Gourmet News • Summer Fancy Food 2019

GOURMET NEWS

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David Evans Foods: A Company of Creators An interview with Daniela Patterson, Director of Marketing, David Evans Foods.

GN: Tell our readers about yourself and David Evans Foods.

DP: I’m the Director of Marketing at

BOOTH #236

An increased focus on healthy eating in recent years has fueled the rise of artisan crackers, with their focus on traditional, healthy ingredients, exquisite flavors and handmade, small batches.

That same philosophy is what’s behind Jan’s Farmhouse Crisps – the Vermont-born

BOOTH #770

Continued on Page 104

Spice Up Summer with Bella Sun Luci

Though rooted in the cuisine of the Mediterranean, Mooney Farms and its Bella Sun Luci brand of sun dried tomato products saw an opportunity to broaden its flavor profile across many regions by producing a brand new product: Bella Sun Luci Sun Dried Tomato Chipotle

BOOTH #2365

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DeBrand Chocolate Art Boxes

DeBrand Fine Chocolates Art Boxes are handcrafted, exceptionally unique edible masterpieces.

The newest addition to DeBrand’s collection of Chocolate Art Boxes is Draped in Gold. This box is elegantly adorned in Continued on Page 102

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Jan’s Farmhouse: Simple Ingredients, Big Flavor

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Nature’s Earthly Choice Great Day Bean Bowls

New Products, Packaging from Pomì

BOOTH #5740

BOOTH #2572

Nature’s Earthly Choice is excited to announce the launch of new microwaveable Great Day Bean Bowls. Available in three worldly flavors – Burrito Bowl, Mediterranean Bean Bowl and Caribbean Bean Bowl – these delicious dishes are great for either lunch or a Continued on Page 110

Pomì is proud to present its brand new line of products and packaging, expanding beyond the iconic brick packaging. Pomì is now offering the same great taste of Italy’s finest tomatoes with no added preservatives in organic and conventional tomatoes cans, jars and tubes.

Continued on Page 108

Principe Pre-Sliced Grab & Go Offerings

Abdallah Candies Introduces Retreats

Parmacotto Now Available in the United States

Principe Foods is proud to announce the launch of a new era of true Italian pre-sliced grab and go offerings. What is true Italian? It’s what gives

Abdallah Candies proudly introduces Retreats. These amazing portable and resealable candy pouches are the perfect snack size to self-indulge, enjoy, relax, take a break from the

GN: Why did Parmacotto decide to join forces with Cibo Italia, LLC?

BOOTH #1040

BOOTH #3047

By Rich Linkevich, Sales Manager, Principe Foods USA

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Cassandra’s Offers New Products and Flavors

An interview with Ken Craig, Partner/Executive Vice President, Cassandra’s Gourmet.

By MaDonna Schmitz, National Sales Manager, Abdallah Candies

Continued on Page 106

Divella Offering Full Italian Program

KC: We are entering our 13th year in

Divella was founded in 1890 in a small village near Bari in the Southern region of Puglia. Over the years, the Divella family business has become the No. 2 pasta brand sold in Italy. This is thanks to the successful blend of tradition, top-quality

BOOTH #6324

BOOTH #1672

GN: Tell our readers about Cassandra’s Gourmet.

Continued on Page 110

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An interview with Andrea Schivazappa, Chief Executive Officer, Parmacotto, SpA.

AS: We studied the U.S. market in detail and

BOOTH #2669

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ChocoMaker Launching Three New Products

In 2005, Chocolate Delivery Systems, Inc.® designed and launched a home use chocolate fountain under its ChocoMaker® brand. Today, CDS produces many chocolate-inspired products, including a wide range of Candy Wafers™, a unique and impressive line of sprinkles and its traditional Continued on Page 102

GOURMET NEWS

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David Evans Foods: A Company of Creators An interview with Daniela Patterson, Director of Marketing, David Evans Foods.

GN: Tell our readers about yourself and David Evans Foods.

DP: I’m the Director of Marketing at

BOOTH #236

T H E

G O U R M E T

I N D U S T R Y

SPECIAL SHOW ISSUE

DeBrand Chocolate Art Boxes

DeBrand Fine Chocolates Art Boxes are handcrafted, exceptionally unique edible masterpieces.

The newest addition to DeBrand’s collection of Chocolate Art Boxes is Draped in Gold. This box is elegantly adorned in Continued on Page 102

Continued on Page 108

Jan’s Farmhouse: Simple Ingredients, Big Flavor

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Principe Pre-Sliced Grab & Go Offerings

Nature’s Earthly Choice Great Day Bean Bowls

New Products, Packaging from Pomì

Nature’s Earthly Choice is excited to announce the launch of new microwaveable Great Day Bean Bowls. Available in three worldly flavors – Burrito Bowl, Mediterranean Bean Bowl and Caribbean Bean Bowl – these delicious dishes are great for either lunch or a

Pomì is proud to present its brand new line of products and packaging, expanding beyond the iconic brick packaging. Pomì is now offering the same great taste of Italy’s finest tomatoes with no added preservatives in organic and conventional tomatoes cans, jars and tubes.

BOOTH #5740

BOOTH #2572

Continued on Page 110

Continued on Page 108

Abdallah Candies Introduces Retreats

Parmacotto Now Available in the United States GN: Why did Parmacotto decide to join forces with Cibo Italia, LLC?

An increased focus on healthy eating in recent years has fueled the rise of artisan crackers, with their focus on traditional, healthy ingredients, exquisite flavors and handmade, small batches.

That same philosophy is what’s behind Jan’s Farmhouse Crisps – the Vermont-born

Principe Foods is proud to announce the launch of a new era of true Italian pre-sliced grab and go offerings. What is true Italian? It’s what gives

Abdallah Candies proudly introduces Retreats. These amazing portable and resealable candy pouches are the perfect snack size to self-indulge, enjoy, relax, take a break from the

AS: We studied the U.S. market in detail and

BOOTH #770

BOOTH #1040

BOOTH #3047

BOOTH #2669

Continued on Page 104

Spice Up Summer with Bella Sun Luci

By Rich Linkevich, Sales Manager, Principe Foods USA

Continued on Page 104

Cassandra’s Offers New Products and Flavors

An interview with Ken Craig, Partner/Executive Vice President, Cassandra’s Gourmet.

By MaDonna Schmitz, National Sales Manager, Abdallah Candies

Continued on Page 106

Divella Offering Full Italian Program

Though rooted in the cuisine of the Mediterranean, Mooney Farms and its Bella Sun Luci brand of sun dried tomato products saw an opportunity to broaden its flavor profile across many regions by producing a brand new product: Bella Sun Luci Sun Dried Tomato Chipotle

KC: We are entering our 13th year in

Divella was founded in 1890 in a small village near Bari in the Southern region of Puglia. Over the years, the Divella family business has become the No. 2 pasta brand sold in Italy. This is thanks to the successful blend of tradition, top-quality

BOOTH #2365

BOOTH #6324

BOOTH #1672

Continued on Page 104

GN: Tell our readers about Cassandra’s Gourmet.

Continued on Page 110

Continued on Page 104

An interview with Andrea Schivazappa, Chief Executive Officer, Parmacotto, SpA.

Continued on Page 102

ChocoMaker Launching Three New Products

In 2005, Chocolate Delivery Systems, Inc.® designed and launched a home use chocolate fountain under its ChocoMaker® brand. Today, CDS produces many chocolate-inspired products, including a wide range of Candy Wafers™, a unique and impressive line of sprinkles and its traditional Continued on Page 102

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Lioni Latticini’s Bufala Fresca Takes Home Gold

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Snak King Leads Industry in Private Label

By Kevin Allen, International Sales and Marketing, Snak King

Snak King has been a leading producer of quality snacks since 1978, with diversity in private label capability that is unparalleled in the industry today. From product development

BOOTH #2568

BOOTH #5882

SuperSeedz Wins Gold sofi Award

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Lioni’s Bufala Fresca was awarded a gold medal at the 2018 World Cheese Awards in Bergen, Norway.

The World Cheese Awards is the largest and most esteemed competition of its kind and is run by the UK’s Guild of Fine Food. This year’s competition was held at the Bergen Continued on Page 110

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Urban Accents Teaching America How to Cook

An interview with Tom Knibbs, President and Mixmaster, Urban Accents.

GN: As Mixmaster of Urban Accents, how are you helping the cooking challenged to create enlightened edibles?

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Why WOLO Is the Best Bar to Wander With

By Angela Bailey, Senior Brand Manager, WOLO WanderSnacks™

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Pocas: Healthy Foods from Around the World

An interview with Kevin Shin, President/Chief Executive Officer, Pocas International.

Silano: Quality Products from Italy

Savello USA is an importer of Italian cheeses, meats, oils and other specialty items. Founded in 1997, the company is family owned and operated with a focus on building relationships with producers, as well as taking a partnership approach with customers. The company

BOOTH #2552

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Award-Winning Organic Olive Oil from ENZO

SuperSeedz® has won the gold Award in the Sweet Snack category as part of the Specialty Food Association’s 2019 sofi™ Awards, a top honor in the $140 billion specialty food industry.

SuperSeedz no-shell, Organic Dark Chocolate and Sea Salt was one of 148

WOLO Protein WanderBars™ are a must-pack protein bar designed to enhance your travel experience by keeping you full, healthy and feeling great while exploring the world.

KS: Pocas International is an importer and manufacturer of natural foods and beverages.

In a never-ending quest to continue diversification while responding to consumer demand, the Ricchiuti Family expanded their ENZO estate grown extra-virgin olive oil line in 2015 with the addition of Clementine Crush, Fresno Chili Crush and Basil Crush.

The ENZO Crush limited release

BOOTH #5824

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Elevate Your Senses with Award-Winning Cheese

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Seviroli Foods’ New Signature Reserve Line

Monti Trentini has been a family dairy since 1925.

Cheese is part of the mountains’ heritage where the family lives and breathes and where its cows walk free around a valley of pristine pastures, clear rivers and clean air.

Through the years and with each new

Seviroli Foods searches the world for the best spices, herbs and other premium ingredients that make up its delicious filled pastas. Its pasta dough is made with whole fresh eggs and enriched

BOOTH #2821

BOOTH #3252

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GN: Tell our readers about your company.

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Jake’s Nut Roasters New In-Shell Almonds

Jake, a fourth-generation member of the Jasper Family, is proud to continue the farming traditions of his great-grandfather that have been passed down for over 70 years. Since 1948, a commitment to quality and innovation has propelled

Continued on Page 102

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Love Good Fats Snack Bars

Love Good Fats is on a mission to spread the word that fat is back, and sugar is out!

The brand aims to encourage North Americans to incorporate healthy fats into their diets. Its ridiculously delicious products are loaded with healthy fats like nut butters, coconut and palm oils Continued on Page 102

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Flax-Based Products from Flax4Life

By Kasondra Shippen, General Manager, Flax4Life

Flax4Life is a small family owned and operated bakery located in the Pacific Northwest that is certified gluten-free, dairy-free and nut-free (except coconut). Our goal is to make flax-based products that not only taste good, but are good for you. Healthy ingredients are essential, but taste is, too! Our baked goods are meant to be enjoyed by anyone, allergies or not.

If you are looking for a flavorful treat that is high in Omega 3s, healthy protein, fiber

and lignans, look no further. Your taste buds will not be disappointed with our delicious line of muffins, brownies, granola, cakes and toaster buns. All the products are all natural, preservative- and cholesterol-free.

We are excited to introduce the newest flavor of our brownies: Mint Chocolate. Our rich and gooey brownies just got a little better with this sweet addition. This new flavor will delight your senses.

If you are in search of something on-thego, our single-serve muffins and brownies are a perfect solution. The same quality product, but in more convenient packaging. You

Breitsamer Honey – Premium Quality Made in Germany

Breitsamer Honey, the German honey specialist, offers a wide variety of select honey with the highest quality: raw, unfiltered and 100 percent natural. Based in the capital of Bavaria, Munich, Breitsamer – now in its third generation of ownership – has evolved around the wonderful natural product of honey for more than 80 years.

In Germany, Breitsamer is a very popular and leading premium brand. In the USA, Breitsamer honey has been exclusively available through Gourmet International for more than 10 years.

“We are very pleased with the positive development of our honey specialties in the

USA, and still see a lot of potential for our 100 percent natural, raw and unfiltered honey – premium quality made in Germany,” says Robert Breitsamer, Owner and Managing Director of the family business.

The quality promise of Breitsamer is genuine, authentic enjoyment of honey from traditional and sustainable beekeeping. Each jar is a genuine natural delight. Connoisseurs of honey love all varieties and flavors offered

by Breitsamer.

With considerable know-how and commitment, the experts for honey at Breitsamer work hard to ensure the special quality every day. It goes without saying that Chief Honey

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A SPECIAL SHOW ISSUE OF GOURMET NEWS

can choose from three muffin flavors – Carrot Raisin, Chocolate Chip and Wild Blueberry – and now all five brownie flavors are available. These small, delicious packages are perfect for lunches, road trips, games or any time you need a little treat.

Are you in the mood for something a little richer? We also have our guilt-free rich Chocolate Cake covered in fudge frosting and dark chocolate shavings, or our scrumptious Carrot Cake covered in dairy-free cream Continued on Page 110

Buyer Christian Breitsamer personally verifies the working methods and technical skills of the contracted beekeepers on a regular basis. Each honey is subject to a multi-stage quality control process in the laboratory at the visual and sensory levels before being carefully filled in the jars.

Independent testing institutes confirm the high standard and honey-related expertise of Breitsamer each year. Breitsamer honey has been fulfilling the strict German honey ordinance and high international standards for years and are regularly awarded prizes by renowned institutions.

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Publisher Kimberly Oser Senior Associate Publisher Jules Denton-Card Editorial Director Lorrie Baumann Associate Publisher Anthony Socci Associate Editors Jeanie Catron • JoEllen Lowry Karrie Welborn • Greg Gonzales Art Director Yasmine Brown Graphic Designer Jonathan Schieffer Senior Account Manager Marcos Morhaim Account Managers Abeer Abi-aad • Spencer Fisher • Sasha Jarbo Tara Neal • Beth Painter • Bo Robinson Director of Operations Tara Neal Customer Service Managers Caitlyn McGrath • Susan Stein Show Logistics & Distribution Jay Watson • Hannah Stefanovich European Sales Enrico Cecchi Publishing office: 1877 N. Kolb Road, Tucson, AZ 85715 520.721.1300/Fax: 520.721.6300 Subscriber services: Gourmet News P.O. Box 30520 Tucson, AZ 85751 Gourmet News is published by Oser Communications Group ©2019 All rights reserved.

Founder Lee M. Oser

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Gourmet Offerings from Captain Foods Captain Foods, Inc. is a gourmet food company based in Edgewater, Florida. It’s been family owned since 1994 and is a proud member of the Fresh from Florida Program. The company’s specialty gourmet products are made to bring a variety of uniqueness, heat and flavor to your meals for home cooks and master chefs. The team at Captain Foods has gained global success by offering excellent customer service and products superior in quality. The product

line consists of specialty hot sauces, grilling sauces, all-natural seasoning blends and spice grinders.

Put it on the top of your priority list to try some of the company’s 100 percent all-natural seasoning blends. Flavors include Garlic, Lemon and Herb Seasoning. This is an all-natural, everyday spice that will boost the flavor of your next prepared dish. The savory combination of garlic, onion, natural lemon flavor and other spices will enhance the fla-

Mona Lisa: The Essential Palette for Holiday Magic Deck the halls with chocolate decorations this holiday season! You can feed your inner artist and delight your patrons with whimsical chocolate decorations from Mona Lisa.

From snowflakes and Santas to colored shavings, gingerbread men and more, the full palette of iconic elements lets you incorporate exceptional taste, texture, color and shape into your holiday desserts.

Created by a pastry chef with visionary dreams, Mona Lisa decorations inspire culinary artists everywhere with finely crafted elements that are ripe for flights of fancy.

Imagine Santa seated atop a cupcake on a bed of fresh-fallen snow, or a classic candy cane in a bed of red and ivory marbled curls.

Think of a chocolate gingerbread man nestled in the creamy swirled top of a chocolate mug-shaped dessert cup. Let your own holiday dreams take form.

Mona Lisa works together with leading trend agencies and influential chefs to lead the way in culinary creation. The easy-to-use Mona Lisa collection includes an artfully designed variety of chocolate molded decorations, shavings and curls, along with dessert cups, chocolattos (pencils) and seasonal specialties.

Perfect for pastry chefs, bakers, caterers and more. Transforming your holiday desserts from ordinary to extraordinary makes your customers happier and the holi-

Käserei Champignon Leads the Way in Packaged Specialty Cheese Innovations As grilling season gets underway, U.S. consumers have an exciting new addition to their backyard barbecue menu: grilling cheeses.

From Käserei Champignon, makers of Cambozola, comes a selection of specialty cheeses made just for the grill. ROUGETTE Bon·fire Grilling Cheeses are made to serve hot, fresh off the grill and perfect for sharing.

Fueled by consumers’ increasing hunger for sophisticated, novel and vegetarian-based barbecue options, the grilling cheese trend is poised for rapid growth in the U.S. Champignon North America, Käserei Champignon’s exclusive importer in the states, introduced these unique cheese concepts to retailers in January 2019.

“We couldn’t be more pleased with the response we have received,” said Flynne Wiley, Chief Executive Officer of

Champignon North America. “Of course, now we just have to focus on keeping up with demand. Especially with the busy summer season here, these latest cheeses are showing up at backyard barbecues across the country.”

The product line includes two types of cheese, made with all-natural ingredients: a mild and creamy soft-ripened cheese, which comes in two individually packed cheeses per unit; and a semi-soft cheese marinated in herbs, which comes in a convenient readyto-grill pan. Both cheeses are unique and approachable in flavor profile and truly bring something special to the summer barbecue experience. The cheeses can also be cooked up on a stovetop or in the oven for entertaining all year long.

Käserei Champignon also offers a line of

Healthy Snacking from Highland Farm Foods Snacking healthy and following a healthier lifestyle should not be a dull experience. In fact, it should be fun, enjoyable and guilt free. For Highland Farm Foods, it’s all about snacking on real food with real flavors. The company believes in making healthy, nutritious and delicious products with natural ingredients and no artificial flavors. Its new savory line comes in three innovative flavors: Black Sea Salt, Sweet Chili and Italian Herbs. Indulge in its fun sized snacks while

you’re on the go, at work, class, or watching a movie.

For the new savory line, Highland Farm Foods focused on researching original and innovative ingredients in order to develop fun and exciting flavors.

Black Sea Salt will stand out from any other sea salt snack you have ever tasted.

Highland Farm Foods went to Peru to the ancient Inca valleys to find black sea salt, which is found in small ponds that were part

vor of your grilled chicken, seafood, veggies, meats and more.

In addition to the fun and exciting Captain Foods brand, check out the Sharkbite Hot Sauce line. From mild to heated to hottest, these Sharkbite Hot Sauce flavors can cater to anyone’s palate that’s craving tantalizing taste. Whether you go for the most reasonable Sharkbite Jalapeno Mild Hot Sauce or days merrier. Stand out from your competition, boost your sales and generate buzz this holiday season with your own unique photoworthy creations customers will want to share. The taste, textures, colors and shapes of Mona Lisa combine to help you weave your own holiday magic.

Mona Lisa decorations are used by pastry chefs, bakers, caterers and expressive chefs across the globe. For retail or foodservice applications, single treats or a holiday array, Mona Lisa helps you deliver a memorable experience.

All Mona Lisa chocolate decorations are made with Horizons sustainable cocoa under the Cocoa Horizons program. For more information on this program, visit www packaged specialty cheeses meant to be served in a more traditional style – on the cheese plate, of course. Cambozola Simply Gourmet is a smaller double cream version of the classic Cambozola, a soft ripened cheese with mild blue notes. CremD’or Simply Gourmet is a mild and creamy soft ripened cheese; and Rougette is a buttery soft ripened cheese with a beautiful reddish edible rind. These 4.4-ounce packaged cheeses are completely sealed in an innovative cup that allows the cheese to slowly ripen and cream up as they age.

“Soft ripened cheeses like these are sensitive to the environment and typically have a very short shelf life,” notes Wiley. “Käserei Champignon’s line of Simply Gourmet cheeses are packaged in a way that allows the cheeses to ripen slowly and protects the of an ocean that evaporated thousands of years ago. In today’s age, indigenous farmers (descendants of the Incas) are the only ones who can harvest this black sea salt. Black sea salt’s flavor is so unique that Highland Farm Foods decided to use it in all its savory flavors.

Sweet Chili was inspired by Thai sweet and savory combinations. Highland Farm Foods decided to mix together some key ingredients that would create a balanced snack with a subtle spicy kick. If you are a fan of

to choose from.

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the more dangerous Hammerhead Hot Sauce, you’ll find tons of flavor that adds that perfect pep to your dishes. Captain Foods offers more than 30 great products for home cooks and master chefs

For more information, email bryan@ captainfoods.com, call 386.428.5833 or go to www.captainfoods.com. .cocoahorizons.org.

For the artist in every chef – your imagination is the limit when crafting chocolates, pastries and desserts. Your intricate attention to detail drives Mona Lisa to apply the same attention to the design, production and finishing of its decorations. And of course, the company packs and ships them with the same great care.

Holiday pre-sell information: Select items are available. Visit http://bit.ly/MonaLisa Winter2019 for more information; contact your local distributor. Order deadline: Order

by Aug. 30. Products are available October 25.

For more information, go to www.mona lisadecorations.com or email infomona lisa@barry-callebaut.com.

cheeses from point of manufacture to the table.” The cheese line is an excellent graband-go offering for specialty cheese, as the convenient packaging allows the cheese to be displayed upright in deli walls. The packaging is also recyclable.

Innovation has been a part of Käserei Champignon’s origins, over 110 years ago, when the founding cheese maker developed a Camembert using milk from Bavarian cows. Since then, the company has crafted cheeses using traditional recipes, but with forward-thinking approaches to flavors, concepts and packaging to lead the way into specialty cheeses of the future.

For more information, visit booth #1474 or go to www.bonfirecheese.com and www .simplygourmetcheese.com. exotic flavors, Sweet Chili is for you.

Italian Herbs was inspired by Italian flavors. This flavorful snack is great to eat on the go, or as a topping on avocado toasts, or instead of croutons in a salad.

The Quinoa Pops line also includes sweet flavors: Vanilla, Chocolate and Cinnamon.

Snack smart, snack clean and #snackon realfood.

For more information, go to www.highland farmfoods.com or visit the company’s Instagram page @highlandfarmfoods.

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Private Labeling Fuels Expansion of Fudge Flavors

By Ed Stockton, President, Country Fresh Food & Confections, Inc.

In recent trade articles, it has been noted that most segments of food sales have shown very little growth in the past year. The exception is private label goods. Consumers no longer think of private labeled as being “generic,” but rather view private labeled goods as being premium products that are often better than name brand goods.

Country Fresh Food & Confections, Inc. is expanding its highly successful 12-ounce Country Fresh Fudge Sweet Shoppe line to over 100 flavors which can be private la-

beled at very little cost. The additional fudge flavors will allow retailers to offer an exciting variety of gourmet fudge only previously found in stores that made their own fudge.

Country Fresh Fudge™ is made with premium ingredients such as cream, AA grade butter, Dutch cocoa, real fruits and Belgian chocolate. New flavors to be offered include Banana Walnut, Blueberry Cheesecake, Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough and Pistachio Nut. Additional flavors will also be added to the ever-popular Sugar-free Fudge selections. Country Fresh Sugar-free Fudge has seen tremendous

Dave’s Gourmet Creamy Hot Sauces Dave’s Creamy Hot Sauces are on fire.

While Dave’s Gourmet is probably best known for starting the super hot sauce niche in the early ‘90s with Dave’s Insanity Sauce, it is its more recent innovative creamy hot sauces that are really growing quickly. These sauces, which feature a medium heat level and an incredible complex savory flavor due to their premium ingredients and high speed whipping, meet the modern demands of consumers. Their growth is aided by the fact that consumers are eating more spicy food and the hot sauce category has had and will continue to have strong growth.

The benefit of sauces like this is that they are incredibly versatile and complement anything from tacos to eggs to potatoes and can even be used as a salad dressing. Much of this is due to the flavor of the sauce being based upon chiles and vegetables, where most hot sauces have a base flavor of vinegar. “With most hot sauces I would not want to eat them straight nor alone on tortilla chips. With my creamy hot sauces, they are the only sauce where I can go through half a bag of chips just using the creamy hot sauces on them,” said company Founder, Dave Hirschkop.

WOLO WanderSnacks – The Perfect Protein Bar to Wander With

By Angela Bailey, Senior Brand Manager, WOLO WanderSnacks™

WOLO Protein WanderBar™ is designed with travelers in mind. The protein bar provides convenience without compromising nutritional benefits.

WanderBars are the only protein bars made to travel and provide antioxidants to boost immunity, fiber to aid digestion and 15 grams of energy-producing protein. The protein bar has less than 6 grams of sugar, and is not covered in chocolate. WanderBars are

also 100 percent soy- and gluten-free.

Unique to WOLO are its three layers: a crispy bottom layer, a velvety chewy consistency on the second and flavorful toppings on the third. All provide a palate-friendly texture unlike any other protein bar. Natural ingredients that are staples in these bars include coconut oil, zinc and turmeric, which are all renowned for their positive and effective health benefits.

“I’ve always been passionate about travel and food. Making the perfect all natural, crunchy and chewy on-the-go snack that’s

Black Kassel Capitalizing on Specialty Salami Snacking Growth Black Kassel Salami Whips™, the thin-diameter, tender bite, shelf-stable premium meat snack, has seen a rise in popularity since hitting the market in late 2017. Delivering an elevated snacking experience, Black Kassel Salami Whips are available in formats that suit on-the-go lifestyles.

Crafted according to authentic European recipes, which include natural wood cold smoking and dry-aging techniques, Salami Whips offer a unique flavor profile and a soft, tender bite, all while delivering 8 grams of protein per serving.

They also stand out on shelf, as the whip format is eye-catching and unique, and the medieval-inspired branding accentuates its

authentic premium experience.

The success of Salami Whips has prompted new innovation in the premium salami snacking segment from Black Kassel.

The brand’s premium dry-aged salamis, known for their unique shapes like the heartshaped D’Amour salami, have long been featured in service delis, but the brand has now entered the snacking category by introducing innovative, convenient formats of these products that meet the evolving needs of today’s consumer.

Consumers can enjoy the same legendary taste of traditional Black Kassel Salamis in convenient pre-packaged, portable formats.

The brand is also taking advantage of con-

growth due to their low carb properties, which are very popular in keto diets.

Country Fresh Food & Confections, Inc. has invested in state-of-the-art printing equipment to meet a high demand for privately labeled, premium fudge. Packed just eight units per case, and having a six-month shelf life, retailers can make a splash with their customers by offering a unique assortment of flavors at a very minimal cost and labor expense.

Country Fresh Food & Confections, Inc. also offers pre-made Country Fresh Fudge in 6-pound loaves as well as convenient pre-cut 2-ounce pieces, individually wrapped pieces in 24-count counter displays and fudge mix With sauces like these, you don’t have to worry as much about seasoning or cooking your food perfectly because you can just add a little creamy hot sauce and your food tastes great.

Dave’s Creamy Sauces come in three flavors and three corresponding colors: Garlic Red Pepper (red), Roasted Jalapeno (green) and Citrus Ginger (orange). They also have labels with bright, lively designs derived from tattoo art. They are also vegan, gluten free, nonGMO and Made in the USA. Aside from hot sauces, Dave’s Gourmet satisfying anywhere and everywhere, was my purpose for creating WOLO,” said Amanda Z Ghalchi, Founder.

Packaged with vibrant coloring and inspired by vintage travel posters designed by a London artist, the WanderBar sets itself apart from all others. With playful names such as Cocoa Crunch Frequent Flyer, Mint Chocolate Chip Lost Weekend and Peanut Butter Road Tripper, WanderBars are a perfect fit for wanderlust travelers.

WOLO Protein WanderBars come in six flavors: Cocoa Crunch, Peanut Butter, Lemon Cake, S’mores, Salted Caramel and Mint Chocolate Chip. These can be pursumer trends in entertaining with charcuterie-friendly offerings.

New products include a new 2ounce format of Salami Whips, 3ounce Salami Snackers, 8-ounce dry-aged traditional salami rings and a charcuterie trio variety pack.

Along with this, Black Kassel has adapted its pre-sliced shaped salamis to now be shelf stable. In fact, all of the new offerings are shelf-stable, which also allows for greater merchandising flexibility at store level and portability ease for consumers wherever life takes them.

The new 2-ounce format of Salami Whips is better suited for single-use consumption, and the compact package is perfect for the convenience store or non-traditional retail, allowing the brand to meet on-the-go con-

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for those who choose to make their own.

Other popular products include the Spirit Legends™ brand of non-alcoholic fudge flavors that mimic the taste of famous spirits and drinks.

New for 2019 is the addition of French Cognac, a cappuccino-based fudge flavor, and Margarita fudge in 2-ounce displays, 12-ounce trays and bulk fudge.

Also new for 2019 are 8-ounce gift boxes printed in beautiful graphic designs. Each package has tremendous eye appeal and is expected to be an excellent retail item.

Visit Country Fresh Food & Confections, Inc. at booth #5107. For more information, email info@countryfreshfood.com.

makes a line of organic/premium pasta sauces known for innovative California fresh flavor, and through Dave’s Naturals they make a delicious line of cupped Overnight Oats. The pasta sauces come in flavors like Organic Roasted Garlic Sweet Basil and Butternut Squash. The oats come in flavors like Blueberry Vanilla and Mixed Berry and feature organic oats, fruit, almonds, chia seeds and more.

Visit Dave’s Gourmet at booth #5508.

For more information, go to www.twitter.com/davesgourmet.

chased in key retailers across the United States, such as Sprouts, Ralphs and Tops. You can also purchase online at www.wolo snacks.com or Amazon.

