Gourmet News • February 2021

FEATURED PRODUCTS:

FEATURED PRODUCTS:

EDITOR’S PICK:

Stonewall Kitchen

Fiorucci Foods

Mesa de Vida

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SEE PAGE 16

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VOLUME 86 • NUMBER 2 FEBRUARY 2021 • $7.00 • Pre Brands Helps Address Food Insecurity with Donation to Inspiration Kitchens PAGE 6

• Fudge Sales Offer a Sweet Note in a Tough Time PAGE 8

• CHO America Opens the Book on Olive Oils PAGE 10

• Bacon Made Spreadable PAGE 12

• Featured Products PAGE 13

• Date Night at Home PAGES 18 & 19

• Editor’s Picks PAGE 20

• Cheese in a Shelf-Stable Snack Bar PAGE 22

• Ad Index PAGE 22

B U S I N E S S

N E W S P A P E R

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G O U R M E T

I N D U S T R Y

Frontline Impact Project Connects Donors with Health Care Heroes Frontline Impact Project is a KIND Foundation initiative that matches specialty food, beverage and personal care companies wishing to donate products to frontline institutions, including those battling the COVID-19 pandemic. Frontline Impact Project vets the organizations receiving the donations of coffee, snacks, microwaveable meals, mineral water and personal care and hygiene items so that the donors know their products are going to the intended recipients.

As of the end of 2020, the project had more than 60 companies involved, and The KIND Foundation had vetted more than 600 in-

stitutions across all 50 states and coordinated the delivery of more than 4.4 million products to more than a million people. There’s plenty of room for more companies to get involved, according to Michael Johnston, The KIND Foundation’s President. “The support for frontline has diminished over time,” he said. “In the spring, people came out on balconies to cheer them for their courageous work. That work continues, but societal focus has shifted.”

The project started early in 2020 when The KIND Foundation, an independent charity founded by KIND Snacks

Founder Daniel Lubetzky, first became aware of the scope of the public health disaster caused by COVID-19, Johnston said. When the folks at KIND became aware that health care workers in places where the virus was raging were working long shifts without access to regular meals or even stocked vending machines, the company started looking for a way to put KIND bars into their hands. “Restaurants had shut down. There were no more food carts – they weren’t allowed. The hospital cafeterias had closed,” said Adnan Durrani, the Chief

Thousands of families around the southeastern U.S. got some extra protein for their holiday season last December. NestFresh, which specializes in sustainable, local, humane and natural eggs, has donated 10,000 dozen eggs to social service agencies in Florida, Georgia and North Carolina. “We were hearing about all of the troubles that some communities were having with receiving donations,” said NestFresh Marketing Manager Sotheary Hom. “We definitely wanted to do what we can to give back.”

Hearing of the need, NestFresh

reached out to food banks in communities within its market area to find out which of them were able to accept pallets of eggs. “Everybody was really excited to receive those donations, so we were happy that we could help,” Hom said. “We had our products ship out in December to deliver ahead of Christmas.”

Organizations receiving eggs included Feeding South Florida, Second Harvest Food Bank of Metrolina, Loaves and Fishes and Communities in Schools of Georgia, which distributed eggs to other organizations to ensure that

the NestFresh Cage-Free Eggs went to those most in need in Georgia’s smaller communities.

The eggs came from a NestFresh plant in Pennsylvania, where the company was already donating regularly to the local community around its hardcooked plant. “We regularly contribute donated products in those areas, so we wanted to go out a little further,” Hom said. “Sometimes we have trucks going out that way [to the southeastern U.S.] anyway, so we decided to branch out.” GN

Continued on PAGE 8

NestFresh Delivers Protein-Powered Generosity

A Little Light After a Year of Storms

BY LORRIE BAUMANN

What Mark Singleton wants to remember about 2020 is not the divisiveness of our election politics but the way Americans came together to help each other through a disaster of Biblical proportions.

Not the damage unleashed by a tornado that ripped through Nashville, Tennessee on March 3, just as the storm clouds of the COVID-19 pandemic had already begun gathering over New York, but the American can-do that brought a community together to sing Nashville back afterwards. Not the hardships of feeding a country populated by people afraid to go into a grocery store, but the hard work by the truck drivers who crossed the miles to bring the food that stocked the shelves. And not the operational difficulties of running a food processing company through a pandemic but the determination and good cheer of workers in Rudolph Foods plants who kept coming to work to meet increasing demand for food products that would be loaded onto Continued on PAGE 6

Culinary Adventure Comes in a Jar

BY LORRIE BAUMANN

After a year of travel restrictions and isolation, Americans are eager to get out into the world again. Oo'mäme offers free passage.

“We’re in this space now where things have changed,” said Mark Engel, the Founder of oo'mäme.

“How often are you willing to bring a new product into your repertoire? It happens when there’s a life change.... Outside of those, we don’t change much....

Right now, because of this pandemic, we’re all changing, and that’s why innovation is needed now more than ever before.”

The brand has just launched two new varieties of its spicy infusions of peppers, nuts, seeds and spices in high-oleic sunflower oil, now rebranded as oo'mäme CHILE CRISP, along with UMAMI HEAT Seasoning Blend, a play on Japanese Shichimi Togarashi, a traditional spice blend based on the togarashi pepper.

The oo'mäme version is based on birdseye chiles, nori and ginger.

The two new CHILE CRISP products are Kerala, India and Fez, Morocco, which join the existing line of Szechuan, China and Oaxaca, Mexico. Kerala, India includes bits of dried papaya, fer-

mented black beans, spices and peppers infused into higholeic sunflower oil that remains liquid in the refrigerator, so that it’s easy to add to a dish either together with the seeds and fruit or separately, when what’s wanted is the spice without crunchy texture. Fez, Morocco includes almonds, dried figs, sesame seeds and orange peel along with peppers and spices that meld into the aromas and flavors of North African desert cultures. What all four of the CHILE CRISPs have in

common is celebration of cultures that respect the value of spicy heat as an ingredient that enhances simple food with complex flavors and umami to create a dish that leaves its mark.

Engel believes that Americans are hungry for for that kind of Continued on PAGE 12

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GOURMET NEWS

FROM THE EDITOR IN CHIEF

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FEBRUARY 2021

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Dear Readers: I’ve been hearing from a lot of people lately that they are finding blessings that they might not have had if a pandemic had not intervened in our normal lives. For me, one of those blessings has been the opportunity to join a writing group led by a friend of mine in southern California. I’d been hearing from my friend about this group for years, so I was delighted to be asked if I wanted to join once they were forced to go online.

When we get together on Zoom, we share what we’re reading and what we’re thinking about and then we do a writing exercise or two and read aloud what we’ve written. We laugh a lot and try not to think about anything else for an hour. We talk about our sources of inspiration. “I don’t need inspiration – I have deadlines,” I tell them.

Which is not true, except in the sense that I never lack for inspiration because I get to have almost daily conversations with people in this industry who take the time to tell me, not just the routine details of the products they’re making and selling, but about the passion that drives them to do it. This is an industry peopled by many who are deeply passionate about what they do and why they do it and who they’re doing it for, and that passion is contagious.

I benefit enormously from the contagion that provides a steady flow of inspiration that most of the people in that writing group can only dream of enjoying. I treasure those conversations with folks throughout the specialty food industry, and I cherish the opportunity that I have on these pages to share some of the best bits of them with you. I do hope that you’re enjoying what you’re reading in Gourmet News as much as I’m enjoying writing

these stories for you.

You may notice that we’re changing the format of the magazine just a little bit, as we find ways to better showcase the talents of our art director, Yasmine Brown, who thinks you deserve a magazine that’s beautiful to look at as well as fun to read. Do feel free to write to us at editor@oser.com and let us know what you think. As I explained a while ago in response to an email I received from one of the cheesemakers you can read about in the spring edition of the Cheese Guide that accompanies this issue, “You may have wondered how some of the people in Gourmet News get into the magazine. This is how.”

Stay safe and stay warm! And if you get a chance, please do drop me a line about your willingness to come to the phone and inspire me! GN

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FEBRUARY 2021

Pre Brands Helps Address Food Insecurity with Donation to Inspiration Kitchens

Little Light Continued from PAGE 1 those trucks for delivery to grocers across the country. “We’ve been working harder than ever – I have never been this busy,” Singleton said. “In the midst of all that, you’re seeing, all over America, unbelievable things.”

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the first laboratory-confirmed case of COVID-19 in New York City was diagnosed on February 29, 2020. “The subsequent 3-month period was characterized by a rapid acceleration in the epidemic, resulting in approximately 203,000 cases and 18,600 deaths among persons with laboratory-confirmed COVID-19,” according to a CDC Morbidity and Mortality Report dated November 20, 2020.

In Singleton’s memory, though, the year of disasters really began, not with the first rumbles of American experience with a global pandemic, but with a tornado that ripped through Nashville in the early morning hours of March 3. The tornado was part of a storm cluster that ripped through central Tennessee, killing 24 people and wrecking hundreds of buildings.

Tornadoes were reported several times across a 145-mile stretch of central Ten-

Pre ® Brands, a leading provider of 100 percent grass-fed and grass-finished beef, is giving back to the community with a donation of 6,000 pounds of lean beef to Inspiration Kitchens.

“Following the outbreak of COVID19, we began producing nutritious meals at Inspiration Kitchens to meet the rising need for emergency food assistance in the city of Chicago,” says Evan Cauble-Johnson, Chief Development Officer, Inspiration Corporation. “Meals are delivered directly to people experiencing homelessness and poverty through a collection of partner organizations, including several shelters and transitional housing programs.”

Inspiration Corporation’s partnerships

include Breakthrough Urban Ministry’s Shelters, The Night Ministry, Franciscan Outreach, the Institute for Non-Violence Chicago, Northside Housing in Chicago’s Uptown neighborhood, Victory Outreach and Healthcare Alternative Systems. Since April, more than 13,000 meals have been produced at Inspiration Kitchens, and the charity aims to produce more than 90,000 meals in 2021.

