springs, California, on November 14, 2015. The awards are the culminating event of the EY Strategic Growth Forum®, a gathering of high-growth, market-leading companies. GN

Bornier Wholegrain French Mustard Wins Gold at International Mustard Competition Bornier Wholegrain Mustard, has won the Gold Medal for best whole grain mustard at the 2015 World-Wide Mustard Competition. Made by Europeenne de Condiments in Couchey, France, the classic old-style Grained Dijon mustard has added yet another medal to its already impressive record of world-class mustards. In 2014, Bornier’s smooth Dijon took home not only the Gold Medal in its category but was named the 2014 Grand Champion award as well.

Held under the direction of the National Mustard Museum in Middleton, Wiscon-

sin, the 2015 World-Wide Mustard Competition drew hundreds of entries in 17 flavor categories. Judges tasted the mustards “blind,” not knowing if they were tasting international brands or small boutique mustards.

According to Barry Levenson, Curator of the National Mustard Museum and Competition Coordinator, Bornier’s Wholegrain Mustard is exactly what food lovers expect of a course grained mustard. “It combines the classic Dijon nose hit with the perfect texture – coarse but not gritty. There is also

a certain nuttiness that set it apart from all other grainy mustards.

Bornier mustards go back nearly two centuries, as the brand, founded in 1816, originated as the creation of master French mustard maker (“moutardier”) Denis Bornier. The factory is located in Couchey, only a few kilometers from the city limits of Dijon.

Whole seed and whole grain mustards may be old-fashioned but they have experienced a major resurgence in recent years as chefs and food lovers have come to ap-

preciate the complexity and versatility that these mustards deliver. According to Levenson, their flavor profile makes them an excellent alternative to butter and sour cream as a potato topping. “A dollop of Bornier Wholegrain Mustard is all that any potato could ever want!” he said. With only five calories per serving (one teaspoon) and fat free, Dijon mustards, smooth and grainy, are healthy components to any eating plan.

For more information, contact Joel Cortes, joel.cortes@nassaucandy.com 516.433.7100. GN

KeHE Holiday Show Wins Fastest-Growing Show Award

Carl Brandt Inc. Debuts La Chocolatier de Provence Chocolate Bars

KeHE Distributors hosted its annual Holiday & Product Innovation Show in June at McCormick Place in Chicago, Illinois. The two-day event brought together more than 4,500 retailers and suppliers focused on products for the upcoming holiday season.

New, emerging, and familiar must-have items were on exhibit throughout the show floor.

“Our retailer and supplier partners rely on our guidance on products that will perform well during the upcoming holiday season,” stated Brandon Barnholt, President and CEO of KeHE Distributors.

“We believe it is critical that We Make On

Carl Brandt Inc. launches an Impressive line, La Chocolatier de Provence chocolate bars with perfectly smooth texture and rich flavor. The chocolatier’s modern, high tech factory in Marseille, France, for 60 years, has the unique ability to produce chocolate tablets (3.5 ounces) from bean to bar – controlling every step of the process. A wide range of choices features five delicious Classic chocolate bars ($2.99) in appealing paper wraps and six Gourmet selections in

Trend Easy™ for them. The passion and enthusiasm from emerging brands, as well as from more established brands is unmistakable at the KeHE Holiday Show.”

The KeHE Holiday & Product Innovation Show has seen double-digit attendance growth and doubled sales over the past several years. Trade Show News Network has awarded KeHE with the prestigious, “Top 25 Fastest-growing Shows.” It is the only food-related trade show to garner this distinction.

The KeHE Holiday Show is a private, by invitation-only, industry event. GN

upscale box packaging ($3.99). Exceptional Classic Chocolate Bars: Milk, 52 percent Dark Chocolate, White, Milk and Dark Crispy Rice Chocolate. The sumptuous Gourmet chocolate bar collection consists of White and Milk Chocolate, 64 percent Dark Chocolate, 52 percent Dark Chocolate Orange and 52percent Dark Chocolate Pomegranate, plus tantalizing White Chocolate Coconut. La Chocolatier de Provence – a total taste sensation. GN

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NATURALLY HEALTHY

GOURMET NEWS AUGUST 2015 www.gourmetnews.com

Naturally Healthy The Italian Sauces for Consumers Who Don’t Trust Processed Foods

BY LORRIE BAUMANN

The federal Food and Drug Administration has announced that it proposes to require that nutrition fact labels on packaged foods include a declaration of added sugars “to provide consumers with information that is necessary to meet the dietary recommendation to reduce caloric intake from solid fats and added sugars,” according to the agency’s announcement published in the Federal Register in March, 2014. If and when that proposal becomes a federal requirement, the labels on Uncle Steve’s Italian sauces will report that the sauces contain the same amount of added sugars they always have – zero.

The recipes for the sauces came from Steve Schirrippa, actor, author and creator of the sauces, who’s better known as his character, Bobby Baccalieri on the hit television show “The Sopranos.” He got the recipe from his mother, who has since passed away, Scarpinito says. “Steve wanted to pay a tribute to his mother. Abundant

home cooked Sunday family meals were very important to her. Steve honored her by producing products he got from her recipes to keep the Sunday tradition alive.”

None of the three varieties of Uncle Steve’s sauces: Marinara, Tomato with Basil and Arrabiata, contain any added sugar, a common ingredient in other prepared pasta sauces. They also contain no GMOs or gluten, and they’re organic. That’s at the insistence of Schirripa’s wife Laura, who’s a marathon runner conscious of healthy eating and who told her husband that if he wanted to make and sell tomato sauce, he needed to be sure that it would be good for people as well as enjoyable, says Uncle Steve’s Italian Specialties Chief Operating Officer Joseph Scarpinito, Jr.:”If you were to line up all of the popular tomato sauces and then remove the ones with pesticides, tomato paste, puree, and added sweetener, you’d be left with only one—Uncle Steve’s.”

“Uncle Steve’s is simmered on our stove

for six hours. The only sugar in our sauce comes from organic tomatoes imported from Italy and organic onions. Quality is of the utmost important to us,” he added.

The sauces were launched just last year on the company’s website and quickly picked up by Whole Foods Northeast. Other markets along the East Coast followed.

This year, Scarpinito is concentrating on expanding distribution of the sauces to the Southeast, Southwest and West Coast.

“That expansion has already started – the sauce has been picked up by the Albertson’s Boise division and by Gelson’s in Los Angeles,” he said. “The sauce is also available from several distributors servicing large independent retailers.”

New products are also under development, including olive oil, pasta and other flavored pasta sauces. Scarpinito is naturally a little coy about pinning them down with any more detail than that, but he did offer a hint: we can expect to see an Uncle

Steve’s vodka sauce early next year.

Once the FDA’s proposal is finalized, the FDA wants to give the food industry two years to switch to the new labels. In addition to requiring a declaration for added sugars, the FDA is also proposing a new format for the label that would make calories, serving sizes, and percent daily value figures more prominent. Serving sizes would be changed to reflect the amounts reasonably consumed in one eating occasion. “People are generally eating more today than 20 years ago, so some of the current serving sizes, and the amount of calories and nutrients that go with them, are out of date,” according to the FDA. GN

The New Super-Trendy Vegetable: Beets

BY RICHARD THOMPSON

Beets are getting a whole new look this year, emphasizing their nutritional benefits while being featured in products that appeals to shifting consumer tastes. Similar to the way kale appealed to consumers last year, beets are being marketed as the new super trendy vegetable, grabbing the attention of food retailers and restaurateurs who are selling more items with beets in them than in previous years. Beet products are becoming so popular that this year’s list of sofi Award finalists include two different beet products that were up for three different awards between them.

The past five years have seen beets become more common place as people are more educated about them, says Natasha Shapiro of

LoveBeets, known for their popular beet-featured product lines. Adding to the 20 percent increase in distributorship they have seen in the last year is their variety of beet juices and line of beet bars. The Love Beets health bars are coming in Beet & Apple, Beet & Cherry and Beet & Blueberry with all three made gluten-free and with clean ingredients. “We are making beets more fun, accessible and upbeat,” said Shapiro, “We’re modernizing the idea of beets.”

Blue Hill Yogurt, whose Beet Yogurt is a sofi finalist, combined the earthy sweetness of beets with the acidic tangyness of yogurt for a natural and unique trend that could push people looking for something new in milk products. Amped with raspberries and vinegar to maximize the natural earthy

sweetness of the beet, Blue Hill wants people to think outside of what is normally thought of with beets and yogurt. “This is a savory yogurt that offers some sweetness, but not fruit-like sweetness. It’s a great afternoon yogurt,” said David Barber, President of Blue Hill.

Beetroot Rasam Soup from Cafe Spices, another finalist for the sofi Award, is competing in two categories, New Products and as a Soup, Stew, Bean or Chili Product. The colorful soup that pairs roasted beets pureed into a tomato base with tamarind, garlic, chiles and mustard seeds is an inspiration from the company’s culinary director and chef Hari Nayak.

Featuring naturally occurring nitrates that help extend exercise performance, fit-

ness communities have long embraced the healthy benefits of beets. Coupled with social media and a general health conscious mindset in consumers, appreciation of beets has spider-webbed through mainstream markets, according to Shapiro. “Its the one vegetable people feel strongly about, Shapiro said, “At events, people just want to share their experiences about beets.”