About WOLO WanderSnacks WOLO WanderSnacks is the only brand of snacks made for the savvy traveler. The first products launched under the WOLO WanderSnacks brand are WOLO Protein WanderBars, a must-pack snack designed to enhance your travel experience by keeping you full, healthy and feeling great while exploring the world.

For more information, visit booth #3614 or go to www.wolosnacks.com.

sumers at critical impulse snacking occasions.

Salami Snackers are a 3-ounce package of narrow diameter pre-sliced salami. The product can be eaten by itself, or makes a nice complement to cheese and crackers.

The dry-aged salami rings are a visually appealing product that consumers can proudly display on charcuterie boards, or use as an indulgent snack.

The charcuterie trio combines three of the popular shaped pre-sliced salamis – D’Amour (heart shaped), Mustardseed (square/diamond shaped) and Old Forest (flower shaped) – which are all charcuterie board favorites.

Visit Black Kassel at Piller’s Fine Foods booth #1673.

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Dorval Introduces GNAW GNAW CHOCOLATE LTD. is the newest line to join the Dorval portfolio. The GNAW CHOCOLATE bars are handcrafted in England in small batches and feature quirky, eye catching packaging, high quality ingredients sourced locally and from around the world and contain no artificial colors or flavors.

“We were approached by GNAW, who were looking for U.S. distribution of their unique handcrafted chocolate bars. From the moment we saw and tasted their line, and

learned about their passion for creating fun, playful chocolates, we felt that their premium bars belonged on the shelves. We’ve seen demand continue to grow for artisanal chocolate with socially responsible, sustainable sourcing,” says Roberta Cappel, Dorval’s President. GNAW prides itself on being an ethical company, sourcing cocoa only from farms in Brazil and West Africa and its factory is powered by 100 percent renewable energy.

GNAW is an innovative premium choco-

Coconut Ingredients from Franklin Baker Franklin Baker, Inc. is the largest processor in the Philippines and premier supplier of coconut ingredients to the global food and beverage market. It has been in business for over 125 years and takes pride in long standing customer relationships, many of which exceed 60 years. Franklin Baker’s products are produced in the Philippines from the freshest nuts available, at one of its three manufacturing facilities, where proprietary processing is utilized to ensure freshness and long shelf stability. The company controls the process from tree through shipment, allowing customers to have the highest level of

safety and confidence in the product supply chain.

Franklin Baker offers: wet steam pasteurization of all the coconut – no other competitor pasteurizes their product; BAX testing for salmonella, which is 10,000 times more sensitive than the competition’s BAM method; reliable and proven service levels for all products, including specialty items; R&D and technical support direct from the Philippines; Franklin Baker guarantee of satisfaction; and three U.S. warehouse locations.

Franklin Baker offers an extensive portfolio of organic and non-organic coconut prod-

Paesana: Good for Customers, Good for Business According to the United States Department of Agriculture, sales of organic foods in the U.S. increased from $11 billion in 2004 to $27 billion in 2012. The USDA also reported that the 7.4 percent growth rate in organic food sales during 2012 was more than double the annual growth rate for all food sales that year. Furthermore, the Organic Trade Association states that the trend is expanding as Americans are continuing to widen their demand for organic foods – with sales of organic products in the U.S. increasing to $35.1 billion in 2013.

The consumer appetite for healthier choices is growing considerably and rapidly.

However, that doesn’t mean today’s shoppers are willing to give up taste. A simple “organic” label is no longer enough to convert or retain the loyalty of food buyers and

chefs who demand noticeably fresher taste, as well. L&S Packing Company, a family owned business, has introduced its line of premium quality Paesana Organic Pasta Sauces and new Premium Organic Condiments to meet that doubled-up demand.

“Our premium organic pasta sauces are rich in nutrients and are made with the freshest ingredients without additives,” said Jacqueline Scaramelli-Massaro, L&S Vice President. “They’re also sautéed to perfection just like all our other sauces to capture the finest and fullest flavor.”

The line is being touted as just as flavorful as the delicious sauces the family’s greatgrandmother proudly and lovingly made in her kitchen way back in 1902.

“Seeking organic brands on store shelves has become a top priority for millions and

New Additions to La Truffe Royale Line MarDona Specialty Foods announces four new products to the La Truffe Royale line.

After much research, taste testing, rejections and so on, the company came up with these four great new items to add to its La Truffle Royale product line. It is certain you will find these to be a great addition to your truffle retail lines.

Black Truffle Acacia Honey MarDona had searched for quite some time to replace its Wild Forest Tupelo Honey. It kept getting batches of honey that didn’t meet its standards. After some research, MarDona discovered a great acacia honey (the best of the best). The company imported this

fine, smooth acacia honey from Italy, and blended it with some black truffle pieces along with its truffle essence. This honey makes a perfect addition to any cheese platter, roasted poultry and is great over fresh ricotta cheese and toasted bread. It is perfect for any dish or even as a dip.

Black Truffle Rub MarDona has been working on a truffle version of a rub for some time. It wanted the rub to stand out on its own merits. After much research, trials and errors, MarDona came upon a great find. By incorporating a dried black truffle with a hand harvested salt, it came up with the rub to beat all rubs. It’s a

late brand with exciting and imaginative flavors such as Bananas Foster, Rocky Road, Peanut Butter, Snowberry Crunch, Mint Choc Chip and Crystallized Ginger. They are also GMO free. All bars are 3.5 ounces and are packed in 10-count or 12count shelf ready displays depending on the flavor. Each carton is packed 6x12ct.

The new GNAW line is available now.

About Dorval Trading Co., Ltd. Dorval Trading Co., Ltd., is an importer of

ucts, including: desiccated coconut including sweetened and toasted, coconut water – single strength and concentrate, coconut milk and cream, coconut concentrate, virgin coconut oil, coconut flour, coconut sugar and other coconut products.

Franklin Baker is proud of its extensive third-party certifications and accreditations: certified organic by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, certified by the Non-GMO Project, Fair Trade USA, BRC, Control Union, ISO 9001:2000, ISO 22000:2005, HACCP, FDA Philippines, GMA-SAFE, AB PAO Accredited Testing Laboratory, SEDEX, kosher, halal certified, and Award of Excellence, 2016, 2017, 2018 and 2019 American Master of Taste & Gold Medal Endorsement

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an extensive range of high-quality confectionery products from major manufacturers around the world. Dorval has grown into a significant presence in the confectionery and specialty distribution arena. Dorval celebrated its 50th anniversary in business in 2016.

Visit Dorval at booth #1464. For more information, call 800.367.8252, email info@dorval trading.com or go to www.dorvaltrading.com. for Superior Taste and 2018 and 2019 Beverage Champion

by Chefs In America.

Franklin Baker’s levels of product certification are unrivaled and provides customers with confidence in the quality, safety and sources of what they are buying. The company holds itself to the highest product standards, which makes Franklin Baker, ‘A Cut Above the Rest.’

Franklin Baker offers bulk, foodservice and retail packaging options to meet your business needs to forge a trusted coconut supply chain partnership.

Visit Franklin Baker at booth #5873. For more information, email info-us@franklinbaker.com.

millions of consumers, particularly moms who are reading nutrition labels more carefully than ever to assure that their families are eating foods that are good for them,” said ScaramelliMassaro, a mother who knows first-hand that nutritional choices are important, but also that those choices need to provide superior taste.

Paesana Premium Organic Pasta Sauces are available in five flavors, including Tomato & Basil, Tuscan Pepper, Marinara, Vodka Sauce and Roasted Garlic. All flavors are made with 100 percent imported Italian tomatoes selected at the height of freshness.

Paesana Premium Organic Condiments currently feature Marinated Mushrooms, Portobello Mushrooms and Non Pareil Capers.

The new lines of sauces and condiments are also organically certified by QAI and are

gluten free.

As is the case with all products from L&S Packing Company, Paesana Premium Organic Pasta Sauces and Condiments have undergone highly rigorous quality control processes and have also been taste-tested through every phase of product development.

“The depth and breadth of our commitment to quality and our dedication to unmatched flavor have defined our family and our company for generations,” said L&S President Louis Scaramelli, IV. “We’re excited to say that our organic pasta sauces have exceeded our own highly stringent criteria and demanding expectations for healthier ingredients combined with incredible taste, and we’re certain these top quality sauces will be extremely popular with today’s continuously growing numbers of health-conscious consumers.”

very fine powder that rubs well into any meat, poultry or seafood. Also, it can be added to sauces and more.

spread, but the company just never got around to it. Then one day after doing R&D, it worked out this great formula of black truffles, truffle infused oil along with some TLC, and came up with a great spread.

But it’s more than that; it’s a tapenade. Use it straight from the jar and spread over some toasted crusty bread. Or mix with a mayonnaise and create a wild truffle aioli. Add to hot cooked pasta as a great truffle pasta dish. There is no limit what you can do.

Black Truffle Sea Salt One of MarDona’s great finds was its new imported Black Truffle Sea Salt.

This sea salt is a perfect addition to anything you would put salt on. Perfect over fries, onion rings, pizza, all burgers, sandwiches, popcorn and so much more. The salt is a perfect blend of truffle essence mixed with a fine imported sea salt and truffle pieces.

Black Truffle Tapenade MarDona had many requests for a truffle

For more information, call 631.845.1717.

For more information, call 855.OIL.SPRAY (645.7772), email info@mardonaspecialtyfoods.com or go to www.mardonaspecialtyfoods.com.

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FrieslandCampina Launches Frico Brand With a rich heritage in cheese making, FrieslandCampina launches the Frico brand in the U.S. with value-added specialty cheese products.

Frico stands for high quality, great tasting cheese made with devotion. Frico cheeses have been made in Holland by Frico cheesemakers for more than 120 years. The company crafts its products with care and is proud of its Dutch tradition of cheesemaking with 100 percent fresh Dutch cow’s milk. The taste, variety and versatility makes Frico cheese loved by all.

Slices A full range of quality Dutch cheeses, prepacked in a convenient resealable 5.3-ounce tray format, in an eye-catching assortment to

attract customers to your self-service section.

An accessible range of cheeses, perfect for sandwiches, burgers and more. Conveniently packed 12 to a display ready case.

Gouda: 5.3 ounces | 150 grams – A mild and creamy Gouda cheese with melt-in-themouth texture.

Edam: 5.3 ounces | 150 grams – Mellow and savory Edam cheese, with a firm bite.

Emmental: 5.3 ounces | 150 grams – Nutty and mildly fruity with a smooth yet firm bite.

Goat Cheese: 5.3 ounces | 150 grams – A cheese made from 100 percent pure pasteurized goat’s milk; mild and creamy in taste.

Gouda Snacks Gouda Cheese Snacks are ready to grab and

Pure, Organic Maple from Coombs Family Farms Coombs Family Farms is a seventh generation producer of pure and organic maple.

Based in Brattleboro, Vermont, Coombs Family Farms sources maple from more than 3,000 small family farms across New England who share its commitment to environmental stewardship, sustainable forestry management and delicious, high-quality maple. These maple farmers, or “sugarmakers,” as they say in New England, wrapped up 2019 production last spring. It was a busy season tapping trees and crafting maple in

steaming sugarhouses across the Northeast.

Now, National Grilling Month is just around the corner. Coombs Family Farms would like to remind all pit masters, smokers and grilling aficionados everywhere that pure and organic maple is a great addition to any barbecue.

Whether spicy, smoky or tangy, most grilling preparations require sweetness.

Brown sugar, honey and molasses can do the trick, but Coombs Family Farms brings an earthy, rich taste that only pure maple can

DeBrand Truffles: Effortless, Profitable, Enticing DeBrand Truffles are the luxurious sweet conclusion that will entice each and every customer. These 12 incredible variations seem almost too beautiful to eat ... almost.

Each oversized piece is individually and artistically designed, but their true beauty lies within.

These irresistible silky, rich truffles are petite, gourmet chocolate desserts. DeBrand Truffles boast a minimum shelf life of two months at room temperature, with no need for refrigeration or preparation by your staff.

All varieties are guaranteed in stock and are available to ship within one to two business days, all year round. DeBrand packaging is also available for purchase, and its truffle wholesale prices are currently set for resellers to earn a margin over 62 percent. DeBrand makes it easy to offer a gourmet chocolate experience year round. Simply set on a plate and serve.

Featuring these beautiful truffles in a display case is the perfect way to entice your customers. As they arrive, they will be

La Marquesa Products Sourced, Branded by Seacrest Foods Seacrest Foods exclusive! All of the La Marquesa brand products from Spain are personally sourced and branded by Seacrest Foods International, Inc. The Fig Cake with Almond is hand-made by a small, family-run operation in Murcia, in the southeast of Spain. It has simple ingredients and clean flavors combined with a sharp looking package that allows you to see the product. These Fig Almond Cakes are made with premium whole Pajarero figs and Marcona almonds, and are available exclusively from Seacrest Foods in an 8x250 gram case pack.

The company invites you to visit booth #770 to preview its full line of La Marquesa

products, which also includes Caramelized Pecans, Marcona Almonds, Giant Corn Nuts, Caramelized Walnuts, Serrano Ham, and a variety of specialty cheeses.

“We have met with many Spanish cheesemakers to build a mix of products that we feel will satisfy a variety of palates and applications,” said Shawn Hockert, Director of Sales at Seacrest Foods. “Quality and excellent flavor are consistent throughout our La Marquesa cheeses.”

Castellano is a cost-effective Manchegostyle cheese made with 100 percent sheep’s milk in La Mancha. Cabra al Vino is an aged goat cheese soaked in wine. El Romeral is a

go. 20 grams/0.75ounce portions in easy peel open packaging.

Packed 12 to a case.

Perfect for a snack any time of day or in a lunch box. Convenient peg hole and gusset bottom for easy merchandising.

8 – 20 grams/0.75-ounce snacks – A mild and creamy Gouda cheese with melt-in-themouth texture.

Cracker Cuts Ready to serve cracker cuts perfect for entertaining or snacking. Easy peel and reseal tray in 7.05-ounce package. Packed eight to a display ready case.

Gouda: 7.05 ounces | 200 grams – A mild and creamy Gouda cheese with melt-in-themouth texture.

Mediterranean Herb: 7.05 ounces | 200 provide. Maple works well in sauce, marinade and glaze for meats, fish and vegetables.

Maple baked beans, maple cornbread, maple lemonade or maple cocktails can round out the perfect grilling fare.

In addition to flavor, grill masters also need convenience and precision while tending fire. The Coombs Family Farms Maple Stream™ may well be a front-runner this year as best barbecue accessory, along with the latest tongs, skewers, baskets and brushes. Whether you’re operating on charcoal, gas or wood, it’s maple marinade for

greeted by the promise of a high-quality, gourmet chocolate experience.

This is an easy add-on sale and has no need for any preparation; just bag or box and go. DeBrand is also happy to provide artwork and product descriptions for menus, displays and social media advertising.

DeBrand recommends carrying an ongoing selection of at least four to six different truffles to provide a wide selection and an eye-catching display. Its four most popular truffles are Dark Chocolate, Caramel, Peanut Butter and Raspberry. In rosemary encrusted Manchego-style cheese.

Iberico is made with cow’s milk, goat’s milk and sheep’s milk, creating a richness and nuttiness with a piquant flavor. The young Mahon cheese is aged for three months, developing a greater depth of flavor than most young Mahons you will find. While still mild and easy to eat, there is a hint of robust flavor characteristic of washed-rind cheeses.

Seacrest Foods has been operating under the same name and the same principles since 1984. With its unique combination of hard work and open communication throughout the supply chain, coupled with its strong and lasting relationships with vendors and cheesemakers, the company has become a

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grams – A Mediterranean feast of colors and flavors, all in one cheese. With sundried tomatoes, olives, herbs and garlic.

Goat: 7.05 ounces | 200 grams – A cheese made from 100 percent pure pasteurized goat’s milk; mild and creamy in taste.

Shaved Goat Cheese Freshly shaved to create this enticing cheese perfect for salads, soups, pasta and flatbreads. Packaged in resealable 5-ounce cups, great for adding flavor to nearly any dish.

Packed 12 to a case.

5 ounces | 142 grams – Naturally matured for 20 weeks, this distinctive goat’s cheese has a delicious flavor and a slightly crumbly texture.

For more information, visit booth #760.

the win.

Maple Stream is the first sprayable maple syrup, providing all the deliciousness of Coombs Family Farms maple, and none of the mess. At the push of a button, Maple Stream dispenses just the right amount of Grade A organic, amber color, rich taste maple syrup. Portion-controlled and eco-friendly, Maple Stream requires no refrigeration and works well inside or outside. Maple Stream is now available online at www.coombsfamily farms.com and in retail locations across the United States.

Visit Coombs Family Farms at booth #2144.

addition to selling truffles by the piece, they are also available in prepackaged assortments, ideal for holidays, events and when guests are in a hurry. These high-quality, gourmet chocolates are perfect for gift shops, restaurants and other gourmet shops. DeBrand Truffles deliver a high-quality, gourmet chocolate experience that your guests are sure to remember and come back for more.

For more information, www.debrand.com.

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to

preferred distributor in the industry. Its flexible attitude and responsiveness appeal to its customers and their unique needs.

In addition to providing a wide array of imported artisan products, the company prides itself on the promotion of local farms of New England and New York. Its expansive and unique product offerings reflect the diverse needs of its customers. The purchasing team searches continually to find quality foods that specialty shops, chefs, caterers and fine grocery stores alike appreciate.

For more information, visit booth #770, email info@seacrestfoods.com or go to www.seacrestfoods.com.

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Parmacotto Now Available in the United States There is a new player in the American food market. You may have heard of Parmacotto, the gourmet cold cut and meat brand, 100 percent made in Italy. The famous Italian brand will be available soon at U.S. retailers.

Parmacotto originated in Parma, Italy, world renowned for the Italian Food Valley, a popular tourist destination where people from all over the globe visit to taste the delicious flavors of Italian cuisine. Despite the new launch, Parmacotto’s core values will always remain the same: utilizing top quality ingredients that are sourced and manufactured in Italy.

Parmacotto recently completed an acquisition of the U.S. salami distributor brand Cibo Italia, LLC, now entitled Parmacotto, LLC. The new business venture will con-

tinue to focus on the production of cooked ham (prosciutto cotto). Parmacotto, SpA, founded in 1978 in Parma, Italy, controls 70 percent of the business. The remaining 30 percent of the LLC is owned by the founding members of Cibo Italia, LLC, Larry Saia and Alessandro Sita, who are now respectively President and Chief Executive Officer of Parmacotto, LLC. Cibo Italia, LLC was established 10 years ago in the United States. Known for its famous Italian salumeria (cold cuts and cured meats), Cibo Italia has knowledge of the U.S. market, selling to both large-scale retailers and traditional delicatessens. It comes as no surprise that Parmacotto decided to acquire the like-minded brand. Parmacotto, LLC aims to reach an annual growth of 25

Le Gruyère AOP Switzerland: Traceable to Its Origin Le Gruyère AOP does not follow trends, but happily sometimes the trends follow Le Gruyère AOP. Following the trend towards all-natural foods without additives, consumers now want to know where these foods come from – or as Le Gruyère AOP says, “traceability.” Fortunately, this has always been an essential part of quality control for Le Gruyère AOP, and is built into its specification.

During production, each wheel is marked with its sequential number of all wheels produced in that dairy (the example pictured is

the 11,168th wheel produced) and the code of the cheese dairy that produced it (here it is 4167). The day and month of production are also noted (13-3, or March 13th). These black markings are made with casein, the milk protein – even here, it is all natural.

The name “Le Gruyère AOP” and the code of the production facility is also on the mold, so that from this point on, this info will also appear on the heel of each wheel – this is an effective way of preventing fakes and guaranteeing authenticity. But you can take it a step further – using the cheese dairy’s unique

The Asaro Family from Sicily: More than 100 Years of Olive Oil Excellence Since 1916, the Asaro family has harvested and crushed the best olives the Belice Valley has to offer. Located in Partanna, Sicily, in the province of Trapani, the olives benefit from the environment around them. The Mediterranean Sea, the Sicilian soil and the salinity from the air transform the olives and olive oil in balanced, unique products.

Today, the fourth generation of the Asaro family is continuing its commitment to bringing its customers the highest quality

natural and organic Sicilian olive oil, olives and other specialty foods.

Thanks to the company’s deep knowledge in specialty foods production, The Asaro family seeks to satisfy the needs of both its customers and farmers.

United Olive Oil Import Corp. is born as an exclusive importer and distributor for the Asaro Family brands. The strong passion for the Mediterranean diet with an increasing market demand for natural and organic foods

Fabrique Délices Wins Bronze in Pre-Made Category sofi Awards Fabrique Délices’ pâté/cracker snack box has won the bronze award in the Pre-Made category as part of the Specialty Food Association’s 2019 sofi™ Awards, a top honor in the $140 billion specialty food industry.

The pâté/cracker snack box was one of 148 winners selected by a national panel of specialty food experts from nearly 2,000 entries across 39 Awards categories. Every eligible entry is carefully assessed by passionate and knowledgeable food professionals, including chefs, culinary experts, academics, food writers and category buyers.

Products are judged on taste, including flavor, appearance, texture and aroma, ingredient quality and innovation. All tastings are blind.

“We are honored that our pâté/cracker snack box has won a bronze award,” says Marc Poinsignon, Owner of Fabrique Délices. “As entrepreneurs, we are always looking for ways to know that our product is loved. This is one of the ultimate stamps of approval and we’re very grateful.”

“A sofi recognizes an extraordinary product and the people behind it,” says Phil Ka-

percent within the next three years, with a target turnover of $20 million by 2020.

“We have decided to focus on the U.S. market because it presents significant opportunities for the development of our products. In terms of positioning and distribution, our investment in Cibo Italia aims to create synergies with the American market,” stated Andrea Schivazappa, Chief Executive Officer of Parmacotto, SpA. “Thanks to our know-how, today we are at an important milestone: the introduction of a brand in the American market, a brand made of history and quality, that will respond to the consumers’ expectations. We will focus on the introduction of Parmacotto products (cooked and roasted ham) in the deli area and as pre-sliced products for retail shelves. The heritage of this brand will be the code, you can go to w w w. g r u y e r e . c o m / en/zone-production and enter the cheese dairy number to see who produced the cheese you’re eating.

Only the real Le Gruyère AOP Switzerland is handmade in 170 small batches, from a recipe that has been passed down for centuries. Its inimitable, savory flavor starts with the raw milk of cows that are sustained in local fields, and the maturation is completed in local cellars and caves under strict supervision. The knowhow of the producers, combined with the terroir of the region, makes Le Gruyère AOP

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true ambassador, our 100 percent made in Italy products,” said Alessandro Sita, Chief Executive Officer of Parmacotto, LLC. Parmacotto is recognized worldwide for the great attention it dedicates to quality, nutritional properties of its products, and its constant commitment to research and development.

With an impressive consolidated turnover of 72 million euros in 2018, Parmacotto, LLC is confident that the brand will continue its success in the American market. In addition to cooked ham, which represents the core business of the company, Parmacotto can offer a wide range of products, from traditional salamis to ready-to-eat cold cuts.

Visit Parmacotto at booth #2669. For more information, go to www.parmacotto.com.

Switzerland truly incomparable.

The AOP denomination, as well as the association of milk producers, cheese makers and refiners, are tasked with protecting this flavor – and ensuring that it maintains consistency with its origins, now and forever.

Le Gruyère AOP Switzerland is 100 percent natural and 100 percent additive free, with 100 percent great taste. Of course, it is naturally free of lactose and gluten, as it has been since it was first produced in 1115 AD.

Visit Le Gruyère AOP Switzerland at booth #256. For more information, go to www.gruyere.com.

have brought the company to expand its line of imported products, becoming the perfect partner for small and medium Italian specialty food producers. Tommaso Asaro, United Olive Oil Import Corp Founder and President, is continuing the commitment to bring customers the highest-quality Sicilian foods. Brands include NYIOOC award winners Partanna, Paesanol, Green Gold and many more.

The latest line, the ASARO ORGANIC FARM brand, brings the most delicious Sicilian gourmet specialties. The line includes

ancient grain Busiate Pasta artichoke cream, roasted artichoke hearts, oven roasted cherry tomatoes, marinated olives, Castelvetrano olives spread and olives salad, raw honey from orange blossom and natural Sicilian sodas.

United Olive Oil Imports Corp. brings the best, healthiest, natural products Sicily has to offer to the USA – from the Asaro Farms to your table.

farakis, President, Specialty Food Association.

“This year’s finalists represent a devotion to excellence and innovation in specialty food that continues to fuel our industry, excite consumers and expand retail offerings around the world.”

The sofi Awards are open to members of the Specialty Food Association, a not-forprofit trade association established in 1952 for food artisans, importers and entrepreneurs with more than 3,800 members in the United States and abroad. For more information on the association and its Fancy Food

shows, go to www.specialty food.com.

For more information, visit booth #3165.

About Fabrique Délices Fabrique Délices was founded in 1985 by Marc Poinsignon and Antonio Pinheiro. Located in Hayward, California, the company’s philosophy about its line is using the very best ingredients and the highest care in making its charcuterie products. The meats used in its recipes come from farms where the animals are raised without hormones or antibiotics.

Visit Fabrique Délices at booth #1869.

For more information, go to www .fabriquedelices.com.

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Teasdale Latin Foods Offers More Protein in New Beans We all know that beans are good for you and that they are an alternative source of protein.

But what if that protein level was dialed up a notch?

The innovation team at Teasdale Latin Foods has done just that with its new Teasdale Simply Especial™ line. Using its proprietary processing capabilities, the company has fused pea protein into its formulas to get 10 grams of plant-based protein per serving.

“This is a very exciting time and we’re at the forefront of innovation in the bean

category. Right now, there is a global shift toward plant based-proteins. More and more consumers are incorporating plantbased proteins into their diets and we plan on being right there to provide them with quality and great flavors they can enjoy,” said Yvonne Conroy, Director of Marketing and Innovation at Teasdale Latin Foods.

Teasdale Simply Especial comes in 15.5ounce cans and is available in five different Latin-flavored varieties, including Chili

Seasoning Collections Lead The Spice Lab’s New Product Lineup Three Seasoning Collections in eye-catching retail packaging lead the lineup of new products featured by The Spice Lab. New seasonings – Nashville Hot Chicken and Slow Burn, Cider Spice Blends and Rhino Paper Straws are other new products on display.

Featuring some of The Spice Lab’s most popular premium spice blends, each Seasoning Collection includes a themed selection of four seasonings in shaker jars packaged in a distinctive gift box. The Collections include Taste of America with regional flavor blends, barbecue with best-selling barbecue rubs and Mediterranean with popular Southern European herb seasonings. These carefullycrafted spice blends are all natural, OU Kosher and gluten free, each with a suggested retail price of $29.95.

The Spice Lab now offers more than 50 seasoning blends, sold under the company brand and available for private label. Flavors new for 2019 include Slow Burn, with a subtle, lingering smoky heat; and Nashville Hot Chicken, a fiery blend with sweetness and a mustardy tang that is a trending new flavor profile.

Just in time for the holidays, The Spice Lab is introducing two organic Cider Spice Blends to mix with heated apple cider for a tasty warming beverage. Spike with white or red wine for added holiday cheer. Other popular fall and winter flavors offered by the company include Pumpkin Spice, Pumpkin Spice Sugar and an Apple Spice blend.

The Spice Lab now offers Rhino Paper Straws, packaged for retail in a choice of col-

Jan’s Farmhouse Crisps Put True Crisp into Artisan Crackers Everybody loves crackers. They may sometimes be nothing more than water, flour, oil, a little salt – but there’s something about them that keeps people digging and digging into a brand-new box of crackers until that box is empty. Maybe, for some people, it’s the saltiness, which always pairs so well with their favorite cheeses. For a lot of people, it’s the loud, satisfying crunch the cracker produces with each bite. When it comes to that crunch, nobody does it better than Jan’s Farmhouse Crisps.

Jan’s Farmhouse Crisps got their start

when Jan, Vermont native and lover of good food, decided to create a cracker that not only tasted great – a little bit sweet, a little bit salty and a touch rustic – but was good for those who snacked on it, too. That meant using all-natural, unprocessed ingredients, free from GMOs and additives, to create a satisfying snack that cracker lovers could feel good about eating.

To top it off, and give Jan’s Farmhouse Crisps their own twist, Jan also started double baking them. After the flavorful dough is baked like bread, it’s dried out and sliced into

Stonewall Kitchen Makes the Season Bright Nothing says home for the holidays like warm baked goods topped with sweet jams and savory spreads. Specialty food maker Stonewall Kitchen knows just how to make a holiday cheery and bright with its specially curated assortment of holiday offerings. The company’s condiments, sauces and mixes are expertly crafted using high-quality ingredients, resulting in a wide array of delicious products your guests will love sharing with friends and family.

Of particular interest in this year’s holiday offerings are gifts that feature some of

Stonewall Kitchen’s most celebrated items, such as its decadent Dessert Sauce Collection, made up of its Dark Chocolate Sea Salt Caramel Sauce and Sea Salt Caramel Sauce. Either sauce would be an indulgently delicious topping for peppermint ice cream or Christmas morning waffles.

Stonewall Kitchen’s Jam Tree gift includes its much-loved classic Wild Maine Blueberry Jam, mouthwatering Raspberry Peach Champagne Jam and special seasonal Holiday Jam – each of which would be a fine choice for pairing with fresh

Verde, Chipotle Rojo, Peruvian, Spicy Cuban and Mexican Chili. This line has already received a great amount of interest with early distribution gains at key retailers in the West Coast and Southeast.

About Teasdale Latin Foods Teasdale Latin Foods has been a leading provider of branded and private label Latin foods for over 70 years. The product line includes beans, hominy, tacos, tortillas, salsas, hot sauces, seasonings and peppers sold to retail, foodservice, wholesale, industrial and international channels. Retail brands inors and designs.

Made from high quality food grade cellulose natural paper, Rhino Paper Straws have a specially formulated gluten-free binder and last four hours or more in a beverage. Rhino Paper Straws are manufactured by FarFromBoring Hospitality and The Spice Lab has exclusive rights to retail distribution.

With more and more companies and cities banning plastic straws, offering a high-quality, affordable paper alternative for home use is an excellent opportunity for retailers to support conservation and serve their community. Private label and store brand options are available.