“As part of our responsibility to be good corporate citizens, Pre Brands is proud to provide high in protein, lean, grass-fed and grass-finished beef to Inspiration Kitchens to support their ongoing emergency food assistance

nessee, and they wreaked devastation that deprived hundreds of people of their homes.

In response to the emergency, Southern Recipe Small Batch, a Rudolph Foods brand, organized a week-long series of virtual concerts featuring up-and-coming country music artists to raise funds for the Second Harvest Food Bank of Middle Tennessee and MusiCares, a non-profit organization that had formed a COVID-19 Relief Fund to help support the musicians whose livelihood had vanished because they were unable to tour during the pandemic. Five 30-minute concerts were performed in the living rooms of Ian Munsick, Carlton Anderson, Jordan Rager, Faren Rachels and Kasey Tyndall and streamed live through Southern Recipe Small Batch’s Instagram account. Southern Recipe Small Batch also donated $2,500 to each charity and offered giveaways to consumers who tuned in to watch. “The outreach effort and the response were unbelievable,” Singleton said.

There’s just so many people out there trying to help right now. This thing has touched everybody.”

Singleton, who helped organize the concerts, is Vice President of Marketing and Sales for Rudolph Foods, which is the country’s largest producer of pork rind snacks. The company has a long history of engagement with communities throughout

its market, so, even before all the tornado’s rubble had been cleared, the company was already rolling trucks to deliver loads of pork rinds to hungry people. “Our Chairman [James Rudolph] – almost immediately in the midst of all this, the tornadoes hit Nashville. We immediately saw that this was going to be ignored in the midst of this crisis. It’s been a really wonderful part of America that’s just been beat,” Singleton said. “We had truck loads of pork rinds.

Luckily, we could find great partners to put them into the hands of people who need them.”

“We’ve helped food banks here, military food banks there. We’re just looking for every opportunity,” he added. “It’s a privilege to be able to, and it’s just so important right now as we get through this thing together.”

Over the years, Rudolph Foods has actively celebrated the role that truckers play in connecting its products with its markets, and Singleton also serves as a board member for the St. Christopher Truckers Relief Fund. That put him in position to see the toll that the pandemic was taking on truck drivers over the course of the year. The St. Christopher Truckers Relief Fund is a nonfaith-based charity that supports over-theroad truck drivers and their families with a variety of services excluding actual medical expenses to help them stay well and assists

programs,” said Kevin Ponticelli, President and Chief Executive Officer, Pre

Brands. “Pre is committed to making a lasting impact in the communities where our associates and customers call home.

Donating enough beef for over 25,000 meals feels especially meaningful in this unprecedented year.” GN

“Following the outbreak of COVID-19, we began producing nutritious meals at Inspiration Kitchens to meet the rising need for emergency food assistance in the city of Chicago.”

—EVAN CAUBLE-JOHNSON, NSPIRATION CORPORATION

with essential household expenses when drivers aren’t able to work.

“We depend on trucks to move all of our stuff from one end to the other of our supply chain,” Singleton said. “This year, more than any year in our history – the people that have stopped truckers to say thanks, the people who have donated to our St. Christopher’s Fund – this has been our highest fundraising year ever, and that’s because people now understand that there are so many invisible people in their lives…. I think we’re going to come out of this thing with a much greater appreciation for the work that gets done in this country.”

Some of that invisible work is done by the workers in the Rudolph Foods plants, who’ve been stressed by the demands of their jobs even though the configuration of their plants allows for social distancing in a way that many other food processing plants do not, Singleton said. “I can’t think of any time in my 30 years in manufacturing that it’s been harder to operate from so many directions,” he said. “People are tired.

This has been a slog… I am so convinced that if our customers knew how hard the people in our plant work to make the food taste great and to be safe, they’d pay us a lot more for it. How lucky we are to be able to find so many people who care so much – is simply remarkable.” GN

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GOURMET NEWS

Fudge Sales Offer a Sweet Note in a Tough Time

BY LORRIE BAUMANN

Calico Cottage offers turn-key fudge programs and has more than a half-century of experience in helping brick-and-mortar retailers attract new customers as well as those who return to explore new flavors of an indulgent treat. “We invented the on-premise, small-space fudge-making program,” said Dan Russo, Vice President of Sales for Calico Cottage. “We’ve been around since 1964, and we’ve worked tirelessly to become the gold standard in retail solution programs, both for quality and an unwavering commit-

ment to retailer success.”

Calico Cottage is a family-owned business founded by Leonard Wurzel and now operated by Mark and Larry Wurzel, who took over in 1992. “In 2008, Mark’s son Max got involved,” Russo said. Over those years, Calico Cottage has seen a lot of changes in the retail landscape, with some retail profits predicting the death of retail as we know it, but it’s not retail that’s dying, it’s boring retail, Russo said. Fudge provides an antidote for consumer boredom, even in times of recession, he added. “We’ve focused on the instore inexperience and how to drive engagement in-store,” Russo said. “Fudge sales are still doing really, really well.”

Although the COVID-19 pandemic is certainly changing how retailers operate and

Frontline Impact Continued from PAGE 1 Executive Officer of Saffron Road and an enthusiastic enlistee into the project.

Shortly after recognizing the problem, Lubetzky and team realized that The KIND Foundation did not have an adequate network of accredited frontline organizations that could readily accept a donation of KIND bars and get it to beleaguered health care workers. There just wasn’t such a list.

That meant that lending a hand wasn’t going to be as easy as shipping millions of KIND Bars to someone who’d take charge of them and then maybe just calling a few friends like Durrani and recruiting them to do the same. “The challenge was that KIND didn’t have a network of health care institutions at the ready. They didn’t know how to efficiently reach the hospitals to deliver

will continue to do that for some time to come, Russo believes that fudge sales still offer retailers an opportunity to connect with customers. “Even though people may not be traveling by plane right now, they’re still looking for ways to feel good,” he said.

“Fudge is a feel-good item.”

Calico Cottage, based in Amityville, New York, is currently working with about 3,000 retailers across the country. Over the years, fudge retailers have shared their hands-on knowledge and years of expertise to help Calico develop and hone best practices.

“We’re constantly learning from our retailers,” Russo said. “We act as a feedback loop, taking information from our customers and sharing with others so that they can be successful.” Calico Cottage also acts as an innovation resource for its retailers, staying on top of annual flavor trends and developing new fudge recipes. “We do the work so our retailers can stay on trend and remain relevant,” Russo said.

Although retailers may have to limit traffic and perhaps merchandise edible products a little differently than they might have done in the past, including adoption of new precautions around sampling, fudge sales can still offer a means of connecting customers with their memories of happier times and to associate the store where they found the

fudge with some of that emotional glow, according to Russo. “People are still gravitating toward the fudge,” he said. “We’re all looking for that escape. We’re looking to get out, and we’re looking for reasons to feel good.”

Calico Cottage works like a franchise but doesn’t involve franchise fees, and once the company and a retailer come to an agreement to work together, Calico Cottage can provide all the equipment and know-how that are needed for success with a plan that’s customized to the retailer’s particular circumstances, according to Russo. “We talk you through what the best practices are, and we make sure that you’re able to execute and commit on those things.... You follow the steps,” Russo said. “Once we’re ready, and we agree together to move forward, we literally have everything you need to get started: equipment, ingredients, packaging, glass for your display. We’ve got you covered; we have it all.”

With a range of programs designed to match the retailer’s particular circumstances, independent retailers have historically done very well with Calico Cottage. Stores in tourist destinations have been especially successful, as have specialty grocers and cheese shops, according to Russo. “Fudge does better in non-traditional retail environments and stands out a bit more,” he said. “In tourist destinations, fudge becomes an edible souvenir. People buy it to take home with them.”

Calico Cottage also recently began offering a nut program to complement fudge sales and help to compensate for a shorter sales year, Russo said. “That just complements the fudge enormously,” he said. “The fudge is visually appealing, but when you’re roasting nuts in store, you’ve got this fantastic aroma that just draws people into the store. It’s been an exciting launch thus far, even in the midst of these times.”

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

the product,” Johnston said.

And once The KIND Foundation was on the job, another realization came – that health care workers weren’t the only frontline workers whose welfare was being threatened by COVID-19: firefighters, EMTs and others were also exposing themselves to the virus to serve the public and help the sick during the crisis. So, first, the logistics had to be worked out. “The administrators of the hospitals and health care institutions were overwhelmed, so trying to build a list was hard,” Johnston said.

“Within 72 hours, we stood up a website, developed the mechanics for vetting the institutions and started recruiting the people within the institutions to receive the products.”

Durrani got involved when he happened to be on the phone to Lubetzky and started sharing his feelings about how there ought to be something that Saffron Road could do

to help out. “I am doing something. Why don’t you join me?” Lubetzky said.

“In a coalition with a number of other companies, I believe the FIP ended up giving out almost 20,000 meals now [by the end of November 2020], especially during the surge,” Durrani said. Other companies joined in as well, offering everything from protein bars to keep doctors and nurses fueled for the fight to moisturizers and lotions to soothe the hands chapped by sanitizing chemicals and faces chafed by N95 masks. Companies like Headspace have chipped in with mental health services to help health care heroes deal with stress, and start-ups like ROWDY have offered virtual fitness classes that provide a break from the intensity of the work.

“There’s been a broad range of donors,” Johnston said.

Mars, which acquired KIND North America this year, has contributed Extra

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FEBRUARY 2021

The Fresh Market Inc. Names Two New Directors The Fresh Market, Inc. has named Heather Berger and Sue Gove as new members of its board of directors. The appointments were a result of one open position and a decision to increase the size of the board from six to seven directors.