Adam Kaye, Vice President of Culinary Affairs for Blue Hill, who worked with Dan Barber on their sofi nominated Beet Yogurt, goes one step further. Kaye has seen the appreciation of beets growing beyond it being a fancy potato and finds the whole vegetable incredible. “There is something about the beet that straddles the savory and the sweet,” said Kaye, “You can taste the earth in beets.” GN

Gaea Launches New Olive Oil and Olive Pack Line Gaea has unveiled its new rebranded olive oil and olive snack pack collection. This exclusive line of extra virgin olive oils and onthe-go snack packs were crafted to allow the everyday home cook to take part in authentic Mediterranean cuisine.

Gaea’s line of extra virgin olive oils include: Kalamata Extra Virgin Olive Oil (peppery notes, rich in antioxidants), Sitia Crete Extra Virgin Olive Oil (intense fruitiness with distinctive varietal character), Greek Extra Virgin Olive Oil (subtle fruity flavor, an excellent choice for cooking) and Premium Organic Extra Virgin Olive Oil (fresh and fruity, wonderful for dressing

salads and vegetables). Gaea is now introducing Gaea Fresh Extra Virgin Olive Oil. With an award-winning quality and taste, this oil has a flavor profile consisting of green herbs with undertones of tropical ripe fruit. To preserve the freshness, Gaea has replaced oxygen in all tanks with nitrogen, thus preventing olive oil oxidation.

Painting the bottles black is another way Gaea aims to preserve the freshness, by keeping light, heat, and oxygen out and flavor locked in. Each bottle will have a harvest date printed on the label to inform consumers of when the olives were harvested and bottled.

Additional new products in the collection include Sparta Extra Virgin Olive Oil (sweet and fruity notes) and the Aromatic Extra Virgin Olive Oil Collection, which includes a dash of three new fresh flavors: Lemon, Basil, and Garlic. Additionally, new resalable, low-calorie Olive Snack Packs are available in the following varieties: Marinated with Chili and Black Pepper, Marinated with Lemon and Oregano, and Kalamata 100% Natural and Sun Ripened. All of Gaea’s products are 100 percent Greek-origin, and each product is traceable to the farm where the olives were grown.

“We believe olive oil should be approached like wine; as there is a wine for every occasion, there is an olive oil for every dish. The rebranding of our extra-virgin olive oils showcases the simplicity of what Gaea represents by focusing on specific Greek regions,” said David Neuman, CEO of Gaea North America. “Gaea ingredients from Greece are fresh and authentic, which provides our customers with the highest quality of products. With the addition of new flavors, customers can taste the specific regions of Greece where the olives are grown, giving each product its own unique flavor.” GN

Marich Confectionery

Stonewall Kitchen

White Coffee

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SEE PAGE 26

SEE PAGE 28

SUPPLEMENT TO

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GOURMET NEWS

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Summer Fancy Foodwrap-up Show

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GOURMET NEWS AUGUST 2015 www.gourmetnews.com

Selling Pickles, Seeing Smiles – and a Silver sofi

BY LORRIE BAUMANN

Kendra Coggin and Baron Conway were looking to do more with their lives than answer to their corporate bosses in 2013, so they started making pickles. Just two years later, and just six months after the pair attended their first Fancy Food Show, their Pernicious Pickling Company’s Ginger & Spice Pickled Carrots were among the finalists for a sofi Award. “It’s what we wanted, but we never expected it would happen,” Conway says. “We were very, very surprised.”

In 2012, Coggin was a graphic designer, sitting at a computer all day and creating digital marketing materials for exciting entrepreneurs. Conway was working in advertising and marketing too, but his area of expertise is in business development and strategy. Both of them were infected by the ideas and energy of their clients, and they started thinking about going into business for themselves. They wanted something that would be creative, that would allow them to control their own destiny and that they could feel passionate about. “We wanted something where you don’t mind working 60 or 80 hours a week to create something that impacts people in an interesting way,” Conway says. “It’s about the food they love and the joy they get.”

They’re both food lovers, and, for both of them, pickles were part of their family history. “My family has always had a very strong relationship with pickles, particularly savory, while Kendra was more familiar with the sweet hot flavors of the South,” Conway says. “At some point, we looked around and saw that there were no artisanal pickle companies in southern California.”

Fancy Food Show Continued from PAGE 1 flavors from Bourbon Salted Pecan and Oatmeal Raisin Cookie to Sweet Potato and Peach Cobbler. These non-GMO, vegan friendly and dairy free batter mixes are meant to be enjoyed by everyone, says Barrett.

Alongside the company’s ShortStack batter mixes were Southern Culture Artisan Foods Cajun Bacon Rubs in three different flavors, adding a zing to a breakfast meat favorite. Available in Original, Bourbon Pecan Praline and Sweet & Spicy, these rubs enhance not only bacon, but any meat.

The company’s 2015 sofi-nominated Garlic and Herb Stone Ground Grits captivated attendees with its flavoring that could complement everything from shrimp to bacon and eggs. “I started the company for one reason: to reinvent breakfast and for retailers to reinvent it too,” Barrett said.

Another up-and-coming company is reinventing the frozen pop with its line of healthy summer treats. Paleo Passion Pops, sweetened with all-natural fructose, doesn’t quibble about being a really healthy and delicious dessert for those who have an active lifestyle or those just looking for a dessert they can feel good about.

Kayla Cord, Administration and Marketing Manager of Paleo Passion Pops, said that the company’s founder invented these

The two started making pickles and serving them to their friends, who were enthusiastic, so they decided to do some research into what it would take to start a pickling company. A year of work went into the business plan and the licensing that was necessary before they could sell their product. “California has very strict rules about shelf-stable pickling. You have to have a cannery license, commercial kitchen, regular inspections from the California Food & Drug Bureau and keep meticulous production records. All of these things are required to sell, whether it’s in a Whole Foods Market, a mom and pop grocery, or at a farmers market,” Coggin says. “Even the recipes have to be submitted to the state for approval, along with samples for pH testing. It took us close to a year to get everything together. Then once you’ve received your cannery license and begin production, you have almost monthly inspections from the FDB to test your product and confirm records. This experience is certainly a far cry from the home canning we did growing up.”

All those complications could help explain why there are not many people making and selling shelf-stable pickles in Southern California, even though there’s a lot of excitement in the market about pickling, she muses. The two of them launched their business in October, 2013 with 10 products. Yes, 10.

“Out of the gate, we had these 10 products, and we decided, the hell with it, we’ll just launch with all 10 of them,” Conway says. “We saw an opportunity, a gap in the market, and we decided to jump in and see if we could take advantage of it.”

The 10 products include the Pickled Carrots that got the silver sofi Award, Fashionably Dill Pickled Red Beets, Sweet Hurry Curry Pickled Cauliflower, Sweet ‘n Sour Pickled Red Onions, Lean ‘N Mean Pickled Beans, Sweet Mustard Bread & Butter Pickles, three kinds of dill pickles and Pucker Up Hotties Sour Garlic Pickles. Of the 10

varieties, the Fashionably Dill Pickled Red Beets and Lean ‘N Mean Pickled Beans are actually the company’s best sellers, so it was a little surprising that it was the Ginger & Spice Pickled Carrots that caught the attention of the sofi Award judges. “The carrots are kind of this underdog, so it really surprised us,” Coggin says. “Inspired by the rich cultural diversity here in Southern California, we wanted to take the classic spicy mix of carrots, onions, and jalapeños you receive at Mexican restaurants, and add an Asian flair by making them with rice vinegar, to have a more mellow vinegary flavor, crushed red pepper, ginger, Thai chile.

When you bite into the carrot, you get the sweetness of the carrot and the ginger, followed soon afterwards by a tinge of heat.”

“With all of our pickles, we try very hard to create a balanced, layered flavor profile,” Conway adds. “So it complements and extends the food it’s paired with.”

If the Pickled Carrots bring home the sofi Award, that will move the couple a little further ahead on their three-year business plan, and they’re already figuring out how they can scale up their operation and expand their product line.

“We decided that the philosophy has to be go big or go home,” Conway says. “We’re becoming a little more ambitious about our goals and what we want to do.”

While they wait to see what happens at the Summer Fancy Food Show, they’re both taking joy in what their business is bringing to others as well as themselves. “People love pickles.

There is this force that draws people to us when they see we have pickles,” Coggin says. “It crosses all ages and genders. Little kids come up and want the spiciest pickles, or they want to try the pickled beet because it’s bright pink.”

“Pickle people are happy people,” Conway adds. “When folks eat pickles, they have a smile on their face… They want to share memories about pickling with their grandmother or a favorite pickle dish experienced abroad – we’ve received more than one old family recipe in the mail. It’s really quite emotional at times, and it’s been an unexpected joy to see. We started Pernicious wanting to create pickles that people would love to eat, yet we didn’t quite expect the happiness, nostalgia, and community pickles would bring to us.” GN

pops out of concern about the amount of added sugars in the American food supply.

This led to a dessert line whose flavors include Orange Mango, Pineapple Ginger, Blueberry Pomegranate, Apple Crisp, Green Passion, Chocolate Passion and Strawberry Passion.

Each of these options can be considered super food as they are made with flax seeds, ginger, kale and green tea. They are allergy safe and made in a nut-free facility. While these are popular with fitness groups, says Cord, “We’re looking for everyone!”

Java To Go is a brand that offers exceptional coffee that tells the story of the lives of travelers, according to President and Founder Shaheed Momin. “We want to see where coffee is coming from and where coffee is going,” he says. “We want to reinvent the coffee experience.” The company is focusing on the fast paced lifestyle of Millenials and their social networking habits.

