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FOODIES FOCUS KITCHENWARE NEWS & HOUSEWARES REVIEW n SEPTEMBER 2018 n www.kitchenwarenews.com 20 was exhausted, Sundlie found that she couldn't get more unless she went to obscure Middle Eastern grocery shops, and even then, she was never sure about the quality of what she was getting. She decided that if she was going to keep nourishing her taste for date syrup, she was going to have to figure out how to make it herself. That involved searching for a supplier of dates. She quickly discovered that not a lot of them were being grown in the U.S., where they were generally grown for use as ingredients. "It's hard to believe now, but dates were not a really popular f ruit. People didn't know what to do with them," she said. It wasn't like the Middle East, where dates are such a prized crop that there are boutique shops where there might be 100 different varieties of dates displayed in pyramids at different prices according to the varietals. syrup has just one ingredient, and that's organic dates – are imported f rom Tunisia, but Sundlie has finally found enough dates f rom a grower in the Coachella Valley, near Palm Springs, California, to begin making the syrup f rom California produce. The product line has expanded to include the sofi Award-winning Coconut Caramel Sauce as well as a Chocolate Spread sweetened only with date syrup In order to find enough dates, she went looking for date farms in Egypt and the United Arab Emirates. " We had to find an organic producer, which hardly existed at that time," she said. "All kinds of crazy things happened because it is a hard product to find to bring to the United States because we have such high expectations for our products here." Some of the dates used to make Date Lady's current product line – the date and made in their facility in Missouri, where the family moved after returning to the U.S. Date Lady has recently purchased larger machiner y to keep up with the demand for the products, which appeal both to the Epicureans who enjoy the luxurious complexity of the Date Syrup and to the health-conscious consumers who are using it to replace refined sugars. The Date Syrup can be used in addition to, or instead of, honey or maple syrup and as a substitute for refined sugar in baked goods. "O ur business has really just exploded. We're building the facility up to keep up with demand," Sundlie said " The Coconut Caramel and Chocolate Spread have been very popular, so we're looking at adding some more products. We're keeping very busy – that's for sure." For more information, call 417.414.2282 or email info@ilovedatelady.com. KN Date Lady (cont. from Page 18) Shrooms Jerky is naturally flavored with honey and chipotle, Shrooms Clusters come in a W ild Har vest variety that combines mushrooms with berries and honey, and Shrooms Bars are offered in three varieties: Crispy Mushrooms & Maple Syrup; Crispy Mushrooms, Fruit, Honey & Sea Salt; and Crispy Mushrooms and Lemon. The Chips, Jerky and Clusters are sold in 2.5-ounce packages. The Shrooms Bars are packaged with four individually wrapped bars per box. Shrooms are low fat, rich in minerals and Vitamin D and a good source of protein. The Jerky retails for $5.99, the Shrooms Clusters for $3.99 and the Chips for $4.99. The box of four bars retails for $3.99. From the Ground Up is another new brand with a serving of vegetables in every 1-ounce serving of the crackers or pretzels. Cauliflower Crackers come in Cheddar, Nacho and Sea Salt flavors, and Cauliflower Pretzels are offered in Original Sticks and Original Twists. Cheddar Cauliflower Crackers are offered in both Chocolate Almond Butter Cups and Dark Chocolate Cashew Butter Cups. Packaged in a 230- calorie single serving of two nut butter cups per pack, they retail for $2.29. They join a line that had already included Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter Cups, Milk Chocolate Peanut Butter Cups, and W hite Chocolate Peanut Butter Cups in 2-packs that are shipped in a stand-up caddy that holds 12 and Dark Chocolate Mini Peanut Butter Cups and Milk Chocolate Mini Peanut Butter Cups offered in 4.7-ounce stand-up bags. Justin's is also offering W hite Chocolate Mini Peanut Butter Cups in the 4.7-ounce stand-up bag new for 2018. All of the nut butter cups are organic, and Justin's focuses on using domestic, high-quality ingredients sourced as sustainably as possible, and the company focuses on social responsibility by supporting a variety of non-profit organizations with product donations, monetar y support and regular volunteer hours. J&M Foods is launching its new Janis & Melanie Soft-Baked Cookies in three varieties, all individually wrapped so they're easy to pop into a lunch box. They come in Brownie Cookies, Chocolate Chunk Cookies and Oatmeal Cranberr y Cookies. The cookies are 3 inches in diameter 4-ounce box and a 1-ounce bag, while the Nacho and Sea Salt varieties are currently offered only in the 4-ounce box. Original Cauliflower Pretzels Sticks are offered in either a 4.5-ounce bag or a 1-ounce bag, and Original Cauliflower Pretzels Twists are offered in the 4.5-ounce bag. The ChocOat family of products f rom Finnish producer Goodio straddles the line between indulgence and healthy for both people and planet with bean-to-bar chocolate bars that combine organic and dairy-f ree chocolate with Finnish gluten- f ree oats. The company says it's the Finnish oats that create the smooth, velvety taste of the candy bars and that the ingredients are environmentally f riendly and responsibly produced by trusted farmers. There are four varieties of the bars, which are sweetened with coconut palm sugar and contain no nuts: Original Blond Chocolate, Sweet Licorice Chocolate, Cool Mint Chocolate and Wild Blueberry Chocolate. The bars retail for $2.99. Justin's is also walking that line between healthy for people and planet and indulgent pleasure with its new Dark with about 130 calories per cookie, and a box of eight retails for $3.99. Solidly on the side of pleasurable indulgence with great potential as a confection gift is Griff 's Toffee, which won two sofi Awards in this year's competition. Named after Griff Graves, the late husband of Griff 's Toffee Founder Karen Graves and the father of company President Mark Graves, Griff 's Toffee is offered in two flavors: Griff 's Coffee Toffee and Griff 's Pecan Toffee. The candy is crispy, but it's not a tooth-breaker, and the flavor is luxuriously buttery. The toffees are offered in both 2-ounce and 7-ounce box sizes. KN Snack Food Manufacturers Broaden the Category with New Launches (cont. from Page 18)

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