The open position resulted from the December 14, 2020 resignation of Itai Wallach, who has served as a director of the company since January 2017.

Wallach advised the board that his decision was not due to any disagreement with the company on matters involving the company’s operations, policies or practices.

Sidewalk Side Spirits Launches First Spirits Brand New Orleans cocktail syrup maker Cocktail & Sons joined forces with Gambino’s, a Louisiana bakery, to form Sidewalk Side Spirits LLC in 2020 and has launched its first product, Gambino’s King Cake Rum Cream. It’s a blend of Caribbean rum, Wisconsin cream, Louisiana sugar cane and New Orleans’s own Cocktail & Son’s King Cake Syrup that its makers call “Mardi Gras in a Bottle.”

Perdue Farms Funds New Freezer for Food Bank Perdue Farms has awarded a $100,000 grant to enable the Foodbank of Southeastern Virginia and the Eastern Shore to expand its freezer capacity at its Tasley, Virginia, branch and feed more Virginians experiencing food insecurity during the pandemic and beyond.

The new 6,400-cubic-foot chilled space is funded by a grant from the Franklin P. and Arthur W. Perdue Foundation, the charitable giving arm of Perdue Farms. The increased capacity will enable the Foodbank to receive and distribute significantly more chilled and frozen food products, including much sought-after protein and produce. The Foodbank estimates that it will be able to provide more than 111,000 additional meals through its network of partner agencies on the rural eastern shore of Virginia.

The branch is currently providing more than 1.2 million meals to those facing food insecurity on the eastern shore.

Chobani Names New CFO Chobani has hired veteran finance executive Jody Macedonio as its new Chief Financial Officer, effective December 28, 2020. Macedonio, reporting to Chobani President & Chief Operating Officer Peter McGuinness, is joining Chobani as it enters and grows in four categories: plant-based oat milks, dairy and plant-based oat creamers, functional wellness beverages and a new probiotic yogurt portfolio. This comes as Chobani continues to grow by double digits in total dollar sales in grocery outlets and online.

gum to help resolve tensions that might otherwise be felt as clenched teeth and tight jaws and has promised another donation in 2021.

The project, originally envisioned by Lubetzky and Johnston as something that might be alive for a few weeks, has lasted far longer than that. Nevertheless, Frontline Impact Project will be continuing for as long as the pandemic demands and the health care workers, firefighters and emergency services personnel who’ve been thrown into the disaster need the help, Johnston said. “When we first started, it was primarily about providing nutritious food and snacks to health care workers.

They’re now encountering very different kinds of challenges. They’re dealing with exhaustion, extraordinary stress and burnout,” Johnston said. “They still need us, so we’re going to be there all the way through.” GN

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GOURMET NEWS

CHO America Opens the Book on Olive Oils

BY LORRIE BAUMANN

The makers of TERRA DELYSSA Tunisian olive oils are taking seriously consumers’ desires to know that they’re buying an authentic product. Each bottle of TERRA DELYSSA oil is labeled with a QR code that can be scanned to trace the lot number of the oil to the orchards from which the olives were harvested, through the process through which it was made and then analyzed before being bottled and released for sale.

The TERRA DELYSSA oils are made in Tunisia by CHO and imported into the U.S. by CHO America, the North American division of a Tunisian company owned by a family of olive farmers that have been passing their olive orchards down through generations. “We are olive oil farmers, olive oil millers. That’s what defines us,” said Wajih Rekik, the Chief Executive Officer of CHO America.

Until 1987, the family sold their oil locally and to the Tunisian government, which monopolized olive oil exports until a change of government allowed private companies to enter the business. “At that point, we moved on from being just farmers,” Rekik said. “We had made the oil, but it was never really a modern business.”

The Tunisian government had been sending much of the olive oil produced in the country to Italy, where it was bottled and, frequently, then labeled as a product of Italy.

The scandal that arose when the public discovered the fraud reverberates through the market today.

Rekik felt those reverberations when he came to the United States for his education and started looking at the labels of the olive oil that was being sold in American supermarkets. “As we looked at the shelves, we saw brands to which we sold our oil, but on the back of the bottle, you’d see, ‘Product of Tunisia, Italy, Spain, Morocco – a big list,’” he said. “The consumer that picks up a bottle of olive oil and can’t even tell what country it’s produced in. The back of the bottle might list half a dozen countries. It does feed into that doubt, that fear that the consumer feels.”

“We saw that there was a place for us to have our own olive oil, a Tunisian olive oil, to take its place on the shelves of the world without being apologetic,” he added. “We wanted to be the ambassador of Tunisian olive oil on the shelves.”

The company settled its embassy to the American market in Houston, Texas, established a distribution hub in Canada and then went to work giving American and Canadian consumers the single-origin

Tunisian olive oils that consumers didn’t yet know they were craving. What Americans did know they were craving was transparency and authenticity, so CHO America decided on radical transparency as a means of persuading North American customers that they should give TERRA DELYSSA olive oil a try. Blockchain technology made that possible.

Each bottle of TERRA DELYSSA olive oil is labeled with a QR code that provides access to consumers with information about the particular lot of olive oil that’s in that bottle, from the orchards where the olives were harvested to the process used to extract the oil from the olives in CHO’s waste-free plant in Tunisia and on to the analysis step that took place before the oil was bottled.

Each step in the process is detailed for the consumer through the website’s access to the blockchained ledger accounts that were entered along the oil’s path from orchard to the market. “As far as our Tunisian olive oil goes, we wanted to double down on the transparency aspect of it, and that’s how we came to adopt the blockchain to show consumers when and where it was harvested, when and where it was bottled, giving sales staff instant access to that information. All information that is on the database is entered as it is happening. We have no back access to it, so that whatever’s entered cannot be changed. Our retail grocery partner has direct access to that information,” Rekik said. “We do not have control of the information out there; it is out there. We can offer the consumer the whole transparency of the whole chain.”

Consumers embraced the transparency offered by the brand, and when they tried the oil, they loved its fresh, smooth flavor profile, according to Rekik. “We are now Canada’s nnumber-one brand of olive oil,” he said.

The company’s latest innovation is a range of Fork & Leaf-brand blended oils that answer consumers’ desires for healthful oils that match their dietary preferences and at the same time, match particular blends to the way that consumers plan to use them. These are blends of CHO America’s Tunisian olive oil with other oils that possess different attributes with respect to their smoke point, health attributes and flavor profile. “Our mastery of quality and analysis and understanding the different parameters and oil analysis in general and the quality put us in position where we can

make an informed decision on which oil to collect and select,” Rekik said. “We try to use only non-GMO oils, mainly organic. We are mindful of the way those oils were produced – we prioritize expeller-produced oils.

We tried to simplify that to our consumer by giving them the option of using an oil that is specially for sauteing or for frying....

We did the composition and selection with registered dietitians and working with chefs to get to the optimal blend.”

With its most recent introductions, the company is planning to enhance consumer awareness of the TERRA DELYSSA and Fork & Leaf brands and of CHO America as a source for specialty oils

that they can count on to meet all their culinary needs. The brand family also includes Origin 846, used for the company’s unfiltered olive oil. “We’re distributed nationally in 50 states and all major retailers and on partner ecommerce platforms in U.S. and Canada,” Rekik said. “We are working to establish ourselves as a household name. We’re trying to reinforce with our consumers that they can trust us.... We’re working on establishing the brand as a household name.”

For more information, visit www.cho-america.com, www.origin846.com and www.terradelyssa.com. GN

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FEBRUARY 2021

12

GOURMET NEWS

Bacon Made Spreadable

BY LORRIE BAUMANN

Mike Oraschewsky wants you to notice the order of the words on the label of his TBJ Gourmet Bacon Jam – it’s bacon that’s been made into a jam, not a jam that’s had a little bacon or bacon flavoring added into it to make it taste a little bacony. “Bacon is the main ingredient. It’s a meat spread as opposed to a jam,” Oraschewsky said.

“Bacon Jam is bacon, caramelized onions, brown sugar, apple cider vinegar and a lot of stirring.”

He’s the Chief Executive Officer of TBJ Gourmet, a company he built around a single product developed

by Bruce Kramer, originally a hobby cook and home brewer and now Oraschewsky’s Partner and Chief Operating Officer of TBJ Gourmet, the company the two of them started together after the popularity of Bacon Jam exploded Oraschewsky’s career as a restaurateur and Kramer’s as a software developer.

Bacon Jam started off as Kramer’s homebrewed version of a product he’d been tasting as a burger topping in his local gastropubs and decided to make for himself to incorporate into the bacon-stuffed jalapeño peppers he was planning to serve to fellow fans of the Philadelphia Eagles at a tailgating party. The friends who tasted it there told Kramer he’d be an idiot not to put that bacon jam in jars and sell it. At that time, he wasn’t planning to abandon his software career and go into the food business, but he listened to their advice and pitched the idea to Mike Oraschewsky. “He knew that I had a restaurant and a place that we could make it,” Oraschewsky said.

Culinary Adventure Continued from PAGE 1 adventure. “People are ready for change, and our products, I feel really good about – they are right,” he said. “People want international food as they are not going out to restaurants. They want high-quality food in their own homes, and we’re giving them that taste of culinary adventure that goes with travel.”

A 2020 report by the Private Label Manufacturers Association suggests that he may be onto something. According to the report, titled “The Growing Popularity of International Grocery Products in the US,” and based on a survey of about 800 men and women across the U.S. who identified themselves as the principal grocery shopper in their household, Americans are noticing the international food products they’re finding in their local food markets. They’ve noticed that their markets are carrying more international products now than they did five years ago, and about a third say they’d like to see still more international food products in their stores. Another third said they might like to see more international products, and fewer than one in five said they

“I worked on the food safety element of it, developed the HACCP plan that would make it shelf-stable.”