As a woman-owned and family-run business, The Spice Lab takes great pride in being one of the world’s premier suppliers of

generously-sized crackers (the perfect size for stacking cheese) before being popped right back into the oven for more.

Double baking the crisps means they are extra-crisp and extracrunchy. Each bite creates a loud, satisfying crunch as the cracker breaks in two, revealing the tantalizing flavors contained within. They’re just the right thickness for piling on your best artisanal cheeses or salami, or for spreading on your favorite dip.

Jan’s Farmhouse Crisps come in three unique combinations of fruits, nuts and seeds: the Original Cranberry Pistachio, scones for a leisurely New Year’s brunch. Holiday ham will shine when accompanied by any of the company’s savory, tangy mustards from its Mustard Tree gift, made up of Blue Cheese Herb Mustard, Horseradish Mustard and Maine Maple Champagne Mustard.

Stonewall Kitchen’s 2019 holiday collection also includes a Cheese Pairing Collection and Blueberry Breakfast gift – both excellent choices for the hard-to-buy-for foodie on your holiday shopping list.

Wrapped in packaging created by Stonewall Kitchen’s talented in-house designers based on their own lovely, hand-

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clude Teasdale®, Casa Fiesta®, ® Mexene , Jardines®, Sontava!® and Teasdale Simply Especial. Teasdale services all channels of distribution nationally and operates facilities in: Atwater, California; Hoopeston, Illinois; Greeley, Colorado; Louisville, Kentucky; Buda, Texas; Carrolton, Texas; and a corporate office in Flower Mound, Texas.

Visit Teasdale Latin Foods at booth #638.

For more information, go to www.teasdale latinfoods.com.

sea salts and seasoning blends. Its extensive product line includes salts, award-winning seasonings and rubs, premium spices, peppercorns, natural sugars, loose teas, Himalayan salt shot glasses and plates, regional brands, private label and a wide array of corporate gifts.

These products are processed and packaged in The Spice Lab’s HACCP certified manufacturing facility in Pompano Beach, Florida. The company’s high-quality brands can be found in grocery, gourmet, specialty gift shops, foodservice, club, major retailers and online through Amazon.com as well as www.spices.com.

Visit The Spice Lab at booth #2168. For more information, call 954.275.4478, go to www.spices.com or email sales@ thespicelab.com.

Sesame Citrus and Salted Almond.

Cranberry Pistachio comes with pumpkin and flax seeds for a creamy crunch as well an earthy hint of rosemary. Salted Almond uses honey and sea salt to capture that sweet-andsalty taste so many crave, and Sesame Citrus adds a hint of lemon to put some zest into your afternoon snacks.

While they all pair perfectly with toppings, they’re also great on their own. Try a box for yourself and see just how crunchy and crackly artisan crackers can really be.

Visit Jan’s Farmhouse Crisps at booth #770.

For more information, email info@jans farmhouse.com or call 508.660.2200.

painted images, these gorgeous gifts evoke the serene beauty of winter in Maine.

Each package showcases a different gathering of items from nature, from vivid red holly berries and bright poppies to white hypericum berries and forest green pine sprigs. Stonewall Kitchen’s holiday offerings for 2019 come together beautifully to give discerning buyers exceptional options for gifts that won’t soon be forgotten.

Visit Stonewall Kitchen at booth #5634. For more information, go to www.stonewall kitchen.com or call 888.326.5678.

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David Evans Foods: Inspiring People to Discover and Celebrate Great Food David Evans Foods is dedicated to bringing specialty products to the market that enrich people’s lives and inspire food discovery.

There’s an energy to the company and it comes from the collective pursuit of high quality foods and flavors that bring out the best in other foods and flavors. The company’s chefs are passionate about creating products that will inspire people to get creative in the kitchen. It makes no difference if it’s spooning the product out of the jar, pairing it with the perfect complement or using it as one ingredient among many; David Evans Foods wants its products to help people enjoy and celebrate great food

every day.

The company is best known for its Robert Rothschild Farm and Clearbrook Farms brands. Starting out as an Ohio raspberry farm, Robert Rothschild Farm has made an impressive mark on the specialty food industry with exceptionally delicious preserves, spreads, sauces, mustards and marinades.

Robert Rothschild Farm continues to make every product from scratch using time-honored slow cooking techniques. Clearbrook Farms has been a leader in premium, small batch preserves and fruit spreads for over 90 years, using only the finest ingredients.

These two retail brands live under the David

Pocasville’s All Natural Vacuum Dried Crunchy Dragon Fruit Chips Looking for a low-fat, low-calorie superfood to add to your diet? Pocasville’s 100 percent natural Dried Dragon Fruit Chips may be just the thing. Dragon fruit helps boost the immune system, supports digestion and may aid in cancer prevention.

As global buyers and experts proclaim that dragon fruit will be one of the top 10 food trends for 2019 (Business Wire, 2018) you must be aware of, dragon fruit has its grasp

on the market. Market experts assure that dragon fruit chips will be one of the healthy and trendy products in the market. Likewise, dragon fruit has an excellent reputation among big chains, as well as individual customers.

Pocas added some crunch to this popular superfood. Pocasville’s premium crunchy dragon fruit chips are 100 percent natural vacuum dried dragon fruit from Phan Thiet,

Ziyad: Over 50 Years of Experience Feeding Families An interview with Nemer Ziyad, Chief Executive Officer, Ziyad Brothers Importing.

GN: There has been growth in the category of Middle Eastern food over the past several years. Where do you see this trend going?

NZ: The trend of Middle Eastern food is on the rise. Most of our food products are on the NRA’s 2018 Culinary Forecast, such as street food inspired dishes, ethnic inspired breakfast items, uncommon herbs, ethnic spices and ethnic condiments, to name a few. We are starting to see restaurants and chains opening in suburban areas. More retailers are

incorporating Middle Eastern products in their international sets. We are starting to see fast casual and fast food restaurants selling hummus and shawarma. Middle Eastern food today is where Hispanic food was 15 years ago.

GN: Can you talk about the flavor profile of these foods?

NZ: The flavor profiles in the Middle East come from rich culinary traditions that are centuries old. There are so many exotic spice profiles that the mainstream consumer is just starting to discover, and they are craving to

Redondo Iglesias Introduces New Retail Items, New Packaging Redondo Iglesias, the ‘maestros jamoneros’ ham masters, based in Valencia, Spain whose brand is best known by chefs, is introducing a new logo and retail packaging already finding success in Europe.

“Whole leg format sales have been flattening out in the past several years,” says Kate Whittum, Redondo Iglesias Sales Manager for the U.S. “In Spain and throughout Europe, our new prestige style packaging has been very well received and we are delighted to have it in the U.S. for 2019. We expect to finally give U.S. consumers some awareness of the Redondo Iglesias brand and quality.

Jamones from Spain are still a sliver of the dry cured ham market, with Italian Pro-

sciutto di Parma and San Daniele being the heavy hitters. Unless the specialty consumer sees retail packaging, they have no sure way of knowing the brand of Jamon Serrano they are purchasing since most shops don’t list it on signage. Thus the more brand forward package shift for our company.”

In addition to Jamon Serrano, there are also two offerings of Jamon Iberico. “It is a common misconception that all Jamon Iberico, the super-luxe extra-aged jamon of the fabled pata negra hog, is acorn fed,” continues Whittum. “In reality, only 15 percent of every year’s production is acorn fed while the remainder of the hogs stay on the farm they were raised on.”

Evans Foods banner.

“In pursuit of unique, new and fresh tastes, we function like a start-up,” says Daniela Patterson, Director of Marketing.

“When we approach any new idea or opportunity, we can experiment and innovate to craft flavor experiences that consumers truly want. Our culinary experts are capable of creating thousands of recipe options with countless ingredient combinations, all with the highest quality and consistency.”

The company keeps close watch on trends in the culinary landscape, from haute cuisine and trendsetters to grassroots shifts in flavors and ingredients. According to Senior Product Developer, Casey Mertz, “Global flavors continue to capture interest, particularly Vietnam, which is considered the land of the dragon fruit. This delicious and nutritional snack is all natural, non-GMO verified, gluten-free and kosher.

There is no cooking oil, no cholesterol, no preservatives, no trans fat and no added sugar, but it is still tasty! It is available with white and red flesh.

Pocas International is passionate about delivering premium healthy beverages and spelearn more. Spicy, zesty, tangy, herby – there are many delicious flavors to explore.

GN: What are some products that a novice consumer should start experimenting with?

NZ: Our Ziyad brand tahini has just won ‘Best Tasting’ tahini by a major magazine. It really is good and is a major ingredient in making hummus. Everyone should try making hummus; it’s easy and delicious. Za’attar is a delicious condiment of dried thyme, sumac and sesame seeds. It could be sprinkled on fresh bread, pizza, chicken and vegetables, and it is herby and delicious.

Labneh is strained Middle Eastern style yogurt. It is so creamy, delicious and nutritious, The non-acorn Jamon Iberico is know as cebo or ‘fed’ and comes in two grades: either cebo or cebo de campo. Iberico Cebo is raised in barns while Iberico Cebo de Campo is free ranging in the field, or ‘fed in the field.’ Redondo Iglesias Iberico is either Iberico de Bellota, acorn fed or Iberico Cebo de Campo, free ranging in the field, never in barns.

The new packaging also emphasizes the extra aging of Redondo’s products – over 18 months on Serrano, 36 months on Iberico Cebo de Campo and 48 months on Iberico de Bellota.

Chorizo Espanol produced at the Redondo Iglesias facility in Montreal, Canada is also slated for introduction in the U.S. in 2019. Redondo Iglesias invested years getting ap-

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among the younger consumers.

There is a growing preference for new and exotic eating experiences and flavors.”

David Evans Foods has focused on doing what it knows how to do – small batch products with remarkably rich flavor. “All of us at David Evans Foods have a passion for food and for cooking,” says Vice President of Sales, Jon Jeffer.

“We all take the product home and try new things, share them with our families and bring fresh ideas back to the team.”

Visit David Evans Foods at booth #236. For more information, go to www.davidevans foods.com or www.robertrothschild.com, email dpatterson@davidevansfoods.com or call 513.975.2207.

cialty foods to its customers with only top-quality products. The mission of Pocas is to study global market trends of healthy foods and beverages on behalf of its customers and supply the best healthy products to its valued customers with the lowest price possible.

Visit Pocas International at booth #4917.

For more information, go to www.pocas.com or call 201.941.7900. Follow the company on Instagram and Facebook. and you are going to love it. Eating “savory” yogurt is relatively new to the mainstream market, but use it like you would sour cream or cream cheese. Pomegranate molasses is an awesome thing to have in the kitchen, as well. Use it in place of lemon juice or vinegar in salads for an intriguing tangy flavor. There are so many uses for it, many of them listed in the recipe section of our website.

Visit Ziyad at booth #5608. For more information, contact Mark Smith at 708.222.8330 or mdsmith@ziyad.com or go to www .ziyad.com. Follow the company on social media at www.facebook.com/ziyadbrand and on Instagram @ziyadbrand. provals from Canadian and U.S. authorities to bring in a true ‘cold cure’ chorizo. Traditional chorizo Espanol is a raw product and thus the chorizo currently available in the U.S. from Spain and from producers in the U.S. must be aged over 60 days or heat or pressure treated.

These products do not have the same flavor profile or texture as a true cold cure Chorizo a visitor to Spain would experience – either they must be loaded with fat in the mix or they have a fermented tang. A benefit of the NAFTA agreement is that this product can be produced in Canada and imported to the U.S. For more information, visit booth #1349 or contact Kate Whittum at 201.455.5266 or kate@redondousa.com, or email info@ redondousa.com.

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New Sprouted Products from Suzie’s Good Groceries Company, under its popular Suzie’s brand, continues to launch categorychanging healthy products while improving its healthy natural staples. Snacking never had it so good – great taste and better-for-you ingredients.

The company is launching Suzie’s newest flatbreads: Sprouted Multiseed and Sprouted Pretzel Top. The sprouting grain process increases many of the grain’s key ingredients, including vitamins, folate, fiber and essential amino acids. The sprouting process also lessens allergens and makes grains easier to digest. Made with whole grains, non-GMO, kosher and delicious. Whatever your favorite nosh, it sits best on a Suzie’s Ancient Grain

Flatbread. Available in four other delicious flavor profiles: Kamut & Sesame, Kamut with Rosemary, 7 Ancient Grain and Spelt Multiseed.

Sprouting tasted so good, the company has incorporated sprouted rice into its Thin Cake line. Suzie’s Thin Cakes are perfect by themselves, as a bread substitute or with your favorite nosh topping them. The delicious, simple ingredient Thin Cakes are now available in nine flavor profiles: Unsalted & Light Salted Organic Brown Rice, Organic Corn – Lightly Salted or with Sesame & Quinoa, Organic Multigrain, Organic Spelt & Flax, Buckwheat with Quinoa & Flax, Lentil and now Sprouted Rice.

J&M Foods Offers New Soft-Baked Cookies J&M Foods proudly continues its family tradition and passion for good food by providing its customers with the best tasting cheese straws and cookies in the market. As a family-owned business operating for roughly three decades, it is happy to bring a little joy to its customers’ eating experience.

The company currently offers 21 varieties of cheese straws and cookies as well as additional seasonal offerings. Working with various combinations of cheeses,

chocolates, nuts, grains, fruits and spices, there’s never a dull moment at J&M Foods.

Its products are great for everyday pleasure and make the perfect gift. In addition, J&M Foods is always in the kitchen exploring new possibilities to tickle the taste buds and provide something new for its customers’ enjoyment.

In keeping with the 100-year-old family recipe that inspired its great tasting Original Cheese Straws, J&M Foods is committed to maintaining its heritage of providing

Bellucci EVOO: Harvesting Excellence The morning hours are crisp, and the soft, rolling breeze is accompanied by the strong, rich scent of olives. The time has come to harvest – and Bellucci’s farmers are steadfastly preparing to take to the trees.

In order to produce the finest authentic Italian extra virgin olive oil, the olives must be harvested before the first frost. While the timing of harvest is not an exact science, the quality of the olive oil produced depends on its precision. In fact, the taste, color, nutrient level and overall vitality of extra virgin olive oil is drastically affected by when it is harvested.

The trees are inspected to ensure their olive fruits have reached the perfect level of maturity. Firm, bright green fruits produce a verdant, grassy flavor with a strong bite and high antioxidant content. These fruits must undergo a longer milling process in order to extract the oil, which may have a bitter, pun-

gent flavor profile. Soft, dark fruits produce copious amounts of yellow-gold oil. This oil is sweet and fruity with a mellow flavor profile – though it has reduced amounts of chlorophyll and beneficial polyphenols.

The ideal olive is found between these two stages, in the veraison phase. Veraison is a term borrowed from French viticulture, which refers to the change of color found in ripening grapes. In olives, this appears as a yellow-green softening of the fruit, touched by the first blush of red or purple. Veraison fruits are the peak of perfection, and will produce an ample quantity of rich, verdant gold oil; dense in nutrients, and with a wellrounded flavor profile.

Bellucci’s collective of independent farmers all hold a strong commitment to stewarding their family land. The groves in which their olives are grown are largely tended by hand, and the process of harvest is no excep-

Quadratini Matcha and Classic Wafer Double Choc from Loacker Since 1925, the name Loacker has stood for pure and wholesome natural goodness, the highest quality and love for nature – combined in its delicious wafer and chocolate specialties. It is the leading wafer worldwide and the company has averaged around 25 percent annual growth for the past five years.

It is excited to present its newest creations at the 2019 Summer Fancy Food Show: Quadratini Matcha and Classic Wafer Double Choc. Get ready to rediscover taste!

Welcome to Japan’s volcanic hills, the cradle of the noble green tea. There, close your eyes and take a deep breath: can you smell its scent already? The plants are grown lovingly in a shaded area, and their young buds and the highest leaves are carefully harvested. Matcha farmers then steam and dry the leaves; they remove their stems and veins and ultimately, finely grind them. The precious powder is stored in a dark and airtight space to preserve its refined taste and natural,

Speaking of sprouting, Summer Fancy Food marks the introduction of Suzie’s Sprouted Pita Chips. With five great flavors and the benefits of sprouted grains, Suzie’s takes pita chips to a whole new level of goodness.

If your customers are in snacking mode, introduce them to Suzie’s new better-foryou snack kits. Four Thin Cakes combined with a sachet of hummus, almond butter or peanut butter will satisfy that craving guilt free. These come in a 10-pack shelf or counter displayready tray, a perfect new profit center for rice cakes.

If spreading out the hummus or almond

great products made from the finest ingredients available. All of its products are trans fat free and baked with care.

The latest creation and something the company is very proud to add to the Janis & Melanie line of products comes in the form of a large, soft-baked cookie (3 inches in diameter). They’re made with butter, whole egg and a whole lot of love. Varieties include Chocolate Chunk, Brownie and Oatmeal Cranberry.

Each carton contains eight 1-ounce cookies, which are individually wrapped. Enjoy

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butter isn’t your customer’s thing, and they’re still trying to fill the void with a better-for-you guilt-free snack, then Suzie’s Topped Rice Cakes are just the ticket. Available in 10 two-pack shelf or counter display ready trays. Flavor profiles include peanut butter, chocolate or almond butter topped Lentil Cakes.

Suzie’s – innovation you can taste, innovation for your health!

Innovation that drives sales!

For more information, visit booth #5770, go to www.goodgroceries.com, email info@good -groceries.com or call 718.768.0821. Follow the company on Pinterest, Instagram, www.twitter.com/SuziesBrand or www .facebook.com/Suzies.Natural.Products.

them with milk, coffee, tea, ice cream or by themselves anytime as a snack.

J&M Foods enjoys being flexible enough to handle all its customers’ needs. Located in a 32,000 square-foot facility residing on 21 acres, it has room to grow along with its customers.

Centrally located and nationally recognized, J&M Foods is an award-winning market leader within the specialty foods industry.

Visit J&M Foods at booth #5527. For more information, call 800.264.2278.

tion. Trees are carefully raked with handheld branch combs, the fruits caught by nets arranged beneath their branches before being gathered and poured into crates for transport.

The crates are carefully labelled, entered into the Bellucci traceability system, and then transported to the millhouse, where the olives will be washed, pressed, ground and spun in a centrifuge.

After this journey, it will undergo rigorous testing and verification before it can be labelled as extra virgin olive oil. It will then receive the mark of Bureau Veritas, which certifies its purity, authenticity and place of origin, before undergoing the journey to the shelves of grocers everywhere.

Second only to the perfect timing of harvest is Bellucci’s dedication to ensuring freshness and purity. This means seeing that

the olives are pressed into oil within hours of harvest, and that each bottle of Bellucci is transported from tree to table with the utmost care.

This dedication has landed Bellucci at the forefront of the extra virgin olive oil industry when it comes to matters of traceability and transparency. The company’s Trust Through Traceability program supplies each bottle with a unique code which allows consumers to trace it back to source, increasing visibility and trust.

A new partnership with tech leader Oracle is helping Bellucci take traceability to a whole new level, bringing even deeper insight into the production of authentic extra virgin olive oil. The additional development will allow blockchain technology to create an unalterable ledger which documents each step of the journey between grove and grocer.

bright green color. That’s how matcha is born! This high-quality ingredient doesn’t contain any additional aromas, colorings (it’s naturally green), preservatives or hydrogenated fats. Loacker has now created a cream of unsurpassable goodness. A light layer of matcha cream filling, a good 71 percent of the product, is enclosed between two light and crispy wafer layers, delivering a refined and bold taste. If that weren’t enough, the packaging alone is a titillating and alluring invitation to take a bite. For true connoisseurs of the luxuries in life ... it’s time to treat yourself to pure bliss.

Are you a chocolate lover? Then you can’t miss Loacker’s new Double Choc wafers: crispiness meets the finest cocoa to give you irresistible double goodnees. Loacker has created Double Choc with love, talent, passion and quality. This new treat is the answer to the most refined palates: three crispy cocoa wafers and a creamy exclusive cocoa and chocolate filling, prepared with high-quality ingredients. Twice the chocolate, twice the pleasure.

Loacker looks forward to seeing you at its booth.

Visit Bellucci at booth #2353. For more information, go to www.belluccipremium.com.

Visit Loacker at booth #1266.

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North Country Smokehouse Launches Two New Local Flavors

By Alicia Baker, Brand Manager, North Country Smokehouse

The shift towards locally sourced ingredients is real. Customers want to know where their food comes from and trust the people who produce it. Enter North Country Smokehouse.

We’ve been smoking meat for a long time, and we pride ourselves on the diverse flavors our products bring to the table. We live in a region that’s made a name for itself with the local flavors of sweet maple syrup, creamy cheeses and the very best in craft beer. It’s only right that we partnered with other local purveyors to develop two, all-natural, certified humane links.

We began collaborations with Harpoon Brewery and Vermont Farmstead Cheese Company as part of our ongoing commitment to the local food movement, crafting recipes with fresh ingredients from our own

backyard. These partnerships were made in sweet, meaty heaven – pairing our savory sausages with these regional fan favorites was a no-brainer.

A New England staple with locations in Windsor, Vermont and Boston, Harpoon Brewery’s award-winning IPA adds a notable flavor to our newest link. The Harpoon IPA Beer Bratwurst is balanced with bold notes of caraway and marjoram. The hoppy, citrus flavor comes just-in-time for the summer grilling season, and let’s be honest – beer and sausage belong together.

“There are so many wonderful friends and neighbors in and around Windsor, and we’ve had beers with most of them over the years,” said Dan Kenary, Chief Executive Officer and co-Founder, Harpoon Brewery. “We’ve been pairing great beer with great social occasions for years, so working with North Country on something that would bring people together around a

Bella Sun Luci Keeping on Top of Food Trends When it comes to staying on top of consumer trends, Mooney Farms and its line of Bella Sun Luci Sun Dried Tomatoes works to keep ahead of the curve. By interfacing with other producers, the company understands customer demand and a need for innovative and interesting new products to be hitting store shelves. Last year, the company announced a brand new product to its sun dried tomato line: Bella Sun Luci Sun Dried Tomato Chipotle Topper Sauce.

This sauce brings a sweet and smoky flavor to the current sun dried tomato lineup with its Southwest chipotle flare.

The idea sprang from a need to add flavor to an all-vegetable dish. Not only did the sauce add taste to the dish, it also brought the house down with its robust sun dried tomato and chipotle flavor explosion – which led to using the product on almost everything. From tacos to pastas, this sauce can top it all.

Elmhurst Debuts World’s First Hemp Creamer Elmhurst® was founded in New York City over 90 years ago – as a dairy. Now based outside Buffalo, the company is returning home for Summer Fancy Food 2019 with a new line of non-dairy creamers. Not just any creamer: the very first made from hemp seeds, one of nature’s rising plant ingredients.

Elmhurst’s Hemp Creamer is the company’s latest innovation in simpler, better plant-based nutrition. This new take on the hemp seed is available in four varieties: Original Unsweetened, Hazelnut, Vanilla and

Golden Milk. Each is made with real hemp cream and has 350 milligrams of Omega-3 ALA per serving, representing 22 percent daily value of this all-important healthy fat.

Hemp Creamer also has an optimal 3:1 ratio of Omega-6 to Omega-3 fatty acids. All of this nutrition is as easy as a cup of coffee!

Golden Milk Hemp Creamer is particularly unique within Elmhurst’s groundbreaking line. This enchanting variety channels a deep tradition of India. Also known as turmeric tea, golden milk has been valued for thousands of years for its marquee ingredi-

New Baking Kits from The Invisible Chef The Invisible Chef wants your holiday baking season to be filled with joy and cheer.

With the Chef’s Cookie Exchange Kit and a few basic ingredients, you can go from box to oven to party in minutes. Plan a cookie exchange or attend a cookie exchange – now you have more time to enjoy the holiday season with your family and friends.

The Invisible Chef introduced new

cookie baking kits this past holiday season and will follow with other seasonal and novelty baking kits, adding to its baking mix collection.

The cookie kits were specifically geared towards the fun tradition of a holiday cookie exchange where each guest brings a batch of delicious cookies to exchange with friends. The Cookie Exchange kits make four dozen cookies each and are offered in

grill or table was the natural – no pun intended – next step.”

North Country Smokehouse also worked with South Woodstock-based Vermont Farmstead Cheese Company to create a custom cheddar cheese for the new, spicy Jalapeno Cheddar Sausage. The company was the first community-owned artisan cheese and dairy facility in the state.

“We are always looking for ways to collaborate with other makers in our region to provide customers with locally sourced options for their tables,” said Kent Underwood, President and Chief Operating Worker, Vermont Farmstead Cheese Company. “We share in North Country Smokehouse’s commitment to producing handcrafted foods. We know that consumers will be able to taste the difference.”

In true North Country Smokehouse fashion, these new products are hand-crafted in small batches and never include artificial flavors, fillers or dyes. The new sausages are

Bella Sun Luci Sun Dried Tomato Chipotle Topper Sauce is a flavor booster to any dish, including raw, grilled, sautéed or steamed vegetables. But the flavor doesn’t stop at vegetables; it’s also great topped on sandwiches, wraps, tacos, hamburgers and more.

Mooney Farms prides itself on understanding the changes of consumer demands and is very excited to be including this new and innovative product in its lineup.

Bella Sun Luci is a line of premium Mediterranean-inspired products created from authentic family recipes. The line inent, turmeric, and its key compound curcumin.

With six ingredients or less – and no added gums, emulsifiers or oils – each hemp creamer variety maintains Elmhurst’s commitment to clean label nutrition.

The Original Unsweetened variety has 0 grams of added sugar while hazelnut, vanilla and golden milk are lightly sweetened with 1 gram of added sugar.

As well as creamers, Elmhurst is introducing Milked Hemp Barista Edition. This specialty plant-based milk joins its oat counterpart – providing professional-grade steaming and foaming for lattes and cappuccinos while maintaining the two flavors (Vanilla Sugar and Chocolate Peppermint).

Each kit includes the cookie mix and holiday sprinkles.

The Invisible Chef will be adding new baking kits for Valentine’s Day, Easter and Halloween as well as novelty kits to be geared towards children of all ages, and will include kits to make Unicorn, Princess, Dinosaur and Mermaid cupcakes and cookies. These baking mix kits will all have multiple components for a complete baking experience.

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packed in natural casings and free of nitrates, nitrites and antibiotics.

They are also Certified Humane, ensuring strict animal welfare standards are being met.

“We’re excited to partner with Harpoon Brewery and Vermont Farmstead Cheese Company, as it enables us to use regional ingredients in more of our products. Today’s savvy consumers want to know the origins of their food and are especially interested in locally-produced foods,” said Aaron Corbett, Chief Operating Officer, North Country Smokehouse. “These two new sausages honor the craft of each of our neighbors’ businesses and provide our customers with homegrown options.”

The two products are now available for sale.

Visit North Country Smokehouse at booth #5319. For more information, go to www .ncsmokehouse.com, call 603.542.8323 or email info@ncsmokehouse.com.

cludes a variety of deliciously sweet sun dried tomatoes, sun dried tomatoes in olive oil, pasta sauces, bruschetta spreads, new Chipotle Topper Sauce, estate-grown olive oil, risotto and marinades. Bella Sun Luci is produced by Mooney Farms, a third generation, family-owned company based in Chico, California that is rooted in quality, integrity and family values. Mooney Farms is the premier producer of sun dried tomatoes in the United States.

Visit Bella Sun Luci at booth #2365. For more information, go to www.bellasunluci.com.

nutritional value of hemp seeds.

All Elmhurst coffee-focused products are crafted using a HydroRelease™ method, which preserves the nutritional value of the source ingredient while eliminating the need for added gums, emulsifiers and oils.

Also available from Elmhurst are full lines of unsweetened and original nut and grain milks.

Look for plenty more innovation from Elmhurst in the coming months!

Visit Elmhurst at booth #4100. For more information, go to www.elmhurst1925.com, call 800.356.1925 or email sales@elmhurst milked.com.

About The Invisible Chef The Invisible Chef offers coffee and tea cakes, breads, muffins, pancakes and waffles, blondies, brownies and bars, cupcake kits and scones which can be found at upscale food and gift stores across the U.S., Canada, Europe and Asia.

Visit The Invisible Chef at booth #5836. For more information, call 800.456.7115 or go to www.theinvisiblechef.com, www.facebook .com/theinvisiblechefmixes and www .instagram.com/theinvisiblechef.

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What Makes ENZO Olive Oil Company Unique?

Ten years ago, Patrick and Vincent Ricchiuti, representing the third and fourth generation of Ricchiuti Family Farms, sought to further diversify their agricultural business. Through industry research conducted by the University California Davis Olive Center, they discovered that 98 percent of all olive oil consumed in the United States is imported.

Further studies revealed a high percentage of the imported olive oils on American supermarket shelves continually fail to meet the sensory criteria for being officially classified as “extra virgin” as defined by the International Olive Council (IOC) and European Union (EU) standards.

Therefore, with an earnest desire to craft and provide domestic consumers with the finest oil, the Ricchiutis founded ENZO Olive Oil Company in 2008. From its inception, the Ricchiutis adopted the highest quality standards into their olive oil operation to

earn the certification of “extra virgin” from the California Olive Oil Council. Patrick and Vincent are also active stewards in the American Olive Oil Producers Association, a collective voice to ensure the integrity of olive oil production.

Unlike many other olive oil producers, ENZO Olive Oil Company is vertically integrated, which means the entire growing, harvesting, milling, bottling and shipping process is completed from start to finish on-site, producing one of the freshest oils available with superior quality and taste. The olive trees – planted in an optimal climate, similar to the Mediterranean region – are carefully nurtured year-round. Once picked at prime conditions, the olives are then transported immediately from the grove to the Ricchiuti’s mill where the crush begins.

When the milling process is complete, the

Gourmet Popcorn and Pretzel Mixes from Funky Chunky In the world of snacks, popcorn is poppin’!

Popcorn is creeping into every corner of the aisles; from confections to snacks, this humble corn can do it all.