Along with traditional flavors like Original and Colombian, Java To Go also has Salted Caramel and Southern Pecan and seasonal offerings like Cookie Doodle and Pumpkin Spice. Each is an organic blend that follows fair trade standards and is high quality, according to Momin.

This brand of gourmet coffee is offered in various packages for different drinking habits. Coffee cans that come in 11 ounces and 32 ounces, single serve K-cups, and traditional stand-up bags with both whole and ground beans are available. Momin is most excited about his single serving coffee

sticks that promote a lifestyle of adventure.

“This coffee represents a love of travel,” he said.

Backyard Safari Company is breaking from tradition with its seasoning products.

This four year-old company’s uniquely packaged “Dinner Tonight!” seasonings are aimed at making dinners an easy one-step process without sacrificing taste. Seasoning options include Burger Seasoning, Southwestern Chipotle & Lime Fajitas Seasoning, Salmon with Angle Hair Pasta Seasoning and the sofi-nominated White Bean Chili Seasoning. Each package has a suggested retail price of $3.95, serves between four to eight people and makes a complete meal in under 30 minutes.

Matchbox Backyard Grilling Spices come in matchbox-inspired containers that hold 2.6 ounces of seasoning. Made for backyard grilling without the fuss, each flavor is meant to “Start a Fire in the Backyard.” The line includes a Lemon Zest & Garlic Chicken Rub, Sweet & Savory Rib Rub, Seafood Grilling Herbs Rub, Peppered Garlic Steak & Burger Rub, and for a spicy vegetable kick, the Sweet Chipotle Grilled Corn Rub. Kids can learn about fresh seasonings and how to grow them with Sunny Side-Up Garden Kits, also offered by Matchbox Backyard Grilling Spices. In six different varieties, each egg carton package contains soil, seeds and instructions. Kids will be able to grow green beans, summer squash and sweet baby carrots in the Little Fresh

Veggie Garden, while the Little Goodnight Garden introduces kids to Evening Primrose, White Purity Cosmos and Evening Scented Stock. Each carton has a suggested retail price of $11.95.

Simply Gum uses a chicle base with no artificial sweeteners and is the only brand in the United States that uses 100 percent natural ingredients. Caron Proschan, Simply Gum CEO, says that the American consumer palate is more sophisticated than is normally granted and that the subtle flavor in each piece will be appreciated. Simply Gum flavors include Ginger, Maple, Fennel Licorice, Mint, Cinnamon and Coffee. Simply Gum products are available in five Whole Foods Stores in the New York area and Sprouts nationwide.

Ft. Greene Farms produces small batch relishes and hot sauces that have already been nominated in the Martha Stewart “Made in America” Jar Goods Category for the company’s whole line. The company’s flagship relish is made with champagne vinegar, yellow mustard seeds, sugar and water for a relaxed mustard flavor. Red Pepper Relish adds a little extra kick to that mustard seed base with red bell peppers, Scotch bonnet peppers, light brown sugar and red onions.

In the hot sauce category, Ft. Green Farms’ Charred Sriracha Hot Sauce is made with Fresno chili, lime juice, shallots, rice wine vinegar, garlic and sea salt. This hot sauce brings a fiery little kick that isn’t too hot for those who enjoy spicy foods. GN

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GOURMET NEWS AUGUST 2015 www.gourmetnews.com

Marich Confectionery Popcorn Trea Marich has just introduced Chocolate Sea Salt Caramel Popcorn in a stand up resealable pouch. Current flavors available are 4.75 ounce Milk Chocolate Sea Salt Caramel Popcorn and 4.75 ounce Dark Chocolate Sea Salt Caramel Popcorn with a suggested retail price of $4.50 - $4.99.

The caramel popcorn line is also available in their 1.76-ounce single serves with a suggested retail price of $2.25 - $2.50.

While mass popcorn products have been on the decline, sales of premium ready-to-eat popcorn products have been popping, with growth exceeding 25 percent over the last 12 months nearing

$1 billion in total retail sales across all channels. Within that sheer volume, consumers have proven to be very open to exploring unique flavors and approaches to what popcorn can be as a snack product. Specialty brands with premium ingredients and creative flavors and styles are commanding a significant portion of this expanding category; one glance up and down the aisles of the Summer Fancy Food Show at the end of June demonstrated the power of creativity being applied to a snack food ripe for innovation.

Marich’s Milk Chocolate Sea Salt

Caramel Popcorn begins with crispy popcorn and then delicate crunchy caramel, a hint of sea salt, all finished with a layer of creamy milk chocolate.

For those who lean toward the dark side, the dark chocolate version is rich and well balanced.

Caramel popcorn is already an irresistible, mouthwatering, snack that consumers clearly have an appetite for, and Marich goes one step further by adding the sweet savory combination of premium chocolate. Both flavors are packaged in eye-catching 4.75-ounce resealable

pouch and 1.76-ounce single serve size. With tiered packaging sizes from introductory single serves and a to-share size, the item is designed for everyday purchase as well as impulse buys.

Great for a movie night in, game time, sweet and savory snacking, gift for a friend, gift basket, sharable treat or an unsharable indulgence all for yourself. You name it, it fits.

For more information about Marich and its entire line or premium chocolates and confections, call 800.624.7055, go online to www.marich.com or send an email to sales@marich.com.

New Product Lines from Made in Nature

Gourmet Salts from eSutras Organics

Made In Nature launched three new organic lines at the Summer Fancy Foods Show.

Made In Nature’s Organic Toasted Coconut Chips are made from the thick, fiber rich slices with no refined sugar. Flavors include Maple Madagascar Vanilla, Italian Espresso, Vietnamese Cinnamon Swirl, Ginger Masala Chai and Mexican Spiced Cacao. Suggested retail price for 3-ounce packages is $3.99.

In addition, the new Organic Fruit and Nut Fusions are culinary sensations, featuring fruit-forward flavor with organic

Gourmet enhanced organic salts are one of the specialties at Chicago based eSutras Organics. They come in a whole array of flavors and colors. The range is created from premium quality, raw and primarily organic ingredients.

Varieties include Green Tea Mint Salt, Curry Chili salt, and Lime Ginger Salt. Combining premium quality and healthy ingredients without compromising flavor, their wonderful taste earns them a reputation far beyond conventional products found in standard grocery stores.

nuts, seeds and spices. Flavors include Cinnamon Citrus, Maple Balsamic, Rosemary Harissa and Spiced Pomegranate. Suggested retail price for 5-ounce packages is $5.99.

And finally, the Organic Dried “Berries N’ Cherries” superfood line adds an exciting twist to the Made In Nature core organic line. Varieties include Organic Mediterranean Tart Cherries, Organic Tart Cherries and Sultana Blend, Organic Goji Berries, Organic Goldenberries and Organic Mulberries. Suggested retail prices range from $3.99 to $6.99.

For more information, visit www.madeinnature.com.

With up to three years shelf life, all of eSutras Organics’ tasty mixes are free from additives, artificial flavorings, synthetic preservatives as well as wheat and gluten.

Your customers will love the delicious flavors, great packaging and attractive pricing. All are small batch produced in the USA, and you can’t really beat that.

Available in retail, wholesale or food service sizes at bargain prices. Visit www.esutras.com or call 773.583.4850.

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GOURMET NEWS AUGUST 2015 www.gourmetnews.com

The World’s Only Gruyère AOP, 900 years in the Making In 1115 AD, a cheese was discovered in western Switzerland in a beautiful region with rolling fields, scenic mountains, and a majestic castle. This place, called Gruyères, located in the canton of Gribourg, Switzerland, is the origin of Le Gruyère AOP. Over 900 years ago, Count Guillaume of Gruyère addressed a charter to the Rougemont monastery defining the monastery’s duties in terms of cheese production and specifics.

For Gruyère, the AOP guarantees the authenticity that its products are manufactured the traditional way. Gruyère AOP is one of a kind, and it is the only cheese that

can be called Gruyère AOP Switzerland.

It’s made from the raw milk of cows sustained in the same local fields, hand-made in 170 small batches with the same recipe since 1115 AD, then slow-aged in local cellars and caves.

Le Gruyère AOP is 100 percent natural, 100 percent additive free, and naturally free of lactose and gluten. Gruyère AOP is the perfect complement to your cuisine.

For a smooth and mild yet extremely satisfying taste, Le Gruyère AOP Classic is aged a minimum of five months. Le Gruyère AOP Reserve, which has been aged for 10 months or more, has a smooth

Dilettante Chocolates from Seattle Gourmet Foods Seattle Gourmet Foods is a food manufacturer based out of Kent, Washington.

Growing both organically and through acquisition, today it is comprised of 11 different brands found in retailers around the country. Its diverse mix of products includes chocolate, breath mints, bakery items, jams, sauces, soups, and dry mixes.

Dilettante Chocolates® is the most recognizable of the Seattle Gourmet Foods’ brands. Founded in 1976 by Dana Davenport, Dilettante continues a family tradition of chocolate and confections that dates bake three generations to the late 19th century. For close to 40

years, Dilettante Chocolates has maintained the impeccable quality of handmade truffles, TruffleCremes ®, sauces, toppings, bakery items and molded chocolate for which the company is known around the world.