The two put together a Kickstarter program that funded them while they worked on new varieties, and when they were ready, they started selling direct to consumers online. A year later, they launched

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FEBRUARY 2021

Mother’s Market & Kitchen Plans for New Location Mother’s Market & Kitchen in southern California is planning to open a new store in Corona del Mar in summer 2021. The Corona del Mar location will mark the grocer’s 11th southern California location (which includes nine existing markets, as well as Mother’s Sunset Beach location, which is slated to open June 2021). Like all Mother’s Market locations, the new Corona del Mar location – which will share building occupancy with incoming CVS – will offer a full traditional grocery shop with the highest quality natural and organic food choices; fresh organic produce; organic juice bar and homemade readyto-eat prepared meals, as well as a wellness section.

The grocer also plans to offer a curated selection of specialty and local foods.

their product on QVC, where they sold Bacon Jam at a rate of about 500 jars a minute. “We started making it in my restaurant and started selling it on the internet,” Oraschewsky said. “I sold my restaurant two years later because this had very quickly eclipsed the restaurant business.”

TBJ Gourmet’s Bacon Jam is one of a host of upcycled foods that have gained favor as gourmet products that are made by rescuing food products that might otherwise be wasted and turning them into something that transcends their lowly origins in a quintessentially American form of upward mobility. In the case of Bacon Jam, the starting point in that journey is with the chunks of smoked pork bellies that don’t fit nicely into supermarket packages of sliced bacon.

Oraschewsky buys those ends and pieces of uncured pork belly bacon, and they’re then cooked and stirred into a product that spoons into a bowl on a cheese plate, tops

a burger or a steak, adorns an appetizer or stirs into a salad dressing. Bacon Jam won the Specialty Food Association’s FrontBurner Competition in 2017 and since it’s now available to the foodservice industry through Sysco, it’s been served at more than 5,000 restaurants across the country. “Our core customers are specialty food store shoppers,” Oraschewsky said. For retail sale, Bacon Jam is currently packaged in a 9-ounce glass jar, although future plans call for additional offerings in larger packaging for club stores and a smaller size to appeal to consumers who are just discovering the product. That smaller package will be offered in a 7.5-ounce plastic cup to retail for $5. “People who are already fans of our Bacon Jam buy it regularly and use it daily,” Oraschewsky said. “A consumer who hasn’t had it before isn’t familiar with the concept. We wanted to give the a lowercost entry point.”

Bacon Jam is now offered in six varieties: Classic, Sweet Chili, Black Peppercorn, Balsamic & Fig, Honey Habanñro and Maple Bourbon. The Balsamic & Fig Bacon Jam, Honey Habanñro Bacon Jam and Maple Bourbon Bacon Jam are sold only through specialty stores and will continue to be packaged only in the 9-ounce glass jars, which retail for $9.99.

Since not everyone eats bacon, TBJ Gourmet also offers Spiced Tomato Jam, which is vegan and finds particular appeal as an accompaniment for cheese. A dollar from the sale of every jar of Spiced Tomato Jam goes to Philabundance, which is Philadelphia’s local Feeding America affiliate food bank.

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

Giant Food, which operates in the greater Washington D.C. area, is helping customers identify products owned by minority based businesses through updated shelf labels. All 164 Giant stores will feature the shelf labels, informing shoppers of products offered by businesses that are owned by women, ethnic minorities, LGBT people or veterans. More than 3,100 products will feature the updated shelf labels, owned by 218 businesses in Giant’s network of vendor partnerships.

don’t want to see more international foods in their stores. Most of those surveyed said they are willing to buy an international food product for the first time when they are shopping in their favorite market.

The oo'mäme products are designed to reach those who might have said “maybe” on that survey as well as those who are sure that they’re ready to put more international foods into their market basket. While the oo'mäme flavors celebrate the flavors of the cultures they represent, Engel has steered clear of the cultural appropriation of simply lifting a product from a street market during his travels in a foreign land and repackaging it for the American market as the real thing. “There is a fine line between cultural appreciation and appropriation. When I got my master’s degree in business, I also got a master’s degree in Chinese which gave me an appreciation and sensitivity around other cultures,” he said. “We’re not copying anything. We don’t say, ‘This is Mr. Singh’s 500-year-old recipe.’ At all. What we want to make people understand is that this is a contemporary interpretation of the aromas and tastes of culinary hot spots. We hope to share our appreciation for other cultures by sharing communal food experiences.”

Engel himself learned to appreciate the

combination of heat and spice as a college student in Taiwan, where he was studying Chinese. He lived and studied for three years in a small village in the center of Taiwan before returning to the United States to finish his business studies before embarking on a career that would take him around the world and that included more than 10 years in the food industry. “Most recently, I ran a Chinese food company. We hand-rolled 600,000 egg rolls a day, and I was the head of operations, marketing, product development and supported sales,” he said. “I ran several USDA plants, so I really understand all elements of the supply chain. And I’m a food lover.” With his oo'mäme brand, he says he is now bringing all of that experience along with a reverence for the cultures with which he’s come in contact over the years and packaging them together in glass.

Each of the CHILE CRISP labels is decorated with art representing traditional motifs of the cultures represented by the flavors within, and the glass jars show consumers the wealth of ingredients infusing the oil of the condiment. The labels promise that the condiments are handmade in small batches in the U.S., and while some ingredients might not be instantly familiar to some of the shoppers reading the labels,

none has a name that sounds like it came out of a laboratory rather than a kitchen.

Each is packaged in a 9.2-ounce jar that retails for about $16, and a sampler package of four 4-ounce jars – one of each flavor – is also offered to retail for about $36. “The flavors are incredibly different and versatile. We say ‘1001 Uses. One Spoon.’ For example, you can mix any of these flavors with mascarpone or a cream cheese and put it out on a charcuterie plate, and you’ll wow people – it’ll be the first item to go,” Engel said.

The oo'mäme UMAMI HEAT Seasoning Blend is offered in a 2-ounce pouch that retails for about $12. “I had the Umami Heat on chocolate ice cream, and I think it was the best thing I ever had in my life. There was the cold of the ice cream with the heat of the spice and then the crunch from the sesame seeds....”

While the dry spice blend is a departure from the CHILE CRISP products, it’s more like deciding to drive along the frontage road next to the interstate highway for a while than like striking out in an altogether different direction. “The whole idea still is unleashing an explosion of spicy umami,” Engel said. “It’s still on brand.”

For more information, visit www.oomame.net. GN

Piggly Wiggly Independent Store Owners Purchase Two Stores Two Independent Piggly Wiggly® store owners, with the support of C&S Wholesale Grocers, Inc. have entered into a definitive agreement with Southeastern Grocers, Inc. to acquire one BI-LO store in South Carolina and one BI-LO store in Georgia. This agreement is part of a series of transactions resulting from Southeastern’s divestment of the BI-LO banner, which was announced on June 4. Piggly Wiggly stores in South Carolina and southeast Georgia, which are independently owned and operated, are supported and supplied by C&S Wholesale Grocers.

The BI-LO store in Pooler, Georgia, is being purchased by Ashley and Missy Thompson, current owners of four Piggly Wiggly locations in southeast Georgia. The Lexington, South Carolina BI-LO store is being purchased by Charles Starbuck, a new owner for Piggly Wiggly stores in the Southeast.

Giant Food Spotlights Products Made

by Minority Businesses

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GOURMET NEWS

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GOURMET NEWS

MarDona Black Truffle Marinara Sauce MarDona Specialty Foods’ gourmet Black Truffle Marinara Sauce is versatile and perfect for any pasta dish or as a dipping sauce for a crusty bread. MarDona uses only pure, natural ingredients in the making of its gourmet sauce – the best crushed tomatoes, fresh spices, pure truffle infused olive oil and the finest black truffles. Then the sauce is slow-cooked over a low heat for hours to achieve its luscious thickness and well-

balanced great taste. Sodium and calorie levels are as low as possible, and it’s gluten free.

MarDona Specialty Foods 855.645.7772 www.mardonausa.com

shine and are not factory farmed with artificial lighting methods that other growers use to produce microgreens. Microgreens should have short stems and fully-expanded leaves with deep vibrant color, and this simply cannot be achieved by producing them in energyintensive factory farms. Even when grown inside a greenhouse, if the outdoor climate is less than ideal, the result is similar to factory farmed: soft, stretched and stemmy with tiny leaves. Microgreen nutrition and flavor are in the leaves, not the stems. BrightFresh Microgreens are top quality and have the best taste and appearance.

BrightFresh offers several microgreens varieties, including Micro Arugula, Micro Broccoli, Micro Cilantro, Micro Kale Mix, Micro Radish Mix and the most popular, Micro Rainbow Mix. BrightFresh also offers more unique items, such as Gold Pea Shoots, Squash Blossoms and an Herb Flowers Mix. BrightFresh is currently available in select retail stores across the U.S.

Fresh Origins www.freshorigins.com

Champignon NA Launches Marketing Campaign Champignon North America is launching a promotional campaign titled, “This Is Fine Cheese.”

The concept for the campaign refers to all specialty cheeses imported from Bavaria, Germany, by the company. It's intended to provide information, inspiration and education to consumers and cheese professionals alike.

The concept will be rolled out at several touchpoints like social media, website or printed advertisements but also at point-of-sale with a “Fine Cheese Sample Event” and printed marketing materials.

The consumer-related communication tools will focus on recipes and inspiration as well as on #cheesefacts or cheese handling tips. The concept acts as an umbrella for all brands but still gives each brand the opportunity to stand out on its own in their competition with other cheeses.

FEBRUARY 2021

Jasper Ranch Nutty Duos

BrightFresh Microgreens Microgreens are no longer just for top chefs and fancy restaurants. BrightFresh® Microgreens offer healthy and nutritious microgreens available for foodies and home cooks. These microgreens are Honestly Grown™ in sunny San Diego, California, an ideal climate for producing microgreens that are robust, highly flavored and long-lasting.

