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GOURMET NEWS MARCH 2019 www.gourmetnews.com SUPPLIER NEWS 1 3 Pepper Jellies Heat Up the 2019 Winter Fancy Food Show of pepper spreads that all get their heat from the one pepper. The spreads work great for a toasted bagel in the morning, or as a final glaze for ribs, pork chops or chicken. The company, also known for its Blair, Nebraska restaurant, says its flavors bring "the sweet before the heat," as the heat slowly rises after the sweeter flavors. These spreads come in 10 flavors, all in 9- ounce jars. The suggested retail price is $6.98–$8.49. For more information, call 888.487.0408. The Sutter Buttes Olive Oil Co. also cel- ebrates the habenero, but offers several other flavors as well. Its line of jams includes Pineapple Mango Habañero, Apricot Jalapeño, Hot Seven Peppers and Peach Jalapeño. All are made in small batches, with whole fruit, cane sugar and pectin. The jams come in two sizes: an 11.25- ounce jar and a smaller 4-ounce jar. In ad- dition to individual jars, the three bestsellers come in a three-pack gift box. The suggested retail prices are $10 for the 11.25-ounce jar and $5 for the 4-ounce jar. For more information, call 530.763.7921. Stonewall Kitchen just launched its Hot Pepper Cranberry Jelly in January. Other flavors include its bestselling Red Pepper Jelly, Hot Pepper Jelly, Apple Jalapeño Jelly, Ghost Pepper Jelly, Pineapple Sriracha Jam,Sweet Chili Jam and Hot Pepper Peach Jam. Select flavors are available in organic. Sizes vary depend- ing on flavor and line, ranging from 4 ounces to 13 ounces. Suggested retail prices are $3.50–$7.95. For more information, call 800.826.1752. Braswell's won the 2013 Outstanding Classic sofi for its Red pepper Jelly. Its other pepper jellies and jams are worth a look, too. They come in Green Pepper, Jalapeño Pepper, Hot Jalapeño, Meyer Lemon Blood Orange, Mango Jalapeño Jam and Straw- berry Serrano Jam. Braswell's jars stand out too, with some flavors available in reusable glassware. Suggested re- tail prices are $6.99 for the 13-ounce Braswell's Select glassware jars, $5.99 for the 11-ounce footed glassware jars, $3.99 for the reusable glassware jars in shrink sleeve packaging, $2.99 for the standard 10.5-ounce jar and $2.50 for the mini 5-ounce jar. For more informa- tion, call 800.637.9388. Another standout spread is the line of jel- lies from Wildly Delicious. What sets them apart is the use of apple cider vinegar, adding just a touch of tart. These are great for pork, quiches and cheese. Wildly De- licious sees the best sales with its Red Pepper flavor, and just released its Ghost Chile fla- vor this year. The brand also offers a Green Pepper Flavor, along with Tangerine and Red Chile. The labels look printed on the 6.3-ounce jars, designed for a more classic look, with a suggested retail price of $7. For more information, call 888.545.9995. And last but not least, there's House of Webster. What started as a small shop owned by the Webster family turned into a national act on the wholesale jam and jelly scene. House of Webster is known for its mason-style jars and its private label program. The brand offers four pep- per jelly flavors: Raspberry Chipotle Pep- per Spread, Red Jalapeño Pepper Jelly, Green Jalapeño Pep- per Jelly and Man- derin Orange Pepper Spread. Suggested re- tail prices are $4.99 for the 11-ounce jars and $5.99 for the 17.5-ounce jars. For more information, call 800.369.4641. GN BY GREG GONZALES The floor at the 2019 Winter Fancy Food Show was oozing with pepper spreads of all kinds, including jams and jellies and pre- serves. This year's exhibitors brought spicy- sweet jams and jellies for glazes, sandwiches, eggs, crackers and whatever else foodies can dream up, showcasing a di- versity of different peppers. Though the combination of spicy and sweet isn't any- thing new to Asian cultures, it's picked up in American cuisine for the past few years, and pepperheads keep turning up the heat. Some of these spreads are more about the fruity flavor of the pepper, and others were created to burn our tongues off, but they all expand the possibilities of culinary creativ- ity. Aloha From Oregon is a testament to just how many pepper jelly flavors a brand can offer. It has 22 flavors in total, nine of which are jars that have two flavors in them. The brand made is way from Hawaii to the Pacific Northwest, carrying delicious jellies with it all the way. Its spiciest jelly, the Carolina Reaper, launched at Winter Fancy Food Show back in 2018. All flavors are available in 10 ounces jars at a sug- gested retail price ranging from $6.95–$15, depending on the store location and owner preference. For more information, call 800.241.0300. Chili Dawg's Foods of Fire