Funky Chunky has been specializing in gourmet popcorn and pretzel mixes for nearly two decades, and while many competitors are rolling out their own versions of popcorn mixes, Funky Chunky is proud to say it has been perfecting its recipes to bring

consumers the best tasting flavor combinations on the market.

One look at a handful of Funky Chunky, and you’ll see generous servings of nuts, chocolate and caramel drizzle in addition to its award-winning caramel popcorn base.

Decadence is Funky Chunky’s middle name, and it doesn’t stop until every bite provides a unique combination of sweet, crunchy, salty and delicious. The company aims to

Fromagerie Henri Hutin Introduces Belletoile Semi-Soft Sliced Cheese Fromagerie Henri Hutin, creator of the excellent triple crème Brie, welcomes Belletoile Semi-Soft Sliced Cheese to the U.S. market.

Belletoile Creamy Slices are a natural semi-soft sliced cheese made from just three ingredients, and are certified non-GMO. The cheese is produced by master cheese makers from the Lorraine region of France in the art of soft ripened cheese like Brie. They offer a unique texture with a mild satisfying taste

and an incredibly creamy mouth feel.

Precision-sliced and wafer-thin, Belletoile Creamy Slices are packed in re-sealable packaging in Germany for continued freshness after opening. Belletoile Creamy Slices are versatile and perfect for sandwiches, burgers and in warm applications such as pasta or on melts.

This product launch is part of Henri Hutin’s ongoing activities for strengthening

Nature’s Earthly Choice Acquires Vigilant Eats Nature’s Earthly Choice is excited to announce the recent acquisition of Vigilant Eats, the Bloomington, Indiana-based cereal company. Vigilant Eats manufactures a wide range of organic cereals created with unique and wholesome ingredients. These delicious cereals are available in a re-sealable pouch or a convenient on-the-go cup, that can be consumed either hot or cold. There is even a foldable spoon inside. This acquisition expands Nature’s Earthly Choice’s goal of providing consumers with simple, healthy and delicious products to support their busy lifestyles.

Company President Chuck Watson explains, “Vigilant Eats has an exciting portfo-

lio of innovative, healthy and delicious organic cereals that are truly complementary to our existing line of ancient grains, nutritional powders and superfood seeds. This acquisition helps us expand into the healthy convenience category. Every flavor in this line is simply delicious. We are proud to integrate these products into our Nature’s Earthly Choice family.”

All of the research Nature’s Earthly Choice has conducted shows that consumers are seeking more ways to add nutrients to their diets, without wanting to give up convenience. Nature’s Earthly Choice is happy to bring even more healthy, convenient op-

olive oil is then bottled and ready to be enjoyed by all.

Another unique aspect of ENZO Olive Oil Company is Patrick and Vincent’s commitment to producing only the highest quality of certified organic and kosher extra virgin olive oil.

Knowing the health and nutritional advantages of organic foods, Patrick and Vincent decided from the onset to subscribe to stringent organic and kosher farming and processing standards and principles. Drawing upon their farming expertise, Patrick and Vincent meticulously monitor each phase of the growing, harvesting and milling process.

This hands-on approach has proven to be a difference-maker in producing award-winning organic and kosher extra virgin olive oil.

Most recently, the Ricchiuti family took another step to expand their product offerings by introducing the perfect complement to the ENZO organic extra virgin olive oil with the addition of ENZO organic balsamic satisfy all the mouth’s cravings in one bite, while leaving the taste buds longing for more.

Funky Chunky products are hand-crafted with care in the United States using the highest quality gourmet ingredients available.

Hand packaged in 11.2-ounce plastic canisters, metal party tins and single serving snack options, Funky Chunky popcorn and pretzel mixes provide gifting, sharing and snacking options for a variety of retailers, from boutique gift shops to club, conventhe Belletoile brand in the U.S. and the ongoing efforts to meet the wholesale and retail customer demands for its high-quality offerings. Henri Hutin will continue to support Belletoile Triple Crème Brie and the Creamy Slices throughout the year.

Belletoile, a creation of Henri Hutin, was first produced in 1960 and quickly rose to acclaim in the world community by being the first triple crème brie exported to the United States of America. All tions that it is confident consumers will enjoy. The consumption of superfoods has exploded in the past few years as consumers become more educated about their benefits.

Superfoods such as goji berries and maca powder are riding the same wave as more and more health-conscious consumers seek out more nutritious foods.

About Nature’s Earthly Choice Founded in 2005, Nature’s Earthly Choice has been working to build a product line of new and convenient healthy food products.

Offering a wide range of exotic whole grains, from quinoa, farro and black rice to superfoods like chia seeds and hemp seeds, the company’s portfolio of products continues to

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vinegar. This prized Italian classic is fashioned in the Old World style where time-honored traditions and techniques yield a rich, complex and flavorful artisanal treasure. Vincent has also enhanced the line of specialty items available at the family’s retail farm market, ENZO’S TABLE, with handcrafted pesto, almond butter and jam featuring stone fruit, nuts and oil from the Ricchiuti’s orchards and mill.

With their nationally and internationally acclaimed organic olive oil, organic balsamic vinegar, premium California almonds and farm-to-table goods, one could easily agree Ricchiuti Family Farms and ENZO Olive Oil Company is a uniquely diversified agricultural business.

Visit ENZO Olive Oil Company at booth #4808. For more information, go to www .enzooliveoil.com or www.prfarms.com, call 559.299.7278 or email orders@prfarms.com.

ience and grocery stores.

Looking for something out of the ordinary for your 2019 holiday catalog? Funky Chunky’s holiday line takes gifting to the next level. The company has incorporated the whimsy of Funky Chunky flavors and has drawn them into exciting and memorable holiday keepsakes.

Visit Funky Chunky at booth #5526. For more information, go to www.funkychunky.com, email sales@funkychunky.com or call 952.767.9146. of Belletoile cheeses contain the same premium milk from cows in the Lorraine valley, a region in Northeastern France known for its agriculture and farmland. Many of the same techniques are used today as they were almost 100 years ago, but with modern equipment. Belletoile holds on to that tradition of artisanal craftsmanship in order to bring a flavor that’s as sophisticated as its origins.

For more information, visit booth #4410, go to www.belletoile.us or email info@belletoile.us.

grow with the recent launch of goji berry powder and maca powder. No matter what your dietary concern or need is, Nature’s Earthly Choice’s goal is to provide a fantastic tasting, easy to prepare product; from glutenfree to products rich in Omega 3s or vegetarian sources of protein. Who says healthy has to be hard? Nature’s Earthly Choice brings consumers the earth’s most nutritious foods and makes them easy to make and easy to love. Nature’s Earthly Choice products are available in over 10,000 grocery stores across the U.S.

Visit Nature’s Earthly Choice at booth #5740. For more information, go to www.earthlychoice.com, email sales@ earthlychoice.com or call 208.898.4004.

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Ariston Introduces New My Dressing Center

By Tom Doukas, Owner, Ariston

Ariston My Dressing Center is a new, patent pending and amazing technology for your high traffic stores. Ariston Dressing Center is targeted to tech savvy Millennials and is easy to use for all age groups at the same time.

In today’s challenging and ever-changing retail market, there are a lot of factors when a store decides to add more products or apparatus to sell existing products with a new twist. When I designed Ariston’s Dressing Center, I had my customers’ thoughts and concerns in mind. With the Dressing Center,

I will provide my customers six different products with the thousands of combinations they can make with those six items in a very small space. I am also providing a touchscreen with recommendations for pairings, which is something customers always asked for. “What can I pair my oil with?” is the most common question from the Ariston consumer. Furthermore, The Ariston dressing center can mix up to two oils and two balsamics at the same time in the same bottles at any percentage that the consumer wishes. Imagine how many different products and countless combinations they can

Fratelli Pinna Celebrates 100 Years For a century, Fratelli Pinna has been handcrafting sheep and goat milk cheeses on the Mediterranean island of Sardinia, Italy.

Founded in 1919 by brothers Giommaria and Francesco Pinna, today Pinna is a fourthgeneration family-owned company, and the largest sheep milk producer in all of Italy.

Milk from grass-fed sheep and goats is delivered daily from shepherds all over the is-

land. These sheep and goats graze freely in the rolling hills and flatlands, feeding on indigenous wild grasses and herbs. The aromas are then transferred into the milk, giving it a uniquely complex and herbal flavor. Sheep milk is high in protein, calcium, potassium and Vitamins A, D, E, B and C. Both sheep and goat milk are easier to digest than cow milk.

Traditionally known for its Pecorino Ro-

Discover the Art of Sugar with Canasuc Since the early ‘90s, Canasuc has been revamping the coffee break to include a French touch of elegance and originality. When discovering the candy stick, the Founder of the company, Pierre Bosc-Bierne, had the idea to use it instead of the spoon in his everyday hot drinks. After several prototypes, his image of a Rock Candy Stick was born.

Quickly, Canasuc evolved and became a unique creator and designer of sugar, offering many shapes and colors.

Each piece of sugar is sculpted with a traditional French savoir-faire as it takes many mock-ups to create the perfect final sugar.

The secret of this process is closely guarded

by Canasuc, as it requires a great deal of experience, dexterity and patience to create these sugars. Each sugar-piece is molded by hand and packed into signature window boxes. From creation to production, the process of the Art of Sugar by Canasuc is inspired by a traditional savoir-faire and a

Introducing Hammond’s Licorice and Sour Bites Hammond’s Candies, a Denver, Coloradobased confectioner that has been delighting candy lovers with gourmet treats since 1920, has launched a collection of delectable Australian-style Licorice bites and tempting Sour Bites.

The soft, perfectly bite-sized black licorice and red licorice pieces are packed with rich, delicious flavor. For those who crave some-

thing sour, the chewy Green Apple Sour Bites and Blue Raspberry Sour Bites are guaranteed to become a favorite.

“Our new Licorice and Sour Bites gave us the opportunity to enter another candy category we’re really excited about,” said Andrew Schuman, President and Chief Executive Officer of Hammond’s Candies.

“Our customers were asking for both red and

Vertullo Imports: Sourcing the Finest Italian Ingredients Vertullo Imports sources high quality specialty items from all over the world, leveraging longstanding supplier relationships and robust networks. While it truly is all over the map, a high concentration of its items is sourced from Italy. To ensure attention to craftsmanship, quality, authenticity and taste, Vertullo Imports even has overseas staff headquartered in Italy to help source and interface directly with its Italian suppliers.

Every region has its own distinctive style of

cuisine and the goal of Vertullo Imports is to bring a myriad of authentic Italian flavors to your dishes.

Italy is synonymous with pasta; however, Northern Italy is actually known for its rice and polenta. Vertullo Imports offers Arborio and Carnaroli Rice, Pearled Italian Farro, Quick Cooking Polenta and more. In addition, it also offers a line of frozen, ready to cook and serve Risottos, available in Parmesan, Broccoli & Cauliflower, Porcini Mush-

make. Imagine the satisfaction and entertainment of your customers making their own personal dressing.

It gives them empowerment and the feeling that they are in charge of their own choosing. No predetermined recipes were thought of in a laboratory and put into a bottle.

Additionally, your customer gets few, non-GMO, gluten-free, clean 100 percent natural ingredients of their own liking. Imagine if they mixed oil and balsamic along with garlic infused olive oil and fig infused balsamic vinegar. They can take this mix, place it in their blender and add pitted Kalamata olives, capers, scallions, mustard, one anchovy and blend it for a few seconds – instant gourmet salad dressing.

The sky is the limit. mano, Pinna has a wide variety of cheeses, including fresh, aged and DOP sheep cheeses, as well as fresh and aged goat cheeses. Fratelli Pinna combines traditional cheesemaking methods with highly sophisticated and modern technology, making for an exceptional line of cheeses.

Since 1919, the company has been committed to spreading the authentic taste of Sardinia around the world.

French culture of elegance, delicacy and refinement.

Over time, its Toasting Hearts sugar became one of Canasuc’s signature sugars. Designed to hang on the rim of the mug, glass or coffee cup, they will add cheer and love to every single drink.

Available in two sets of colors – white and amber or white and red – they will be the perfect complement to any beverage. They will stand out on your shelves and attract the eyes of your customers to become the subject of conversation. black licorice, and since launching the new Australian-style bites earlier this year, the feedback has been outstanding.”

Schuman adds, “Our mouth-watering, tangy Sour Bites are also getting rave reviews. Fans can’t resist the tasty sweet and sour combination. It’s been great to see how well these new treats are being received.”

Hammond’s Licorice and Sour Bites are now shipping to retail stores across the country. Each flavor is available in a 7-ounce bag,

room and Saffron.

Southern Italy is all about olive oil.

Vertullo Imports’ Mediterranean Blend Extra Virgin Olive Oil has a buttery flavor and fruity aroma.

Enjoy it as an ingredient in dressings, soups and sauces or drizzle over pasta, fish and grilled vegetables. In addition to the olive oil, the company also has a line of truffle oils.

Vertullo Imports certainly can’t talk about its Italian ingredients without mentioning its Balsamic Vinegar of Modena. Add an extra

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How about giving your customers some recipes? At My Ariston Dressing Center, they can choose from a number of different recipes and email it to their smartphone instantaneously. They can go home, print the recipe or simply view it on their phone and execute the recipe then and there.

Lastly, let’s get together and change the game for the benefit of your store and your customer. Ariston My Dressing Center gives your stores the cutting edge in gourmet food and new technology.

This experience can only happen in your store – not online.

Visit Ariston at booth #5410. For more information, go to www.aristonspecialties.com.

Fresh product, such as traditional hand-ladled sheep milk Ricotta Fresca, is exported weekly by air from Italy. All Pinna cheeses are available through InterSource, a distributor with warehouses in New Jersey, Wisconsin and California.

InterSource – great cheese ... better service!

Visit Fratelli Pinna at booth #574. For more information, go to www.fratellipinna.com or email sales@inter-sourceinc.com.

The French Farm offers seven original shapes and colors: hearts, flowers, teapots, roses, emojis and Paris Charms that will be the perfect addition to your shelves. They all come packaged 12 in a case and will pair perfectly with the teas from Nina’s Paris, HappyLab or Thes de la Pagode.

Visit The French Farm at booth #672. For more information, go to www.thefrenchfarm.com. in a case pack of eight, with a suggested retail price of $5.95 each. To place your order for Hammond’s Licorice and Sour Bites and to inquire about other new Hammond’s products for 2019, call 800.CANDY.99 (800.226.3999).

Visit Hammond’s Candies at booth #5864.

Follow Hammond’s Candies on Facebook at www.facebook.com/hammondscandies and Instagram at @hammondscandies.

layer of depth, acidity and brightness to dressings, sauces, marinades, stews and more with its flavorful line of vinegars.

Head south to Sicily and enjoy Vertullo Imports’ Arancini rice balls. Each is blended with local mozzarella and Parmesan cheese and rolled in Italian breadcrumbs.

If you’re looking for authentic Italian ingredients to elevate your next dish, look no further. Vertullo Imports is your source for the finest ingredients across the different regions throughout Italy.

For more information, visit booth #3252.

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Helping Your Customers Think Beyond the Cheese Plate

By Lorrie Baumann

Cheese plates have become a staple form of creative expression that’s shared in the course of home entertaining. For those who are less confident about their ability to put together a cheese display that will impress their guests, cheesemongers are happy to give advice, there are discussion groups on Reddit and cheese boards are all over Pinterest, Instagram and YouTube.

But artisanal cheese, great as it is as the centerpiece of a cheese board, doesn’t have to be something that people enjoy only when they’re standing up to eat – great cheese is very capable of taking its place in the meal’s main course.

Price Is Indeed an Object Nobody’s suggesting that anyone should spend big money on a high-dollar specialty cheese and then use it as the whole cheese component for a mac and cheese, but a metered portion of something better can elevate a dish beyond what can be achieved with mass-marketed shreds and slices. “Beyond a certain price point, you want to feature it, but Carmody is at a price point where you can use it to lend its flavor,” said Liam Callahan, who makes the cheese at Bellwether Farms.

Callahan makes Carmody from the milk of Jersey cows, which makes it mild and creamy with a golden color and buttery flavor, and for his family table, he likes to cube it up and add it to a bean salad or pair it with a tomato soup made from very ripe tomatoes, and his kids like to put it in quesadillas.

“Carmody doesn’t get super-oily like some aged cheeses do,” he said, “It melts nice, but it doesn’t break and get oily. A lot of aged cheeses don’t accomplish that.”

Bellwether Farms is known particularly for sheep milk cheeses, but those tend to be too expensive for people to want to cook with them – they’re better eaten as they come from the market, Callahan said, but Crescenza, a soft-ripened cheese made from Jersey cow milk, works well on a flatbread

or a bruschetta along with some balsamic vinegar or maybe a tapenade, and it pairs well with fruit, too. “It picks up flavor and adds creaminess,” he said. “If you’re looking for a really soft-ripened cheese that you can spread on bread without having a rind left over, the Crescenza works great for that.”

Don’t Let Good Cheese Go to Waste Laura Werlin, speaker and author of books including “The All American Cheese and Wine Book,” which won her a James Beard Award and “Grilled Cheese, Please!,” among other cookbooks, is an expert on ways to incorporate specialty cheese into everyday meals.

She’s one of those who says she’d never recommend that anyone go out and buy expensive cheese solely to cook with it, but she also says that it’s common for people who enjoy making cheese plates when they’re entertaining to have bits and bobs of that cheese left over at the end of the party, and they may need ideas for what to do with those orts, which was an inspiration for her books. “There’s nothing worse than buying good cheeses and having them go to waste,” she said. “We’re afraid of our cheese. We love it, but we’re not entirely sure what to do with it.”

She points out that the home cook who has a specialty cheese she loves at hand and a recipe that works with commodity cheese can simply start by substituting a bit of the specialty cheese into the recipe along with the less expensive cheese she’s used before and tasting what happens. “More times than not, you’re going to be happy with the result,” she said.

She likes to suggest to fellow foodies who’d like to venture into cooking with cheese that they think beyond the mac and cheese and grilled cheese sandwiches and experiment with cheeses in other recipes as well. One of her suggestions is to try adding a new cheese into a salad. “Everybody knows they can put feta into a salad,” she said. “There’s nothing wrong with that, but there’s nothing wrong with trying queso fresco, another salty cheese that does the

Genesee Candy Land Launches OINKS Brand An interview with Lorri Alden, Owner, Genesee Candy Land.

GN: Tell our readers about your company’s signature product.

LA: Genesee Candy Land is dedicated to crafting delightfully different delectables to surprise and delight customers every day.

From handcrafting sweet treats in our retail store to becoming a specialty manufacturer famous for chocolate bacon products, we’re attracting attention.

In 2015, I created our signature chocolatecovered bacon, using a corporate marketing background, a fondness for cooking shows plus an entrepreneurial spirit. This led to a manufacturing facility producing innovative wholesale goods – not only chocolate-covered bacon in two varieties but also four types of jumbo decadent cookies, fudge bites

and our ‘animal poo’ line of chocolates available online and in select convenience stores.

GN: What are you doing this year that’s different from last year?

LA: We unified our product line by launching OINKS, a distinctive brand for our chocolatecovered bacon products, including applewoodsmoked and jalapeño strips. For bite-sized treats, Chocolate Bacon Bites come in a resealable pouch for grab-and-go snacking. Our newest product, Chocolate Bacon Truffles, features smoked bacon bits combined in a dark chocolate-covered shell for a twist on the classic. We developed new packaging for bacon strips, bites and chocolate truffles.

GN: What makes your company unique?

LA: We’re lucky to have a retail store, which

same thing.”

Brie is great on a crostini, to use for a crouton on salad, it melts really well on a snack cracker, and it pairs well with fresh fruit, she added. “It doesn’t have to be party food,” she said. “I want people to embrace cheese in every form. We use it on a hamburger or on a sandwich, but do that one better. Take the cheeses you like anyway and incorporate it into your food. Once you start thinking along those lines, it’s amazing what opens up.”

Use the Opportunity to Get Creative Cooking with specialty cheese presents opportunities for creativity, which is an urge that brings consumers to purchase specialty foods in general. The marriage of cheese and culinary creativity is reflected in the way that the ideas for many of Rogue Creamery’s newer cheeses were born in conversations between Gremmels, who is Rogue Creamery’s “Mr. Blue,” and the chefs who were interested in using his cheeses in the dishes they were putting on their menus. “When you have food people in your life and around your table, creative things happen,” Gremmels said. “Uninhibited sharing around food gave birth to Smokey Blue, Blue Heaven and TouVelle.”

Smokey Blue was the first smoked blue cheese on the market and has become one of Rogue Creamery’s top-selling cheeses, but the original idea behind it came from a chef who said that he’d be interested in a smoked blue cheese but wasn’t aware that such a thing existed. Gremmels hadn’t heard of one either, but he accepted the challenge and started experimenting. After a good deal of trial and error with various woods, he tried smoking Oregon Blue with hazelnut shells, and those produced the balance between spicy and sweet flavors that he’d been looking for. “The cheese offered the chef the magic he was looking for on a salad, on a burger, creating a compound butter,” Gremmels said. “I like to fold the chunks into a burger patty along with sauteed onions.”

Blue Heaven, which is a blue cheese powder, was created as a result of a similar suggestion that the same technology that produces dehydrated powdered milk could also be used to dehydrate a blue cheese, and there might be a culinary point to that. “I thought he was

features a chocolate shop in Golden, Colorado. It serves as a product laboratory for the manufacturing business. I feel like I’m in the classroom daily, exploring ways to improve my craft.

Everything I’ve done has prepared me for this – I love retail – plus getting daily customer feedback was the ‘a-ha moment’ in becoming a manufacturer.

In addition, Genesee Candy Land is the only food manufacturer in the United States to receive certification from the U.S. Department of Agriculture to process bacon strips enrobed in chocolate. Obtaining this designation was a rigorous process and it sets us apart.

GN: Where is your current product emphasis?

LA: OINKS is an innovative, playful brand that blends sweet and savory tastes from foods already loved individually to create uniquely sweet treats. Our chocolate-dipped bacon products have been wildly successful;

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crazy,” Gremmels said, but he turned over a wheel of cheese for experiments. That 5-pound wheel came back to him as a snack bag full of powder. The size of that small bag surprised Gremmels, but so did the flavor of the powder inside it. “It was just so robust and so wonderful,” he said. In the powdered form that Gremmels now calls Blue Heaven, the cheese had a flavor that was subtly blue but carried a burst of umami and the characteristic Rogue Creamery sweetness, he added. Gremmels promptly sent little samples to molecular chefs around the country who’d been experimenting with foams and spheres and powders to capture the essential essence of food and flavor in interesting new formats to see what they’d do with this new powder. “It just sailed from there,” he said, and chefs began sprinkling it on steamed vegetables, stirring it into sauteed mushrooms, turning it into compound butters and incorporating it into spheres. Blue Heaven became so popular among chefs that it’s no longer their secret ingredient, and Rogue Creamery is now packaging it for retail sale alongside its premier handmade cheeses.

Cooking with Specialty Cheese Doesn’t Have to Be Hard Zoe Brickley of Jasper Hill Farms says that she hears a lot of questions from people who want to know what they should do with their specialty cheeses, and while she says that her first advice is usually, “Just bust out a spoon and a baguette and go nuts,” she also acknowledges that the advice that’s often given when people think about how to cook with wine also applies: “Your dish is only as good as the wine you use in it – and the same is true of cheese.”

Specialty cheeses tend to have complex aromas that elevate the experience of dishes to which they’re added, she said, and so she suggests that consumers who’ve bought a little wheel of The Cellars at Jasper Hill’s Winnimere for their Christmas cheese plate and have that last little bit of the gooey goodness left over afterwards think about using that to top a dish of roasted potatoes and bacon or carve a slice off their wedge of Bayley Hazen Blue at a summertime patio party and slap it onto a steak as it comes off the grill.

“It’s a lot easier than making a pan sauce, and it’s just as impressive,” she said.

bringing our best sellers together continues our evolution as chocolatiers. Our broader vision is to continue to disrupt the snacking category by blending loved foods to create new products.

I want to dazzle a buyer when they’re introduced to our products. I never want someone to roll their eyes and think ‘I’ve seen this product four times already this week.’ We strive to create deliciously different delectables with each and every product.

GN: Is there a fun component to your unique product lines?

LA: We get two reactions when people try our OINKS products for the first time: ‘You did WHAT to bacon?!’ Or, ‘I love bacon and I love chocolate, so I’ll love this.’ It’s fun to watch this reaction. We are testing other loved food items that can handle the ‘zip’ of bacon.

For more information, go to www .geneseecandyland.com, call 303.526.3073 or email geneseecandyland@gmail.com.

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Alternative Air Climate Controlled Chocolate Displays Manufactured in New Jersey, with standard options in over 500 different finishes and five standard sizes, Alternative Air gives all chocolatiers many options to make their display cases personal for each store application. The company offers assistance with fixture layout and design to the final install. Alternative Air has been there for hundreds of chocolate stores since 1996. Now with a full lineup of

fused glass displays, Alternative Air has taken the chocolate display case look to a new level.

Chief Executive Officer James Lunstead explains that Alternative Air deals directly with the end user, giving them the best pricing and making the standard and even custom cases fit in their budget.

“Most people are shocked if they have been shopping around at how low our

Good Day Chocolate Disrupting Vitamin and Supplement Category Creators of “chocolate with benefits,” Good Day Chocolate makes chocolate supplements, an alternative to gummies and pills, for both adults and kids. Each chocolate supplement piece is packed with pharmaceutical grade supplements, made with premium fair trade milk or dark chocolate and candycoated with colors from fruits and vegetables. Not only do they taste delicious, most importantly – they really work. Whether

you’re wired, tired, tense or simply craving an effective and delicious way to take vitamins and supplements, Good Day Chocolate has you covered.

The company’s adult products include small, impulse boxes (8 pieces) and large bottles (80 pieces) of Sleep with 1mg of melatonin per piece, Energy with caffeine and B-vitamins, Calm with amino acids and herbs to help you relax, Probiotic with 1 bil-

Protein Crisps from Shrewd Food Shrewd Food has launched the perfect snack to satisfy the traditional cheeseball lover, with a modern twist boasting outrageous flavors and amazing nutritionals. Based in Long Island, New York, Shrewd Food has developed its new line of Protein Crisps with the health-conscious snacker in mind.

The Shrewd Food line of Protein Crisps caters to those who are critically thinking about their food choices, whether they are keto, celiac or just want to stay on track with their daily macros, by driving the consumer to expect more from a snack. Shrewd Food

hits the better-for-you snacking initiatives by offering a powerful punch of crunch that has 65 percent protein, which is nearly two times the percent of regular protein bars but with the added benefits of being low carbohydrate, low calorie, low sugar and gluten free.

The savory Protein Crisps are puffed using the highest percentage of protein isolate and then coated in real cheese and spices. The end result is a snack that resembles the oldtime cheeseball snacks, but with 3 grams of fat, 2 grams of carbohydrates and 1 gram of sugar. This, along with its intention to create

Makabi & Sons Adds New Flavors to Sandwich Cookies, Infused Honeys

By Greg Gonzales

Makabi & Sons is a brand of globally-inspired sandwich cookies and infused honeys that made its debut at the 2019 Winter Fancy Food Show’s New Brands section. The small company is getting new attention, setting its sights on fresh packaging and branding for the Summer Fancy Food Show.

Makabi & Sons was born in Los Angeles, California, the result of Founder Eiman Behmanesh and his friends eating out around the city. “When I created this, I essentially created it for my friends,” said Behmanesh.

“We love checking out restaurants around the city, ethnic food in particular. We love ethnic desserts and ethnic drinks. This is how it came to be – it’s for people who really enjoy going out and trying new flavors, exploring new tastes.”

Behmanesh, born in Iran, said he grew up watching the Food Network after moving to the U.S., which inspired his desire to work in the food industry. “I explored different opportunities and thought there isn’t really any-

thing out there that taps into our desire to learn about new flavors, understand different cultures and different parts of the world through food,” he said. “That’s something my friends and I were exposed to living in the city, but coming from a packaged food perspective there wasn’t anything out there that appealed to our tastes.”

Each cookie flavor is inspired from a different region. The Bombay, for example, is inspired from Indian flavors, with masala chai shortbread and vanilla cream. The Habana is Cuban-inspired, with lime zest shortbread and mojito mint cream. There’s also the Oaxaca for a spicy chocolate, Oxford with Earl Grey and bergamot, and the Uji with matcha and toasted black sesame.

All the cookies are made by a team of bakers, along with Behmanesh himself, in an L.A. pastry dough facility. “They’re a copacker, but it’s a hybrid of sorts,” he said.

“I’m in there baking with them, mixing with them, so it’s not completely hands off.”

The cookies are then packaged in a plastic tray, with individual pockets to keep them

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prices are and how high the quality is.”

If you have a budget, as everyone does, using Alternative Air fixtures is always your best bet if you need standard or custom displays. The company’s engineering and service team is second to none and will help you before and after the sale. The company will make sure all your needs are taken care of before they become a problem.

Don’t just think of Alternative Air as a chocolate display manufacturer. Alternative Air also makes pastry cases, both dry and re-

frigerated, in the same quality and craftsmanship as it does in all the displays it manufactures.

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lion CFUs per piece, and Turmeric with 400mg of turmeric per serving. Good Day Chocolate also has products for kids available in Sleep, Calm, Multivitamin and Probiotic in 50-count child proof bottles for children ages 3 and up.

It all began in 2010, when Andy Goldman, M.D., a facial plastic/head and neck surgeon, began crafting lollipops with functional doses of common medications for his patients. Add three years of R&D and his lifelong friend and business partner, Simeon

Margolis, and Good Day Chocolate was born to bring relief to those who are wired, tired, tense and craving a new way to take supplements. After years of research, chocolate was chosen instead of a gummy or a pill because it’s a real, whole food with natural benefits.

Good Day Chocolate is available nationally at Kroger, Whole Foods, Sprouts, Target, Walgreens, CVS, Rite Aid and many other retail locations as well as online at www.gooddaychocolate.com and Amazon.

flavors that are top notch quality, are what’s making this company stand out in the world of snacks.