Combining the benefits of great weather and a deep passion for quality and innovation, BrightFresh has become the top source of microgreens and edible flowers for consumers today.

Microgreens are small, young edible greens produced from herbs, vegetables and other plants. BrightFresh carefully hand-harvests them at the peak of flavor and their delicate, fresh appearance adds beauty, dimension and a range of distinct flavor profiles to sweet and savory dishes and even beverages. They can be used to customize any dish and brighten up culinary creations.

BrightFresh Microgreens are the gold standard of quality. Location and growing conditions are very important factors with growing microgreens. BrightFresh Microgreens are grown in bright, natural sun-

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The focus for the POS is on activities to drive sales. In stores where demonstrations were once popular, Champignon has shifted to partnering with retailers for Fine Cheese Sample Events, at which cheese managers can offer shoppers a take-home sample of one of Champignon’s featured fine cheeses.

Champignon is supporting with signage to increase customer engagements. The focus items for the Fine Cheese Sample Event are CAMBOZOLA and CAMBOZOLA Black Label, CHAMPIGNON Mushroom and Grand Noir.

Champignon North America 201.871.7211 www.thisisfinecheese.com

Starting with the finest California almonds, Jasper Ranch creates exceptional almond snacks and mouthwaconfections. tering The Nutty Duo, a topselling product in the Jasper Ranch brand, is a favorite for giftgiving during any season. Sold in 10-ounce red or orange totes, this is a duo of Jasper Ranch’s most popular almond products in 5-ounce sizes.

Three unique Nutty Duo variety combinations contain both sweet and savory options. The first duo is Jasper Ranch’s old-fashioned English Toffee and Maple Mixed Nuts. The second duo is Spicy Cocktail Almonds and Maple Mixed Nuts.

The third duo is Original Almond Brittle and Rosemary Garlic Almonds with Cranberries. All of them are perfect for everyday indulgences.

Jasper Ranch is a brand of Jasper Specialty Foods, a multi-generational family-run operation headquartered in Newman, California, and specializing in the production of unique almond-related food snacks, confections and other treats for the specialty food market.

Jasper Specialty Foods 800.255.1641 www.jasperspecialtyfoods.com

Glass Mayo Jars from Ardagh Group Ardagh Group’s classic Mayo Jars are perfect for craft food producers. Proudly made in the U.S., using high-quality flint (clear) glass, these jars are available in a variety of sizes, including 12-ounce, 16-ounce and 32-ounce.

These 100 percent and endlessly recyclable glass Mayo Jars are environmentally friendly and boast an excellent shelf life for your products.

The Mayo Jars are offered in 12-pack cases available for purchase on Ardagh’s BOB™ site (food.buyourbottles.com) with

convenient online ordering and payment via credit card or PayPal. Or, you can purchase the jars in six-pack cases by contacting Ardagh.

Ardagh is dedicated to the craft food market with capabilities and resources to grow with you every stage of the way. By the pallet or truckload, BOB and Ardagh have the ideal shapes and styles for craft food producers like you.

Ardagh Group 856.455.2137 www.ardaghgroup.com/food2021

Caputo Crafts Elevated Distinction Founded in 1978 by René and Pasquale Caputo, Caputo Cheese, in Melrose Park, Illinois, has been crafting award-winning fresh Mozzarella and Ricotta cheeses using Old World tradition and recipes.

While some things stay constant, Natale Caputo, second-generation President of Caputo Cheese, is always looking for new and innovative ideas, and with that in mind, the company is proud to introduce its newest addition to the Caputo portfolio, Elevated Cow. Made with the same high-quality milk and with the same attention to detail as

Caputo’s other cheeses, the Elevated Cow line of fresh cheeses is infused with organic, independently tested and verified CBD. Each batch of Elevated Cow is then sent to be tested at an independent lab to ensure accuracy in product and to allow accurate labeling for you and your customers. Use Caputo’s Elevated Cow line of cheeses on pizza, caprese salads or any dish that highlights fresh Mozzarella.

Caputo Cheese 708.450.0074 www.elevatedcow.com

New Lemon Pepper OMG! Pretzels OMG! Pretzels takes snacking to a whole new level with its savory product line of gourmet flavored sourdough pretzel nuggets. As a family-owned and operated small business, OMG! Pretzels has handcrafted each of its many flavors to perfection. From kitchen to shelf, these flavorful pretzel nuggets are made with the finest ingredients around.

With its new Lemon Pepper OMG! Pretzels, the company has combined both of

these flavor cravings, creating a zesty kick mixed with decadent spices and herbs. Recognized as an award-winning product, high-quality and strong consumer satisfaction always go hand-in-hand at OMG! Pretzels.

OMG! Pretzels www.omgpretzels.com

GOURMET NEWS

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A Stonewall Kitchen Collection Steeped in Southern Hospitality Stonewall Kitchen combined its expertise in specialty foods and home goods to create its new Sweet Tea & Honey Fine Home Keeping Collection. Inspired by the regional iced beverage of the same name, this summery line is scented with light notes of tea and honey as well as lemongrass essential oil to perfectly capture the refreshing nature of porch-sippin’ on a cool drink after a long, hot day.

As is the case with all of Stonewall Kitchen’s seasonal Fine Home Keeping collections, this one features three core products that are each crafted right here in the United States with only the best ingredients. Just take the hand soap: made from a special plant-based formula, it produces a luxurious lather that

delivers a gentle yet invigorating clean.

Infused with vitamin E, this soap leaves skin feeling nourished and oh-so-soft with every use.

For an extra dose of moisture, customers can look to this collection’s rich hand lotion. Featuring a trifecta of shea butter, coconut oil and olive oil as well as several essential vitamins, it’s perfect for repairing and replenishing even the worst winter-worn skin. The never-greasy formula absorbs quickly and easily into hands, while the addition of aloe soothes and revives.

Finally, rounding out the line is an attractive candle sustainably made from 100 percent soy wax. Packaged in a cute glass jar with a convenient screw-top lid to help keep dust at bay, it emits little to

no soot while burning brightly for up to 40 hours. Best of all, this long-lasting candle fills any space with the delicate, honeyed scent of freshly brewed sweet tea.

Stonewall Kitchen www.stonewallkitchen.com

Fiorucci Uncured Pepperoni and Sopressata Slices Ariston Fiorucci is the brand of specialty meats from 100 percent vegetarian-fed pork with CBD Infused that delivers the true taste of Italy. For no antibiotics or growth hormones ever. nearly 170 years, Fiorucci They are completely Olive Oil has used Old World recipes free from artificial to produce a full line of authentic Italian charcuterie meats, cheeses and premium snacking products using only hand-trimmed cuts of premium pork and the finest ingredients, then slowly aging them to perfection.

Fiorucci has launched two new products for distribution in 2021. New 100 percent natural Uncured Pepperoni and Sopressata Charcuterie nuggets are made

colors, flavors, preservatives, nitrates and nitrites, all while packing 6 grams of protein per serving. These premium charcuterie meats add a healthy element to any board or snacking occasion.

Fiorucci Foods www.fioruccifoods.com

Sea Salt Pretzel Toffee Wins Hearts Mel’s Toffee’s number-one seller is and has always been Sea Salt Pretzel Toffee.

Sea Salt Pretzel is made by slowly cooking butter, sugar and Dutch cocoa powder to a bubbling lava. When it’s cooked to perfection, it’s poured out and crunchy pretzels are added. Then it’s sprinkled with pink Himalayan sea salt and drizzled with melted, velvety dark chocolate to make it a masterpiece. The winning combination of sweet and salty will keep customers coming back for more and more.

Why buy hohum sweets for Valentine’s season? Buy a tried and true fan favorite, Sea Salt Pretzel Toffee. Your customers will love it.

Mel’s Toffee www.melstoffee.com

Ariston Specialties’ CBD infused Olive Oil combines all-natural and high-quality hemp-derived CBD produced in Massachusetts with the Ariston family’s own production of extra virgin olive oil from southwest Greece, resulting in a delicious and healthy elixir. It combines the health benefits and flavors of both the nutty, earthy CBD oil and the grassy flavor profile of Ariston’s Koroneiki extra virgin olive oil. This combination is ideal for salads, savory dressings and even homemade pestos.

It can be combined with Ariston’s vinegar, lemon juice, garlic and mustard to make an incredible salad dressing.

Ariston Specialties 860.263.8498 www.aristonspecialties.com

Howard Butcher Block Conditioner and Cutting Board Oil Wooden cutting boards, butcher blocks and countertops are making quite a comeback. Your customers need help to preserve and protect these special wooden surfaces.

Vegetable oil is for cooking, not treating food cutting surfaces, which ought to be dressed with a product that won’t turn rancid with time. Howard Cutting Board Oil is made with clear, odorless, pure foodgrade mineral oil. It is perfect for the initial “oiling” or “seasoning” of cutting boards and butcher blocks.

Howard Butcher Block Conditioner is a blend of natural waxes and food-grade mineral oil. The penetrating quality of the oil along with the water-resistant traits of

beeswax and carnauba wax rejuvenates the wood and prevents drying and cracking. The waxes help repair knife marks and protect the wood by keeping the mineral oil in and the moisture out.

Howard Butcher Block Conditioner offers a high-quality option in a clean, upscale package – the perfect fit for any retailer selling kitchenware items. It is ideal for everyone from the gourmet chef who owns expensive butcher blocks to healthconscious parents with bamboo cutting boards.

Howard CDBB comes packed with eight 12-ounce bottles of Butcher Block Conditioner and eight 12-ounce bottles of Cutting Board Oil in a free eye-catching

point-of-purchase counter display. Suggested retail price for the products is $9.69 to $10.89 each.

Howard Products Inc. 800.266.9545 www.howardproducts.com

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GOURMET NEWS

Stonewall Kitchen Brings the Sweet Taste of Summer Inspired by the approaching days of summer, the specialty food makers at Stonewall Kitchen have created a new Tangerine Strawberry Marmalade that’s certain to brighten your shelves.

