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GOURMET NEWS www.gourmetnews.com n JANUARY 2019 n GOURMET NEWS 6 2 NOVA CRISP: Taste that will Take You to the Moon and Back Healthy and delicious should always go hand in hand. Everyone loves to snack, but it's not always easy to find the right balance of deli- cious and healthy. NOVA CRISP grew tired of the mundane options and textures of healthy snacks made from corn or potatoes, and decided to go on a search for something new – and found cassava. NOVA CRISP chips are air-popped cas- sava chips made with all-natural ingredi- ents which means no grease, lower calories and that crispy crunch with every bite. Cas- sava itself not only tastes great but is packed with more health benefits than reg- ular potatoes. The chips are low in choles- terol, gluten free, non-GMO, trans fat free, vegan and lactose free. Cassava will natu- rally fuel the energy you need to power through all your daily activities. Perfect for both adults and little ones, these chips have an explosive taste that will take you to the stars. NOVA CRISP chips are air-popped, but manage to keep that perfect crispy crunch with every bite. The company looks for the high- est quality ingredients and endlessly searches for unique ways to bring you your fa- vorite flavors like Maui Onion and its special barbe- cue flavor. Take its sea-salt chips and use them as a base for your fa- vorite dips, or try its white-cheese flavor as a substitute for cheese and crackers at a party. With only around 100 calories per serving, these are great for your kids to bring to school or for anyone to snack on during late-night crav- ings. Share them with friends and family for a guilt-free snacking experience. You won't be able to get your hands out of the bag. NOVA CRISP is air-popped, never fried – so you know that last bite will always be as crispy and de- licious as the first bite. Delicious and healthy now go hand in hand. Suzanne's Specialties: Sweetness the Way Mother Nature Intended Suzanne's Specialties has been supplying al- ternative sweeteners to the health food and industrial food markets since 1984. Its offer- ings include brown rice syrup, clarified rice syrup, rice maltodextrin syrup and solids, tapioca syrup, tapioca maltodextrin and solids, agave syrup, inulin, cane sugar, invert syrups, molasses, honey, barley malt syrup and coconut sugar and syrup. It also has the ability to make custom blends and sweetener systems. Suzanne's Specialties Organic Honey has been verified by the Non-GMO Project. Suzanne's Specialties offers an In- fantSafe ® version of all of its rice syrups. This unique product contains less than 10 ppb for arsenic and lead, meeting the FDA standard for drinking water. It is available in all DE levels. It packs its industrial products in pails, drums, totes and tank wagons. All products are available in organic with most having a conventional version as well. Suzanne's promises that all of its products are made with only the high- est quality organic and all-natural in- gredients. Each one is sure to give your formulas and applications "Sweetness the Way Mother Nature Intended™." Suzanne's Specialties also provides an ex- tensive line of retail products. These include its best-selling Ricemellow Crème, rice syrup based fruit spreads, flavored rice syrups and traditional offerings such as or- ganic molasses, organic agave syrup, organic honey, organic rice syrup and organic barley malt syrup. Pack sizes on its retail line range from jars to gallons to tubs to pails. It can service the needs of a household, restaurant, small bakery or institu- tion. Visit www.suzannes-specialties .com for more information on these products or to shop in its easy to use online store. With distribution facilities on both the East and West coasts and a diverse prod- uct line, Suzanne's Specialties has the ability to service your company's specific needs. For more information, visit www.suzannes- specialties.com. A Sweet Spin on a Crunchy Cracker By Lorrie Baumann 34 Degrees has introduced Sweet Crisps as an extension of its line of wafer-thin savory crackers that pair well with cheeses. The new Sweet Crisps will pair even better with cer- tain cheeses than the more savory flavors, ac- cording to 34 Degrees President and Founder Craig Lieberman. "Our savory crisps are def- initely designed to be used with cheese, and the sweet crisps in bags will work either by themselves, in a lunch bag or with ice cream and tea or coffee," he said. Lieberman originally discovered these wafer-thin crackers in 2003 in Australia, while he was looking for products that paired well with cheeses. "I was focusing on cheese boards and looking for condiments and ac- companiments to the cheese boards," he said. "One of the products that I discovered were these unique thin wafers. They were the best thing that I discovered to highlight the cheese. Unlike the crackers that I grew up with in the U.S., they really complemented what you paired with them. They didn't dis- tract or get in the way of the cheese." Lieberman loved doing business import- ing products from Australia into the U.S. so much that he named his