There are three savory and two sweet flavors of Shrewd Food Protein Crisps that have taken the healthy snacking world by storm: Baked Cheddar, Brickoven Pizza, Sriracha Cheddar, Strawberries & Cream and Cookies & Cream. In addition, the line’s newest phenomenon, Parmesan Herb Protein Croutons, is changing up salads like never before with 10 grams of protein per serving. Each of the savory flavors ring

in at 14 grams of protein per serving while the sweet flavors tout 12 grams and 13 grams of protein per serving, respectively.

The family of Protein Crisps is growing to include two new savory flavors: Sour Cream & Onion and Nacho. These are available May 2019. When you try them, you’ll realize how “snacking just got a whole lot healthier.”

For more information, .shrewdfood.com.

from breaking, in a white box with designs representing the flavor’s region. These are new designs for Makabi & Sons. As for what’s next, he said to watch for more florals, a design element the company used to emphasize, though it’ll probably focus the florals on a variety pack. The suggested retail price for the cookies is $9 per package, and they come in cases of nine for retail, with a tabletop display coming this summer.

Behmanesh said to watch for more flavors this year, including the comeback of Bahia, a cardamom and pistachio flavor. “We’re going to bring that back,” said Behmanesh.

“We’re actually trying to coordinate it with the time the Aladdin movie comes out, since it’s an Arabian-influenced cookie.”

That would make six flavors in total, though there’s potential for seven, as Behmanesh is in talks with another company for a cookie with island flavors like pina colada.

Makabi & Sons also makes infused craft honeys, available in three flavors: rose water, saffron and cardamom, and star anise. “We work with a beekeper who makes these beautiful, infused honeys,” said Behmanesh, adding two new flavors might come out this year. One is golden milk, with cinnamon, ginger and turmeric, and then there’s a lavender flavor. The honeys come in labeled 12-

ounce jars inside a box, with floral designs and a bee in the middle of a floral crown, for $15 each. However, Behmanesh said he wants to bring down the cost closer to $10, so the jars are likely to be downsized to 9 ounces.

He added that the price point is important because Makabi & Sons is a brand for premium gifting. “Everything we produce is made for gifting. Some people are saying that, given the packaging, this is a pretty low price point, but I don’t feel good about charging so much for a cookie,” he said. “I like to keep the prices attainable, at something that makes sense. The process of making them right now is so labor-intensive [that] the cost of labor is pretty high.”

Despite a name that suggests there’s a whole family behind the labor and operations, Behmanesh is the only one really running Makabi & Sons. The name is his mother’s maiden name. “I had just moved back from New York, I would go to these oldschool Jewish delis like Russ & Daughters, Dean & Deluca, so it was somewhat influenced by that. It was basically named after my mom,” he said.”

He said that the website and social media accounts are currently getting a makeover, so for more information, call 818.383.8082.

Visit Alternative Air at booth #3062 or follow the company on Facebook.

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Consumer Interest in Natural, Local Products Drives Cheese Sales

By Lorrie Baumann

Quite apart from the possibility that cheese has actual addictive qualities, the creativity and drive of specialty cheesemakers are bringing American consumers back to the cheese counters and cases for more. Encouraged by artisanal cheesemakers and specialty retailers, consumers have evolved how they’re thinking about cheese, and it’s gone from being an ingredient to a stand-alone snack or meal component to becoming the star of the cheese plate and now to pairing with both sweet and savory items, according to Nora Weiser, Executive Director of the American Cheese Society.

They show no sign that they’re getting a little bored with cheese, she said. “We look a lot philosophically at the trajectory of the craft beer industry,” she said. “People don’t tire of it. What they really like is the ability to have variety and try new styles and enjoy the seasonality of it. Cheese is on a very sim-

ilar trajectory.”

According to the American Cheese Society’s “2018 State of the U.S. Artisan/Specialty Cheese Industry” report, issued just recently, three-quarters of the cheesemakers who responded to the survey conducted by the University of Missouri reported that growing consumer interest in U.S.-produced artisanal, farmstead and specialty cheese is important to their businesses. Almost 80 percent of them agreed that there’s still room in the market for all U.S. artisanal, farmstead and specialty cheesemakers to increase their sales.

And just as beer has addictive qualities, cheese might also. Scientists have identified that casein, the milk protein in cheese, releases casomorphins as it’s metabolized by the body. Those casomorphins are opiates that attach to receptors in the brain and may cause a calming effect that could help explain why macaroni and cheese is so often identified as a comfort food.

Hawaiian Host Showcases Mamoru Takitani Founder’s Collection Hawaiian Host®, Inc., a leading brand and producer of chocolate covered macadamias, is showcasing its Mamoru Takitani Founder’s Collection™. Paying homage to Mamoru Takitani, Hawaiian Host’s founder, the new Founder’s Collection gift boxes – milk chocolate, dark chocolate, white chocolate, honey coated and matcha – are made with hand-selected whole macadamias and covered in premium chocolate. The Mamoru Takitani Founder’s Collection captures the premium quality and authenticity of Hawaiian Host products, delivering the same great taste with a new look.

“At Hawaiian Host, we’re committed to

celebrating our rich Hawaiian heritage with products and packaging that delight and inspire,” said Helen Liew, Vice President of Marketing at Hawaiian Host, Inc. “The Founder’s Collection 8-ounce milk chocolate covered macadamias, made with our secret blend of milk chocolate, is a staple of the Hawaiian Host brand. It’s everyone’s original favorite, now with a new look. With our new packaging, the Founder’s Collection makes the perfect gift.”

Liew continued, “We are proud to shine the spotlight on our founder, Mr. Takitani, and his dream to create an original confection unlike anything else, in our new line. A

Face Rock Brings Home a 2019 Good Food Award Face Rock Creamery was honored with a 2019 Good Food Award for its Clothbound Cheddar. The award, presented at the January 11 Good Food Foundation gala celebration, reflects Face Rock’s dedication to creating hand-crafted cheese using responsible production practices.

Traditionally, clothbound cheddar is

created by wrapping a cheddar wheel in cloth bandages, covering it in lard to form a natural rind, and aged. Face Rock takes a unique approach and coats its wheels in butter made on site at the creamery using the same milk that goes into the cheese.

Wedges of Face Rock clothbound, aged at least 13 months, present a flaky, creamy

Coolhaus Debuts Dairy-Free Line of Pints and Sammies Coolhaus has launched a dairy-free line of frozen desserts to go along with its premium ice creams and ice cream sandwiches. The plant-based SKUs launched into the retail market through Whole Foods last month, with additional retail distribution following.

Thoughtfully crafted with the highest quality ingredients and superior creamy texture the brand is famous for, the Coolhaus dairy-free line is made with a base that dif-

ferentiates itself from other vegan ice cream brands on the market by introducing unique ingredients such as organic cocoa-butter, pea protein and organic whole grain brown rice.

The dairy-free line will also continue the brand’s endeavor to adopt more sustainable practices to keep the Earth healthy. Earlier this year, Coolhaus received a certificate from the Culver City Sustainable Business Program for its Going Green initiatives, and now

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But the attraction of cheese for consumers isn’t limited to the comforting and familiar macaroni and cheese, and today’s consumers are also interested in variety and uniqueness, and cheese fits nicely into that dynamic as well, Weiser said. “Cheese fits into many different meals and different styles of cooking,” she said. “Just about every country has some way of using cheese or cultured dairy products in foods.”

“What we’re seeing is a shift from commodity cheeses and processed products to a more natural product – particularly for Millennials, and that is going to be a huge driver,” she added. Millennials, in particular, are looking for those more natural products, not just in cheese as a stand-alone item but also in foods that incorporate cheese, such as pizza, she added, “whether that’s at a grocer where they’re looking for something that’s ready to eat or they’re going to a restaurant.”

According to the state of the industry report, in 2017, 19 percent of the cheesemakers who responded to the 2018 survey were making solely artisan cheese, which is defined by the ACS as cheese produced primarily by hand in small batches with particular attention paid to the tradition of the cheese-

maker’s art, while 16 percent were making solely farmstead cheeses, which are made only from milk produced by the cheesemaker’s own herd or flock and on the farm where the animals are raised. Another 5 percent of the respondents identified their cheese solely as specialty cheese, which is cheese made in limited quantities with particular attention paid to natural flavor and texture profiles. All of those are distinguished from what’s referred to in the industry as commodity cheeses, which means cheeses that are produced in large volume using industrial manufacturing processes.

For the cheesemakers who responded to the survey, the average artisan-only cheesemaker made 26,820 pounds of cheese in 2017, while the average farmstead-only cheesemaker made 46,581 pounds and the average specialty-only cheesemaker made 31,525 pounds.

“Millennials are looking for more natural and wholesome products, stepping away from processed cheeses,” Weiser continued.

“They’re interested in local products and in pairing local cheeses with other local products such as charcuterie, beer, wine and cider.”

trusted and universally loved gift since 1927, we’re confident consumers will love Hawaiian Host’s new Founder’s Collection.”

signature chocolate recipe, makes Hawaiian Host, Inc. a leader in the category and a favorite among chocolate and macadamia fans around the globe. Headquartered in Honolulu, Hawaiian Host, Inc. produces more than 40 unique premium chocolate and macadamia nut snacks and distributes them to more than 25 countries, with manufacturing facilities in Hawaii and Los Angeles.

About Hawaiian Host, Inc. Hawaiian Host, Inc., parent company to Hawaiian Host and Mauna Loa® brands, is a leading manufacturer of premium chocolate and macadamia nut snacks.

Renowned for providing an authentic chocolate and macadamia nut experience, the iconic Hawaii company has been offering a variety of high-quality, delicious products, from fine confectionary gifts to indulgent snacks, for over 90 years. A dry roasting process decades in the making, combined with a commitment to premium ingredients, including hand-selected macadamias and a

For more information, go to www.hawaiian host.com and www.maunaloa.com. Find the company on social media at www .facebook.com/HawaiianHostInc, www .instagram.com/hawaiianhostinc and www .twitter.com/HawaiianHostInc.

texture flecked by the crunchy crystals that indicate a premium aged cheddar.

“We are honored to bring home a Good Food Award alongside the nation’s finest food artisans,” shared Face Rock President Greg Drobot. “Clothbound is not commonly produced in America, but it is a favorite for anyone who loves a ched-

dar experience that is beyond the norm. We’re proud that our Clothbound is becoming known nation-wide as one of the best.”

Face Rock Clothbound Cheddar was one of 220 winning products that rose to the top from 2,035 entries. The Clothbound also brought home a gold medal at the 2018 American Cheese Society Judging and Competition, making it a banner year for this rare style of cheese.

the brand is channeling that same energy into dessert options with environmentally-conscious and sustainably-sourced ingredients.

Due to an ever-increasing demand for plant-based dessert alternatives, Coolhaus Chief Executive Officer and co-Founder Natasha Case set out to innovate the dairyfree ice cream category with Coolhaus’ signature inventive flavors. The dairy-free pint flavors include Salted Caramel Crunch, Dirty Mint Chip, Cookie Dough Lyfe, Chocolate Campfire S’Mores, Peanut Butter Fudge Chip, Chocolate Sandwich Cookie Crumb and Mocha Marcona Almond Fudge.

The dairy-free cookie sandwich flavors in-

clude Horchata with Snickerdoodle cookies, Dirty Mint Chip with double chocolate cookies, Tahitian Vanilla Bean with chocolate chip cookies, Cookie Dough Lyfe with chocolate chip cookies and Cookies and Cream with double chocolate cookies. Each pint is priced at $6.99, while the ice cream sandwiches are priced at $5.49.

“We’re really excited to launch a dairyfree line that’s inclusive of plant-based diets without compromising on decadence,” said Case. “Our dairy-free experience will be just as rich and self-indulgent as our dairy line, and we can’t wait for vegan and dairy ice cream-lovers alike to taste it!”

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Nutiva Offers Squeezable Organic Coconut Manna

By Virginia Watkins, Trade Marketing Manager, Nutiva

At Nutiva, we’re on a mission to build a better future. One where food is sustainably sourced, trade is fair and good global citizenship is not just a responsibility, but a source of purpose and pride. The care we take with every Nutiva product is vital to that mission.

It’s the commitment we make to you and the way we work to revolutionize the way the world eats.

Since 1999, we’ve invested 1 percent of our sales revenues in programs that spark

change in the food industry by supporting regenerative farming practices to create healthier communities. With every product sold, we’re helping make the world a little better with meaningful changes to the way food is farmed and support for the people who farm it. That’s over $4 million dollars to date.

Nutiva produces organic, plant-based food, supplements and body care products, and we protect what’s best about them, at every step of their journey to you. That way the benefits of ingredients like organic coconut and hemp reach you intact, to enhance

What to Look for as American Charcuterie Movement Rises

By Greg Gonzales

Dry-curing meats was a matter of survival hundreds and thousands of years ago, but in today’s United States, charcuterie is all about flavor. Today’s consumer will come to your store wondering where their food comes from and how its origin affects the flavor, and they’re part of a growing movement that compares to that of gourmet cheese and craft beer, with no sign of slowing. To catch this rising wave, it’s crucial to be able to tell the difference between true gourmet charcuterie and the rest.

Being ahead in this movement before it gets big means attracting a customer who can afford high-dollar items. According to Ariane Daguin, Chief Executive Officer of D’Artagnan, people seeking out American charcuterie tend to have a higher salary, and they care about whether the meat came from a sustainable farm, whether or not the farm was local and how the animal was treated. And it’s certainly possible to stay ahead right now. “I’m still talking about a very small niche, a very small part of the population,” said Daguin.

According to Phil Gatto, co-Founder of True Story Foods, what makes truly good charcuterie is that craft producers use heritage breeds of animals that are humanely raised, antibiotic-free and hormone-free.

“Those breeds usually take a little longer to grow, and end up with a deeper color, more marbling, which gives them more internal fat, and that natural fat brings a sweetness to the flavor profile,” he said, adding that the exercise these animals get out on the pasture also helps with marbling.

It’s not just pigs – Daguin cited a heritage breed of chicken used at D’Artagnan that eats vegetable scraps and takes longer to raise, which results in a truly unique flavor experience. “A chicken that’s 100 days old is basically three times more expensive than a chicken that was processed at 30 days old – and the taste is more than three times better, but the price is three times higher,” she said.

For Chris Eley, Owner of Smoking Goose, quality charcuterie really is all about the animal itself. “You can’t make something great starting with a poor-quality product,” he said.

“I used to work with a guy when I was young who would always say, ‘You can’t make chicken salad out of chicken [manure].’ So we’re always focused on how the animals are raised. That’s the key to the quality of our product. Our job – we buy a high-quality animal, a heritage breed raised properly, fed well, it was stress-free – our job is to not screw it up.” Any additional herbs or spices, Eley said, are there to bring out the natural flavor of the meats – not to enhance or cover it up.

That’s not to say there’s an absolute rule about ingredients in craft charcuterie. Bill Miner, Owner of Il Porcellino, said his company makes a variety of salamis, some traditional and some non-traditional, to keep curious customers coming back. “We make one salami called a Queso Salami, and we use a cheese in there called Queso de Mano from Haystack Mountain, which is a local creamery here in Colorado,” he said. “It’s a Manchego-style cheese we put in there, so you get a bite of cheese in your salami. It’s not a lot, just a little bit, and it’s pretty unique. We’re using local wine from Denver,

Buholzer Brothers Brand Cheeses from Klondike Klondike Cheese Company’s new Buholzer Brothers™ brand is crafted by six Wisconsin Master Cheesemakers and dedicated staff and includes four flavorful varieties of Muenster, Brick, Havarti and Dill Havarti.

Brick cheese has a deliciously complex, earthy flavor with a touch of nuttiness when young but turns pungent and tangy when aged. Try Brick cheese on a Detroit-style pizza or slice to top a juicy hamburger.

Buholzer Brick comes in a 6-pound loaf.

Muenster is an orange-rind cheese that is semi-firm with a creamy texture that gets even creamier with age. Perfect for grilled cheese, scrambled eggs or pizza. Buholzer Brothers Muenster comes in a 6-pound loaf and 15-pound long john.

Havarti is a great melting cheese with its creamy, rich buttery flavor. Slice for grilled cheese, cube on salads, or serve on a char-

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your diet, care for your body and energize your life.

We introduced our Squeezable Organic Coconut Manna™ pouches at the 2019 Winter Fancy Food Show. Available in three delicious flavors – original Coconut, Almond and Chocolate – all three are gluten- and dairy-free and contain less than 1 gram of sugar per serving.

The innovative, portable and mess-free pouch is perfect for on-the-go keto snacking, kid-friendly recipes and travel.

Our Squeezable Organic Coconut Manna is heavenly tasting and equally nourishing.

This tropical melt-in-your-mouth treat contains fiber and nourishing fats that support a ketogenic diet. An ideal spread that can re-

For more information, visit www.nutiva.com.

Follow the company on Facebook and Instagram.

local beers in some recipes, juniper berries, which is an indigenous ingredient from Colorado. But then we make traditional things like sopressata, finnochionna, coppa, things that people know. You can be different, but you also have to make products people are familiar with so they sell.”

In addition to how the animal was raised and how the meat is handled, region plays a major role in the final flavor. With factoryfarmed animals, location doesn’t matter – no matter where they’re raised, those animals are manufactured to produce a high quantity of meat that comes out tasting the same – but high-quality charcuterie producers take note of regional flavors. Smoking Goose products, for example, are all about Indiana from animals and ingredients all the way down to the name. Its Rustbelt Salami recalls the era of steel mills – in Indiana, Ohio, Michigan and Illinois – and it changes batch to batch, using a single-source and single-breed pig from one of those states. “We have stuff from foragers, like locally foraged juniper berries; we use mead wine from a local meadery that makes their mead from Indiana honey,” Eley said.

“The idea is to represent the flavor profiles of this region of the country, rather than trying to recreate regionally-traditional European styles.” As for inspired names, look no further than Smoking Goose’s Dodge City, a salami named for a part of Indianapolis that’s since improved – Smoking Goose was part of its redevelopment, so they named the salami out of respect for how far it’s come.

However, when factoring in which charcuterie is right for your store, think literally about how a region affects flavor. Pigs raised at the foothills of the Ozark Mountains tend to eat acorns from nearby oaks and hickories, flavors that carry subtly into the meat. “It’s called terroir,” said Daguin. “It works the same with wine. You take exactly the same

grape, you grow it in one place and another, and it makes a very different wine – sometimes, it’s less than half a mile away, and it makes a huge difference.”

We can think of charcuterie like cheese, too; milk from a cow that eats dray hay in the winter will taste quite different from milk made by the same cow grazing on fresh green grass in the spring. “You cannot say, ‘I have the best terroir to raise a beef,’” said Daguin, but the origin certainly can be an indication to charcuterie-seeking customers of what flavors to expect.

Enamoring your customers to craft charcuterie is partly a matter of education. Even though consumers have constant access to a smorgasbord of beautiful charcuterie with a single search of #charcuterie on Instagram, they’ll likely be more engaged with your products if your staff can tell them all about the meats from your area, or how the wagyu beef raised in Texas you carry is truly one of a kind.

Your customers will thank you. “In many cases, it’s subtle, but the people who can sit down and take the time to eat the product taste a difference, and it’s greatly appreciated,” said Gatto. “So part of this is about educating people about which characteristics good-quality crafted products let you experience.”

Eley said he’s part of a group working on a charcuterie certification exam, like the Certified Cheese Professional Exam, which could help retailers decide which meats are the best. However, according to Angela Bozo, Education Director at the International Dairy Deli Bakery Association and one of the people making the exam a reality, it won’t be ready for another two years at best.

Meanwhile, these meats continue to get more love than ever in the U.S. In other words, there’s no better time than now to become a charcuterie expert and start stocking the best meats in town.

cuterie platter. Buholzer Brothers Havarti comes in 4.5-pound and 9-pound loaves as well as 15pound long johns. Dill Havarti is available in 4.5-pound and 9pound loaves.

Klondike Cheese Co. is a fourth-generation cheesemaking family, crafting award-winning cheeses in the same location in Monroe, Wisconsin, since the late 1800s. Klondike’s 2018 best of class awards include first place for Brick, second place for Muenster and third place for Havarti at the World Championship

Cheese Contest and first place for Dill Havarti at the Wisconsin State Fair.

The secret to Klondike’s exceptional quality is the combination of using state-of-the-art equipment, proprietary recipes and time-honored traditions of cheesemaking. The recent 20,000 square-foot plant expansion at Klondike Cheese Co. demonstrates a commitment to providing high quality, authentic and consistently flavorful products.

place cream cheese, butter and nut butter, you can also add Coconut Manna to smoothies, oatmeal, desserts and baked goods. Made from pure, organic ingredients, our Coconut Manna is a wholesome addition to your family’s snacks and meals.

When you choose Nutiva products, you can feel confident that the food that sustains you also sustains ethical organic farming communities and supports regenerative farming techniques. Together, let’s revolutionize the way the world eats.

For more information, www.klondikecheese.com.

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Distributor Acquisition Aims to Grow American Market for Dutch Cheeses

By Lorrie Baumann

Dutch dairy giant FrieslandCampina altered the distribution landscape for European cheeses last December with its purchase of both Jana Foods and Best Cheese Corporation USA. The acquisitions were part of a strategy to expand distribution of the dairy cooperative’s portfolio of Dutch cheeses in the American market and to provide a larger market for the milk produced on Dutch dairy farms, so FrieslandCampina is not currently planning to acquire any American cheese producers, said Gert Jan Poort, President of FrieslandCampina Dairy U.S. FrieslandCampina originated as a local farmers cooperative in the Netherlands, and through several mergers has become the largest dairy cooperative in the world, with more than 18,000 dairy farmers in the Netherlands, Germany and Belgium and an average farm size with less than 200 cows, Poort said. “If it has 200 cows, it’s a big farm,” he said. “We have a fantastic sustainability policy – it’s a normal way of working.”

The FrieslandCampina cows are on pasture at least 120 days a year, Poort said.

“Cows have the same habits as humans looking at the weather. When it’s snowing or raining, they want to be in the barn,” he said.

“It’s always a very festive event when they go outside in the spring.”

“What we do with our customers from all over the world is to advise them to come to the Netherlands and see the farms, see the creamery,” he added. “They love it, and they want to buy. They love seeing the cows in the meadow, having the transparency and sourcing from the origin that is the most important thing. Buyers of the biggest retailers in the country are demanding this transparency, and we can deliver it.”

Delivering Dutch Cheeses to the American Market FrieslandCampina acquired Jana Foods after working with Jana as an American importer and marketing partner for more than 20 years, and with the acquisition, the company is planning to build on the strength of its brands, A Dutch Masterpiece and Kroon, and to grow the Gouda segment in the United States. In its acquisition of Best Cheese Corporation, FrieslandCampina assumes American distribution of brands including

Elements Truffles Brings Balance to Indulgent Chocolate

By Greg Gonzales

Stopping to take a breath now and then can help us pay attention to our inner voices.

That’s how Alak Vasa, co-Founder of Elements Truffles, says she found her way to making chocolate. She left a career on Wall Street to follow her passion, and now she and her team make truffles and chocolate bars with a mission in mind.

Vasa spent more than a decade on Wall Street before she quit to train at Financier Patisserie in Manhattan. A friend had introduced her to meditation, which enabled her to understand herself better, she said. While she appreciated the chance to learn a new craft, she still didn’t feel at home. That inner voice kept getting louder, she said, telling her

she had to create something of her own. In 2015, she got to work finding the right product.

“I never thought I would be making chocolate,” said Vasa. “When I quit my job I didn’t know what I wanted to do, but I did know I wanted to do something with food and with good food – food that you can trust, food that you can give to your child and not worry about what they’re eating – and to build a company with values, in terms of the partnerships, the sourcing of ingredients, the packaging, the people. When we decided we wanted to build the company, we wanted to be mindful, to make it a human-centric company.”

The brand makes chocolates in small batches that are raw, organic, dairy-free, with

Rumiano Launches First Products in New Performance Line The Rumiano Cheese Company, California’s oldest family-owned cheese company, continues its centennial celebration with the launch of a new line of nutrient-rich products designed to boost energy and cognitive performance. From Natural Products Expo West, the company introduced the first two products in the line: Grass-Fed Ghee and Regen Butter.

Whether following the trendy low-carb ketogenic diet or just looking to make healthier choices, both organic, non-GMO products offer key nutrients and natural anti-inflammatory properties that support overall health and body function. Ingredients for Rumiano Grass-Fed Ghee and Regen Butter are sourced from family farms and foragers in the Pacific

Northwest. Year-round access to pastures and natural grazing of coastal grasses in Northwest California allows the cows to roam freely. This environment makes for happy cows and some of the best-tasting, highest quality dairy products that have increased amounts of nutrients and are higher in both omega-3 fatty acids and beta-carotene.

Rumiano Grass-Fed Ghee, available in three flavors: plain, turmeric black pepper, and honey, is made from organic, highlyclarified, grass-fed butter. The clarified butter is slowly simmered until it reaches a rich, golden color and nutty aroma. During the process, casein and lactose are removed, making it suitable for those that are dairy in-

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Parrano, DeWaag, Melkbus and its expansive portfolio of Gouda styles made from cow, goat and sheep milk. “As a part of our transformative strategy, we continue to focus on delivering the best product to serve consumer needs,” said Roel van Neerbos, President of FrieslandCampina Consumer Dairy, in the company’s announcement of the Best Cheese acquisition. “The Americas is a strategic growth market for us. By acquiring Best Cheese and Jana Foods, we will be able to grow our cheese business in the region further.”

In addition, the company will focus on educating the American market about other Dutch cheeses, including the classic Edam and other Dutch cow milk and goat milk cheeses, Poort said. “We want to expand and educate Americans about the cheeses themselves and also expand the occasions.”

New Products Launching Under Frico Brand This year, FrieslandCampina is launching new convenient snack cheeses under its Frico brand, including Gouda Snack, packaged in eight 20 gram portions per resealable bag that will retail for $3.99 to $4.99 as well as a line of Cracker Cuts featuring crackersized Gouda, Mediterranean Herb and Goat Cheese. The Cracker Cuts will be merchandised in a display-ready case holding eight 7.05-ounce easy-peel and resealable trays.

They’ll retail for $4.99 to $5.99. “We are going to make great progress in the snacking segment,” Poort said.

In addition to providing convenient snacking formats for consumers, the Frico brand is considering convenience in the merchandising options it provides to retailers, according to Debbie Seife, Marketing Director at FrieslandCampina. The new Frico Cheese Slices will be offered in easy-peel resealable trays sold in display-ready cases of 12 packages.

“It’s a little different from what some of the other groups are doing,” Seife said. “It’s easy to stock and easy for consumers to shop.”

The Frico Cheese Slices line includes Gouda Mild, Edam, Emmental and Goat Cheese. The packages will retail for $3.99 to $4.99.

Frico will also be offering its Goat Cheese in a 5-ounce cup of freshly shaved cheese for consumers to add to salads, soups or flatbreads. The slightly crumbly cheese is made from 100 percent pasteurized goat milk naturally matured for 20 weeks. The cup will retail for $5.99 to $6.99.

The expanded Frico line will also include Cheese Loaves to slice behind the counter in Gouda, Maasdam, Emmental and Goat Cheese. The Gouda and Goat Cheese are both mild and creamy versions of the cheeses, while Maasdam and Emmental are Swiss-style cheeses with a firm bite and nutty flavors.

no refined sugars, preservatives or emulsifiers. Each of its products is made in its New Jersey facility, where they’re sweetened with local honey that makes each bite melt slowly.

Elements Truffles mixes in essential oils, ginger, black pepper, beet root, turmeric and lavender into its products. The result is a new kind of flavor experience, and a bar that’s less likely to end in a sugar crash.

Much of the inspiration for these flavors comes from Ayurvedic eating, something Vasa and her husband learned as kids in Ahmedabad, India. She explained that where most diets are about do-and-don’t thinking, Ayurveda is about bringing balance to the diet. “For example, in the fall the air element is dominant, which means that element can go off balance in you very quickly,” she said.

“So that’s when you eat more grounding foods, like beets, sweet potatoes, foods that grow in the ground. You eat warm spices too.”

Beyond providing nutrient-dense, deli-

cious chocolate to customers, Elements Truffles also donates 25 percent of its profits to the Care for Children project by the Art of Living Foundation, a non-profit. The project helps educate underprivileged kids in India.

It’s not just chocolate bars at Elements Truffles. The company also sells TurmericInfused Drinking Chocolate, truffles infused with flavors like turmeric or cardamom or lavender, and gift boxes that contain an assortment of all the company’s products as well as smaller bars in the Pantry Edition line.

All the bars come in a cardboard box, with a fabric label hand-stitched onto the box, colored with vegetable ink. On the back, consumers can read about Ayurveda and Ayurvedic doshas, right above the nutrition facts.

Suggested retail prices are $6.99 for the bars, $4 for Pantry Edition bars, $12 for drinking chocolate, $12 for a small box of truffles and $35 for a large box of truffles.

tolerant. Each flavorinfused ghee is packed with vitamins, nutrients and healing properties.

The shelf-stable superfood has a high smoke-point, which makes it ideal for both frying and sauteing.

Rumiano Regen Butter is a pure, organic, grass-fed butter that boosts energy, focus and brain function. The nutrient-dense butter is infused with functional and detoxifying ingredients including Lion’s Mane Mushroom, collagen and MCT oil to reduce inflammation, to improve joint health and to increase nutrient absorption. The product can be added to coffee, tea and smoothies, spread on snacks, or eaten directly from the jar.

Rumiano Grass-Fed Ghee and Regen Butter will come in 10-ounce glass jars and will

be available in late spring.

“Ghee is an ancient staple that is gaining in popularity for its tremendous health benefits and versatility. And Regen Butter has incredible fat-fueling properties that greatly impact energy and clarity. We entered this new category due to the increased emergence of the high performance lifestyle and healthy, high-fat diets,” said Joe Baird, Rumiano Cheese Company’s Chief Executive Officer. “We have big plans to expand our portfolio of organic products and will be filling out our performance line later this year.”

Rumiano also recently launched two new products in its Organics line: Rumiano Raw Organic and Rumiano Organic Grated and Shredded Cups, and an entirely new line, Rumiano Redwood Coast.