Over the years Dilettante has been particularly known for a line of panned products. These are solid center items (fruits, nuts, etc.) covered in a variety of couverture-grade chocolates. Available in several packing options such as 2-ounce and 8-ounce boxes, 6-ounce gift bags, 5-pound bulk bags, and the line of 5ounce pouches that contains all of the best-selling flavors. The current selection consists of Fruit Medley®, Cherries, Espresso Beans, Sea Salt Cashews, Mint

but more robust flavor.

Some wheels will be matured up to 18 or even 24 months for lovers of strong sensations.

Gruyère d’Alpage AOP is also a denomination protected by the AOP specifications. It is only made in the summer, from mid-May to around mid-October. Cows go up to mountain pasture and graze on lush and varied grass. The milk they produce is rich in flavor, which is passed on to the cheese. Gruyère d’Alpage AOP is exclusively pressed in cloth.

All varieties are great in recipes, or sliced as a snack. For more information about the history, the process, great recipes and more, visit gruyere.com.

Dropz®, with the newest addition of Almonds. Allflavors natural are also available. All panned items have a 12month shelf life.

For more information on the brands that SeatGourmet tle Foods manufactures or on Dilettante Chocolates and its products, visit the website at www.seattlegourmetfoods.com, emails us at sales@seattlegourmetfoods.com or call toll free at 800.800.9490. During 2016, visit SGF at the 2016 Winter Fancy Food Show, All Natural Products Expo West, and the Sweets and Snacks Expo.

Grab & Go Gifts from Stonewall Kitchen In addition to its well-established line of delicious, premium specialty foods, Stonewall Kitchen is also known for its wonderful variety of gift sets and seasonal collections.

Case in point, the attractive Fall Mornings Grab & Go Gift is now available just in time for fall gift giving. Inside, lucky recipients will find Stonewall Kitchen’s unique and tasty Pumpkin Pancake & Waffle Mix, delectable Pumpkin Spice Latte Mix and a handy Forest Green Medium Spatula. Best of all, this gift

is available already wrapped in clear cellophane and tied up with Stonewall Kitchen’s exclusive, colorful ribbon so it’s all ready for giving. It’s a fun and unique gift that’s perfect for friends, neighbors or presenting to hosts at holiday get-togethers.

Like all of Stonewall Kitchen’s products, this Fall Mornings Grab & Go Gift is sure to be warmly received.

For more information on Stonewall Kitchen Products, go online to www.stonewallkitchen.com or call 800.826.1752.

Black Truffle Marinara Sauce Black Truffle Marinara Sauce from MarDona Specialty Foods is versatile and perfect for favorite pasta dishes as well as a perfect sauce for steak pizzaiola, chicken cacciatore, fried calamari or for dipping crusty bread. Delicious taste, natural ingredients and perfect portions make MarDona sauces customer favorites.

MarDona uses only pure, natural ingredients, such as the best crushed tomatoes, fresh spices, pure truffle-infused olive oil and the finest black truffles in the making of its gourmet sauces. Then the sauces are slow cooked over low heat for hours to bring them to the perfection of well-balanced thickness and great taste. Sodium and calorie levels are the lowest possible,

and Black Truffle Marinara Sauce is, of course, gluten free.

MarDona prides itself in having the finest in gourmet products while providing them at affordable prices.

Black Truffle Marinara Sauce is packaged in 16-ounce jars, the sauces are packed six per case and offered at $42 per case or $7 per unit.

For more information, visit www .truffleoilsandmore.com or mardonausa .com, call 855.645.7772 or email info@mardonaspecialtyfoods.com.

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GOURMET NEWS AUGUST 2015

Travel to India in 15 Minutes with Royal Curry-Delights Presenting Royal® Curry-Delights. Authentic Indian gourmet sauces that are as distinctive and unforgettable as the exotic land that inspired them.

These sauces are made with garden fresh vegetables and aromatic spices that are carefully blended to achieve a perfect flavor balance. All sauces and chutneys are made to order and slow-cooked in small

batches without the use of any fillers, thickeners or preservatives. Simply add chicken, seafood, vegetables or paneer – in any combination you like – and simmer gently for 15 minutes.

Deliver exotic flavor and convenience to your consumer with Royal Curry-Delights. For more information, call 800.550.7423 or visit www .authenticroyal.com.

Kale & Arugula Pesto from Stonewall Kitchen Kale and arugula are hot in the food world, and for those who enjoy these leafy wonders or are just curious to find a way to try them, Stonewall Kitchen can help. New Kale & Arugula Pesto is made with a variety of “good for you ingredients like just-picked arugula and kale, smooth olive oil, robust Romano cheese, savory garlic, ground walnuts and spices. Providing hosts and menu planners with something tasty and

unique to serve guests and family members, it adds wonderful new layers of flavor to pizza, bruschetta, pasta and more. It’s the newest must-have pantry staple.

For more information on Stonewall Kitchen Products, go online to www.stonewallkitchen.com or call 800.826.1752.

Bring Back Sunday Morning Tradition with Uncle Steve’s Sauce For many of us, Sunday is the day we remember from childhood as the day full of family, friends and good food. For actor Steve Schirripa, star of HBO’s “The Sopranos”, HIS Sunday mornings in Brooklyn meant waking up to the aroma of tomatoes, garlic and olive oil simmering on his mother’s stove as she prepared the sauce for dinner. Now Steve is sharing his mother’s recipe.

Uncle Steve’s comes in three delicious flavors; Marinara, Tomato Basil and zesty

Arrabiata. The sauce is USDA certified organic, gluten-free, dairy-free, vegan, and contains no added sugar. With no GMOs, no pesticides, and nothing artificial, you can be confident you’re feeding your loved ones a great tasting and nourishing pasta sauce.

Uncle Steve’s is available at Whole Foods Market, Food Town, Stop ‘n Shop and many other grocery and health food stores across the USA. For more information go to www.unclestevesny.com.

B.R. Cohn Introduces Sonoma Syrah Vinegar for Special Limited Release B.R. Cohn Olive Oil Company has introduced a new limited-release Sonoma Syrah Vinegar. Small-lot production and aging in French oak casks characterize this new vinegar as exceptional.

Made from 100 percent Syrah grapes from Sonoma Valley using the Orleans vinegar process, the Sonoma Syrah Vinegar is aged slowly for three years in French oak casks. It contains no additives or preservatives. Total production is a limited 170 cases.

The B.R. Cohn Sonoma Syrah Vinegar shows notes of berry, lavender and sweet plum. Not only is it exceptional on salads, meats and vegetables, but is

also the perfect addition to homemade barbecue sauce and can serve as a unique ingredient for cocktails. One of the hottest trends among mixologists is using vinegar in specialty cocktails as part of a ‘shrub’ base (fresh fruit, sugar and water) to blend with spirits.

For further information, call B.R. Cohn Olive Oil Co. at 707.931.7931 or visit www.brcohn.com.

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SFF WRAP-UP

GOURMET NEWS AUGUST 2015 www.gourmetnews.com

Bonne Bouche Back at the Fancy Food Show

BY LORRIE BAUMANN

Vermont Creamery’s Bonne Bouche cheese, discovered around 2002 by New York’s famous French chefs, is now becoming well known among consumers as well as a favorite among cheese mongers. The cheese, which has won multiple awards from the American Cheese Society, a gold award from the World Cheese Awards, and a gold sofi for Best Cheese or Dairy Product at the 2012 Fancy Food Show, is back at the 2015 sofi Awards to bring it back to the notice of turophiles.

“We often submit that cheese because it’s our favorite. For Vermont Creamery, it is a well-known cheese. We’ve won a lot of awards with Bonne Bouche, and for the industry and for artisanal cheese, it’s a great example of where the market is going,”

says Allison Hooper, Co-founder and Cheesemaker of Vermont Creamery. “It’s got consumer customers who really love it and ask for it by name.”

“It’s a very difficult cheese to make, so we’re super-proud of it,” she continues.

“When it wins, it gets a nod that it’s a great cheese deserving of accolades.”

Bonne Bouche is an ash-ripened goat milk cheese made in traditional French style.

Consumers often say it reminds them of a brie, and those famous French chefs likened it to the Selles-sur-Cher produced in the Centre region of France. It’s sold in a fourounce round that’s shipped in a wood box at an early stage of its aging that gives the retailer a few weeks to keep it in the case at peak ripeness. The wood box allows the

Alternative Air Helps Satisfy Your Store’s Fixture Needs Manufacturers of a full line of climate-controlled chocolate, refrigerated bakery and dry display cases, Alternative Air & Store Fixtures also manufactures counters, POS stations and corner units. The company also has the capability to manufacture custom pieces.

All of Alternative Air’s fixtures and displays are made in the United States by highly-skilled craftspeople. Only the very best materials are used in all of the company’s fixtures, ensuring they will stand

the test of time.

For more information, visit the company online at w w w . a a fixtures.com, call 609.261.5870, or fax 609.261.5870.

Contact the company’s sales team to see how they can help you with your store’s fixture needs.

cheese to continue to breathe, wicking away excess moisture and also helping to prevent the cheese from drying out. “It’s also tall enough so that when the crate is shrinkwrapped with a perforated film, the film doesn’t touch the rind, which is important with these geotricum [mold] rinds. It’s very important that the rind continues to breathe,” Hooper says. “It’s the intention that, when the retailer gets this cheese, we’ve done everything right, so they don’t need to do anything with it except merchandise it.”

When the Bonne Bouche is fresh, it has the acidic tang expected of a fresh chevre.

