Issue link: http://osercommunicationsgroup.uberflip.com/i/1083777
Kitchenware News & Housewares Review Show Daily 2 3 Saturday, March 2, 2019 The Art of Preserving Wine It is well known that once a bottle of wine is opened, it is exposed to oxygen, which can initially soften the flavors (allowing it to breath), but then the qual- ity begins to rapidly decline after only a few hours of being exposed. This process of oxidation is a chain reaction that can only be paused by eliminating 100 per- cent of the oxygen from the bottle as quickly as possible. Most wine consumers don't realize that the longer a preservation method takes, the more damage can be done. So, any wine preservation device that allows oxygen to remain inside the bottle will essentially be less successful at preserv- ing wine, as the remaining oxygen will react with the wine to cause spoilage. Within a four-hour preservation, there is no statistically significant decline in sul- fur dioxide, so bottles preserved within that timeframe maintain their taste and aroma. There are several methods currently available to consumers, which can extend the life of an opened bottle of wine, but only ZOS has been tested and confirmed to remove 100 percent of the oxygen within the four-hour time frame. In fact, ZOS' testing validates that it removes 100 percent of the oxygen in less than 60 minutes. Previous common methods of pre- serving opened wine included injecting Argon gas into the bottle, but testing shows that in most applications, approximately 5-19 percent of the orig- inal oxygen remains in the bottle. So while it might extend the life of the wine minimally, over time the wine will be degraded by the oxygen. In Argon gas systems, oxygen levels are highly dependent on the total amount of Argon used in each preservation, making high performance a very pricey alternative. The previous- ly most popular and inexpensive method included vacuum pumping the air out of the bottle to create a tight seal. This technology is very limited and even after several hundred pumps, test- ing shows more than 25 percent of the original oxygen amount remains. Because the oxygen left in the bottle is not actually removed, the wine's life will be extended by a day at best. So, how does ZOS differ? When the ZOS wine stopper is inserted into a bottle, the proprietary blend of ingredi- ents in the ZOS cartridge absorbs 100 percent of the oxygen within minutes, perfectly "pausing" the aging of your wine. The unique and patented design of the ZOS cartridge allows for maximum oxy- gen exposure and minimum reaction time. This makes ZOS the fastest and most thorough preservation technology available, and it can ultimately preserve an opened bottle of wine for up to two months. The unique stopper also triple seals the bottle to prevent oxygen from leaking into the bottle once preserved. The included testing holder measures the remaining oxygen absorbing capac- ity to let you know if the cartridge is still good, or if it needs to be replaced before preserving another bottle. Each cartridge lasts up to 15 bottles depend- ing on usage. For more information, go to www.zoswine.com. Millennials: Modern Cooking in the Home By Amanda Helt Millennials are equipping their kitchens with the latest and greatest gadgets and gizmos, and with Millennials standing at $200 dollars in buying power, according to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation, Lori Colman, co-Chief Executive Officer of CBD Marketing, says companies are wise to keep a close eye on these young adults to track the major trends that shape the way we cook our food as a society as we enter the new year. "Millennials share their opinions and buying habits online via social media platforms and on other sites. Businesses and brands that mine this treasure trove of online data will be the ones that mar- ket their products successfully," says Colman, who for the last two years has conducted research on the food industry by collecting data from Millennials' social media profiles. Susan Turgeson, who teaches Family and Consumer Science at the University of Wisconsin and also manages her own cooking classes, tracks the habits of Millennials to help her teach them to cook. As someone who's taught for over a decade, Turgeson says her college stu- dents are cooking differently than previ- ous generations. "It's little surprise," Turgeson says, that "Millennials care about the food they eat," pointing out that as Millennials have families, and as they become responsible for their children's health, nutritious foods are becoming more of a priority than before. "A lot of younger people are starting to realize the benefit of feeding their families fresh produce and clean foods," she said. From organic fruits and vegetables to grass-fed beef, Turgeson says that healthy food makes Millennials happy, but it's no longer about just food that's healthy for their bodies; Millennials also want their food to be good for the envi- ronment, and they expect the companies they buy from to be transparent about how they make and sell their products. "They care about the environment and want to help make Earth a better place," says Turgeson. They're also starting to cook more at home: Millennials are actually starting to prefer to cook at home from scratch by using more basic ingredients and using more fruits and vegetables and less pre- made ingredients. Turgeson says Millennials are going back to their roots to a time when people ate out less and cooked more. In a recent survey, The NPD Group, a market research company found that, on average, Millennials cook about 4.9 times per week. A study by Mintel, also a market research company, showed that the number of cooking enthusiasts in the U.S. rose each year from 2014 to 2017, and that in 2017, 80 percent of Millennials cooked from scratch which is up from 60 percent who cooked from scratch in 2015. "[Millennials] are going back to their roots," says Turgeson. "We've gone back to how it was with my grandparents, to a time when people prepared meals in their kitchen. We've kind of gone back to making everything from scratch." But, call it a caveat to their interest in cooking, Millennials want to make food at home faster. Turgeson says while there is a big belief that convenience foods are one of the only ways to eat quickly; people overestimate the time it takes to cook homemade meals. "People are busy, and they want meals that are fast to make. I find that my students always love comfort foods, and you know, things like macaroni and cheese. While it's easy to grab a box Kraft maca- roni from the grocery store, it actually takes about as much time to cook maca- roni and cheese homemade, and my stu- dents don't realize that. Cooking from home can be pretty time efficient if you know how to do it." Many of them are looking to meal kits as a way to speed up their meal preparations. In a 2016 survey by Allrecipes, a food focused online social networking service, the company found that, "Food tech companies are provid- ing services that make shopping for the kitchen ultra-convenient... ...more than 85 U.S. companies offer either meal kits, meal delivery, food e-commerce, online grocery shopping or online ordering."