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Crunchy Granola Goodness in a Portable Snack

By Lorrie Baumann

Crazy Monkey Baking’s Granola Cookie Crunch comes from a mom who had a degree in dietetics and an urgent desire to give her own kids a snack that she could feel conscientious about giving them and that they’d enjoy too. She started with an oatmeal cookie that her kids enjoyed and went to work on the recipe to come up with a product that was a bit more oat and a little less cookie but still delicious.

Her kids loved it. Their friends loved it.

“My kids really liked it, and that’s the beauty of children – that they’ll be honest,” said Teresa Humrichouser, that Ashland, Ohio, mom. “We are a chocolate family, so I knew that if I put chocolate in it, there was a pretty good chance they would eat it.” It was a bonus that she could take it along in her mom-van, and the kids could nibble on it during their rides without leaving behind a mess of crumbs in the car. “Our lives are so busy, so, as a mom, I can have this in my

minivan as I pick the kids up from practice,” she said.

Humrichouser’s friends encouraged her to take her Granola Cookie Crunch to the local farmers market, where, every weekend for two years straight, she sold out. Local grocery retailers saw what was happening, and a few of them approached her and asked her if they could carry her product in their stores after the farmers market season had ended.

Humrichouser started looking for a commercial kitchen.

She found a 350 square-foot facility that had been vacated by a pizza kitchen. “It was a few minutes from our house, and it was a small kitchen that we could move into and get it licensed because it had been used for food service in the past,” she said.

Three years later, she moved out of the former pizza shop and into a 1,000 square-foot facility. Then in January, 2017, she moved into a 7,500 square-foot bakery, where eight employees make small batch after small batch of her Granola Cookie Crunch in four

Made By True Finds Success with New Retail Front

By Greg Gonzales

Retailers know that the best way to prove a product is to let customers try it themselves.

The people behind Made By True, the craft jerky brand, decided to try that themselves this year. They opened a storefront in their Bay Area office space this year, where the lobby was, so passersby can get a chance to try the product right there. Last year, Made

By True launched its biltong snack, and its getting a lot of love.

The idea behind the storefront, explained Partner James Evans, is to let people try the jerky before buying in stores, and to spread the word about their products. Sales are great at the store so far, he said, and it also serves as an education tool. The opening attracted more than 150 people to the store, where they sampled the brand’s craft jerkies, its unique take on trail mix and its newest product, biltong.

“Biltong is ingrained in the culture in South Africa. You can’t really compare it to anything here in the States,” said Evans.

“There’s always biltong served – there’s a joke that babies teethe on biltong there. It’s that important.”

The air-dried meat snack is still relatively unknown in the U.S. It differs from jerky because it air dries in a big, long strip, a cut

from the round of the cow. In South Africa, it’s sometimes sold in thicker slices, but Made By True’s New Jersey facility shaves it into smaller pieces, which is how most people eat it. The result is a tender meat that’s easy to chew and bite off.

It comes in three flavors: Cape Town Classic, Little Bit of Spice and A Savory Adventure.

As noted on the back of each package, Made By True biltong contains 16 grams of protein per ounce and a low sodium count at 200 milligrams per serving. That’s because it doesn’t require as much salt to preserve as jerky, and vinegar helps preserve it as well, though the vinegar doesn’t overpower other flavors. These health benefits attract the health-conscious, active crowd that seeks out high-protein snacks.

The Center for Generational Kinetics estimated that 89 percent of Millennials consumed one or more better-for-you snacks in the past week, and Nielsen’s Vice President of Consumer Insights Jorday Rost said meat snacks are a fast-growing category, in large part because Americans are trying to get more protein in their diets in what they perceive as a more natural vehicle than powders and bars. According to Fona International’s September report on meat snacks, 20 percent of women reported eating meat snacks, as

Emmi Roth Acquires Great Lakes Cheese’s Seymour Plant Emmi Roth® is expanding with the acquisition of Great Lakes Cheese’s blue cheese plant in Seymour, Wisconsin.

Emmi Roth is known for award-winning Wisconsin-made blue cheeses including Roth Buttermilk Blue®, a creamy raw milk blue cheese, Roth Buttermilk Blue Affinée, an aged version of Buttermilk Blue, and Roth Moody Blue®, a small-batch smoky

blue cheese.

With the purchase of the Great Lakes Cheese plant, Emmi Roth will not only be able to expand its blue cheese production, but also increase its capabilities to develop new blue cheese products and packaging solutions.

“We believe in the blue cheese category and see this as an opportunity to strengthen

year-round flavors as well as occasional seasonal flavors. “With this move, it has allowed us to be in a location that suited us for bringing on larger customers,” she said. The move has also facilitated supplier audits and food safety planning and documentation to qualify for national distribution to grocers who sell the products in either the granola, healthy snack or cookie sections of their shelves.

Crazy Monkey Baking has also just been certified as a woman-owned business, and Humrichouser offers contract manufacturing services to other companies that have a granola formula but not a facility. “Even after all this time, baking is still my greatest passion,” she said. “I don’t get to do it that often any more, but that’s what I love working with most in the business.”

Crazy Monkey Baking is now offered in Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip and Dark Chocolate Chip, Mint Chocolate Chip and Cranberry Almond flavors in 1.25-ounce bags that are smart-snack approved for schools. They retail for 99 cents to $1.49.

Those four flavors plus White Chocolate

brands in this category have begun successfully marketing to women.

Made By True is one of those companies.

Its six flavors of jerky appeal to a wide audience, said Evans, including women – and older women. “My mom, for instance, this [Blackberry Merlot] is her favorite flavor,” said Evans. “She’s 70, she plays golf three days a week, and she brings our jerky to her women’s golf group and they all love it.”

In addition to Blackberry Merlot, flavors include The Old Fashioned: Honey Bourbon Brisket, The Sinsa: Korean BBQ, The OG: Original Peppered, The Sweet Heat: Thai Chili Mango and The Mountie: Maple Glazed Pepper. Older audiences are likely to enjoy the biltong and The Mountie, as the meat isn’t tough like a lot of jerky.

Along with its jerkies, Made By True offers a mix snack called Trail Remix. It’s a combination of jerky and trail mix, separated by a seal that keeps the meat fresh and peels apart when snackers want to mix them up. It comes in three flavors: All About That Baste turkey jerky mix, Don’t Go Bacon My Heart uncured bacon jerky mix and Carne Diem peppered beef jerky mix.

Made By True’s offerings haven’t always been so extensive, though its three partners decided together that they didn’t want to be just another jerky company, said Evans. The trio – Evans, who was a mutual fund wholesaler, Jess Thomas, who was a third-generation cattle rancher and Kevin Hix, a former accountant – quit their jobs in 2015 to start

our position in the market,” said Tim Omer, Emmi Roth President and Managing Director. “This acquisition gives us access to a talented group of cheesemakers and provides us with additional resources to expand our current production and develop new blue cheese products for our customers.”

“We know Emmi Roth to be as passionate about cheese and as committed to its employees as we are,” said John Epprecht, Vice President, Great Lakes Cheese. “They are well positioned to guide Seymour’s business and its dedicated workforce into the next stage of growth.”

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Cranberry are also offered in 7.5-ounce bags along with a rotation of seasonal flavors that includes Cinnamon Pecan in the winter, Lemon Coconut in summer and Pumpkin Seed & Spice in the fall. Additional specialedition flavors also appear occasionally. “We have a variety of flavors, so there’s some variety to appeal to the kids and adults alike,” Humrichouser said.

All of the products are wheat free and made with 100 percent whole grains. Oats are naturally gluten free, and the products are sweetened with honey, molasses and evaporated cane sugar. A serving of the Dark Chocolate Chip flavor Granola Cookie Crunch contains 8 grams of added sugars and 6 grams of fat along with 3 grams of protein and 150 calories. “There is fat in oats and in whole grain cornmeal and in flax seeds, but it’s all healthy fat,” Humrichouser said.

“When you have the real ingredients without the fats stripped from them, you’re going to get those good, healthy calories in the fat.”

For more information, visit www.crazy monkeybaking.com.

selling the jerky they’d been making together as friends.

They had friends in the Bay Area’s tech industry, and the company got its start selling to companies like Facebook, Twitter and Uber, where employees are provided free snacks – one of those snacks being Made By True jerkies.

Evans said the Trail Remix was the brand’s first step outside of jerky, but biltong was their pet project. “We had heard about biltong – for like, two, three years, people were telling us about it, they had gone to South Africa,” he said. “But we didn’t know how to make it; nobody was making it here in the States, so what we did is, we took a trip, all three of us, to South Africa last summer. We spent about three weeks there, in Johannesburg, Kimberly – which is kind of in the middle of the bush, but there were some cattle ranches there we went to – and then finally Cape Town.”

Introduced by their South African investment partner, 1K1V, they met with 20 different biltong manufacturers, from small mom-and-pop operations to massive manufacturing facilities, in addition to spice blend companies and cattle ranches.

From those beginnings, Made By True has seen success in the U.S. market, now available in 2,500 stores, and as of late January, Sprouts markets. Through the retail shop, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and word of mouth, Evans said he expects the company to go even further this year.

Great Lakes Cheese’s Seymour plant currently employs 50 people; Emmi Roth will offer continued employment to all employees at the Seymour location. “We look forward to welcoming the employees at Great Lakes Cheese into our family of award-winning cheesemakers,” said Omer.

This acquisition will grow Emmi Roth to four locations in Wisconsin, also including Monroe, Platteville and Fitchburg, employing nearly 300 people.

For more information, www.emmiroth.com.

visit

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Two Good Food Awards for Point Reyes Farmstead Cheese The first cheese made by Point Reyes Farmstead, the iconic Original Blue, along with the company’s newest cheese, traditional Gouda, both won prestigious Good Food Awards at this year’s gala

event in San Francisco on January 11.

Point Reyes Farmstead, now in its 18th year, was the only recipient in the cheese category to garner two of the winning recognitions.

Nori Chips Coming from gimMe Snacks

By Lorrie Baumann

gimMe Snacks gave Natural Products Expo West attendees a chance to weigh in with their thoughts about the company’s plans to launch a new Nori Chip, a Japanese-style seaweed tempura chip. gimMe Snacks handed out samples of the new chips from its booth, and based on the response, the company plans to launch the product onto the American market sometime in the second half of this year, according to Steve Broad, the company’s Chief Executive Officer and Annie Chun, company coFounder.

At launch, the company will offer at least a couple of different flavors of Nori Chips.

Those are now being finalized, Chun said.

“We’re really taking our time to make sure that we can go to market with more premium and healthy attributes and to be more healthy,” she added. “I think our calorie count will be better also.”

Meanwhile, gimMe Snacks has also launched its new premium-grade Sushi Nori – sushi-grade nori sheets in half-size sheets that will make it easier to handle for those who are making their own hand rolls. The Sushi Nori will be shipping this summer in packages of 30 half-sheets that will retail for $5.99.

The new Nori Chip will be a tempura-style snack cooked in avocado oil. The tempura batter is made with cassava flour, so it’ll be, not just gluten free, but entirely grain free and therefore keto-friendly, Broad said.

Packaging is still in development, but the company is considering gusseted bags in two sizes – one a 45-ounce package that will retail for around $3.99 and a single-serving 20gram package that will retail for about $1.99.

Like all gimMe Snacks products, the packaging will attest that the product is certified non-GMO by the Non-GMO Project.

Annie Chun is well known to the natural foods community as the co-Founder along

New Organic Fraud Prevention Solutions Program The Organic Trade Association has launched an Organic Fraud Prevention Solutions program. Through this program, organic businesses may now voluntarily pre-enroll in a program to help minimize or eliminate organic fraud both inside and outside of the United States. The new program is based on the Organic Trade Association’s tested and completed “Organic Fraud Prevention Guide,” which provides businesses engaged in organic trade with a risk-based process for developing and implementing organic fraud mitigation measures.

“Fraud in the global organic supply chain poses a significant threat to the integrity of the organic brand,” said Laura Batcha, Chief Executive Officer and Executive Director of the Organic Trade Association. “For the past two years, the Organic Trade Association has prioritized significant time and resources into organic fraud prevention solutions. We are fighting fraud on many fronts, including through the 2018 Farm Bill and through private sector initiatives. The more companies that join this industry-driven program, the stronger the organic supply chain will be.”

The global organic market has been on a steady rise for more than two decades, and

has never been bigger. It is now an almost $90 billion market, with the American organic market alone accounting for close to $50 billion. Organic imports into the United States in 2017 totaled around $2.1 billion, up nearly 25 percent from the previous year. In recent years, however, investigations have revealed imported products fraudulently labeled as organic, and gaps in the complex organic supply chain.

Organic Stakeholders Stepping Up Already, several organic companies have pre-enrolled in the program. These companies participated in a three-month pilot project last year that tested the program at their operations. The businesses represent the entire organic supply chain, from farm to processor and a diverse range of products, services and commodities including fresh produce, grain, dairy, eggs, meat, beverages, packaged and prepared foods, fiber and textiles, importers and consulting services. They include Global Organics Ltd., a handler/importer; Grain Millers Inc., which handles and processes grains; I Was Thinking, an importer/handler of grains, seeds, legumes and sweeteners.

Kashi by Kids Super Food Bites Kashi has introduced its second product in the Kashi by Kids line: Kashi by Kids Organic Super Food Bites, made for kids, by kids. The soft-baked snack bites are made

with superfood ingredients and a tasty berry or Fair-Trade cocoa and chocolate blend filling, providing layers of taste, texture and plant-based nourishment. Just like the rest of

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After receiving the awards, Point Reyes’ Head Cheese Maker, Kuba Hemmerling, enthusiastically thanked his team for their commitment and hard work. “Everyone is so committed. We continue to work hard to exceed the quality expectations of our customers. These awards are testament to our continued focus on making the best cheese possible.”

An annual recognition program now in

its ninth year, the Good Food Awards celebrates American food and drink crafters who demonstrate a commitment to creating tasty, authentic and responsible products and in doing so, bettering our nation’s food system. Each of the 2019 winners demonstrates both a mastery of their craft and a commitment to maintaining exceptionally high social and environmental standards in their work.

with her husband, Steve Broad, of the Annie Chun’s brand of all-natural pan-Asian foods.

She was born in Korea and came to the U.S. in 1976. When the couple decided to start a food company in 1991, they thought about specializing in Korean dishes, but they quickly realized that American consumers weren’t yet very familiar with Korean cuisine, so Annie Chun’s became a brand of pan-Asian cuisine made with healthy ingredients in a convenient format.

After they sold that company, she and Broad decided that they still wanted to be in the food business. “I wanted to do something that would make Korea very proud,” Chun said.

The two of them recalled their expertise in making flavored seaweed snacks for Annie Chun’s and decided that was a good place to start at gimMe Snacks. “That was the first time in seaweed snack history. We were the first to make seaweed snack flavors,” Chun

said. With that experience as a starting point, the pair began thinking about ways they might be able to elevate the category for their new venture. “It wasn’t easy; it took a while,” Chun said. “We created the category of organic seaweed. Now organic seaweed is very popular in Korea and in the U.S. That was my goal.”

Seaweed is an important component of both Japanese and Korean cuisine, but while Korean cooks typically serve it as a vegetable side dish, Japanese cooks often prepare it as a tempura. “It’s super-addictive because it’s savory; it has umami. It’s light and has a crunch. I wanted to do this but add a little more healthy attributes,” Chun said.

So while she and Broad decided to emulate the Japanese tempura tradition for their gimMe Snacks Nori Chip, they also chose to use avocado oil for a crunch that’s also light and airy, organic seaweed and cassava flour to keep it grain free.

Organic ValleyCROPP Cooperative is also involved, as is the J.M. Smoker Company and Stonyfield, among others. Consulting firms Wolf, DiMatteo & Associates and Miles McEvoy, Lacewing LLC have also pre-enrolled in the program as Trusted Advisors, a category of professionals that may qualify and partner with Organic Fraud Prevention Solutions and work with enrolled companies to develop an Organic Fraud Prevention Plan. Trusted Advisors are experts in organic certification as well as in conducting vulnerability assessments and organic fraud mitigation plans.

Organic Fraud Prevention Solutions establishes a framework and formal process for businesses to create continuously improving internal programs for achieving organic integrity throughout their associated supply chains. The program requires training, an organic fraud vulnerability assessment and the development of an organic fraud prevention plan. After a company successfully registers with the Organic Trade Association with the implementation of the organic fraud prevention plan, the company will be considered “Organic Fraud Prevention Enrolled.” The enrollment process is integrated into the organic certification cycle and maintained annually.

The program is not a certification or verification program nor is it a product label.

It is a quality assurance program designed

to complement and reinforce U.S. Department of Agriculture’s organic standards and the work of the accredited certifying agencies.

“Everyone plays a role in preventing organic fraud,” said Gwendolyn Wyard, Vice President of Regulatory & Technical Affairs for the Organic Trade Association and staff coordinator for the association’s Global Organic Supply Chain Integrity (GOSCI) Task Force, the 48-member task force formed two years ago to develop the fraud prevention program. “It is critical that organic businesses have robust systems and measures in place that adequately support the promise of providing organic products that people can trust.”

the Kashi by Kids line, Kashi collaborated with the Kashi Crew – a group of Gen Z leaders who share Kashi’s desire to make food with a positive impact – to co-create these new foods.

The Organic Super Food Bites are also made without peanuts, making them a school

Enrollment Eligibility To pre-enroll, a company must be an Organic Trade Association member and either certified organic or listed with a USDA-recognized Material Review Organization such as OMRI (Organic Material Review Institute).

Eligible operations include farmers, handlers, processors, distributors, traders, retailers and input manufacturers. There are also opportunities for accredited certifiers, consultants and advisors that would like to partner in the program. Pre-enrollment initiates the process, and signs the eligible company up for the first offered training that will take place in late summer or early fall.

safe snacking option. The Kashi by Kids Organic Super Food Bites are also USDA-certified organic and made without artificial preservatives or color.

For more information, call 877.747.2467 or go to www.kashibykids.com.

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New Gourmet Sauces for Much More Than Pasta

By Casey Mertz, Chef and Senior Product Developer, David Evans Foods

Robert Rothschild Farm is excited to introduce its new line of gourmet sauces. Because we carefully source only the finest ingredients from farms we know, and we make everything that bears our name in small batches from scratch, these four new gourmet sauces aren’t simply flavorful – they’re inspirational.

More and more, consumers are deciding for themselves how they want to use a premade sauce in their day-to-day cooking. We set out to give them inspiration in a jar to

liven up their favorites and to get their creative juices flowing on new recipes.

These new sauces are perfect right from the jar to use for braising, roasting, simmering, slow-cooking, or of course, adorning one’s pasta of choice. They’re as versatile as they are delicious. We are demonstrating some of our favorite recipes at our booth to give you a taste of the wide-ranging possibilities.

The new collection includes:

Arrabbiata: A robust blend of tomatoes, pure olive oil and dried chili flakes, slowly cooked to bring forward great texture with

Even though we don’t believe in Santa Claus past a certain age, most of us can find plenty of magic in holiday celebrations with friends, coworkers and family. There’s magic in the time we finally get to spend together exchanging stories, it’s in the laughing and crying and generosity – and it’s in the food we share together, especially the right cheeseboards. Done properly, the right cheeseboard can make a statement at any gathering, become the topic of next year’s conversation, and your customers can do just that if your store provides them the

Creamy Roasted Red Pepper: A creamy, fire-roasted red pepper puree blended with tomatoes, olive oil and garlic and enriched with mascarpone cheese.

We’ve prepared our sauces the only way we

Visit David Evans Foods at booth #236. For more information, go to www.davidevans foods.com or www.robertrothschild.com, email dpatterson@davidevansfoods.com or call 513.975.2207.

foods and beverages on behalf of its customers and supply the best healthy products to its valued customers with the lowest price possible.

Enjoy drinks that are way beyond refreshing and feel the mysterious harmony in every sip.

Visit Pocas International at booth #4917.

For more information, go to www.pocas.com or call 201.941.7900. Follow the company on Instagram and Facebook.

tools, boards, foods and guidance to get there.

However, to even get started, a great cheeseboard requires the right tools for form and function. It’s important to have the right knife for the right cheeses – like a skeleton knife for soft cheeses like brie, camembert or Roth Monroe, a limited-production cheese that would stick to a normal blade. To avoid the sticking, a skeletonstyle knife like Swissmar’s Lux Cheese Knife will do the trick, featuring holes in the blade to prevent the cheese from sticking, forged construction for strength and a forked tip for serving, with an elegant

black Micarta handle. Boska offers an alternative to skeleton blades from its Pro Collection called the Brie Knife Monaco, which doesn’t feature holes in the blade like other soft-cheese knives but instead has a long, thin blade, made from a single piece of stainless steel.

For a go-to knife to use for most cheeses, Swissmar also offers a Universal Cheese Knife in stainless steel. For harder cheeses, a cheese plane will come in handy and a parmesan knife for even harder cheeses, because they crumble and it’s often better to break them up instead of slicing them into triangles. Boska offers the Parmesan Knife Monaco in its Pro Collection, with a pointed oval blade and a single-steel construction for control and durability while breaking up those hard cheeses.

Another crucial component that literally

supports the entire cheeseboard is the board itself – both visually and physically, whether it’s wood or marble or otherwise. One of the high-quality wood options is the Cheese Board Friends XL from Boska, a large, round European oak board that’s practical for multiple cheeses and pairings with plenty of room for cutting. A little hand soap and a rub with olive oil is all that’s needed to maintain it after use. And in addition to wood and marble, cheeseboards come in slate, like Brooklyn Slate Co.’s Slate Cheese Board, available in four sizes, in red or black, sourced from the company’s family slate quarry in upstate New York, packaged in a burlap bag with soapstone chalk that allows users to write on the board. The option of writing on the board could let party hosts label cheeses or draw fun designs to make the spread even more memorable.

vors, Strawberries & Cream (90 calories, 12 grams of protein and 4 grams of carbohydrates) and Cookies & Cream (90 calories, 13 grams of protein, 3 grams of carbohydrates). Each savory serving boasts 90 calories, 14 grams of protein and 2 grams of carbohydrates, which makes this snack the best choice for everyone watching their macros or just watching TV. David Wild, co-Founder of Shrewd Food, loves to compare his Protein Crisps to the common protein bar. “They’re about the purest form of protein you can get which is over 65 percent protein and nearly two times that of protein bars.” He explains that the re-

sult of taking the highest quality protein isolate, puffing it and adding a special selective seasoning blend is the magic behind these outrageously delicious Protein Crisps.

Michael Goldstein, coFounder of Shrewd Food, explains their success in the marketplace. “Our main goal in developing this new line of Protein Crisps was to modernize the traditional cheeseball by making it friendly to many lifestyles and diets such as keto, celiac and low calorie.” If you pick up a bag, you can easily tell from the nutritional panel displayed on the front that the owners of Shrewd Food wanted to show off their stats.

Lisa Saffeir, co-Founder of Shrewd Food,

talks about how it’s not just the savory flavors that are gaining a lot of excitement. “We have a new product that just hit two regions of Costco and is blowing out the doors – they’re Protein Croutons!” This phenomenon has the bold flavor of Parmesan Herb while playing the role of healthy Protein Crisp and is changing up salads everywhere.

Shrewd Food’s family of Protein Crisps is growing to include two new savory flavors: Sour Cream & Onion and Nacho. These are available May 2019. When you try them, you’ll realize how the folks over at Shrewd Food can claim that “snacking just got a whole lot healthier.”

Snacking Just Got a Whole Lot Healthier Eating healthy is something that we all feel conscious of pretty much all the time, but when we snack, sometimes we feel like it’s okay to sacrifice nutrition for taste. Shrewd Food is changing that, along with the way that consumers are looking at snacking. You no longer have to sacrifice flavor to have a low carbohydrate, low calorie, high protein snack.

Introducing Shrewd Food Protein Crisps, the high protein, low carbohydrates, low calorie, gluten free version of your favorite cheese puffs you loved as a kid. It’s amped up the original to include three savory favorites such as Baked Cheddar, Brickoven Pizza and Sriracha, as well as two sweet fla-

Butternut Squash and Sage: A delicate, creamy sauce made of butternut squash puree, fresh sage, garlic and finished with the natural sweetness of mascarpone cheese.

know how – without preservatives, artificial flavors or colors.

Plus, all of our sauces are glutenfree and kosher.

Your consumers will fall in love with the small-batch flavor of all four sauces. The home-cooked goodness of the collection has the power to turn any meal, any day, into a tantalizing culinary adventure.

long been used as a traditional medicine in East Asia for a variety of ailments. In addition, recent research and studies identify its health benefits as boosting the immune system, liver and kidney function.

FIVE is made in Mun Kyeong, South Korea where top quality omija is produced.

The drink is 100 percent natural and nonGMO, with no preservatives, no artificial color, no artificial flavors and no artificial sweeteners. It is dairy-free, gluten-free, soy-

Build a Cheeseboard and They Will Come

By Greg Gonzales

Farm House Vegetables: A rich, rustic medley of eggplant, zucchini and mushrooms accented with garlic and basil for a sauce bursting with texture and flavor.

JUNE 2019

free and vegan. Your customers can enjoy five different flavors: Pure Schisandra (Omija), Schisandra & Korean Pear, Schisandra & Mango, Schisandra & Pineapple and Schisandra & Watermelon.

The berry’s complex flavor combination with natural fruits makes a refreshingly delicious drink.

Pocas International is passionate about delivering premium healthy beverages and specialty foods to its customers with only top-quality products. The mission of Pocas is to study global market trends of healthy

Pocas Debuts Five-Flavor Berry Juice Drink Think outside of the box. Why do you think one fruit provides only one flavor? Find five flavors in a berry with Pocas’ brand new item, FIVE. Pocas International is debuting its all natural five-flavor omija juice drink at this year’s Summer Fancy Food show. Omija, also known as schisandra, means “five-flavor berry” in Korean. The berry gives you five different flavors: sweet, sour, salty, bitter and spicy. Besides its unique taste, it has

the perfect level of spiciness.

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Bella Sun Luci Sun Dried Tomato Chipotle Hits Grocery Shelves Mooney Farms, the original California sun dried tomato company, recently introduced Sun Dried Tomato Chipotle Topper Sauce to its product line up. The new product has been a huge success at trade shows and tastings around the country, and is shaping up to be a great addition to Mooney Farms’ Bella Sun Luci brand.

Bella Sun Luci Sun Dried Tomato Chipotle Topper Sauce has infinite culinary uses.

It can be used as a dip, a spread or a sauce – on vegetables, hamburgers, tacos, sand-

wiches, pastas and more. This year at the Summer Fancy Food Show, Mooney Farms’ corporate chef Richard Hirshen is demonstrating the many uses for this new sauce for attendees to taste.

“The versatility of this sauce is unparalleled,” says Chef Richard. “We have tried it on vegetables, pasta, hamburgers, fish tacos, in dips, as a spread, on top of grilled steak, on chicken and more; these dishes were all enhanced by the mouth-watering flavors of this new sauce.”

Suzie’s: Innovation You Can Taste Good Groceries Company, under its popular Suzie’s brand, continues to launch categorychanging healthy products while improving its healthy natural staples. Snacking never had it so good – great taste and better-for-you ingredients.

Suzie’s brand is expanding its most popular Thin Cakes line with the addition of Sprouted Whole Grain and Lentil. In addition, it will now have kosher certification on all nine varieties, opening this profit center to an entire new segment of your customer base. Thin Cakes are available in nine delicious flavor profiles: Corn with Sesame & Quinoa, Lightly Salted Corn, Lightly Salted Brown Rice, Unsalted Brown Rice, Multigrain, Spelt & Flax, Buckwheat with Quinoa & Flax, Lentil and Sprouted Rice.

Suzie’s has the right solution to your grab-

and-go questions with Suzie’s RTE Quinoa Meals. Its shelf stable ready to eat quinoa meals have a new look and are now made with organic ingredients. With four delicious flavor profiles – Olive Oil, Asian, Tex Mex and Indian Spice – they are healthy, delicious and warm in the microwave in 60 seconds.

Suzie’s RTE Quinoa Meals are a perfect side dish for two or meal replacement for one.

Suzie’s RTE Quinoa Meals cross over, appealing to both your healthy natural consumer and your grab and go shopper. At the office, away at college, on the go or just about any time, Suzie’s RTE provides a welcome alternative to lunch, dinner or as a satisfying and healthy snack.

Speaking of new looks – first Suzie’s nut butter filled cookies redefined indulgent adult snacking; now they have a bold new

New Snack Concept Reimagines Traditional French Confections JOYFULS™ are dark chocolate medallions crafted with 60 percent cacao, then topped with sweet and savory ingredients such as fruit, nuts, seeds and pink Himalayan salt. Inspired by traditional mendiants hand-crafted

by French chocolatiers, JOYFULS are a sweet and salty treat with a twist. Each delicious bite is happily sourced from NonGMO Project Verified and Fair Trade Certified ingredients. Every bag of JOYFULS features individually wrapped chocolates for sharing and easier portion control.

JOYFULS dark chocolate medallions

come in three varieties: Cranberries, Almonds and Pink Himalayan Salt; Toasted Coconut, Almonds and Pink Himalayan Salt; and Currants, Pumpkin Seeds and Pink Himalayan Salt.

With JOYFULS, people can feel good about their indulgence, from the tantalizing taste to the high-quality, properly sourced ingredients to the ability to easily count calories and control portion size. Just the right treat in just the right amount. That is joy.

That is JOYFULS. JOYFULS dark chocolate medallions are

Bottled Water You Taste Through Your Nose

By Lorrie Baumann

SZENT is a new brand of bottled water with a twist – a scent ring affixed to the neck of the bottle that’s infused with natural oils carry the aroma of natural flavoring to the drinker’s nose. What’s actually inside the bottle is just water purified by reverse osmosis – all the flavor is in the scent ring. “What you’re ingesting is the water,” said Maddie Grandbois, SZENT’s Chief Creative Officer and one of the three company co-Founders.

“Your brain believes that you’re getting a hit of flavor, but you’re not ingesting any flavor, any artificial ingredients. We’re not adding

anything to our water.”

