Oser Communications Group

GOURMET NEWS AUGUST 2018 www.gourmetnews.com Supplier News SUPPLIER NEWS 8 BRIEFS New Introductions from Laura Chenel's and Marin French Cheese Laura Chenel's and Marin French Cheese's offers new items for the 4th quarter holiday season. The first is a Baked Brie en Croute made with Traditional Marin French Brie and pastry dough from La Boulangerie de San Francisco. Second is a Cranberry & Cinnamon goat cheese Medallion from Laura Chenel's. The items are available for pre-order until August 31, 2018. Apple Infused Balsamic Vinegar from Ariston Ariston Specialties is introducing its new product: Apple Infused Balsamic Vinegar. This is a high quality product and it is offered in 8.45-ounce bottles. It's also offered in bulk form for Ariston's Refill & Save program. Heritage Honey Gifts from Bumbleberry Farms Bumbleberry Farms celebrates the amazing honey bee with addictive honey cream spreads, glass- bottled heritage honey gifts and the new Foragers' Collection single-flower line featuring honey from throughout the United States. Still bottled and shipped from Pennsylvania, Bumbleberry Farms products can be found nationally in retail stores, online and at trade shows. Grow Your Maple Category with Coombs Family Farms As the No. 1 organic maple brand in the U.S., Coombs Family Farms continues to work with grocers to grow their maple category. For seven generations, Coombs Family Farms has been committed to providing high quality, sustainably produced maple products to satisfy customers. Coombs Family Farms, with its strong consumer tested label, attracts shoppers who frequent natural and grocery channels for maple. With a 100 percent commitment to growing the category versus just stealing market share, it brings a variety of consumer segments to the shelf. DORVAL Brings GNAW CHOCOLATE to the U.S. 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. SUZIE'S Introduces 2 Peas & A Bean Snacks SUZIE'S, from Good Groceries Company, ventures into next level snacking in the better- for-you category by introducing 2 Peas & A Bean – a delicious, high fiber, high protein snack. This crunchy baked snack combines puffed yellow peas, puffed green beas and puffed red beans with a light dusting of almond butter or peanut butter or turmeric with salt to deliver 7 grams of fiber and 6 grams of protein with a crunch. 2 Peas & A Bean are non-GMO, baked, gluten free, vegan and kosher. Asian-Inspired "Recipes in a Bottle" from the American South BY LORRIE BAUMANN Chinese Southern Belle, based in Smyrna, Georgia, produces Asian-inspired cooking sauces with just a hint of a Southern ac- cent. The three all-natural sauces: My Sweet Hottie, You Saucy Thing and Wild Wild East, work well as condiments as well as cooking bases. "We call them recipes-in- a-bottle because they're authentic family recipes with fresh ingredients and taste so much better than other pre-made sauces out there," said Natalie Keng, Owner and Founder of Chinese Southern Belle. The sauces are based on what they eat and cook at home, Keng said. Her mother and father immigrated to the United States on graduate school scholar- ships and stayed to pursue professional ca- reers in education and science, respectively – her mother as a public school teacher and her father as a research scientist at Georgia Tech University. In those days, it wasn't easy for Natalie's mother Margaret to obtain Chinese food ingredients. "It was before Asian and international supermarkets in Georgia," Keng says. "We made do with whatever we had in the fridge and local Winn-Dixie grocery. My mom was real cre- ative with her home cooking, using what- ever was fresh and sea- sonal." In addition to their teaching, the couple opened a Chinese restaurant so that they could provide jobs to other family members who wanted to come to the United States. Eventually, Margaret was asked to teach Chinese cooking classes for adult education, the first in the area. Natalie grew up working in the family restaurant, then went off to Vassar College and then graduate school at Har- vard University, where she earned a master's degree in so- cial policy at the Kennedy School of Government. After a multi-sector career that in- cluded serving in publicly- elected office, she decided to come back home to Atlanta. After teaming up with her mom to teach cooking classes and give Asian supermarket tours, she started Chinese Southern Belle, a small business with a big vision of using food and culture as a gateway: from connecting communities and supporting local farmers to improving access to fresh, healthier food, Chinese Southern Belle wants to "cook and eat together for a better world." Keng continued, "Asian and Southern food traditions both have very unique and very rich food traditions. Fusing them was real and natural – just who we were. The sauce was the hardest part for everyone to get right in the classes, so we ended up bottling them." Being inducted into Les Dames d'Escoffier International was a big honor and a way to give back, she said: "We're still small but support local nonprofit groups when- ever possible." My Sweet Hottie is a sweet chili peach sauce that can be used as a salad dressing, marinade or dipping sauce. You Saucy Thing is a soy-ginger-Vidalia, a great all-in- one sauce for instant stir-fry, and Wild Wild East is an Asian-style teriyaki barbecue sauce with fresh pineapple. They're natural, made with fresh ingredients, and contain no MSG or high-fructose corn syrup. The three Asian-inspired chef-quality sauce blends are sold locally in Georgia (Whole Foods and Kroger), through a direct-ship specialty food program with Sysco and on- line. Gourmet Foods International is the national distributor to the retail trade and Cheney Brothers is the regional distributor for food service. They retail for $8-10 per bottle. GN Sutter Buttes Rebrands to Reflect a Future BY LORRIE BAUMANN Sutter Buttes Olive Oil Company is refresh- ing its brand with the launch of a com- pletely redesigned look that identify the products inside the bottles and jars as those of Sutter Buttes Natural and Artisan Foods – an identity that better reflects the com- pany's current range, which has grown far beyond the locally grown olive oils that started the company off in 2009. That was when Arek Kazmierczak and Alka Kumar, husband and wife, settled into their facility in California's olive-growing region about an hour's drive north of Sacramento, the state's capital city. "Sutter Buttes is the smallest mountain range in the world, and the facility is right at the base of it," said Sutter Buttes Sales Manager Jennifer Phillips. "It really is, it's like two peaks. It's cute." The company started as an olive ranch, and as it has grown, its product range has expanded to include balsamic vinegars, jams, mustards and tapenades, and Sutter Buttes has partnered with local growers to source ingredients. "We try to source local ingredients as much as possible," Phillips said. "Today, the product range includes everything to go on a California cuisine table – the olive oils, the tapenades, the salsas, mustards and jams, with an emphasis on local, bright, fresh flavors. Everything is still small-batch, handmade.... In spite of our growth, we want to stick to what made us grow." Eventually, the company outgrew its fa- cility at the base of Sutter Buttes and, this last January, moved 10 miles down the road to a 10,000 square foot plant in Yuba City that has space for a new bottling line for the oils and vinegars, Kumar said. "We special- ize in infusions. We have 18 flavors of olive oils. We use all fresh, local fruit – peppers for our oils, citrus to infuse all of our oils and vinegars, so that if you pour a fig bal- samic on your salad, it will actually have pieces of fig in it," she added. Sutter Buttes, a member of the California Olive Oil Council, which certifies the oils according to its rigorous standards, contin- ues to specialize in direct distribution to in- dependent specialty stores, although it does also have a line of products called Everyday Gourmet that goes to chain stores includ- ing Cost Plus and Lucky's Stores. "They're concentrating on their growth, looking at flavor profiles, including drink mixers and guacamole starter," Phillips said. "It seemed like an area where there was a need." For more information, visit www.sutter buttesoliveoil.com. GN

• Cover