It starts with the perfect flavor combination of sunny tangerines and sweet strawberries, crafted in the meticulous, traditional process of making a marmalade by using the tangerine peel in addition to the sweet and tangy citrus juices. Plus, Stonewall Kitchen selects only the best ingredients possible, creating a just-picked taste that bursts with flavor.

Your customers will love using this

sweet spread to create fun treats like fancy fruit tarts, tea bread and cheesecake, and it’s always delicious simply slathered on toast or breakfast pastries for an added pop of color and flavor. However it’s enjoyed, this marmalade was made to celebrate all the feel-good vibes of warmer days ahead.

Stonewall Kitchen www.stonewallkitchen.com

Fall River Wild Rice: New Ways with America’s Native Grain Interest in plants and grains is soaring, as shoppers look for new ways to eat healthy.

High in protein and fiber, nutty and with a striking visual appeal, wild rice is one of the healthiest grains available. It was a staple food of several Native American tribes, who called it “manoomin” or “precious grain.”

Fall River Wild Rice brings this culinary gem to your store shelf. This naturally cultivated wild rice is great in salads, soups and stirfries. However, it also works well in mixes for pancakes and muffins and even in chocolate and desserts. Fall River’s Fully Cooked Wild Rice is high-protein goodness in seconds.

The only cereal grain native to North America, wild rice is not even a rice at all.

It is the seed of Zizania plustris, a tall, blooming water grass that prospers in the Great Lakes region, as well as in the fruitful valley in the shadows of the Sierra Nevadas and the Rockies. Fall River Wild Rice is a small grower-owned cooperative in the Fall River Valley, a rural mountain valley nestled between the Cascade and Sierra Nevada ranges.

Fall River Wild Rice 800.626.4366 www.fallriverwildrice.com

SweetLeaf Monk Fruit Organic Sweetener Award-winning SweetLeaf® Organic Monk Fruit is available in granular bags and packets, 50ml squeezable organic liquids, and 2-ounce organic monk fruit liquid drops, making it easy to use as an alternative for sugar in baking, cooking, favorite drinks, recipes and more. Delicious, very today flavors include: Caramel Macchiato, Orange Passionfruit, Almond Amaretto, French Vanilla, Old Fashion Lemonade, Strawberry Guava, English Toffee, Creme Brulee and Chocolate Peanut Butter.

Monk fruit, which is naturally 300-400 times sweeter than cane sugar, is an out-

standing source of antioxidants to boost the immune system. With a non-glycemic response, zero calories/carbohydrates and zero sugars, the line of 19 products is a perfect sugar alternative.

SweetLeaf Organic Monk Fruit’s full product line is poised to provide millions of people with a healthful solution for replacing sugar in their diets.

SweetLeaf is thrilled to be able to offer these great-tasting, new sugar-alternatives to consumers.

Wisdom Natural Brands shop.sweetleaf.com

Busha Browne Original Hot Pepper Jelly Busha Browne’s Original Hot Pepper Jelly is the traditional spicy-sweet condiment based on the world-famous hot and flavorful Jamaican Scotch Bonnet Pepper. This Pepper Jelly is the perfect accompaniment for cheeses and meats (hot or cold), and excels when mixed with cream cheese for canapes or used as a spread or a dip. It also makes a superb glaze for

meats and vegetables.

It’s available in the U.S. through importer Source Atlantique.

Source Atlantique 201.947.1000 www.sourceatlantique.com

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FEBRUARY 2021

Micro Broccoli Create healthy meals at home with broccoli, in microgreen form. Micro Broccoli is delicious, bright, fresh and nutritious. Add this to any type of entrée like baked salmon, chicken and turkey, as you would with mature broccoli. Make a creamy squash soup fancy with microgreens.

Micro Broccoli can also be easily blended into a green smoothie. Microgreens take the prep time out of preparing adult veggies and are a perfect and easy addition

to salads and small appetizers.

Micro Broccoli has the same great taste of mature broccoli with a sweeter bite.

Fresh Origins www.freshorigins.com

Fruit-Infused Mozzarella Appetaggios from Fiorucci Foods Fiorucci is the brand of specialty meats that delivers the true taste of Italy. For more than 170 years, the brand has used Old World recipes to produce a full line of authentic Italian charcuterie meats, cheeses and premium snacking products using only hand-trimmed cuts of premium pork and the finest ingredients, then slowly aging them to perfection.

Since 1850, the Fiorucci family has been creating authentic Italian meats, honoring the tradition of the Italian dinner table.

Fiorucci has introduced the perfect balance of meat, cheese and fruit with all-natural Appetaggios. Each product consists of individual strips of peach or cranberry mozzarella that are hand wrapped with a

slice of perfectly aged prosciutto or hard salami. The fruit flavors infuse sweetness into mild, milky mozzarella, and the smoky meat further complements this mouthwatering combination, creating an irresistible, oneof-a-kind snack. Appetaggios are available in 16/1.5-ounce packages and are ready to eat, making them an excellent option for snacking and entertaining.

Fiorucci Foods www.fioruccifoods.com

Elmhurst 1925 Oat Lattes Elmhurst 1925, plant-based innovator dedicated to crafting the highest quality dairy alternatives made with the simplest ingredients, is now offering a line of Oat Lattes. Available in four varieties, these 12ounce tea and coffee lattes deliver a fullbodied flavor experience with up to 70 percent less sugar than others on the market. Utilizing flash-brewed Arabica coffee, the latest in brewing techniques, this line

also harnesses the unique functional benefits of matcha, cacao and turmeric, while delivering 30 grams of whole grain and as much natural caffeine as a cup of coffee.

Elmhurst 1925 www.elmhurst1925.com

Setton Farms Grows Industry with Innovative Pistachio Line The Setton family has launched a new line of Seasoned Pistachio Kernels. They’ve done the work for pistachio lovers everywhere by removing the shells, dry roasting (no oil!) and seasoning the kernels through an exclusive process that maintains a superior fresh-from-the-orchard taste. Five varieties are currently available: Salt & Pepper, Garlic Onion, Chipotle BBQ, Chili Limón and Jalapeño.

The line of Seasoned Kernels has been winning acclaim: the Garlic Onion Seasoned Kernels won first place in the buyers choice award category at the California Food Expo. Chosen from hundreds of entries, it was given the top honor by the expo’s Retail Advisory Council, which encompasses a select group of retail buyers from Whole Foods Market, Walmart, Albertsons/Safeway, Bristol Farms and more. Additionally, this variety won the

new product competition at Kosherfest, the world’s largest and most attended trade show for kosher-certified products.

This March, the Jalapeño Seasoned Kernels won the “Clean Eating” Clean Choice Awards, beating out hundreds of submissions in the snack category.

The entire line of Setton Farms Seasoned Pistachio Kernels contains no artificial ingredients, is certified gluten free, certified by the NonGMO Project, vegan and kosher. Retailers can display the 3-ounce resealable bags in a preloaded floor shipper with minimal foot space or individual varieties within a tear-away display case on shelf.

Setton Pistachio of Terra Bella Inc. 631.543.8090 www.settonfarms.com

GOURMET NEWS

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FEBRUARY 2021

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Simple Mills Veggie Pita Crackers

Honey Stinger Cracker Bar

Simple Mills, the top natural cracker brand, is on a mission to change the way the world eats and to show people what good food can do. Using only whole food ingredients and nothing artificial, ever, Simple Mills has developed a wide variety of delicious and healthy crackers, cookies and baking mixes that are not only meant to be enjoyed, but to nourish.

Simple Mills believes food has the power to transform how you feel and to help you live your fullest life, one bite at a time.

The newest addition to the Simple Mills’ family, Veggie Pita Crackers, is a first-of-its-kind pita cracker that puts good-for-you ingredients at the forefront. The beloved pita chip has gotten a major upgrade, thanks to a unique combination of vegetables as the number-one ingredient, helping boost the consumer's vegetable intake with every bite. Simple Mills’ Veggie Pita Crackers feature clean, whole foods and are made with a sweet potato/parsnip/celery root blend that delivers the nutrients of one third of a serving of sweet potato in only nine crackers.

The result of Simple Mills’ desire to

Newest to the Honey Stinger line is the delicious, protein-packed Cracker Bar, formulated specifically to help the body recover post-workout.

With peanut butter sandwiched between two salty, crunchy crackers, dipped either in milk or dark chocolate, it’s a mouth-watering way to transform recovery fuel into a tasty reward. Ten grams of plant protein helps to repair muscles while being easy on the stomach, and honeypowered carbohydrates help to restock the body’s energy reserves.

Honey Stinger is known for making great-tasting and portable energy foods

reimagine the classic pita chip is a crunchy, dippable, nutrient-dense cracker that is the first vegetable-powered, grainfree, gluten-free pita option in the cracker aisle. Veggie Pita Crackers are proof that taste or satisfaction doesn't need to be sacrificed for nourishment.

Made from a and simple p o w e r- p a c k e d list of ingredients, including vegetables, seeds, cassava flour, tapioca starch, organic sunflower oil and a flavorful blend of spices and herbs, Simple Mills Veggie Pita Crackers are a snack the consumer can feel good about enjoying and that comes with an added bonus of getting the consumer closer to an optimal daily vegetable intake with every bite.

Simple Mills Veggie Pita Crackers are free of added sugar, ‘natural’ flavors, gums and emulsifiers. They're certified by the Non-GMO Project, certified gluten free, and they're paleo-friendly, vegan and made without nuts. Veggie Pita Crackers are available in Himalayan Salt, Mediterranean Herb and Roasted Red Pepper flavors.