Then as it ages, the paste mellows and loses its acidity and gains a melon-ish sweetness with some of the yeasty taste of the rind.

“It’s quite aromatic, but when you put the

cheese in your mouth, it’s less strong-tasting than its aroma,” Hooper says. “It’s surprisingly mild, for the fact that it’s made of goats’ milk and that it is a ripened cheese with an aromatic rind.”

As it ages, the Bonne Bouche gets softer and sometimes gets a little runny under its edible rind. Consumers really like that softness, Hooper says. “It has a nice amount of salt in the cheese, which is important to the proper growth of the rind, and the saltiness add great flavor to the cheese.”

“While it is made from goats’ milk, it doesn’t have the characteristics that we think of with goat cheese. It tends to lose its goatyness as it ripens, she adds. “For those who don’t reach for goat cheeses, they are surprised by how much they like it.” GN

New Slow Cooker Goodness from Rabbit Creek Rabbit Creek Products unveiled 31 new items this summer in New York to much rejoicing and fanfare.

The new Slow Cooker line consists of three soups, one pot roast seasoning, and one brownie. Black Bean Tortilla soup mix, Italian Vegetable Beef Barley soup mix, and Kickin’ Chicken Enchilada soup mix are perfect for the crisp fall weather that will be here in only a few short months. Savory

Pot Roast seasoning mix takes all the guess work out of a favorite coldweather meal. Gooey Brownie mix takes home cooks directly to that first quivering bite of succulent divinity.

For more information, call Rabbit Creek Products at 800.837.3073, email rcreek@mokancomm.net, or visit www.rabbitcreekgourmet.com.

Jonah Crab Cakes from Pete’s Seafood

Mild Brick Cheese from Widmer’s Cheese Cellars

Top-selling Jonah Crab Cakes from Pete’s Seafood have been a customer favorite since 2013. Major retailers have seen a dramatic increase in their seafood sales with Pete’s added to their shelves. Jonah Crab cakes are handmade with the finest ingredients and generous portions of sweet and tender wild-caught Jonah Crab from Maine, and when consumers don’t find them in their local stores year-round, they’ve been coming directly to the Pete’s Seafood website to order them directly.

Pete’s Seafood offers a wide range of

Not like any other of its kind, this cheese is a milder and mellower Brick cheese than Widmer’s aged version and is handcrafted using the exact recipe of Widmer’s aged Brick until it reaches the curing room. There it is washed daily for three days, rather than the seven to 10 days that Widmer’s aged Brick gets. The cheese is then vacuum sealed and its flavor continues to grow more robust, yet mellow over time, reaching its peak in eight months. A favorite of

delicious and convenient prepared seafood meals like Shrimp Ceviche, Garlic Butter Clams, and Tuna Burgers crafted for today’s fast-paced lifestyle. Entice your customers with smartly priced and eye-catching package designs.

Pete Seafood’s full line of read-to-eat, microwaveable, and ready-to-cook items will transform your seafood category.

For more information, call 855.632.3663, fax 323.319.1569, email cs@peteseafoodclub.com or visit peat-

White Coffee Introduces Marvel Comics Avengers Hot Chocolate for Fans of All Ages Being a Super Hero is not easy, as it takes a lot of energy and stamina…much like getting through a regular day for the rest of us. So, White Coffee Corporation is excited to announce its latest major collaboration with Marvel© Entertainment, creating single-serve Avengers Hot Chocolate. Now adult fans of all ages can enjoy some hot chocolate at any time of day.

Marvel’s Avengers Hot Chocolate highlights the most powerful Super Hero team in the world on its packaging. The hot chocolate is fat-free comes in 12 single serve cups per box with a suggested retail

price of $7.99.

Marvel’s Avengers Hot Chocolate will be on-hand at the at the upcoming New York Comic Con, the largest pop culture event on the East Coast, held October 8-11th at Jacob K. Javits Convention Center.

About White Coffee Corporation White Coffee Corporation is based in Long Island City, New York and is a third-generation, family-owned coffee importing and roasting business in operation since 1939.

For more information, please visit online at www.whitecoffee.com or call 800.221.0140.

sandwich artists, Widmer’s Brick cheese makes the best grilled cheese sandwiches on the planet. Widmer’s Mild Brick is also available with a blend of red and green jalapeños.

For information, contact Widmer’s Cheese Cellars at 888.878.1107 or visit www .widmerscheese.com.

New Mixes Complement Oysters and Clams With the proliferation of farm-raised oysters and clams, along with increased consumer demand, Blue Crab Bay has released two unique seasoning kits to capture a prime audience of diners.

Oysters Rockefeller and Clams Casino Mixes offer an easy way to make these typically time-consuming appetizers.

Oysters Rockefeller Mix features air-dried spinach and herbs along with cracker crumbs and soy-bacon bits. A simple recipe calls for oysters, butter, and Parmesan. Clams Casino Mix contains dehydrated red bell peppers and spices, along with crumbs and soy-bacon bits. Consumers supply

clams, butter, Parmesan and lemon juice.

Blue Crab Bay is also marketing a set of a stainless steel oyster-shaped baking shells, ideal for making appetizers.

It’s appropriate that these new seasoning kits originate from Virginia, which is the nationwide leader in the aquaculture of hard clams and the top ranking supplier of oysters on the East Coast.

For more information on Blue Crab Bay Co products, contact 800.221.2722, email sales@baybeyond.net or go online and visit www.baybeyond.net.

Brownie Crunch

Jelly Belly

Virgina Diner

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SEE PAGE 39

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SUPPLEMENT TO

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SNACKS

GOURMET NEWS AUGUST 2015 www.gourmetnews.com

Snack Food Makers Turn to Clean Ingredients, Adventurous Flavors

BY LORRIE BAUMANN

The global market for snack foods is now worth about $36 billion according to market research firm IBISWorld, which also reports that the industry is benefiting from the introduction of more healthy snacks and favorable product pricing. Over the next five years, the snack food industry is predicted to continue growing as the economy strengthens and people have more disposable income to spend, leading them to trade in their junk food for premium snack foods that meet their criteria for the flavorful foods with simpler ingredients labels that they’re seeking out for their meals.

“There’s a lot of talk about a cleaner label. We’ve been seeing a lot more requests, and customers are coming up with their own lists of what they don’t want to see,” says AnnMarie Kraszewski, a food scientist at Wixon, which makes foods and flavorings used as ingredients by a wide range of product manufacturers. The companies with which Wixon works are asking for recipes that avoid anything artificial, anything that sounds more like it came from a chemistry laboratory rather than a pantry, she said. “It makes formulating a little more difficult, but in terms of the end product, it comes out rather nice, and the consumer likes to see the label, and so they feel better about the product.... Usually the customer tells us a profile they’re looking for. You try and make something that tastes fresh, whether that’s with herbs, unique chile peppers, things that make it a little more interesting. The bulk of the profiles that come in are savory, but there’s a lot of interest in sweet-heat or sweet-savory – a combination like maple and thyme, for instance.”

Dangerously Delicious Black Licorice Chocolate Toffee Laurie & Sons is a start-up company that’s making its Dangerously Delicious Black Licorice Chocolate Toffee in La Marqueta, an East Harlem commercial kitchen incubator sponsored by New York City. The product received the 2015 sofi Award for Outstanding Chocolate,

and it’s the first chocolate-enrobed crisp licorice toffee confection using real licorice root, according to Founder and Owner Laurie Pauker. The product is on the sweet side of the snack food continuum, and Pauker intends to keep her company’s product line of toffees and brittles firmly targeted at that category rather than among the gourmet gifts because Pauker and her three sons, who are the company’s chief product testers, believe that the era of calorie-dense, nutrition deficient snacks has passed. “It might be sweet snacks or might be savory snacks, but it’s all things made with good ingredients. The predecessors are no longer acceptable,” she said. “I think we’re moving more in that direction anyhow. People are snacking more than ever, and those foods need to be made better.

They need to meet higher standards.”

The product line includes a couple of flavors of brittles that are baked rather than kettled: Toasted Almond Brittle and Mayan Spice Brittle. “It lets us make the product in a way that incorporates brown rice flour instead of some of the sugar. It’s incredibly light. It’s lower calories, but you feel like you’ve had something tasty and satisfying,” she said. “Portion control is easy because the pieces are sized to let you know what you’re eating, and they’re packaged in resealable pouches so you can take them with you.”

The candy that excited the sofi Award judges was inspired by a candy that Pauker’s grandfather used to give her when she was a little girl. “It was fantastic and it was chewy,” Pauker says today. “One of the things we’ve focused on is putting flavor in toffee. It’s a great vehicle for flavor and spice.” The Dangerously Delicious Black Licorice Chocolate Toffee is gluten free and flavored with bold black licorice underlined with freshly ground star anise and a little bit of pernod, a combination that lends depth to the flavor of the toffee. It’s made without corn syrup, preservatives or food coloring. The chocolate coating amplifies the licorice flavor, and each piece is topped with black Hawaiian lava salt to add crunch as well as flavor.