The company was launched in October of 2018 after four years’ worth of research and development looking into ways that they might be able to disrupt the beverage category. “It took a group of people outside that industry to shake it up. We were able to think about the beverage category in a different way,” Grandbois said. “We were looking for a product that had flavor, but we didn’t want to compromise.”

While they wanted their beverage to have authentic flavor, the partners were dubious about the ‘natural flavors,’ they were finding on the market, which seemed somehow less

Chef Richard and Mooney Farms have been producing recipe videos to help consumers see the many ways in which this sauce can be used.

These top-down videos are a large part of Bella Sun Luci marketing, and have made a huge impact on helping educate customers about the uses of its products. Be on the lookout for more videos about the chipotle sauce soon.

Bella Sun Luci is a line of premium Mediterranean-inspired products created from authentic family recipes. The line includes a variety of deliciously sweet sun

look. The new designs will stand out on your shelves, calling out to the adult snacking consumer, and combining all the nutrient and mineral benefits from nut butters with a decadently delicious cookie, resulting in an exquisite snack experience. The patented process for the filled cookies results in 45 percent of the cookie being the filling. Cookie butter, almond butter, cashew butter, hazelnut, peanut butter and chocolate cream filled cookies change your idea of an adult snack forever.

Suzie’s has also launched Nut Butter Sandwich Cookies in five amazing flavor profiles: Oat & Honey with Peanut Butter, Oat & Cranberry with Almond Butter, Oat & Coconut with Cashew Butter, Shortbread with Cookie Butter and Shortbread with 65 calories per piece.

Each piece is separately wrapped to help consumers avoid the feelbad experience of mindlessly reaching into a bag and eating too much without realizing it. The individual wrapping also allows people to take JOYFULS on the go – so they can experience a little joy whenever and wherever they wish.

JOYFULS translates the artisanal handcrafted process of French chocolatiers into an individually packaged portion control item people can really enjoy eating in just the right amount. This is one indulgent snack you can feel good about!

“We are proud to offer a product in JOY-

than natural to them.

Then they thought about the widely observed phenomenon that much of what we taste when we eat food – perhaps as much as 75 percent to 90 percent, although around 80 percent is the figure most used – actually derives from olfaction. Some neurophysiologists believe it’s possible that only about 5 percent of what we experience when we’re eating is actually coming from our sense of taste. That being the case, SZENT’s partners decided to capitalize on the phenomenon by supplying aroma rather than ingredients in their bottled water. The scented ring is infused with natural oils and remains around the bottle’s neck after the cap is removed. “Every time you take a sip of water, we can channel that sen-

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dried tomatoes, sun dried tomatoes in olive oil, pasta sauces, bruschetta spreads, new Chipotle Topper Sauce, estate-grown olive oil, risotto and marinades.

Bella Sun Luci is produced by Mooney Farms, a third generation, family-owned company based in Chico, California, that is rooted in quality, integrity and family values. Mooney Farms is the premier producer of sun dried tomatoes in the United States.

Visit Bella Sun Luci at booth #2365. For more information, go to www.bellasunluci.com.

Hazelnut Butter. Suzie’s soft & creamy cookie line drives sales and profits as the consumer will need to savor each flavor over and over. Once you’ve tasted one, you’re going to have to taste them all. The only problem you’re going to have with adding Suzie’s cookies is finding space for all of them.

Load up a shelved end cap, open a box for a passive demo and watch

them fly.

Suzie’s – innovation you can taste, innovation for your health! Innovation that drives sales!

For more information, visit booth #5770, go to www.goodgroceries.com, email info@good -groceries.com or call 718.768.0821. Follow the company on Pinterest, Instagram, www.twitter.com/SuziesBrand or www .facebook.com/Suzies.Natural.Products.

FULS of the highest quality ingredients, innovation and heathy characteristics,” said Barry Octigan, President of JOYFULS. “This process delivers a chocolate snacking confection that is beautiful in appearance while offering a remarkable eating experience. The innovation will continue as we expand the JOYFULS brand through new product development. Watch for our new line of snacking chocolates!”

For more information, go to www.joyfuls.com or call 888.989.9050. Follow the company on Facebook or on Instagram @JoyfulsTreats.

sory experience by using the sense of smell,” Grandbois said. “Any flavor you experience is coming through your nose.”

SZENT launched its product on Amazon in October, 2018 with still water in the bottles and scent rings with five flavors around their necks: Passionfruit, Tangerine, Tropical, Pineapple and Mint. The products are just starting to roll out in Southern California grocers, with a national roll-out forthcoming.

SZENT is currently offering the still water varieties in 20-ounce single-serve bottles packaged in a case of 12 that retails for $24.

Single bottles retail at $2.25 apiece. “It’s been really fun. It’s a blessing and a curse to be first to market,” Grandbois said. “It’s really exciting, but you have to carry the weight of consumer education.”

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Wild Garden Launches Seven New Sauces Wild Garden has announced the release of a new series of Mediterranean sauces that complement its line of delicious heat-andserve rice pilafs and authentic marinades, including a Toum sauce that flavors-up traditional servings of kebab, shawarma (gyros) and falafel.

The full line of shelf-stable sauces and dressings includes seven new sauce flavors that delivers to consumers the excitement of the Eastern Mediterranean and North African food experience.

“We really wanted to showcase all of the delicious flavors from the region and complement the proteins that are created with the Wild Garden marinades,” explained Executive Chef Maher Chebaro. “Some of these sauces are complex and are time-consuming to make, so we took the labor out of it to

allow you to spread, slather, dip and enjoy.”

Chebaro said the crown jewel of the seven sauces is the Toum-Garlic Aioli that is available for the first time as a shelf-stable food item. Shelf-stable food products do not need to be refrigerated until opened. They remain fresh for up to 18 months and allow retail grocery stores to provide a wider variety and larger inventory to satisfy customer needs without cramming them into already packed deli sections.

“All of the sauces offer a unique great tasting experience, and we expect our new Toum-Garlic Aioli to stimulate consumer palates. Capturing the authentic taste is a painstaking process in which you must peel tons of garlic, pulse it and whip it into the perfect consistency,” Chebaro explained.

“Toum is a popular way of life throughout

Zoup! Launches Certified Organic Chicken & Veggie Broth Zoup! Good, Really Good™ Broth is introducing two U.S. Department of Agriculturecertified organic broths to its premium lineup. Created by a soup industry veteran of more than 20 years and made using restaurant-quality cooking methods and standards, the new organic broths are kettle-cooked in small batches using the freshest and finest organic ingredients.

Available in chicken and vegetable broth

varieties, each possesses a richness not often found in premade broth. The Organic Chicken Broth is complex, yet balanced, with a comforting chicken flavor, while the Organic Veggie Broth is 100 percent vegan and features savory notes of roasted vegetables. The broths are also low in calories; paleo-friendly, with zero carbohydrates; and completely free of hormones, gluten, GMOs, fat, trans fat and saturated fat. Each serve as

THAT’S TASTY Stir-In Purees Simplify Healthy Habits THAT’S TASTY, a Shenandoah Growers brand, is making it easy for people to choose healthier eating habits with the launch of its new line of Stir-In Purees. The line of purees offers consumers an easy solution to add bursts of flavor to their everyday cooking.

THAT’S TASTY Stir-In Purees use organic ingredients, so consumers can add a ton of flavor to meals and still feel good

about enjoying the dish, too. The line includes eight total fresh flavors: Garlic, Ginger, Spicy Harissa, Sun-dried Tomato, Italian Herbs, Parsley, Basil and Dill. Each features the hero ingredient in its purest form, along with organic sunflower oil and organic olive oil. The THAT’S TASTY line of purees is a simple way to add healthy, fresh flavor to any meal.

The Future is Now: Bellucci’s Take on Food & Tech The food industry may not be the first to come to mind when someone uses the phrase “disruptive tech.” Though many ways in which technology has already shaped our world are obvious, some ways in which the ripple effect of big tech is causing movement are just starting to be discovered.

Businesses that are leveraging technology in smalls ways can cause big waves in the food industry. The olden days of paper trails and manual processing are giving way to the innovative application of technologies originally developed for other industries.

From the ground up, precision agriculture is leveraging advances in satellite, GPS and even photographic equipment to improve the efficiency of food production. The industry has already progressed from using

tech to measure and track crop yields and soil levels, to monitoring weather patterns and water usage and how these factors affect harvest. Now, the agricultural industry is beginning to see the positive impact of technologies which use advanced cameras and artificial intelligence to differentiate between crop plants and their neighbors, for increased efficiency in the application of fertilizers and pesticides. Future hopes include the use of this same technology to guide robots or drones designed for smart harvesting.

These tools apply advanced algorithms to current and historic data, predicting future needs with incredible accuracy. This not only boosts sales precision, it streamlines transport and distribution worldwide, and helps

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Lebanon, the Middle East and the Mediterranean region. Slathered on shawarma, falafels, kebabs and almost everything else, it gives the meal a real exciting punch.”

The new product won’t undercut the popularity of other popular ingredients like tahini, a sesame seed butter that has been trending in popularity on the food scene for several years. “There was a time when many people didn’t know what tahini was, but today it is very popular and it is here to stay,” Chebaro said.

Wild Garden has created three tahini sauces for consumers exploring new flavors of the Middle East and Mediterranean diet and recipes. They are Classic Tahini sauce, Smoked Paprika Tahini and a bright and tangy version of the Classic Tahini that includes green herbs and citrus.

Other additions to the line are a playful spin on harissa, a smoky Tunisian pepper

Visit Wild Garden at booth #5608. For more information, call 708.298.3810, email marksmith@wildgarden.com or go to www.wildgarden.com. Follow @WildGarden Foods on social media.

a perfect base for hearty soups, casseroles, rice or grain dishes.

“When we first created Zoup! Good, Really Good Broth five years ago, our goal was to develop a better-tasting broth that was good enough to drink,” said Eric Ersher, Zoup!’s Founder and Chief Executive Officer. “We refined the recipe and proudly brought to market a retail broth that offered the taste and quality we felt people deserved. Adding or-

ganic varieties to our current lineup of clean-label offerings was a natural next step for us, and the simple ingredients and homemade flavor of these new broths make them unlike anything else you’ll find on grocery store shelves.”

The products are packaged in 31 fluid-ounce glass jars to showcase the broth’s rich and full-bodied flavor and to differentiate them on the shelves. Zoup! Good, Really Good Certified Organic Chicken and Veggie Broths are currently available to retailers nationwide. The suggested retail price is $7.99 per jar.

All THAT’S TASTY products are fresh, certified organic by the U.S. Department of Agriculture and sustainably farmed.

“As a brand, we pride ourselves on offering consumers the highest caliber products,” said Nadine Williams, Director of Marketing at Shenandoah Growers, Inc. “Unlike other purees that use conventional herbs, added chemical preservatives and in-

gredients like sugar, we wanted to introduce a line that’s all organic and easy for anyone to use.”

Packaged in 2.8ounce tubes, the purees will be available at all major U.S. retailers and have a shelf life of up to six months refrigerated after opening.

reduce waste from excess production or overstock.

Health, wellness and authenticity are a strong pull towards technology for Bellucci.

As a leader in the production of high-quality extra virgin olive oil, the company launched its Trust Through Traceability campaign in 2014, creating its own consumer application to provide consumers a transparent look into the food supply chain. Using a unique code printed on the label of every bottle, consumers can verify the authenticity of their extra virgin olive oil, as well as trace their bottle of Bellucci oil straight back to its source in rural Italy.

The company goes over and above industry expectation by providing the ability to view the place in which each bottle originated, as well as supplying excellent information on the independent growers who

paste blended with tomatoes and floral herbs. Amba Sauce is made from pickled mangos and spices and adds a burst of delicious floral acidity to sandwiches. Zhoug is a Yemenite hot sauce made from cilantro, jalapenos and spices, and it is so versatile, you can add a healthy squeeze to hummus, labne (Middle Eastern strained yogurt), and anywhere else you want to add a little punch of fresh herbs and a little heat.

Wild Garden’s Taste of the Mediterranean sauce line is on shelves at an affordable price (suggested retail price $3.99) in major national grocers and online at www .wildgarden.com.

For recipes and more information, visit www.thatstasty.com.

form the company’s collective.

Bellucci has taken it one step further by partnering with tech giant Oracle to leverage blockchain technology to provide even deeper insight into its process, through provision of a distributed open ledger.

That digital ledger is updated by each partner in the supply chain, allowing the company to create and share a permanent, unalterable record of the product journey from bottling to distribution. The ultimate goal is to provide future consumers with complete transparency, from grove to grocer.

This is just the beginning – but Bellucci is dedicated to bringing food and tech closer together to drive innovation.

Visit Bellucci at booth #2353. For more information, go to www.belluccipremium.com.

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DeBrand (Cont’d. from p. 1)

edible stunning 24-karat gold leaf and is handcrafted in rich, dark chocolate. The perfect, unique gift for someone who has everything, it adds a touch of luxury to any special event. Not only is it stunningly beautiful, but it is also delicious. Indulge like royalty with the magnificent Draped in Gold Chocolate Art Box and leave a lasting impression.

Love Good Fats (Cont’d. from p. 1)

that provide energy, support metabolism and act as super fuel for the brain.

Love Good Fats bars have just 1-2 grams of sugar, 4-5 grams of net carbohydrates and are gluten-free, soy-free, non-GMO, contain no artificial preservatives, no sugar alcohols and are also keto-friendly. The bars have a truffle-like core that simply melts in your mouth and are offered in six Jake’s Nut Roasters (Cont’d. from p. 1)

many fine Jasper Specialty Foods products into the hands of health-conscious almond lovers around the world.

Brand new to the mix of Jake’s Nut Roasters’ creative line of specialty almond snacks is Jake’s distinctively packaged Roasted Salted Inshell Almonds. Definitely a twist on today’s typical packaged almond products, these inshell almonds provide an unparalleled snacking experience, and make eating this healthy, plant-based snack both fun and satisfying ... and they are perfect for sharing, too!

Produced in a dedicated peanut-free facilChocoMaker (Cont’d. from p. 1)

line of appliances.

With eye-catching packaging and highquality products, ChocoMaker is a fresh alternative for baking, party and bulk sections alike. Using consumer research combined with experienced culinologists, flavor technologists and pastry chefs housed in its new Buffalo, New York-based Innovation Center, the ChocoMaker team continually explores new product concepts and ways in which people celebrate with chocolate.

This year, ChocoMaker is launching three new products – Natural Candy Wafers™ made with no artificial colors, ChocoDrizzlers™ and Sprinkle Variety Packs.

Parmacotto (Cont’d. from p. 1)

realized that Cibo Italia represented the best and most pragmatic opportunity to launch our brand in the USA. The American consumer is well prepared to appreciate the efforts and quality we put in the preparation of our products.

GN: When did Parmacotto decide to launch in the United States? Why is the U.S. market imperative for the brand?

AS: During the Summer 2018 Fancy Food Show, we met our U.S. partners, Alessandro Sita and Larry Saia, and decided an investment in the U.S. market would be great for Parmacotto.

GN: How will the marketing strategy differ

www.gourmetnews.com

DeBrand’s collection of Chocolate Art Boxes also includes Flower Power, Polka Dot, Black Rose and Seashell. Visit www .debrand.com to see each stunning box. For the ultimate gourmet experience, these incredible, edible pieces of art can be filled with an assortment of DeBrand’s popular Classic Collection or the decadent Truffle Collection.

The Classic Collection includes timeless favorites such as luscious caramel varia-

tions, pure fruit creams bursting with wonderfully intense flavors, as well as re-inspired traditional selections such as Gourmet PBJ, Orange Cream and Strawberry Rhubarb Caramel. DeBrand’s Truffle Collection is the perfect gift for the ultimate chocolate lover. These 12 incredible Truffle variations seem almost too beautiful to eat ... almost. Each oversized piece is individually and artistically designed, but their true beauty lies within. Each

delicious flavors, including Peanut Butter Chocolatey, Coconut Chocolate Chip, Mint Chocolate Chip, Rich Chocolatey Almond and new plant-based flavors Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough and Peanut Butter & Jelly.

The keto diet is a big trend right now.

There is a huge white space for convenient high fat, low carb snacks and foods. In general, snacks need to have only 4-5g of net carbohydrates to be considered friendly for

the keto diet. Three of the biggest pitfalls most bars on the market have are: they contain too much protein (over 10g per serving) or not enough fat to sustain a keto diet and too much sugar.

Love Good Fats hits the sweet spot. Of all the bars on the market in North America today, none of them are low sugar (1-2g), high fat (13-14g), and have a moderate amount of protein (9-10g) – except Love Good Fats.

ity and sourced from Jake’s own orchards, these premium California almonds are dry roasted and seasoned in small batches to deliver exceptional quality. Health benefits abound with California almonds, which contain a wholesome blend of both monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats known to help reduce cholesterol levels and support cardiovascular health.

Jake’s Roasted Salted Inshell Almonds are packaged in a unique and reusable 16-ounce burlap bag, allowing for easy access and convenient storage. Jake’s rustic burlap bag has a classic, masculine appearance that looks great on a store shelf, kitchen counter or table centerpiece. Reach in and grab a

handful of these tasty almonds ... just twist and crack for a delicious snack! Be sure to try some of Jake’s other bold and unique seasoned almond products, “Straight from Jake’s Orchard” to you.

Jasper Specialty Foods is a multi-generational, family-run operation headquartered in Newman, California, specializing in the production of unique almond related food snacks, confections and other treats for the specialty food market. “From Farm to Market” is a slogan often used to epitomize the philosophy of the company in that, first and foremost, it is farmers seeking to grow and produce the finest almonds in the world by controlling every aspect of the process, in-

When it comes to a coating, most consumers want wafers that melt and flow easily. ChocoMaker Natural Candy Wafers melt faster and become silkier than other wafers.

These non-GMO wafers contain no hydrogenated oils and come in milk/white/dark flavors as well as salted caramel and seven eye-catching, natural colors. They are produced using only natural chocolate cocoas, real vanilla, no artificial colors and pure cane sugars. Whether dipping fresh fruit or pretzels in melted chocolate or glazing a whole cake, ChocoMaker Natural Wafers result in a more uniform, smoother and superior coating.

Next up, ChocoMaker ChocoDrizzlers offer an easy-to-use, on-demand decorating product. Its conventional and brightly-col-

ored Candy Wafer chips are packed into a patent-pending microwaveable pouch. Just warm/melt for a few seconds, snip the tip of the package and decorate. They are perfect for many retail applications, including the baking aisle.

Finally, the ChocoMaker Sprinkle Variety Packs offer a mix of eight beads, shimmies and other shapes in the same package – perfect for all decorating occasions. They are part of a broad baking decorette line featuring beautiful, contemporary shapes and colors, as well as a pleasant taste which does not overpower baked treats. The shimmies and beads are thinner, smaller and more delicate than ordinary sprinkles, and the shimmer coatings add a touch of glamor to any cre-

from Italy versus the United States?

AS: In Italy, Parmacotto is one of the most recognized brands, making us a benchmark in the cured meat sector. In the USA, we must convey our brand and its value to new consumers by focusing all of our marketing and promotional efforts on this goal.

GN: What can buyers expect from Parmacotto at Summer Fancy Food? How will Parmacotto stand out among other cured meat brands on the market?

AS: Buyers will have the chance to see and taste products characterized by carefully selected raw materials, unparalleled quality and a unique production technology. We are planning for a strong brand introduction

using vital communication investments.

GN: How do you plan on securing your estimated sales goal of $20 million by 2020?

AS: Cibo Italia already had a turnover of almost $12 million in 2018 with a growth budget of $16 million in 2019. Thanks to the partnership with Parmacotto and the opportunities to increase the lineup of products offered (cooked and roasted ham), the American company, renamed Parmacotto LLC, will reach the target of $20 million by the end of 2020.

GN: Where will the Parmacotto product line be available to purchase?

AS: Our products will be available in spe-

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silky, rich truffle is like a petite, luxurious chocolate dessert.

Not only does DeBrand carry impressive chocolate gifts, but it also provides many options for tempting impulse chocolates, such as Caramel Pretzel Bars, Peanut Butter Cups, Mint Cookie Crunch Tasting Bars, Sea Salt Caramels and more.

For more information, www.debrand.com.

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As consumers are seeking to live healthier lifestyles, Love Good Fats snack bars are a must in your stores. Whether shoppers are doing the keto diet or just trying to eat healthier in general, Love Good Fats products are a terrific option.

Fat is back. Sugar is out.

For more information, go to www.love goodfats.com, call 888.656.8343 or email info@lovegoodfats.com. cluding planting, farming, harvesting, processing, packaging, sales and distribution.

Some of its popular brands include Nunes Farms, Jake’s Nut Roasters and Jasper Ranch, to name a few. The company is actively involved in developing new flavors, custom mixes and smart packaging with an emphasis on small batch process and exceptional quality. California almonds from Jake’s Nut Roasters are the perfect pairing of bold new flavors and traditional, handcrafted production.

For more information, call 800.255.1641 or go to www.jasperspecialtyfoods.com or www.jakesnutroasters.com.

ation.

ChocoMaker products have long offered consumers a unique opportunity to work with higher quality chocolate and coatings, and with products which are easier to use than conventional wafers or block. ChocoMaker now continues this innovation with its naturally-colored wafers, ChocoDrizzlers and Sprinkle Variety Packs featuring its most popular individual decorette items.

ChocoMaker products are available in grocery stores, party and craft stores, and select national and international retailers.

For more information, go to www. chocomaker.com, call 716.877.3146 or email info@chocomaker.com.

cialty stores and national retailers. We will also be present in the foodservice category.

GN: What is your strategy to secure retailers in the United States?

AS: A direct approach and close attention to the efficiency in the supply chain, as well as investments in trade marketing and joint promotional activities will be our strategy when working with U.S. retailers. We will also execute a social media campaign to establish a strong digital presence to convey the value of our brand, while connecting with our new customers.

Visit Parmacotto at booth #2669. For more information, go to www.parmacotto.com.

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GOURMET NEWS

Bella Sun Luci (Cont’d. from p. 1)

Topper Sauce. This new infusion of flavor was created from Mediterranean derived sun dried tomatoes and Southwestern grown and smoked chipotle peppers. Combining the two ingredients created a sweet and smoky flavor that had to be added to the Bella Sun Luci brand.

“Today’s foodie culture is looking for authentic flavors to create new cooking expeSeviroli Foods (Cont’d. from p. 1)

semolina flour. Seviroli uses real imported cheese and its fillings are generous, so much so that each Seviroli ravioli is more than two-thirds filling. You will never taste empty fillers. Seviroli Foods guarantees that each bite will fill your mouth with a burst of flavor.

Seviroli Foods’ new Signature Reserve Line is no exception. The company is proud to introduce this new premium line of ravioli that includes the following items: Jan’s Farmhouse (Cont’d. from p. 1)

company that combines fresh, simple, allnatural ingredients with original and sophisticated flavors and a deeply-satisfying crunch to keep you coming back for more.

In other words: it’s all about the basics with Jan’s Crisps. This philosophy starts the ingredient list. These crunchy crackers are born from flour and water – all natural, unprocessed and free from GMOs, and about as uncomplicated as can be. Simple doesn’t mean they aren’t full of exciting flavor, of course; each of these rustic crackers has its own unique combination of nuts, herbs and Monti Trentini (Cont’d. from p. 1)

generation, Monti Trentini is committed to combining the introduction of new technological innovations with ancient knowledge and wisdom, in the production of genuine, high quality products, because the art of cheese making is at the center of its production and ageing processes. The Divella (Cont’d. from p. 1)

raw materials, up-to-date technology and enthusiasm.

To guarantee the quality of the pasta, Divella starts by milling its own semolina in its on-site mills, using the highest quality durum wheats. It is this special mix of wheats which gives the pasta a natural, bright yellow color with a high protein content with a great texture and fantastic flavor.

Principe (Cont’d. from p. 1)

Principe the identity of a true Italian importer. Most companies make products in the USA while trying to recreate the authentic Italian flavor profile. Why go there when you can go straight to the source for the best quality and best tasting products from Italy?

As trends continue to evolve, consumers are looking for healthier call outs when making food purchases and are always on the run. Principe Foods has addressed this by developing an entire line of new pre-sliced grab and go items. All of the new pre-sliced offerings developed will have the claims of the

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riences. Adding this product to our lineup shows how Mooney Farms is constantly listening to our customers and creating unique, but also on-trend products to bring to store shelves. We saw that there was a need for a diverse sauce that would bring flavor to almost any dish. It’s not only innovative, but it’s also a huge crowd pleaser,” says Mooney Farms President Mary Mooney.

Bella Sun Luci Sun Dried Tomato Chipotle Topper Sauce can be used on vegetables,

Porcini & Truffle Ravioli: These luxurious ravioli are nutty with a strong, earthy flavor and aroma. Toss in a brown butter and sage sauce or white wine, garlic and butter. The options are endless with these delicious, sunflower-shaped ravioli.

Burrata Ravioli: A twist on traditional, cheese-filled ravioli, Burrata Ravioli are stuffed with handmade Burrata cheese and Ricotta, creating a unique and flavorful taste with every bite. Seviroli uses a double belly die, which creates an extra-large pocket for the filling.

seeds working together to create a rich flavor experience that’s landed Jan’s crackers on the radars of some of the finest restaurants throughout the country.

Jan’s Original Cranberry Pistachio combines the tartness of dried cranberries with the buttery texture of roasted pistachios. It’s also loaded with toasted flax seeds and pumpkin seeds that bring a bit of extra creaminess to the crunch. A sprinkling of rosemary brings it all together, lending a bit of earthy “farmhouse” feel to your everyday snacks while adding refinement that makes these crackers a perfect companion for the finest cheeses or charcuterie.

cheesemaker’s ability to make the right decisions, such as assessing the environmental factors of where the milk comes from and seasonal influence, the characteristics of the cheese and checking the temperature and humidity, is of the utmost importance.

Monti Trentini is highlighting its Lagorai cheese, made exclusively with Italian moun-

Apart from being No. 2 in Italy, Divella also exports to over 140 countries. Its name is closely associated with the Mediterranean diet: the best flavor, the highest quality and the healthiest foods. The company’s mission is to spread excellent food throughout the world. Its philosophy can be summarized in its constant search for high quality standards which it has been working on for over four generations.

Divella produces a wide range of pasta

highest quality of antibiotic free meat protein. That means that all the hogs are raised by the terms of the Animal Welfare Act. The farm has a unique environment where animals are raised naturally, free from antibiotics and chemical hormones, and enjoy a 100 percent vegetarian diet. The animals have plenty of green pasture to roam and root outside. The farm we partner with always maintains sustainability and giving back to the environment and their communities as top priorities. In addition to being antibiotic free, the products also have a clean label, with no sodium nitrate or nitrite. By identifying these call outs, Principe Foods has

tossed as a smoky pasta sauce, topped on a taco or a burrito, or simply spread on a sandwich for a delicious kick. With this kind of versatility, it’s no wonder Bella Sun Luci Sun Dried Tomato Chipotle Topper Sauce has already been a huge hit.

Bella Sun Luci is a line of premium Mediterranean-inspired products created from authentic family recipes. The line includes a variety of deliciously sweet sun dried tomatoes, sun dried tomatoes in olive oil, pasta

Artichoke & Pesto Ravioli: Creamy pesto with bright and tender artichokes make for a perfect pairing. Seviroli blended these together to create a delicious ravioli with a velvety bite.

Smoked Bacon, Pea & Mascarpone Ravioli: The pasta is rolled very thin and tender, yet with the perfect “al dente” texture. The smoked bacon and pea filling is an excellent juxtaposition to the delicate pasta, adding a salty, savory and smoky flavor.

Sausage & Broccoli Ravioli: Seviroli fills

Jan’s Salted Almonds replaces the cranberries and pistachios with golden raisins and almonds and adds a touch of sea salt that’s balanced out the sweet with a bit of salty. Sesame Citrus brightens things up with a splash of lemon, with black and white sesame seeds to create a touch more crunch.

That crunch is another big part of what makes Jan’s crisps so difficult to put down.

It’s created through Jan’s double-baked process; after the dough is rolled and baked, it’s sliced super thin – before being put right back in the oven and baked a second time through. The result? The super crisp, super crackly bite that Jan’s Farmhouse Crisps are

tain milk. It has a soft, delicate texture with a white or light straw-like color and is made with full-fat milk.

In addition, Monti Trentini is featuring some of the most acclaimed cheeses that it produces: Caciotta’s in various flavors, Le Malghe di Vezzena – a unique delicacy for cheese experts and gourmets, exclusively from the Trentino valley of

shapes to suit all preferences and which can happily adapt themselves to a wide variety of ethnic cuisines. From the classic spaghetti and penne, to egg-based pasta, the “classy” bronze extruded pasta, whole wheat and gluten free pasta, vegetable enriched pasta and the latest ARTISANAL line (a new, slow-dried pasta which, when boiled, has the texture and consistency of fresh pasta, without the refrigerated-storage problems of truly “fresh pasta”). It

made it much easier for that consumer to choose their preference for a healthier alternative versus the competition.

Let’s review the products. From salami, to imported prosciutto, Italian hams, mortadella, porchetta and pancetta options, Principe Foods has the most extensive, consumer-friendly items that everyone will be asking for. Products range from the 1-ounce grab-and-go to 3-ounce, 4-ounce and as much as 1-pound to 3-pound party packages.

In addition, the items come in European packaging of the 3-ounce vertical oval and 1ounce mini oval, making it much easier for today’s consumer to identify these Italian prod-

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JUNE 2019

sauces, bruschetta spreads, new Chipotle Topper Sauce, estate-grown olive oil, risotto and marinades. Bella Sun Luci is produced by Mooney Farms, a third generation, familyowned company based in Chico, California, that is rooted in quality, integrity and family values. Mooney Farms is the premier producer of sun dried tomatoes in the United States.

Visit Bella Sun Luci at booth #2365. For more information, go to www.bellasunluci.com.

each round ravioli with mild Italian sausage, fresh broccoli and a rich blend of Parmesan and Ricotta cheese.