Simple Mills www.simplemills.com

Level up Your Pickle Obsession with Pearl and Johnny Pearl and Johnny is on the cutting edge of the pickling trend. The brand offers customers all the briny salty goodness of homemade pickles with exceptional flavors but without all the time, trouble and expensive equipment. Pearl and Johnny’s 10-Minute Pickle Kits take it to the next level, allowing consumers to make their own flavor packed pickles in just minutes.

The kits include a glass canning jar, organic seasoning packet and simple directions. The only other requirements are vinegar, water and vegetables. For consumers who have ever thought about making their own pickles, this product offers a way to test the waters.

The company encourages consumers to compare its ingredients to pickles on the shelf. While many pickles have ingredients like sodium benzoate and yellow #5, Pearl and Johnny’s ingredients are nothing but organic non-GMO real food ingredients such as organic dill weed, organic dill seed, organic garlic, and organic pepper flakes. The folks at Pearl and Johnny didn’t stop at organic and non-GMO. All of the products are made with real, whole food ingredients, not by adding just the flavors.

Dill-icious, the company's garlic dills, are the line's best seller. The line also includes

three other flavors: Fire & Spice, Sweet Dreams and Jalapeño & Horseradish, which is made with jalapeño rather than jalapeño flavor. Refill boxes that contain four seasoning packets are also available for consumers who already have a jar.

To make the pickles, the consumer fills the jar with fresh vegetables. The seasoning packet is combined with ½ cup of vinegar and ¾ cup of water and brought to a boil before being poured over the vegetables.

The jar is then sealed and refrigerated. Pickles are ready right away, but flavor will develop over the next hour, and the pickles will be still more flavorful after a day in the refrigerator.

The kits are suitable as gifts, and the project is easy for an adult to do along with children. The kits turn home-grown vegetables into colorful jars of pickles that are pretty enough to give away as gifts that showcase the natural flavor of fresh produce.

Pearl and Johnny is a small familyowned company tucked away in the Missouri Ozarks with a mission to share the family’s time-honored traditions in a way that fits in with today’s busy lifestyles.

Products retail from $5.95 to $9.95.

Pearl and Johnny Inc. www.pearlandjohnny.com

using honey. By using honey-powered fuel for different stages of athletic performance, the body is better prepared to jump-start a workout and sustain performance during activity.

It’s better replenished afterwards when muscles are ready for recovery. Honey Stinger has carefully crafted energy solutions for each step of this journey, helping athletes of all kinds to prepare, perform and recover better without sacrificing taste for performance.

Honey Stinger www.honeystinger.com

Bone Suckin' Sauce Talks Serious This is the serious barbecue, grilling and marinating sauce for land and sea. Firstplace winner in the Battle of Sauces and best in sales in Winner's Circle, Bone Suckin’ Sauce® is a western North Carolina tomato-based sauce sweetened with honey and molasses for an irresistible flavor.

Bone Suckin’ Sauce is non-GMO, gluten free, kosher, dairy free and contains no high fructose corn syrup. It's the per-

fect addition to wings, ribs, chicken, fish, beef, pork and much more. Bone Suckin' Sauce is available in Original, Hot, Thicker Style and Hot Thick.

Ford's Gourmet Foods www.bonesuckin.com

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at home

Bialetti Moka Express

The Original Moka Express from Bialetti produces a rich, authentic espresso in just minutes. The aluminum pot features the brand’s distinctive eight-sided shape, which allows it to diffuse heat to enhance the aroma of the coffee.

The Moka Express is Italy’s top-selling stovetop coffee maker and is available in one-, three-, six-, nine- and 12-cup sizes as well as a six-cup size that’s red and a three-cup size that’s red and green. Retail prices range from $29.99 to $69.99. For more information, visit www.bialetti.us.

American Charcuterie Made the Old World Way

Olympia Provisions, a perennial winner of the Good Food Award, has created another winner with its Summer Sausage, which was named a finalist for a 2021 Good Food Award along with 22 other makers that span the nation. Olympia Provisions Summer Sausage was one of 475 products named finalists this year from among 1,928 entries to the 11th annual Good Food Awards. It has, like all of the other products named finalist, passed vetting for category-specific sustainability standards. Over the years, Olympia Provisions has set a record for wins in the charcuterie category of the Good Food Awards. For more information, visit www.olympiaprovisions.com.

Greenstreet Coffee Roasters

Calabro’s Full Line of Formaggi di Bufala

New products from Calabro Cheese include Mozzarella di Bufala, Ricotta di Bufala, Burrata di Bufala and Bufarella. All of the bufala cheeses are made fresh to order in New England, which assures customers a much longer shelf life than the traditional imported frozen product.

The Mozzarella di Bufala is made using a natural lactic culture imported from Campania, Italy, and is available in all the traditional sizes including Ciliegine, Bocconcini, Ovoline and 8-ounce. Calabro’s Bufarella is a blend of bufala and cows milk and was formulated specifically for use on artisanal pizza.

For more information, call Calabro Cheese Corporation at 203.469.1311 or visit www.calabrocheese.com.

Greenstreet Coffee Roasters specializes in single-origin coffees from several regions around the world that provide the opportunity to taste nuances from a specific terroir that is the literal soil and the plants and the history of that farm that’s cared for by the owners, according to co-Owner and Roaster Chris Molieri, who learned his skills from Joel Domreis at Portland, Oregon’s Courier Coffee. He brews the perfect cup of with 18 parts of water (by weight) to one part of coffee.

For more information about Greenstreet Coffee Roasters, visit www.greenstreetcoffee.com.

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Anolon 2-Piece 10-inch Pizza Peel and Pizza Cutter, Teakwood

This duo tools set includes a 20x14-inch size tapered teak wood pizza peel and a durable, stainless steel blade pizza cutter with matching teakwood handle. The well-designed peel is ideal for slipping medium and large size pies into the oven with ease, and it can also double as a cheese and charcuterie board. The sharp cutter can tackle any toppings while maintaining a clean slice. The set retails for $69.99. For more information, visit www.anolon.com.

FROMA Cheese Knives

Expanding its cheese tools category, Prodyne adds sets with polished white and black marble, white ceramic, and stained wood handles to the FROMA™ line of finely finished 18/10 stainless steel cheese knives.

The FROMA set includes four sturdy, yet elegant, knives designed to cut, crumble, and serve fine hard cheese. Each set is packaged in a clear window box for easy visualization of the handsome knife set.

Suggested retail prices for the sets range from $12.99 to $24.99, depending on handle material. For more information, call Prodyne at 909.484.1212 or visit www.prodyne.com.

A Flour to Save the Planet

Shepherd’s Grain offers Whole Wheat and Enriched All Purpose Unbleached Flours in 5-pound bags for home bakers. Each bag of Shepherd’s Grain flour is identity-preserved, so customers can use special coding printed on their bag to check the Shepherd’s Grain website and identify the two to four farmers who grew the wheat for that particular bag. As a grower-owned company, Shepherd’s Grain works with 42 farmers who represent about 220,000 acres in Washington, Oregon and Idaho. With a transparent approach to pricing, Shepherd’s Grain pays its farmers a sustainable and equitable price based on the cost of production so they’re not subject to market volatility—otherwise unheard of in the commodity-driven industry. Non-profit agriculture organization Food Alliance also regularly certifies each farm to ensure that the tillage-free crops are being sustainably grown the way Shepherd’s Grain claims they are. The result of the company’s regenerative farming practices is a working landscape that’s more resilient against climate extremes. For more information, visit www.shepherdsgrain.com.

Vorarlberg Alpine Cheese

On Vorarlberg’s high Alps, fresh, raw milk is processed into cheese by hand to make Vorarlberg Alpine Cheese. This hard cheese is characterized by alpine herbs, which give the cheese rich aromatics, spice, and tangy taste. It matures over a three-month ripening period.

It’s one of a family of Austrian cheeses called “Bergkäse,”which translates to mountain cheese. About 70 percent of Austrian cheese producers are located in the Austrian Alps, using the same methods for generations, perfected over centuries, to ensure the utmost consistency and quality. Mountain cheese refers to several varieties of cheese produced in the Alps, with a rather hard texture and a strong flavor that’s often a bit nutty.

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EDITOR’S PICKS Ancient Harvest Veggie Pasta

A blend of green lentils, kale, spinach and cauliflower bound together with natural tapioca starch, Ancient Harvest Veggie Pasta has an al dente-like bite that gets a big thumbs up even from traditional pasta lovers. Each 2-ounce serving offers a full serving of vegetables, while an equivalent helping of wheat-based vegetable pasta contains only one-half serving of vegetables, 8 grams of protein and various additives.

The new gluten-free pasta line comes in penne, rotini and spaghetti options and is certified by the Non-GMO Project. Suggested retail price is $4.49 per 8-ounce box.

Ancient Harvest www.ancientharvest.com

Ekoa Fruit Bars

Ekoa Fruit Bars are pure, natural, and full of flavor. Each fruit bar has a maximum of three ingredients, and all are gluten free, vegan and kosher. They have no added sugar and no artificial flavors. Ekoa Fruit Bars are available in four flavors, including Mango, Coconut, Banana and Pineapple.

Ekoa Brands www.ekoabrands.com

GOURMET NEWS

Mesa de Vida Cooking Sauces

Mesa de Vida is a line of cooking sauces based on fruits and vegetables that are designed to inject flavor and convenience into meals prepared with the intention of catering to those concerned about maintaining their health. The line currently has five sauces: Smoky Latin, Creole, Caribbean, Mediterranean and North African. Representing a flavor profile characteristic of Green and Italian cooking, the Mediterranean sauce is the newest in the line.

Each of the sauces in the line can be used to flavor a wide variety of soups, stews and slow-cooker recipes, and each represents a region with a culinary tradition of gathering around the table every day. Each of the sauces is packaged in a 9-ounce jar that retails for $8.99.