“That took several months of experimenting to balance the right ratio of black licorice to star anise, but I think we found the right balance,” Pauker says. “As for the ‘dangerous’ part of the name, it’s dangerous because it’s so good and also because black licorice should not be eaten in great quantities. It’s like absinthe in that way. It has a little bit of a dangerous side to it.”

fusion JERKY On the savory side of snacking, KaiYen Mai set out last year to make meat jerky that had the soft texture of the products made in her family’s company for the past 50 years but with modern flavors and ingredient labels that were cleaner than those of many of the jerky products already on the market. Her family had been making jerky in the United States for 35 years and in Taiwan before that, and when it came time for her to take over the family business, she decided to venture out with a new brand as well as keeping the family’s existing product lines on the market. Thus, fusion JERKY, which offers all natural, minimally processed beef, pork, turkey and chicken jerky in bold flavor profiles and with a soft texture that appeals to women and children as well as men, came to be. Basil Citrus Artisan Beef Jerky, Chipotle Lime Artisan Beef Jerky, Garlic Jalapeno Artisan Pork Jerky, Island Teriyaki Artisan Pork Jerky, Chili Basil Artisan Turkey Jerky, Rosemary Citrus Artisan Turkey Jerky, Lemon Pepper Artisan Chicken Jerky and Basil Citrus Artisan Chicken Jerky are offered in 3-ounce bags that sell for $6 to $7. They are made without preservatives or MSG and are gluten free. “It’s a clean label, so when you read the ingredients, you can actually read and understand it,” Mai said. There is currently not an organic product in the line because using all organic ingredients would make the product price-prohibitive in its market, she added. “We’re one of the first ones to do a natural chicken jerky. A lot of people are surprised by chicken jerky.

A lot of people who don’t want to eat red meat turn to white meat, so this is another choice for them,” she said. “We’re also trying to make it affordable, which is why we’re not making an organic

product at this time. I’d have to reduce the size and sell them for a much higher price. I just don’t think that’s affordable and reasonable for the average consumer.”

The Better Chip The makers of The Better Chip are among those consciously defining their product line as lifestyle-focused alternative snacks for consumers who are looking for cleaner labels as well as exciting flavors. Ingredients for The Better Chip products, including whole grains and vegetables, are sourced straight from farms. All ingredients are gluten free and non-GMO, and they contain no trans fats. The company adds no topical flavor enhancers, so the flavors are inside the chips rather than coming off on fingers, says Andrea Brule, Vice President/General Manager. “We take a hard line on that. They’re not flavored like something, they just are.”

The Better Chip was designed to be merchandised in the deli department rather than on the chip aisle, so that they share that space with the items with which they’re usually served as part of a meal or at a party. The company very definitely had in mind that they wanted to make a chip that consumers would feel good about photographing and sharing on their social media. “When we developed the chip, we decided to source fresh ingredients and use that as a basis for a snack line that would meet those criteria for clean ingredients and healthy foods while at the same time using engaging flavors that are bragworthy, shareworthy. So when consumers put them on the table with hummus and yogurt dip and cured meats, our chips, in the variety of flavors they come in, are the canvas for how they want to express themselves,” Brule says. “They’re developed for today’s consumers with simple ingredients sourced straight from farms, ideal for entertaining and experimenting with.... My happiest days are when I see people engaging with the product in creative ways. The flavors and the colors really lend themselves to people looking for what they can create with it.” GN

SNACKS

GOURMET NEWS AUGUST 2015 www.gourmetnews.com

Virginia Diner Products to Sport Norman Rockwell Images The Virginia Diner has signed a three year licensing agreement with the Norman Rockwell Family Agency that gives the Virginia Diner marketing and sales use of a number of Norman Rockwell original prints.

“The initial launch has been well received by our wholesale customers,” says Scott Stephens, Virginia Diner’s Director of Sales and Marketing. “We recently introduced our Norman Rockwell collection at both the Summer Fancy Food Show and The Atlanta International Gift & Home Furnishings Market, realizing record sales from this new product line.”

The complete collection will be available in the fall of 2015 in Virginia Diner’s retail and fundraising catalogs, as well as for the company’s national list of retail partners and corporate custom gift

c u s tomers.

“We have incorporated a number of original Norman Rockwell images into our Merry Christmas labels and used various designs to invoke the nostalgia and history of the Diner,” Stephens says. “There isn’t a more iconic illustration of the holidays than the Norman Rockwell collection....

We are very excited to be associated with the Norman Rockwell family.”

The full product offering will be released this fall, but can be previewed by contacting the Virginia Diner at 888.482.6887.

Smart Indulgence is Taking Over Supermarket Shelves A new generation of better-informed consumers is putting pressure on manufacturers and retailers to improve the quality of their snack food offerings. These smart snackers know what ingredients are in their food as well as know just how much to eat. They read nutrition labels and choose higher quality products that are less processed and made with real ingredients. Smart snackers savor their treats and know how to indulge without feeling deprived.

The problem is that many healthier snacks don’t taste particularly great. Take gluten, dairy, sugar, gums or salt out of mainstream products and you are left with bland, uninteresting flavors or chalky textures.

ELEMENT rice and corn

cakes are coated in smooth chocolate or creamy fruit to satisfy the cravings without guilt. Containing only 80 calories, nothing artificial, no cholesterol, low in sodium and sugar, and gluten-free, ELEMENT delivers a surprisingly satisfying and decadent experienc. The products are minimally processed, easy to take on the go, perfect for all ages, and at the same time tasting great.

For more information, visit www.elementsnacks.com or call 888.966.7686.

Toast with Jelly Belly Champagne Bottles Jelly Belly® celebrates its newest flavor, Champagne Jelly Belly beans in miniature champagne bottles. These clever, charming pocket-sized novelty gifts add sophisticated whimsy to adult celebrations such as weddings and showers. Jelly Belly Champagne Bottles make festive and stylish party favors, table place card holders and gifts.

Following on the heels of popular drink-inspired flavors – Draft Beer and Jewel Ginger Ale – Champagne Jelly Belly beans have all the flavor of a glass of bubbly without the alcohol. The Champagne Jelly Belly bean has a shimmering gold finish that mimics the appearance of a freshly-poured glass of champagne.

The miniature traditional champagne bottles with gold embellishments are filled with 1.5 ounces of the light and fruity flavor. Cater to eager party planners by displaying Jelly Belly Champagne Bottles with other party items

such as invitations, favors, decorations, or the rest of the Champagne line, including a 7.5-ounce Gift Bag and 3.5ounce Grab & Go ® bag.

Jelly Belly Candy Company makes more than 100 flavors of Jelly Belly jelly beans, the largest selection on the market, plus 70 other gourmet candies including jells, gummies, chocolatecovered treats and seasonal sweets for major holidays. For additional information, contact Jelly Belly Candy Customer Service at 800.323.9380 or email specialty.sales@jellybelly.com.

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Brownie Crunch Now in 100 Calorie Snack Pack Crave the taste of a brownie? Love the richness? Seth Greenberg’s New York Brownie Crunch has it all in a crispy, cookie snack. The Chocolate Chip variety is now available, packed six sleeves of 12 to a case, in a 100 calorie snack pack perfect for gift baskets, lunch boxes, counter displays, drug stores, convenience stores and supermarkets.

Brownie Crunch is the only crispy brownie product that uses exclusively the best, all natural ingredients. Each is hand selected for quality, taste and integrity: butter, sugar, pure vanilla extract, natural cocoa (no alkali), eggs and

flour from the finest American wheat. The best-tasting desserts are made with the best ingredients.

Closely supervised by Seth, Brownie Crunch is baked in small batches in the USA. All natural and kosher, New York Brownie Crunch comes in five sweet flavors (Chocolate Chip, Cinnamon Cappuccino, Orange, Toffee and Mint).

Southwest Crunch comes in three spicy flavors (Jalapeno, Chile Pepper, Chipotle) – the first spicy chocolate product in the cookie aisle. It’s the brownie reinvented.

Learn more at www.browniecrunch.com.

Way Better Snacks Debuts Sweeet Potato Ginger The new Sweeet Potato Ginger Kissed corn tortilla chips are the latest addition to Way Better’s line of nonGMO, glutenfree, whole grain corn tortilla chips.

Then, when you’re ready to take it to the next level, Way Better Snacks has you covered with RoseMARRY Me and Olive Oil, one of four varieties of Sprouted Barley Crackers. Other flavors

include Beyond the Sea Salt and Cracked Pepper, Back in Black Bean and Salsa, and Mustard and Cheddar Way Better. Way Better Snacks is hinting that further new additions to the product line will be appearing in time for the winter holiday entertaining season.

For more information contact Way Better Snacks at www.gowaybetter.com.

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BUYERS GUIDE

GOURMET NEWS AUGUST 2015 www.gourmetnews.com

BUYERS GUIDE HCEOA NT D &I MSEENRTVSE

Bone Broth in Minutes for Home Kitchens

BY MICAH CHEEK

Bone broth, the heavily reduced stock that has been popular with various diets and health regimens, is becoming available for quick home use. Mark Cronin, Regional Grocery Buyer/Supervisor of Jimbo’s… Naturally!, says Jimbo’s started selling premade frozen broths three years ago with great results. “Customers want things that are easy for them; offering it where they can be taken home is easy. That’s part of why they’ve been so successful.” Bone broth became popular with various health-conscious groups as a minimally processed source of protein and collagen, and then its popularity exploded after Marco Canora started offering it in his restaurant restaurant, Brodo, and the New York Times took note. It has been touted as an intestinal health aid, workout beverage, and even a morning coffee alternative.