company 34 De- grees after the latitude of the city of Sydney, Australia, but by 2007, he had decided that as much as he loved the Crisps he was ob- taining from Australia, importing the crack- ers into the U.S. didn't make financial sense. The answer to that problem was to make the crackers himself in the U.S., he decided. Over the next six months, he phased out his importing business. "It made me sad, be- cause I loved them [the products he'd been importing into the U.S.], but making the product in the U.S. made more sense than trying to import perishable products from 7,000 miles away," he said. He launched his new line of American- made Crisps with four savory flavors, ex- panding the line to 10 flavors since then. The Crisps are generally sold in the deli department next to the cheeses and dips their flavors are intended to complement. "They're sold from the deli so that they're located next to the products that they work with; however, we're excited to poten- tially bring the Sweet Crisps in bags to new areas of the store and to new channels," Lieberman said. "We have flavors of profiles that we developed specif- ically to go with specific cheeses.... and now we have sweet flavor profiles to appeal to specific snacking occasions." Consumers then told Lieberman that they were interested in Crisps that could stand on their own as a snack, so 34 Degrees launched its first Sweet Crisps line in Chocolate and Vanilla flavors in boxes in the summer of 2016. "The irony of all this was that I did not start my company to be a cracker company," Lieberman said. "I was just following the consumers and what they wanted from me." In early 2017, the company launched two new flavors, Cinnamon and Sweet Lemon, and then at the Summer Fancy Food Show, the Sweet Crisps were relaunched in new pack- aging to appeal to the snack- ing consumer. "People loved our Sweet Crisps, but they wanted a more user-friendly package. The package is de- signed to protect them," Lieberman said. "Our cracker is really thin and light but it has surprising strength from its ingredients, so it holds up well in the stand-up pouch." Like the other 34 Degrees Crisps, they're made with high-quality ingredients and no artificial flavors. The Denver, Colorado- based company donates 1 percent of all the Crisps they make to charitable organizations that feed the hungry. "The more you snack, the more we give back," Lieberman said. 34 Degrees Sweet Crisps are now avail- able in four flavors – Chocolate, Vanilla, Cinnamon and Sweet Lemon – in four- ounce pouches that retail for $3.49 to $4.49 and in a 16-ounce club size that retails for $6.99 to $7.99. A Unique Experience, Centuries in the Making: Le Gruyère AOP Switzerland In 1115 A.D., a cheese was discovered in western Switzerland – a region with rolling fields, scenic mountains and a majestic cas- tle. This place, Gruyères, is the origin of the only true Le Gruyère AOP, with the unri- valed quality and flavor known the world over for more than 900 years. But how was cheese 'discovered'? In the old times, the farmers couldn't keep the milk their cows produced for very long without spoiling, so they decided to try to produce something that would last longer. The result was – cheese! – and in particular, Gruyère. They soon discovered that this cheese, because its taste was unique and very appealing, could be exchanged with others for goods, services – even soldiers! As time went on, Gruyère became famous for its unique flavor, and like most excep- tional things, fame begat imitation. Cheese makers from other countries tried to make their own Gruyère, even calling it by the same name, but they always produced a cheese with a different flavor, which became very confusing. Gruyère had become not only popular, with a worldwide demand, but important to the region's economy as well. Something had to be done! The most consumed cheese in Switzerland, and one of the most well-known in the world, is now – since 2001 – protected with an "AOP" designation, which in English means Protected Designation of Origin (PDO). This guarantees a clear origin, a level of quality and a complete traceability back to the region of production. Le Gruyère AOP Switzerland takes it a step further, and places markings on each wheel that enable it to be tracked to the specific dairy in the re- gion that produced it. There is only one true Le Gruyère AOP, the incomparable cheese from Switzerland. The "Le Gruyère AOP" mark on the side of the wheel proves it. Today, Gruyère AOP is made in 170 small batches, with fresh, raw milk, and no additives or preservatives – it is 100 percent natural. The same recipe is used from more than nine centuries ago, a time before the use of addi- tives and synthetic feed and ingredients were the norm. As such, Le Gruyère AOP is still tightly linked with the local, long-held traditions and terroir of Switzerland. This is why it's said that each taste of Le Gruyère AOP is a unique experi- ence, centuries in the making. For more information, visit booth #2359, go to www.gruyere.com, email interprofession @gruyere.com or call +41 (0) 26 921 84 10.

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