With each of its pastas, Seviroli uses an advanced IQF (Instantly Quick Frozen) method that locks in freshness, so with its new Signature Reserve Line, you can serve premium ravioli that tastes like it was made from scratch in your kitchen, only in minutes. Seviroli’s commitment to high quality, authentic ingredients is a difference you can taste.

Visit Seviroli Foods at booth #3252.

known for. Along with each cracker’s simple-but-sophisticated flavor, this crunch is what makes them such an addictive snack – whether topped with your favorite cheese or munched on straight out of the box.

Try a box or two for yourself. Keep one in the pantry to snack on or serve them at your next dinner party and see why so many people have fallen in love with these crisp, tasty crackers where simple, unprocessed ingredients let the delectable, natural flavors shine through.

Visit Jan’s Farmhouse at booth #770. For more information, email info@jans farmhouse.com or call 508.660.2200.

Vezzena in the Dolomites. It is also displaying its famous and award-winning cheeses: Asiago, Grana Padano, Provolone and others.

Monti Trentini is also presenting its line of organic cheese: Asiago, Grana Padano, Provolone and Pecorino Romano.

Visit Monti Trentini at booth #2821.

also offers a complete range of canned and bottled tomato products, biscuits, extra virgin olive oil, rice, couscous and vinegar.

In 2017, the company opened a new warehouse in Los Angeles to support the already existing New Jersey location.

For more information, contact the North America Office at info@divellausa.com, call 347.725.4096 or visit booth #1672.

ucts, as no one else in the industry has adopted such a unique packaging concept. Both product lines have a shingle format, which allows the product to be straight without falling when merchandising. The 3-ounce has a removable pull-out tray, which makes it easier for the consumer to present the product in its true form, while the 1-ounce comes in a case ready display, making it easier for supermarkets and convenience stores to merchandise.

We all lead very fast-paced lives. Principe Foods has just made it easier for that true Italian consumer to grab and go.

Visit Principe Foods at booth #1040.

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GOURMET NEWS

www.gourmetnews.com

Ferrara Black Forest Classic Gummy Bears Ferrara Candy Company has reformulated its Black Forest Classic Gummy Bears. This included a change in appearance with improved brightness and clarity, as well as a Abdallah Candies (Cont’d. from p. 1)

day and reseal for another moment of contentment later.

The Retreats come in brightly colored packages with nine varieties of flavors.

Three amazing sorbets: Raspberry, Orange and Lemon, each uniquely creamy and smooth without being too sweet. Two amazWOLO WanderSnacks (Cont’d. from p. 1)

Antioxidants are the good things that keep you healthy. So we put the best ones in every WanderBar to help keep you feeling your best on the road. Half the daily intake of Vitamin C to strengthen your body’s natural defenses. Zinc to boost immunity. Flaxseed to aid digestion. Turmeric to stimulate blood flow and decrease inflammation. Plus, the bacteria-fighting and anti-fungal properties of natural coconut oil.

WanderBars contain high fiber to aid digestion. Traveling might take you out of your SuperSeedz (Cont’d. from p. 1)

winners selected by a national panel of specialty food experts from nearly 2,000 entries across 39 Awards categories. Every eligible entry is carefully assessed by passionate and knowledgeable food professionals including chefs, culinary experts, academics, food writers and category buyers. Products are judged on taste, including flavor, appearance, texture and aroma, ingredient quality and innovation. All tastings are blind.

“I am super excited to receive a gold Award for our Organic Dark Chocolate and Sea Salt,” says Kathie Pelliccio, Founder and Owner of SuperSeedz. “My passion for cooking began at the young age of 8, and I haven’t stopped since! I am out to turn this country into a nation of seedlings one seed Pocas (Cont’d. from p. 1)

I founded Pocas in 2005. Now we are national-based and have seven distribution centers in Texas, Illinois, Georgia, Florida, South Carolina, California and our headquarters in New Jersey.

GN: What would you say makes your company unique?

KS: As healthy food adventurers, we are passionate about delivering premium healthy beverages and specialty foods from all around the world to our customers. From aloe vera drink, moringa tea and turmeric powder to dragon fruit chips, we have led market trends with innovative and quality items. We supply the best healthy products to our valued customers with the lowest price possible.

GN: What are you doing this year that’s different from what you did last year?

KS: We have achieved big success in the tra-

unique tree stamped on the belly of each bear, and the result has received the 2019 Product of the Year award in the sugar confections category at the annual Product of the

ing sea salt caramels: one milk and one dark with the famous Abdallah caramel center.

Three toffees: English Toffee, Butter Almond Toffee and Cashew Almond Toffee.

Each toffee has a solid buttery flavor and an awesome bite of crunch. New to the line is a smooth Double Dark Fudge Retreat.

The inspiration for Retreats was to provide smaller bite sized pieces to broaden the mar-

routine, but fiber-rich WanderBars will help keep you regular and comfortable with 11 grams of fiber in each bar.

WanderBars contain 15 grams of energyproducing, long-lasting protein. Our proprietary blend of whey, milk and pea protein is specially designed to be absorbed slowly over time, giving your body a more balanced and sustained source of energy.

WanderBars aren’t just the best because of the ingredients we use, but also the ones we don’t. Every bar is gluten- and soy-free, so they not only appeal to more travelers but also reduce bloating as well.

at a time with our delicious and nutritious gourmet-crafted pumpkin seeds. I am so honored to be awarded the gold sofi in the Sweet Snack category for my labor of love.”

SuperSeedz are sold at grocery, health food and gourmet food retailers across the United States, including Whole Foods, Stop and Shop, Big Y, ShopRite, Publix, Wegmans, Safeway, Kroger, Gelson’s and many more. SuperSeedz can also be purchased online at www.superseedz.com.

“A sofi recognizes an extraordinary product and the people behind it,” says Phil Kafarakis, President, Specialty Food Association. “This year’s finalists represent a devotion to excellence and innovation in specialty food that continues to fuel our industry, excite consumers and expand retail offerings around the world.”

ditional market. This year, we are making history in the online market. We have launched our favorite items in major e-commerce websites along with our own website, www.mypocas.com, and got remarkable results and feedback from our customers. We communicate more with customers and hold multiple online events that lead to boosting sales and traffic to the website.

GN: What was the most significant event or series of events affecting your company over the past year?

KS: Ten years ago, aloe vera was known as an emollient for sunburn, but was not much consumed as a juice drink. We imported and introduced aloe vera drinks to the American market for the first time. We have won statewide acclaim and are hailed as being a big success in the healthy beverage market.

In addition, we are proud to introduce the very first vacuum dried dragon fruit chips to the market. Ever since it was introduced to the market in 2017, Pocasville Dragon Fruit Chips has been loved. We are partnering with

Year Awards Show.

Black Forest Classic Gummy Bears are made and flavored with carefully selected ingredients, including apple juice, and occasionally rely on other natural and artificial flavors to deliver a bolder taste.

Additionally, real plant sources such as black carrot juice, beta-carotene, spirulina extract and turmeric create the gummies’ ket to the delicious taste of creams and toffees. These items are intended for personal consumption versus a gift pack, so smaller sizes and increased items were considered in developing the item’s weight.

Retreats were recently introduced and have been well received by retailers and consumers alike. Each Retreat package weighs approximately 2.75-3 ounces and each is

WanderBars are made for the ups and downs of travel. Their three-layer format helps keep them together when the going gets rough. You’re always guaranteed to enjoy the same great WanderBar no matter where you go.

WOLO currently offers six flavor destinations which you can find in retail stores such as Sprouts, Gelsons, Ralphs, Tops and Ingles, to name a few. Flavors include Cocoa Crunch Frequent Flyer, Mint Chocolate Chip Lost Weekend, Peanut Butter Road Tripper, Lemon Cake Dessert Oasis, S’mores Happy Camper and Salted Caramel Bon-Bon Voy-

The sofi Awards are open to members of the Specialty Food Association, a not-forprofit trade association established in 1952 for food artisans, importers and entrepreneurs with more than 3,800 members in the United States and abroad. For more information on the association and its Fancy Food Shows, go to www.specialtyfood.com. To learn more about the 2019 sofi Awards winners and hear the winners’ acceptance speeches, visit videos.specialtyfood.com.

SuperSeedz was founded in the summer of 2003 by entrepreneur Kathie Pelliccio. SuperSeedz are dry-roasted in small batches without shells, using a proprietary, artisanal pan-roasting technique that bakes the seasoning into every seed. SuperSeedz are lightly crunchy and deliver on both taste and nutrition. In addition to its sweet variety Organic Dark

major wholesale partners like Costco and Trader Joe’s to deliver this healthy snack to more customers.

GN: Are you introducing any new products?

If so, what distinguishes this new product from others already on the market?

KS: We are debuting all natural five-flavor omija juice drink at this year’s Summer Fancy Food show. The berry gives five different flavors: sweet, sour, salty, bitter and spicy so that your customers enjoy way beyond refreshing and feel the mysterious harmony in every sip. It is non-GMO and contains no preservatives and no artificial colors, flavors or sweeteners.

GN: Why are your products or services the best value for your customers?

KS: Our products are known for their great quality and innovative aspects. They have won PRODEXPO Golden Award, America Masters of Taste, Beverage Innovation Award, Golden Europe Award, Sial Canada

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bright colors.

Black Forest Classic Gummy Bears can be found at mass grocery, drug and convenience retailers nationwide, and are available in a variety of sizes ranging from 1.5-ounce bags to 6-pound bags.

For more information, call 800.323.1768 or go to www.blackforestusa.com.

priced at $2.99 suggested retail. Abdallah Candies is a fourth generation, family owned company producing quality confections since 1909.

Visit Abdallah Candies at booth #3047. For more information, go to www.abdallah candies.com, call 800.348.7328 or email service@abdallahcandies.com.

age.

WOLO Protein WanderBars are dedicated to helping travelers reach their destination with the best tasting, all-natural, protein packed travel bar the world has ever seen.

Low in sugar, high in protein and always soy- and gluten-free. For us, nothing unites the world more than food and travel. We hope before you set off on your next journey, you bring a WOLO Protein WanderBar, The Best Travel Bar, By Far, with you.

For more information, visit booth #3614 or go to www.wolosnacks.com.

Chocolate and Sea Salt flavor, the company offers Sea Salt, Super Spicy, Somewhat Spicy, Tomato Italiano, Coco Joe, Cinnamon and Sugar, Really Naked, and Maple Sugar and Sea Salt. Organic flavors include its sofi winning sweet snack, Dark Chocolate and Sea Salt, as well as Pink Himalayan Salt and Garlicky Dill. SuperSeedz are a complete plantbased protein containing all nine essential amino acids necessary for a complete and balanced diet. Plus, pumpkin seeds traditionally offer more plant-based protein than nut sources, including peanuts, pistachios, almonds and chia seeds. SuperSeedz are peanutfree, tree nut-free, gluten-free, soy-free, vegan and certified by the Non-GMO Project.

Visit SuperSeedz at booth #5824. For more information, go to www.superseedz.com.

Innovation Competition, and also Monde Selection Gold Award and Superior Taste Award.

We have seven different distribution centers to deliver our best products faster and safer. Throughout the year, we participate in over 70 trade shows, including national and vendor shows to support our customers and promote the products.

GN: How do potential new customers know that they can trust you with their business?

KS: As the company matures, we are achieving success by identifying and partnering with not only retail stores, but also national distributors and wholesalers, such as Walmart, Costco, Jetro, Save-A-Lot, Trader Joe’s, Amazon, etc. We pride ourselves on honesty and integrity to build long-term relationships with clients and distribution partners.

Visit Pocas International at booth #4917.

For more information, go to www.pocas.com or call 201.941.7900. Follow the company on Instagram and Facebook.

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GOURMET NEWS

Savello USA (Cont’d. from p. 1)

takes great pride in the products it carries.

Savello strives to pursue products that best represent the country and region of origin.

Many items carry the prestigious certification of “Protected Designation of Origin (PDO)” and “Protected Geographical Indication (PGI),” as well as being harvested and manufactured in traditional methods.

At this year’s Summer Fancy Food Show, the company is highlighting the Silano Urban Accents (Cont’d. from p. 1)

TK: We think of Urban Accents as ‘Your Culinary Wingman.®’ Our best selling products introduce both novice and experienced cooks to flavors and techniques that ensure post-worthy dishes and creative flavor experiences. Our fanbase still wants to chop an onion, explore different proteins and have fun in the kitchen. We thought about this while developing our new Inspired Flavor Marinades and Grill Sauces and Latin Main Dish Seasoning Mixes.

GN: Why ‘Inspired Flavor’?

TK: Life inspires us: global travel, trendy Pomì (Cont’d. from p. 1)

The full line of new products includes: tomato paste in a 4.6-ounce tube, organic tomato paste in a 4.6-ounce tube, chopped tomatoes in a 14-ounce can, organic chopped tomatoes in a 17-ounce glass bottle, organic strained tomatoes in a 17-ounce glass bottle, strained tomatoes in a 24-ounce glass bottle, rustica tomatoes in a 24-ounce glass bottle and tomato juice in a 25.36 fluid ounce TetraPak. Snak King (Cont’d. from p. 1)

to packaging and logistics, expertly staffed R&D and sales teams are ready to serve your needs and capable of handling the highest capacity demands of any customer in the U.S. or abroad.

Snak King has two high volume production facilities strategically located in City of Industry, California and Freeport, Illinois with nearly 1,000 employees company wide.

Snak King World headquarters and our new David Evans Foods (Cont’d. from p. 1)

David Evans Foods, a company you might know for our Robert Rothschild Farm and Clearbrook Farms brands. This role is perfect because I love food – to cook and be creative with food. I grew up in Switzerland, where the food is wonderful and farm-to-table is just what you know as normal.

David Evans Foods is a company of creators. We were founded on family farms and believe in making our products in small batches, keeping with time-honored traditions. We innovate on those to deliver on freshness, quality and transparency in new and exciting ways.

GN: What are Robert Rothschild Farm and Clearbrook Farms known for?

DP: The Robert Rothschild Farm brand has made a mark on the specialty food industry with small-batch preserves, spreads, dips and

www.gourmetnews.com

brand. Silano is a contemporary supplier of imported Italian foods. The brand prides itself on providing superior quality and unmatched customer satisfaction. All Silano products are sourced directly from Italy and best reflect the traditions and culture of their respective regions. Cured meat, cheeses, gnocchi, olives, extra-virgin olive oil, Calabrian hot cherry and chili peppers, hot vegetable spread, oregano and grilled artichokes are some of the current products in the Silano catalog. The company visits Italy yearly to

restaurants, late night street food, mixing ethnic cuisines with cocktails and laughter of friends. We wanted to bring these inspirations to our customers. There’s dried pineapple and vinegar powder in our Tacos Al Pastor, and the Herby Lemon Marinade is a Greek-Italian mashup of lemony goodness. We created a Brazilian style Churrasco Seasoning and Brazilian Barbeque Sauce that are as good on grilled veggies as they are on a hunk of red meat. The recipes are our interpretations of global flavors, all impeccably crafted with natural ingredients and small batch blended, of course.

GN: How do you help teach newbies how to

“This line extension aims at introducing more consumers to Pomì,” stated Umberto Marconi, Vice President of Pomì USA. “We are excited about the possibilities these new products offer and we are looking forward to seeing more people using Pomì in restaurants as well. More and more chefs are appreciating the quality and versatility of our 22-pound bag-in-boxes.”

Pomì is the brand of the Consorzio Casalasco del Pomodoro. More than 370 farms are members of this cooperative, with

ensure that the quality of the product continues to meet Silano’s standards. The Silano brand is pleased to offer its customers the finest selection of Italian products to satisfy the needs of chefs in any kitchen. Silano is destined to become a household name for reputable Italian ingredients that are distinguished for high quality and ease of preparation.

The company is attending the Summer Fancy Food Show in order to increase brand recognition. It is especially proud of its use your products?

TK: The recipes on the back are super simple, with Culinary Wingman tips how to kick up the dish. Our website has tons of beautiful images (shot in-house) and mouthwatering alternative recipes to encourage experimentation and repeat purchase. Technology is making the world smaller and more food curious. We will have a simple video of every product online by the end of summer. Hopefully retailers will be able to use some of these assets as well on their digital platforms.

GN: How are the products being received in the marketplace? Any early adoption?

farms spread across Northern Italy, but never more than 50 kilometers from processing facilities. These new products will also include Pomìtrace, a modern and unique traceability system that allows consumers to trace the product from the shelf to the field of origin using their phone.

“High quality is what drives our effort to be as clean and sustainable as possible. We strive to deliver what consumers desire in a brand,” added Costantino Vaia, Managing

distribution center are located in City of Industry, California.

Trust Snak King to bring your private brand opportunities to reality, whether it’s our wide range of tortilla chip styles, including rolled tortilla chips and new grain free, potato chips, extruded puffed snacks including pea and lentil crisps, pellet snacks (veggie-flavored chips), pork rinds, ready to eat popcorn, popped crisps, nut butter snacks, kettle corn, caramel corn or our popular nut clusters. Our packaging capabilities range

from single serve, convenience and retail, all the way up to club sizes.

Quality – we get it! SQF Level 3 audits in both plants are consistently rated “Excellent.”

With onsite continuous monitoring and inspections, our customers are confident that we understand the importance of quality and food safety systems, including HACCP-based food safety system, FSMA/USDA compliance, GMP training and formalized verification, computerized recall and traceability system, on-site microbiological testing, allergen con-

sauces. Across our entire Robert Rothschild Farm collection, the magic is in exceptionally flavorful ingredients and unexpected combinations.

Our Clearbrook Farms brand has been the leader in premium, small batch preserves and fruit spreads for over 90 years. Clearbrook Farms uses only the finest ingredients and the preserves are always ‘fruit first’ with fruit as the first ingredient.

want a sweet and savory jam to be – the right tart, heat and sweet – but it catches you by surprise with its unmistakable smoky, Southwest flavor.

GN: What are your most popular and daring flavors?

DP: Roasted Pineapple and Habanero Sauce is a favorite – a beautiful, flavorful tropical sauce with subtle heat. It’s great with meat, fish or as a base for vegetarian dishes. Our Raspberry Honey Mustard Dip is another favorite. It’s delicate and versatile to use on Cornish hens, on roasted sweet potatoes or on a panini.

Our Hatch Chile Jalapeño Jam is one of our most daring flavors. It’s just what you

GN: How do you come up with new flavors and products?

DP: We’re observing trends in the culinary landscape. We look at haute cuisine, food cultures, food trucks, trendsetters – you name it. Always with an eye to how we might put our own unique twist on it.

GN: Tell our readers about your ingredients.

DP: We have long-standing relationships with farmers in many regions. We source everything directly from reliable partners in places such as Michigan, Oregon, Costa Rica and Madagascar to create products in which we can be 100 percent confident.

GN: What does ‘clean label’ mean to David

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strong supplier and customer relationships.

This year, the company is introducing a variety pack of pre-cut cheeses, and targeting in particular foodservice and retail clients.

Quality food at competitive prices is the hallmark of the company. Purchasing Silano products allows companies to utilize product excellence as a marketing tool.

For more information, visit booth #2552, go to www.savellousa.com, email info@ savellousa.com or call 570.822.9743.

TK: We are getting an overwhelming response to the new items – especially the Latin Main Dish Mixes. Look for them nationwide in June. We’ve been around for 23 years, and we have great relationships with both our amazing team of brokers and lots of long-term buyers. Our ability to jump onto trend flavors quickly and create high quality products that resonate with both millennials and empty nesters is pretty unique for a spice company. We’re really fun to work with and we love what we do – it shows in every bite.

Urban Accents Always Has Your Back in the Kitchen®.

For more information, email customer service@urbanaccents.com.

Director of the Consortium and President of Pomì USA. “We aim to guarantee a healthy product while helping to nurture our earth through an irrigation system that saves up to 25 percent of water and reduces our carbon footprint. This is why we take such pride in what we do as a company.”

Visit Pomì at booth #2572. For more information, call 732.541.4115, email pomi@pomi .us.com or go to www.pomi.us.com. trol system and others. Third party certifications include SQF level 3, gluten free, certified organic by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, certified by the Non-GMO Project, kosher, halal and Whole Wheat Council.

You can count on Snak King and its 40 years of dedication to quality and expertise in the industry.

Visit Snak King at booth #5882. For more information, go to www.snakking.com or call 626.363.7711.

Evans Foods?

DP: Easily identifiable ingredients, free of colors, artificial flavors, additives – how you would make something in your own kitchen.

GN: What’s one of your favorite products?

Does any product take you back to your childhood?

DP: I have so many favorites! You owe it to yourself to try Balsamic Caramelized Onion Spread with your favorite cheese on a toasted baguette. It leads with sweet onion, and then, an unexpected heat finish.

Rhubarb Strawberry Preserves takes me back to my childhood. My grandmother used to make an incredible pie using ingredients right from her garden.

Visit David Evans Foods at booth #236. For more information, go to www.davidevans foods.com, email dpatterson@davidevans foods.com or call 513.975.2207.

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GOURMET NEWS

ENZO Olive Oil (Cont’d. from p. 1)

begins with 100 percent estate grown organic olives, which are milled together with fresh organic basil, fresh clementines or fresh Fresno chili peppers. The result is an exceptional, unfiltered olive oil yielding an authentic essence and aroma. Many accomplished chefs seek out these unique oils to enhance the flavor of their crafted fare. Fortunately, the consumers and judges enthusiastically agree, as ENZO Crush has been garnering many impressive awards and recognition Cassandra’s Gourmet (Cont’d. from p. 1)

business and our goal has always been to manufacture a quality gourmet rum cake, with a great, full-flavored taste, pleasing texture and moist. To assure our product arrives in excellent condition, our rum cakes are shelf stable and housed in a functional and protective package.

GN: Your company has grown quite a bit in 13 years. How do you manage the growth of the business?

KC: We recently expanded our manufacturing facility, and we are now almost double in size to keep up with our growth. We are also Lioni Latticini (Cont’d. from p. 1)

Grieghallen on November 2nd, and included 3,500 cheeses from six continents judged by a panel of 230 cheese specialists, including teams of technical experts, buyers, retailers and food writers from around the world.

“It is an honor to be recognized for our Bufala Fresca mozzarella at such a respected global competition,” said Giovanni Salzarulo, owner’s son and Director of Product Development at Lioni. “It was important Nature’s Earthly Choice (Cont’d. from p. 1)

quick weekday dinner. Just pop it in the microwave for 60 seconds and you have a hearty vegan meal that’s made with plantbased protein and is a good source of iron and potassium.

Burrito Bowl They say it’s what’s on the inside that matters. That’s why Nature’s Earthly Choice is unwrapping the burrito and giving you all of the goodness of the inside. It starts with nuFlax4Life (Cont’d. from p. 4)

cheese frosting with toasted coconut. If you are at a birthday party or dinner gathering, there won’t be any leftovers of these cakes.

Or stay in, and eat the whole cake by yourself.

No matter the time of day, our products are healthy treats that will keep you going and satisfy any hunger cravings. If it’s first thing Breitsamer Honey (Cont’d. from p. 4)

The company has been certified according to the International Food Standard since 2005 and offers organic (USDA), kosher and halal certificates for selected products.

Considering honey is a natural product that is both multi-faceted and versatile, Breitsamer possesses honey for every desired flavor. The varieties of Rapsflower, Golden Selection

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dating back to its first production.

ENZO Clementine Crush has received a Good Food Award, and has also been recognized as a sofi finalist, while Fresno Chili Crush has been honored with numerous gold medals nationally and internationally and the natural herbal tasting Basil Crush has just earned the prestigious sofi Award for 2019.

Vincent Ricchiuti explains, “To receive a sofi Award for ENZO Basil Crush marks a pinnacle of success for ENZO Olive Oil Company.” Clearly, the ENZO Crush series is a hit from consumer to critic. now third-party SQF-certified to offer a higher level in food safety.

GN: Tell our readers about your new products and flavors.

KC: We realize the market desires less artificial flavorings and preservatives and a clean label. We have added all natural products to our line, and for those with wheat sensitivities, gluten free.

We have two new flavors: Mint Chocolate Chocolate Chip and Pumpkin Spice.

GN: Do you offer private label?

KC: Yes. In addition to our Island Treasfor us to recreate the true essence of Italy’s original Bufala Mozzarella here in the U.S., a creation that is very close to my family’s heart.”

Lioni has been importing the grass-fed bufala milk from Italy since 2016 and manufactures the Bufala Fresca on a pre-order basis to ensure that the customer receives the freshest possible bufala product. Bufala Fresca has a shelf-life of 21 days from date of manufacture and is currently available in two sizes: 4-ounce retail and 4-ounce and

tritious quinoa and brown rice, paired with colorful ingredients like roasted corn and red and black beans, and topped off with the delicious flavors of cilantro, lime juice and chili powder.

Caribbean Bean Bowl If you’re looking for a meal that’s just as nutritious as it is delicious, Great Day Caribbean Bean Bowl is a vacation from your usual healthy meal choices. It starts with long grain brown rice, accompanied by colorful ingredients like black beans,

in the morning with a bowl of our uniquely soft granola or a late-night chocolate brownie snack, you will not feel guilty enjoying our products, because they are good and good for you.

Collectively, the accolades point to the attention to detail and high standards ENZO Olive Oil Company strives to uphold. Patrick and Vincent Ricchiuti, representing the third and fourth generation of Ricchiuti Family Farms, believe a hands-on approach has proven to be a difference-maker in producing award-winning organic and kosher extra virgin olive oil. From planting the trees to harvesting the olives, to milling and bottling the oil – quality and sustainability remain a top priority.

Looking ahead and fueled by the success

ures Gourmet brand, we have been offering private label for many years and this has been a growth area for our business.

We are regularly approached by companies that love the taste and packaging of our product, but would like to market under their brand. We have some business relationships where we simply put their brand and graphics on the packaging of existing product. We work with other companies that have an idea for a new item and we work together to develop product that meets their goal. We are interested in continuing to develop this type of long-term relationship.

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JUNE 2019

and popularity of the ENZO Crush Collection, Vincent Ricchiuti notes, “Our goal is to add additional Crush varieties to offer our customers an extended flavor profile.” The ENZO line of celebrated Crush oil is providing oil enthusiasts across the globe a provision sure to add a drizzle of “wow” to their culinary creations.

Visit ENZO Olive Oil Company at booth #4808. For more information, go to www .enzooliveoil.com or www.prfarms.com, call 559.299.7278 or email orders@prfarms.com.

different?

KC: We can tell you about the extra steps we take to deliver a safe quality product and how we deliver on time, but we like to say, ‘Taste the Difference.’ This sets us apart from our competition. We hope potential customers will stop by our booth. You be the judge; please come by and sample our delicious product. We look forward to new opportunities and satisfying the needs of our customers.

GN: What else makes Cassandra’s Gourmet

Visit Cassandra’s Gourmet in the Virginia Pavilion at booth #6324. For more information, contact Ken Craig at 703.801.4671 or ken@cassandrasgourmet.com, or go to www.cassandrasgourmet.com.

About Lioni Latticini, Inc. The Salzarulo Family began its tradition in the Latticini business in the town of Lioni, Italy, many decades ago. Bringing old world Italian values and traditions to Brooklyn, New York, they transformed their small neighborhood family business into a nationally renowned manufacturer and distributor of fresh mozzarella products. Utilizing modern technology and computer-monitored

For more information, visit booth #2568, call 908.686.6061, email info@lionimozzarella.com or go to www.lionimozzarella.com.

8-ounce for foodservice.

bell peppers and onions, and is topped off with the delicious flavors of the Caribbean.

Mediterranean Bean Bowl Mediterranean cuisine incorporates a unique variety of vegetables, grains and spices, but you don’t have to travel any further than your own pantry to experience these delicious flavors. It starts with hearty farro wheat berries, complemented by nutritious vegetables like tomatoes and spinach, topped off with the Mediterranean Brownie Flavors: Chocolate, Toasted Coconut, Dark Cherry, Cappuccino and new Mint Chocolate.

Granola Flavors: Apple Cinnamon, Chocolate Chip, Pineapple Coconut & Mango, Banana Coconut and Cranberry Orange.

Muffin Flavors: Wild Blueberry, Carrot Raisin, Chocolate Chip, Cranberry Orange, Apple Cinnamon and Hawaiian Pineapple.

Toaster Bun Flavors: Original, Everything

Honey, Mountain Blossom, Forest and Linden Honey in the characteristic Breitsamer honeycomb glass jar (500 grams and 250 grams) are particularly popular in the USA, and the honey in the traditional re-usable 1 kilogram flip-top jar also remains a popular favorite.

For convenient enjoyment, selected honey is also available in eye-catching 250-gram squeeze bottles in a modern design. Known as “Bee Buddy,” these cheerfully designed

squeeze bottles are available in four different varieties: Acacia, Forest, Linden and Blossom Honey. Each squeeze has its own character which is reflected in both its taste and design. The jovial packaging is eye-catching at the point of sale and an invitation for an on-the-spot purchase.

The mission of the German honey specialist is characterized by a love of honey and a commitment to sustainable beekeeping. With

equipment imported directly from Italy, a strict attention to detail goes into every step of production. Lioni supplies buyers with a full product line of fresh mozzarella, burrata and bufala products for both foodservice and retail demands across the United States. It currently ships nationally each week via refrigerated trucking.

flavors of garbanzo beans and delicious spices.

Nature’s Earthly Choice continues to innovate while still keeping the same values; bringing consumers of all personalities and dietary needs simple, healthy and delicious products.

Visit Nature’s Earthly Choice at booth #5740. For more information, go to www.earthlychoice.com, email sales@ earthlychoice.com or call 208.898.4004. and Cinnamon Raisin.

Cake Flavors: Chocolate and Carrot.

Visit Flax4Life at booth #5939. For more information, go to www.flax4life.net, call 360.715.1944, or email customerservice@ flax4life.net. Follow the company on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. its name which is known far beyond the borders of Germany, this is what the family business of Breitsamer Honey stands for.

Contact Lynne Brenan (lynne.brenan@ nichegourmet.com) for additional information on the beloved Breitsamer brand.

For more information, visit booth #2364, go to www.gourmetint.com, call 800.875.5557 or email info@gourmetint.com.