Prepackaged bone broths have found a market with people who want to enjoy the purported benefits of bone broth, but lack the time to simmer organic bones for more than 12 hours. “We have done some cus-

tomer surveys. People are saying, ‘We love broth, we believe in broth, but we love that we don’t have to make it,’” says Lance Roll, Executive Chef and founder of The Flavor Chef. “There’s also the issue of handling the product. Fifty percent of people have a

spouse that doesn’t enjoy the smell of broth. If you’re cooking it for 12 to 24 hours, it constantly smells your house up.”

Premade bone broths have the added

convenience of a six month shelf life in the freezer. Shelf-stable broths from Pacific Foods are available in boxes as well. Cronin believes that the next step in retail bone broths should be pre-portioned ice trays or packets so that small amounts can be thawed conveniently.

A good indicator of quality for a premade bone broth is how it behaves at room temperature. The process of making bone broth aims to extract as much gelatin and collagen from bones as possible, so a good bone broth will be a loose gel when thawed.

The gelatin contributes to a rich texture when the broth is consumed.

It is recommended that broths are heated in a pot on the stove, rather than in a microwave.

After heating, variations are only limited by the consumer’s tastes. Traditional bone broths are crafted for sipping, with only salt

added. Seasonings like fresh ginger and lemon slices or steeped herbs customize the flavor. Bone broth can also be used wherever standard broths are called for, as the liquid in braises and stews or as a base for sauces.

For those who don’t enjoy drinking broth straight, Cronin suggests cooking it with rice noodles, green onions and other vegetables to make a simple soup. Roll has recently developed a Coconut Ginger Mint and Lemon Bone Broth soup, made with 80 percent chicken bone broth.

The majority of retail bone broths are made with either beef or chicken. Many are certified organic. Organic pork broth is rarely seen because of the difficulty in finding pigs that meet organic standards.

“We’re not going to be doing it any time soon, mainly because I can’t get enough good pork bone,” says Roll. As bone broth gets more attention, Cronin is looking forward to more varieties of products becoming available. “There are more and more companies jumping into it on a retail level,” he says. GN

GOURMET NEWS AUGUST 2015

BUYERS GUIDE

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New Soup Mixes from Frontier Soups Frontier Soups’ newly-introduced gluten free, non-GMO soup mixes satisfy consumers’ desires both for familiar comfort foods and for newer flavor profiles when they are in the mood for global culinary adventure. Kentucky Homestead Chicken & Rice Soup Mix is classic American comfort food with a gourmet twist. It contains a special jasmine rice blend with daikon radish seeds and baby garbanzo beans and Mediterranean-inspired flavors of lemon and oregano. Pacific Rim Gingered Carrot Soup Mix mingles exotic flavors with Thai and Indian influences. Coconut milk is added, which many consumers want to include in their diets for its reported health benefits. Frontier Soups has previously seen success with soups incorporating ingredients that consumers want with its West Coast Kale & Quinoa Soup Mix and those that offer global tastes, like its tortilla and enchilada soups. All Frontier Soups’ mixes have no salt added, no preservatives or MSG, and are non-GMO. The suggested retail price is $5.95-$6.49 for 4.5- to 5.5-ounce package.

Frontier Soups 800.300.SOUP (7687) www.frontiersoups.com

Bulk Salts from Salty Wahine for Private Label Programs

Award Winning Salty Wahine Gourmet Hawaiian Sea Salts can support your needs of bulk quantities for food manufacturing and food service businesses.

Many customers buy Salty Wahine product in bulk and package the product under their own label. With the production capacity to provide customers bulk product from 1-pound bags to 2,000 pound super sack pallets, Salty Wahine also creates private flavors for chefs at five-star restaurants. Salty Wahine provides a unique product in which each crystal of salt is infused with a splash of tropical flavor, making eating healthy fun. Favorite choices include Hawaiian Rub, Hot Lava, Mango Java, Red Alaea, Passion Fruit Chile Pepper, Guava Garlic, Kiawe Smoke, Pineapple Poultry, and Black Lava. Email owner, Laura Cristobal Andersland at info@saltywahine.com to inquire about setting up a wholesale account with Salty Wahine. Don’t forget to ask how you can receive free shipping when ordering Salty Wahine Gourmet Hawaiian Sea Salts from Hanapepe, Kauai.

Salty Wahine Gourmet Hawaiian Sea Salts 808.378.4601 www.saltywahine.com

The Most Important Meal

Once under-served in the gourmet food industry, Breakfast is now the rising star! Breakfast, brunch, and even breakfast for dinner is the trend.

Wind & Willow has long been known for its alternate recipes for every product. Some of the most popular recipes are for breakfast entrees.

Pumpkin French Toast, made with Pumpkin Pie Cheeseball & Dessert Mix, is worthy of your most prestigious gourmet breakfast spread. If you love sweet brunch items, check out the French Toast Bake using Strawberries & Cream Cheeseball & Dessert mix or the Apple Pie Pull-apart Bread using the Apple Pie Cheeseball & Dessert Mix. For a quick, lastminute addition to your brunch buffet make a delicious Bagel Spread with a unique presentation. Prepare any sweet Cheeseball Mix with cream cheese as directed. Make a bowl by gently pressing the top of the cheeseball and filling it with fresh fruit or preserves. Serve with fresh bagels or as a waffle topping. Find these and other great recipes at www.windandwillow.com/recipes.cfm.

Wind & Willow 417.466.4646 www.windandwillow.com

Breakfast Any Time Trend

One of the hottest trends for 2015 is breakfast any time. With a few staples on hand and Wind & Willow in the pantry, it’s easy to upscale your breakfast at a moment’s notice. The recipe for Morning Breakfast Scramble takes you through the steps, but the easy version is this; add any Wind & Willow Dip or Savory Cheeseball Mix to your scrambled eggs. After trying this once, only one question remains. Why would we ever have plain scrambled eggs again? The Morning Breakfast Scramble recipe suggests using Roasted Red Pepper Dip Mix which is fabulous. Other great combos include Rosie’s Cantina scrambled eggs topped with fresh salsa, Tuscan Olive topped with shredded Parmesan and black olives, and Brick Oven Pizza with Mozzarella.

Serve any of these Morning Breakfast Scrambles with Cheesy Bacon Biscuits. Find these and other great recipes at www.windandwillow.com/recipes.cfm.

Wind & Willow 417.466.4646 www.windandwillow.com

Wixon Private Label Dry Mixes and Seasonings

Wixon’s culinary innovation teams offer creative ideas for private label gourmet dry mixes and seasonings. Three core levels of service – product innovation, formulation development and processing and packaging – ensure products meet expectations at every step. A one-stop production system and a variety of packaging services complement the customizable packaging experience.

Wixon 800.841.5304 www.wixon.com

42

SMALL ELECTRICS

GOURMET NEWS AUGUST 2015 www.gourmetnews.com

Small Electrics COUNTERTOP

Sponsored by

COOKERS

Countertop Cooking Appliances

BY AMBER GALLEGOS

For customers who don’t have a lot of time or space, appliances for countertop cooking can be a valuable solution. They can also come in handy during the holidays when large group meals need to be made in the most efficient manner. From machines dedicated to a single specialty, like Zojirushi’s new Fish Roaster, to those that take on multi-tasking duties, there is a countertop cooker to solve every cooking conundrum. GN

Dualit Mini Oven Dualit’s Mini Oven is perfect for small spaces or as an additional, eye-level oven in a busy kitchen. A generous internal capacity, doubleglazed glass door, curved back to accommodate larger circular dishes, 3 minute heat-up time and versatile cooking functions, all make the Dualit Mini Oven an asset to any kitchen.

There’s even an oven tray, rack and pizza pan, a removable crumb/drip tray, and a non-stick interior. With its defrost, grill, bake and convection cooking functions, the Dualit Mini Oven is the perfect all-arounder.

For more information about Dualit USA products, go online to www.dualitusa.com or call 770.509.3006.

New Fish Roaster from Zojirushi Enjoy the health benefits of cooking fish at home without “reeking” havoc! Zojirushi’s new Fish Roaster (EF-VPC40) is equipped with a platinum catalytic filter that eliminates up to 90 percent of smoke and odor components, making fish preparation a palatable experience. The Fish Roaster is a convenient countertop appliance that simplifies the task of roasting fish and other meats allowing for healthy and quick preparation of these highprotein staples. The Fish Roaster’s stainless steel roasting rack directs excess oils and fats away from food for healthy roasting. The Fish Roaster also disassembles for easy cleaning. Other product features include an adjustable timer up to 30 minutes, a flip open lid for easy operation and a food server for easy removal of foods. The new Fish Roaster comes with a suggested retail price of $200.00.

For more information on Zojirushi America Corporation and its products, go online to www.zojirushi.com or call 800.733.6270.

All-Clad Electric Grill/Griddle Waring 1.5 Cubic Foot Convection Oven

The All-Clad Removable Plate Grill/Griddle features removable die-cast aluminum grill and griddle plates, so it can be used as a full grill or half grill/half griddle to prepare a wide range of meals. This 1700-watt grill/griddle and embedded heating elements provides efficient and even heating, while the wide temperature range and two independent thermostats allow you to control the heat for both sides of the cooking surface. Removable, dishwasher-safe parts cut down your cleanup time in the kitchen, and the stainless steel finish makes this grill/griddle an attractive addition to your countertop. It has a suggested retail price of $299.99.