focuses more on the heat of the habañero, offering a line Superfood Rice Continued from PAGE 1 recognized that Thailand is one of the world's top exporters of rice, exporting about a quarter of the world's total rice ex- ports, but that Thai farmers were among the poorest in the world. Of the 70 million people in the country, about a quarter of them are farmers who don't participate in the prosperity that visitors to the country see when they visit Bangkok. "When I started to learn about this issue, I got really curious about it," Dejkraisak said. He started looking for ways to change that situation. He learned about Fair Trade. He thought about the premium prices that buyers are willing to pay for organic prod- ucts. "I realized that the solution had to be more sustainable," he said. "You have to teach them how to fish. If I just purchased their produce, I'm just giving them fish." The Thai farmers already knew how to grow rice, but they were dependent on agri- cultural chemicals to produce a crop that they could only sell as a commodity. What they didn't know was that there could be another way for them to grow rice. "If they converted from chemical farming to or- ganic, that in itself would help them be healthier.... They'd have a better life, and it would be better for the environment," De- jkraisak said. "Then if they were growing organic rice, they'd get a small premium on their price, but at the same time, it's still a very competitive market." Getting them more than the small pre- mium they could get for organic rice would mean finding a new kind of rice that would be something better than a commodity, so Dejkraisak went looking for a scientist who knew how to breed a better rice. He found that scientist at a University in Thailand, and the result of his experiments on the problem was a non-GMO rice, naturally produced by cross-breeding existing vari- eties, that had the characteristics of a su- perfood, a delicious flavor and a glycemic index that was similar to basmati rice. "It was something in the lab, and we had to bring it to the real world," Dejkraisak said. The next step was to introduce the rice to Thai farmers, who had to be persuaded to take a risk with a new crop. Dejkraisak asked them to pilot test the new rice on a small part of their land and offered to give them the seed and organic fertilizer for free, to train them in organic farming methods and to buy the crop from them at double the price they were getting for their com- modity rice. "I said, 'Hey, let me take the risk. If I cannot sell it, I'll buy it from you, and that's my problem,'" he said. That first year's crop was small, but the re- sults were encouraging enough for De- jkraisak and the farmers to continue on their path, particularly because part of De- jkraisak's deal with the farmers was that they kept a quarter of their crop for their families' consumption, and they'd noticed that they were healthier than usual. "The next year they were able to grow it better, so the yield was much better," Dejkraisak said. "They decided to believe that this rice was like a medicine. Other farmers joined the program because they wanted to eat the rice." Seven years ago, the Jasberry project started with 25 farmers families; now the program has grown to 2,500 families, a total of more than 10,000 people. The farmers are certified organic growers, and Jasberry is now set up as Thailand's first food-producing B Corporation with a prod- uct that's ready for the American market. "You can run a business that has a social mission at its core but that is still sustain- able," Dejkraisak said. "We're also trying to show the business world that you can do business this way and still make a living. If you support this kind of business, you can make a real difference in the world; you can make a change." Now Dejkraisak's mission is to educate American consumers about the value of the rice. "What we are trying to do in the U.S. market is to change the perception of the consumer," Dejkraisak said. "The super- food concept is something that consumers are familiar with." "A lot of people have the perception that rice is just carbohydrates, but Jasberry rice has the antioxidants and vitamins and min- erals that provide a nutritional benefit for the consumer. More and more consumers are going to benefit from this product," De- jkraisak said. "If more and more consumers eat Jasberry rice and benefit from this, more farmers will benefit." For more information, visit www.jas- berry.net or visit the Jasberry booth at Nat- ural Products Expo West, where the company is exhibiting in Anaheim Con- vention Centre North Halls booth N1830- N1831 in the Thailand pavilion from March 6-8. GN

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