shelf talk
packs, promotions, people
what’s trending NICK BAINES KEEPS YOU UP-TO-DATE WITH THE NEWEST DISHES, FLAVOURS AND INNOVATION IN FOOD AND DRINK Cold brew 2.0 Yet another wave of speciality coffee is upon us, but this time attention is being given to cold brew. At Clerkenwell’s Workshop, cold brew is being partnered with gin and tonic and cocktails are being made by extracting coffee through bourbon instead of water. Meanwhile, up in Edinburgh, Brew Lab have seen a 400% increase in their nitro cold brew (pictured) over the past year. The drink has a creamy stout-like consistency and head thanks to the infusion of nitrogen gas. Currently selling throughout Scotland, the company plan to reach further afield into England later this year. Don’t throw that away… Selfridges hosted a month-long popup called WastED where a menu was created focusing on the forgotten and unloved bits of food trim. New York chef Dan Barber breathed new life into waste items such as fried salmon skin, marinated and shaved lettuce stubs, and a burger made from beetroot pulp. This focus on utilising food scraps is tipped to be big in 2017 and is finding its way into bars too. Trash Tiki is a pop-up bar and consultancy service that focuses on reducing the organic waste of cocktail bars. Used coffee grounds, tomato vines and avocado stones all make an appearance. Koji Koji is the special mould used in several umami-rich Japanese products including sake, miso and soy sauce. However, shio koji, a product made from rice inoculated with this special mould is being used as a seasoning to enhance everything from roasted chicken to pan-fried salmon. Shio koji can be found in 200g pouches from Japanese wholesalers like sushisushi.co.uk and if you’re already on the fermentation bandwagon, you’ll find uses for it in a range of pickles and tenderising marinades. The embracing of meat-free cuisines Vegetables have become quite significant in high-end restaurants, with chefs now getting all misty eyed about heritage cauliflowers, instead of traditional breeds of pig. But the culinary infatuation with vegetables is being seen at all price points and many meat-free cuisines are getting some serious attention. Ital Fresh in Liverpool is based around the Rastafarian cuisine Ital and serves mango curry peas and jerk spiced cauli-wings, while Manchester’s Bundobust (pictured) specialises in the vegetarian fare of the Indian state of Gujarat, knocking out highly praised masala dosas, tarka dahls and kachumber sambharo.
Cottage Delight goes to print Cottage Delight has launched a free newspaper to inspire consumers visiting Cottage Delight stockists. The 12-page Summer Delights will be available from April and is filled with recipe ideas and food pairings. Marketing manager Chloe Challinor said: “Cottage Delight is always looking for new ways that we can support the independent trade and the newspaper is just another way that we can communicate the product knowledge of our team and support the merchandising programmes, in-store tastings and free POS that we offer to all retailers.
New to the UK is Pellini coffee. As well as bags of ground and whole bean coffee, the premium espresso specialist now offers its range in Nespresso-compatible pods, in packs of 10 and 30 individual pods. Available through online wholesaler Gustalia, Pellini offers a variety of Arabica coffees, including organic and decaff blends.
www.cottagedelight.co.uk
www.pellinicaffe.com
How do you take your coffee?
Lavolio launches sweet Lovelies Fondant Lovelies in six flavours are the latest creation from boutique Italian confectioner Lavolio. Every box (priced at £6) of soft sweets contains a
mix of orange, raspberry, lemon, almond, pear and violet flavours, all of which are handcrafted using all-natural ingredients and essential oils.
Following Lavolio’s secret recipe, it takes 21 hours to make Fondant Lovelies, which can be both a teatime or an after-dinner treat. www.lavolio.com
Peas and beans get a Just roasting BY MICHAEL LANE
Staffordshire’s Just Crisps is targeting the healthy eating market with the launch of three new roasted products, made from beans and peas, to sit
alongside its range of potato crisps. Wasabi flavour Just Peas and Just Beans – available in sweet chilli and sea salt flavours – are made with British green split peas and
British fava beans respectively. Like Just Crisps, all of these new lines are roasted in the cold pressed rapeseed oil made by sister business Just Oil. The bean and pea lines come in 50g pouches and 1kg catering bags. The company said its new products are different from other snacks in the market because they are high in fibre and protein, nut-free and low in fat. Just’s rapeseed oil is said to contain half the saturated fat of olive oil and 35% lower in it than sunflower oils used to cook other brands of potato crisp. www.justcrisps.co.uk
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Vol.18 Issue 3 | April 2017
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