The Waring Convection Oven (CO1600WR) allows users to bake, convection bake, roast, broil, and rotisserie all in one 1700-watt unit. This large stainless steel oven accommodates a half-sheet pan and includes all of the accessories you’ll need for your countertop culinary creations. Two wire racks, a stainless steel baking pan, rotisserie skewers, rotisserie spit, and handgrip are all included. The oven has a timer that can be set for up to 120 minutes and also features four different shelf positions.

For more information about All-Clad products, go online to www.all-clad.com or call 800.255.2523.

For more information on Waring Consumer Products, go online to www.waringpro.com or call 800.492.7464.

Fagor LUX Multi-Cooker

Jet Stream Oven 2 In the 1980s the Jet Stream Oven was a very popular infomercial product. The Metal Ware Corporation has been selling this product since 1997 and relaunched it in 2014. The Jet Stream 2 Oven is a six-in-one cooking system that allows consumers to roast, grill, bake, steam, broil and air fry. Its patented cyclonic cooking action cooks great-tasting foods fast: up to three times faster than a conventional oven, up to two times faster than a convection oven and as fast as a microwave oven, but with superior food quality, taste and appearance. Unlike a microwave oven, the new Jet Stream 2 Oven will produce fluffy baked goods, and brown, tender meats. Cooking is fast and tasty. Cooking is also easy with the new user-friendly digital keypad that sets high or low fan speed, cooking time, and cooking temperature. There are nine presets for temperature ranging from 200 to 400 degrees Fahrenheit. The digital timer is programmable up to 99 minutes. This second generation Jet Stream Oven is a healthier, energy saving way to cook all kinds of foods. The unit features a powerful halogen element and an efficient convection fan that combine for great cooking results.

Also included are a plated cooking rack, handy baking pan and the digital Nesco American Harvest Cookbook, an $80 value. The deep cooking well is BPA-free, and the base and cookwell are dishwasher safe.

For more information on The Metal Ware Corporation, go online to www.nesco.com or call 920.794.3163.

Hamilton Beach 4-Quart Connectables Slow Cooker

Fagor’s LUX Multi-Cooker is a pressure cooker, slow cooker, rice cooker and yogurt maker all in one. Additional assist functions such as brown, sauté, simmer, steam and keep warm make this unit a one pot cooking vessel. The Pressure Cooking (high and low) functions reduce cooking time up to 70 percent compared to traditional cooking methods. The Slow Cook settings used to prepare classics have both high and low temperature settings. The Lux comes equipped with time delay that allows the user to delay cooking up to six hours. This unit comes with a blue ceramic nonstick removable cooking pot that is dishwasher safe and includes a user’s manual, recipe booklet and a free digital recipe book with more than 75 recipes. This unit is available in 4-quart, 6-quart and 8-quart capacities and has a suggested retail price of $99.95 – $159.95.

Hamilton Beach ® pioneered travel-friendly, mess-free slow cooker design with the groundbreaking Stay or Go ® line. But what happens when you’ve got more than one slow cooker at a party? The innovative Connectables Slow Cooker (model 33540) unclutters the potluck table by allowing up to seven slow cookers to connect together side by side and use a single power outlet. The Connectables Slow Cooker has an extra built-in power outlet to power multiple appliances from one wall outlet. It is cubeshaped and 20 percent narrower than standard 4-quart slow cookers. The handles fold down and the built-in lid rest lets you neatly arrange your table for clutter-free serving. Like other Stay or Go slow cookers, the Connectables Slow Cooker features a locking lid for easy, mess-free travel and comes with a suggested retail price of $59.99.

The 4-quart Cook Central (model no. MSC-400) simplifies combination cooking, letting home cooks bypass the stovetop by browning ingredients right in the unit before switching to Slow Cook. Preset function buttons and time and temperature controls offer easy-to-use Brown/Sauté, Slow Cook and Steam options. A 24-hour timer and automatic Keep Warm setting promise a fresh-cooked meal, warm and ready at dinnertime.

The 4-quart Cook Central has a suggested retail price of $129.00.

For more information on Fagor America Inc. products, go online to www.fagor america.com or call 800.207.0806.

For more information on Hamilton Beach products, go online to www.hamiltonbeach.com or call 800.851.8900.

For more information on Cuisinart products, go online to www.cuisinart.com or call 800.726.6247.

Cuisinart 4-Quart Cook Central

SMORGASBORD

GOURMET NEWS AUGUST 2015 www.gourmetnews.com

43

SMORGASBORD CALENDAR

ADVERTISER INDEX ADVERTISER

PAGE WEBSITE

PHONE

9 www.aflac.com 24 www.aafixtures.com 36 www.americasfoodandbeverage.com 41 www.houseofcaviarandfinefoods.com 24 www.bluecrabbay.com 34 www.customsourcellc.com 43 www.esutras.com 41 www.frwr.com 35, 43 www.hammondscandies.com 32 www.heartlandgourmet.com 5 www.jellybelly.com 3 www.authenticroyal.com 33 www.madeinnature.com 29 www.expoeast.com/register 27 www.pafco.net 43 www.shoppri.com 31 www.felicetti.it/en 25 www.premiumgoldflax.com 32 www.rabbitcreekgourmet.com 44 www.robertrothschild.com 1, 11 www.seasalt.com 26 www.saltywahine.com 7 www.sarabeth.com 29 www.seacrestfoods.com 39, 43 www.dilletante.com 43 www.browniecrunch.com 15 www.statefarm.com 22, 31, 43www.stickyfingersbakeries.com 2 www.stonewallkitchen.com 35 www.thefrenchfarm.com 23 www.greatpecans.com 20, 21 www.unclestevesny.com 40 www.mytreshermanas.com 19 www.whitecoffee.com 34 www.wildgardenhummus.com 26, 32 www.windandwillow.com 32, 43 www.wixon.com

800.992.3522 609.261.5870 305.871.7910 887.462.0533 757.787.3602 508.304.7330 773.583.4850 800.626.4366 303.333.5588 800.735.6828 800.323.9380 800.550.RICE 800.906.7426

September 16-19

October 23-25

Natural Products Expo East

Fresh Summit

Baltimore, Maryland www.expoeast.com

Atlanta, Georgia www.pma.com/events/freshsummit

September 19

October 23-25

SF Cheese Fest

Coffee Fest

San Francisco, California www.cacheeseguild.org

Portland, Oregon www.coffeefest.com

800.625.2525 805.684.0624 39.0462.501225 866.570.1234 800.837.3073 800.356.8933 800.353.7258 808.378.4601 800.773.7378 800.800.9490 212.878.6677 877.734.2265 800.458.5826 888.326.5678 713.660.0577 800.621.9121 844.MY.SAUCE 800.323.4358 718.204.7900 708.298.3810 888.427.3235 800.841.5304

Read our label. ere’s no comparison. Seth Greenberg’s Brownie Crunch is made with the best ingredients. Baked in small batches with whole eggs, vanilla from a company that owns its vanilla bean orchards, creamery butter, pure cane sugar and cocoa specially selected for flavor and color. e best ingredients make the best taste! All natural, kosher, and only 120 calories per serving.

Seth Greenberg’s Brownie Crunch 212.878.6677 www.browniecrunch.com

eSutras Naturals Total Nourish and Ideal Balance finishing oils feature organic and exotic raw oils that your customers can’t find anywhere else.

Artisan-made in small batches, each oil blend is expertly formulated for flavor and health support.

Dilettante Chocolates® all-natural Peppermint TruffleCremes® are the perfect holiday gi. Available in gi boxes of five or 10 ounces and pouches of six or 24 ounces.

Snack to good health with New Manuka Honey Chocolates with Ginger.

Made with Manuka Honey, 99 percent cocoa and ginger. It is just that simple and just that good.

eSutras Organics 773.583.4850 www.eswholesale.com

Seattle Gourmet Foods 800.800.9490 www.seattlegourmetfoods.com

Pacific Resources International 805.684.0624 www.shoppri.com

Hammond’s award winning chocolate bars are now available in a new gi box! Each beautiful gi box is filled with five of Hammond’s delicious, unique bars. ese gi boxes will come six to a case. e suggested retail price is $16.99-$18.99.

Wixon Makes Healthy Dry Mixes, Seasonings Wixon’s formulation expertise makes it your source for great-tasting non-GMO, organic, gluten-free, nutritional and functional dry mixes and seasonings.

Sticky Fingers Bakeries is introducing two new additions to its lineup, Glazed Cinnamon Raisin and Glazed Maple Oat Scones.

Hammond’s Candies 888.226.3999 www.hammondscandies.com

Wixon 800.841.5304 www.wixon.com

Sticky Fingers Bakeries 800.458.5826 www.stickyfingersbakeries.com

A Special Advertising Section GOURMET MARKETPLACE

Aflac Alternative Air Americas Food & Beverage Show Bemka Corporation Blue Crab Bay Company Custom Source LLC eSutras Organics Fall River Wild Rice Hammond’s Candies Heartland Gourmet LLC Jelly Belly Kusha Inc. Made in Nature New Hope Natural Media Pacific American Fish Company Pacific Resources International Pastificio Felicetti SRL Premium Gold Flax Products Rabbit Creek Products Inc Robert Rothschild Farm SaltWorks Inc Salty Wahine Sarabeth's Kitchen Seacrest Foods International Inc. Seattle Gourmet Foods Seth Greenberg’s Brownie Crunch State Farm Sticky Fingers Stonewall Kitchen The French Farm The Great San Saba River Pecan Co. Uncle Steve’s Italian Specialties US International Media White Coffee Corp.

Wild Garden Hummus Wind & Willow Wixon