Mesa de Vida www.mesadevida.com

Otamot Vegetable Sauce a Pantry Staple

Offered in Organic Essential Sauce and Spicy Organic Sauce varieties, Otamot is the nutritious and delicious choice for elevating any sauce-based dish. From pizza and pasta to even Bloody Marys, simply swap in Otamot for a tasty twist. Packed with 10 to 12 vegetables including butternut squash, red beet, sweet onion and more, each sauce is also Whole30-Approved, certified non-GMO, certified organic, certified vegan and gluten free. The retail price is $12.99 per jar.

Otamot Foods www.otamotfoods.com

Kakookies

Kakookies offers the comfort and deliciousness of a cookie combined with functional nutrition and plant-based protein.

It’s a better-for-you treat, grab-and-go breakfast or an energy snack anytime, anywhere. Kakookies come in five flavors: Almond Cranberry, Boundary Waters Blueberry, Cashew Blondie, Dark Chocolate Cranberry and Peanut Butter & Chocolate Chip.

Kakookies www.kakookies.com

Perfectly Cordial Cocktail Mixers

Created with handpicked fresh fruits and a blend of spices, Perfectly Cordial brings nononsense cocktail mixers to the home bar, making craft cocktails and mocktails accessible for both the novice and enthusiast bartender. Each Perfectly Cordial premium craft mixer is made from a variety of fresh squeezed juices, a unique global spice blend and pure cane sugar, and do not contain artificial colors, flavors or preservatives. Simply mix with your favorite spirit for the perfect cocktail, or combine with sparkling water or tonic for a refreshing mocktail. Seasonal flavors and holiday gift packs are available.

Perfectly Cordial www.perfectlycordial.com

Turkey Gravy from Kevin’s Natural Foods

Kevin’s Natural Foods, which produces a line of healthy sous-vide entrées and signature paleo, keto and glutenfree certified sauces and seasoning blends, is launching seasonal items for the holiday season. The seasonal line includes Turkey Gravy, a roasted turkey broth simmered with garlic, sage and thyme, as well as a paleo-certified Cranberry Sauce, a Butternut Squash Soup and a Cauliflower Cheddar Soup.

Kevin’s Natural Foods www.kevinsnaturalfoods.com

Mushroom Jerky with Meaty Texture

Vegky is a new vegan mushroom jerky with flavor and texture both designed to satisfy a craving for meat. Vegky is minimally processed, comes in five flavors and offers the nutritional benefits of the shiitake mushrooms from which it’s made. Flavors include Original, Spicy, Pepper, Wasabi and Curry.

Vegky www.vegky.com

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SMORGASBORD Cheese in a Shelf-Stable Snack Bar the company started designing new logos and packaging and launched Just the Cheese on Amazon in 2017. “My wife had the insight that it would be great with keto,” Scharfman said. “This was before keto was the diet of the time.” When the product took off on Amazon, the Scharfmans quit their jobs, packed their household and moved back to Wisconsin. “We launched, and it just exploded in popularity,” he said. “You don’t have to convince consumers that cheese will taste good....

There were other cheese snacks available, and none of them blew up like we did....

The underlying simplicity is what makes it

BY LORRIE BAUMANN

Just the Cheese is a shelf-stable cheese snack bar that’s convenient, crunchy and keto. “It’s a bar that can go in purse or bag or glove box,” said David Scharfman, Owner and General Manager of Just the Cheese. “A lot of people like cheese, and they want it healthy and convenient.”

Just the cheese originated from Scharfman’s childhood love of grilled cheese sandwiches, particularly the cheese that melted and then ran out onto the pan to cook into a crisp. The 10-year-old asked his dad, who’d bought Heim Cheese in 1991, if the company could make “cheese just like this – just the crunchy stuff,” Scharfman said.

His father agreed to try and developed a cheese that could be baked into a crunchy snack that was marketed to followers of the Atkins diet, which was popular at the time.

“Back in the 90s, the cheese didn’t taste very good,” Scharfman said.

“When the Atkins diet went away, so did the product.”

Scharfman grew up and moved away from Wisconsin, and in 2017, he and his wife were living in Connecticut when they noticed cheese crisps in the deli set at the market in which they were shopping. Scharfman remembered the crunchy cheese he’d enjoyed as a boy, and he wondered if his father’s company, now known as the Specialty Cheese Company, could improve on its past experience with the snack product that had appealed to followers of the Atkins Diet. “We set about working with cheesemakers to improve the product we’d been making in the past,” he said. “The credit goes to the cheesemakers for actually making the cheese taste good.”

With a new recipe for their cheese snack,

Kreider Farms, a central Pennsylvania’s producer of farm-fresh milk, ice cream, premium eggs and more, is now the first dairy farm on the East Coast to be American Humane Certified™.

Consumer demand for humanely raised products has grown tremendously over the last two decades with 10 of the nation’s top 12 grocery retailers carrying American Humane Certified products according to American Humane.

“We are pleased and proud to be the first dairy farm east of the Mississippi to achieve AHA animal welfare certification, and we hope to be the first of many more to follow.

This certification demonstrates our commitment to our animals and our customers,” said Ron Kreider, third-generation Chief Executive Officer and President.

The American Humane Certified program is the United States’ first and fastest-growing independent animal welfare program dedi-

cated to the humane treatment of farm animals. Certified farms undergo stringent inspections from independent auditors and pass more than 200 multi-pronged, sciencebased welfare standards developed in collaboration with, and regularly reviewed by, a scientific advisory committee.

“American Humane is thrilled by the dedication to excellent animal welfare protocols and practices that the fine folks at Kreider Farms exhibit,” said Robin Ganzert, the organization’s President and Chief Executive Officer. “As the first dairy on the East Coast to become American Humane Certified, Kreider Farms is a shining example for other dairy farmers in the region.”

Kreider Farms officially became American Humane Certified for its farm in November 2020, although the company’s cage-free hen laying operation, under the brand, Noah’s Pride, has been certified American Humane since 2016. GN

Dessert Supplier Changes Brand Identity

so good, and what makes it successful.”

Just the Cheese is packaged with two bars in a package similar to the packaging for other snack bars. Packed in a 12-unit case, each package usually retails for $1.99.

There are four flavors: best-seller Aged Cheddar, which is made with cheddar cheese aged for four years; Grilled Cheese; Jalapeño and Mild Cheddar. “We picked the cheese that tasted the best,” Scharfman said. “Using a 4-year cheddar is not the cheapest way to do this, but that’s what tasted the best.”

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

ADVERTISER INDEX ADVERTISER

Kreider Farms is First American Humane Certified Dairy East of Mississippi

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WEBSITE

40 Below Joe

17

www.40belowjoe.com

Campofrio Food Group

2,3

www.fioruccifoods.com

Caputo Cheese

21

www.caputocheese.com

Country Fresh Food & Confections Inc.

5

www.countryfreshfood.com

Darsana LLC

23

www.kutatartufi.com

DeBrand Fine Chocolates

15

www.debrand.com

Elmhurst Milked LLC

24

www.elmhurst1925.com

Fresh Origins

9

www.brightfresh.com

Seneca Foods

11

www.senecafoods.com

Stonewall Kitchen

4,7

www.stonewallkitchen.com

Premium dessert supplier Steven Robert Original Desserts, headquartered in Aurora, Colorado, is now operating under a new company name. As of January 7, 2021, the company has been known as Steven Charles - A Dessert Company.

The new name celebrates the company’s rich history of award-winning desserts and pays homage to the legacies of co-Owners Steven Fabos, Founder and co-Chief Executive Officer, and Charles Kosmont, Chairman and co-Chief Executive Officer.

Aligned with its new name, the company unveiled a new logo and is launching a new website this month.

The company was founded in 1995.

Steven Fabos grew the business over the next 10 years, opening large-scale commercial bakeries in Colorado and later in North Carolina. At the same time, Charles Kosmont, with his passion for agriculture, was focused on making the finest and freshest ingredients available within the industry. In 2004, Fabos

and Kosmont joined forces to form a company dedicated to innovation, high-quality ingredients, superior service and exceptional new product development as well as diversity as a certified minority supplier.

“Our company mission is to encourage the celebration of life’s small joys. Our iconic desserts represent the pioneering spirit and commitment to excellence that Steven Fabos and Charles Kosmont stand for. We are proud to honor this rich heritage and take the next step in our company’s evolution as we work together to shape our company’s future and make everyone’s lives a little sweeter,” said Rebecca O’Hara, President of Steven Charles.

Steven Charles will continue to own and operate the popular ZEST and Ticklebelly dessert brands and looks forward to strengthening and expanding its portfolio of well-known customers across all segments of foodservice, including restaurants, hotels, theaters, grocery stores, and retail in-store bakeries. GN

California Olive Ranch Renews Commitment to Transparency, Sustainability This year, California Olive Ranch has stepped up its commitment to regenerative agriculture practices to further aid in carbon sequestration and soil health across all of its acres. After successful trials, the company has rolled out regenerative soil practices like planting a diverse cover crop, no to minimal tilling, reusing tree trimmings and olive pomace in its compost, minimal mowing and inoculating soil with a proprietary microbe “compost tea” to increase soil life and health, and reducing/eliminating reliance on synthetic fertilizers. The company is partnering with leading California universities and state resource centers to further study and analyze the positive impact these practices will have on the soil health and environment.

COR has recently completed the planting

of more than 2 million olive trees on familyowned farms across California. Not only does this increase the supply of California olives for olive oil, but research from the International Olive Council also indicates that olive trees could have a meaningful impact on sequestering carbon from the air. California Olive Ranch has initiated its own research to better understand the positive benefits of the company's modern farming and harvesting techniques in calculating its impact on California's greenhouse gas emissions. The company has also started the transition of more than 320,000 olive trees to organic farming practices. When the conversion is complete, California Olive Ranch would be one of the leading farmers of olives for U.S. Department of Agriculture-certified organic California extra virgin olive oil. GN