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GOURMET NEWS NOVEMBER 2018 www.gourmetnews.com SUPPLIER NEWS 1 2 It doesn't take much Sonomic to dress up a salad or vegetables or to finish grilled meat or fish. "Salad is a great starting place, but that's just the beginning," Reading says. "You're only limited by your imagination." The Sonomic Red is particularly good when paired with salmon, pork or lamb or poured over strawberries. Sonomic Gold is particularly good when used to finish fish, or blended with Dijon mustard to make a glaze for salmon baked in foil on the grill, she adds. Sonomic is a great cocktail ingredient, and it turns fruit and ice cream into impres- sive desserts. Reading recommends a bev- erage made by combining Sonomic Gold with sparkling water and mint or lime, but says that it's also a good cocktail ingredient when mixed with vodka. Paired with cheese, Sonomic makes a delicious hors d'oeuvre, says Reading. Sonomic Almost Vinegar is made by Sonoma Portworks in Petaluma, California. In addition to Sonomic, Sonoma Portworks has a portfolio of unique ports, after-dinner wines and grappas. Sonomic Almost Vine- gar is a product that evolved from those dessert wines, according to Reading. After a significant period of product develop- ment, Sonoma Portworks has been making the Sonomic Almost Vinegars for the past seven or eight years. "It's not like anything we'd tasted," she says. "Bill is in charge of production, and he likes the opportunity to be creative. When he decided to make wine, he didn't want to do yet another chardonnay or zinfandel. So he has special- ized in ports, and now our almost-vinegars. I am the 'official' taster. I love to cook, talk about food, and think about flavor. I enjoy talking to people in our tasting room." "Our slogan is 'You've never tasted any- thing like this,' because when people taste Sonomic Almost Vinegar, that's what they say. Then they say they love it, and then they ask how they can use it. I only need to give them an idea or two, and they're off and running with ways to use Sonomic. That's a conversation I really enjoy having!" Among her other ideas: grill a pork tender- loin and then glaze it with Sonomic Red, or make a salad dressing of the Sonomic Red plus Meyer lemon olive oil. To amp up the acid, just add a squeeze of lemon. Sonomic Almost Vinegar has a shelf life of a year or more. An 8.45 fluid-ounce (250 ml) bottle has a suggested retail price of $16.00. For more information, visit www .portworks.com. GN BY LORRIE BAUMANN Sweet and tart, rich and earthy, Sonomic Almost Vinegar is a blend of unfermented grape juice and balsamic vinegar for rich flavor with less acid than pure vinegar. Available in two versions, Sonomic Al- most Vinegar is 100 percent grape, and you can be certain you've never tasted anything like it. This unique ingredient is less acidic than vinegar and richer than balsamic. Sonomic Red, made with Cabernet grapes, has the rich, intense flavors of deep, dark fruit and the consistency of an aged balsamic. Sonomic Gold, made with Mus- cat grapes, has a rich golden color and fla- vors of honey and apricot. "They're almost like a reduction," ac- cording to Caryn Reading, who started the company 24 years ago with her husband, Bill Reading. Sonomic Almost Vinegar – Unlike Anything You've Tasted Rubicon Bakers Continued from PAGE 1 recovered from substance abuse. We pro- vide employment so they can turn their lives around." Rubicon Bakers, founded in 1993 as a nonprofit organization benefiting those in need of second chances and job train- ing, is now a privately- owned certified B Corporation that con- tinues to embrace the mission with which it was founded as it grows into a national brand, currently sell- ing its cakes, cup- cakes, cookies and muffins in more than 2,500 stores nationwide. The company cur- rently employs more than 200 people, re- cruited from local substance abuse programs and the re-entry programs at San Quentin State Prison, the Santa Rita Jail and other facilities. "We get a lot of walk- ins, too," Trujillo said. "People know us in the community for the work we do." "One of our core values is compassion," she continued. "We keep blind- ers off and our hearts open here. It's our not-so-secret in- gredient – compassion – and it's baked into our products. There's a lot of kindness and love in all of our business transac- tions. We love to col- laborate with retailers that appreciate what we do and what we stand for." With more than 50 unique items in its product line, Rubi- con Bakers is well known for its Mom's Chocolate Cake. "It's the cake that you wish your mother made," Trujillo said. The company has also just launched four new vegan items, Vegan Chocolate Blackout Cake in a 4-inch for- mat and a four-pack cupcakes format and Vegan Vanilla Cake in the same 4-inch for- mat and four-pack cupcakes format. "We're really excited to share these items with those who choose to eat a plant-based diet and those who don't. They're delicious, rich and decadent, and ready to be enjoyed by all types of eaters." The 11-ounce 4-inch for- mat cakes will retail for $6.99. The 10-ounce four- pack of cupcakes retails for $4.99. Like Rubicon's other prod- ucts, they're made with clean, straightforward ingredients – vegan sugar, chocolate chips, non-GMO ex- peller-produced canola oil, with no artificial flavors, colors or preservatives. "All of our products are handmade. We make everything from scratch," Trujillo said. "We use natural colors derived from vegetables and fruits... It's something that we believe in with our ingredi- ents. We always use clean, honest ingredi- ents." Rubicon Bakers offers both retail-ready cakes and cupcakes and cake blanks in 8- inch rounds, 6-inch-rounds and 4-inch rounds as well as in cupcakes. They're de- livered frozen and ready to be frosted and decorated at store level. The 6-inch retail- ready cakes include several other flavors in addition to the Mom's Chocolate Cake: Cal- ifornia Lemon Cake is another everyday item, Trujillo said. "We love our lemons here in California," she said. "We've had customers tell us it tastes like sunshine." Retail-ready cupcakes are filled and iced, and they're also offered in several flavors. The Chocolate Cream Cupcake is particularly decadent, according to Trujillo – it's filled with white cream filling, topped with ganache and hand- decorated. A Pumpkin Pie Cupcake is offered during this fall season. It's filled with pumpkin pie filling and frosted with cream cheese icing. "All of our items are hand-finished," Trujillo said. For more information, visit www .rubiconbakers.com. GN

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