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Kitchenware News & Housewares Review Show Daily 6 7 Monday, March 16, 2020 Laura's Gourmet Granola Crushes Breakfast with Flavor By Lorrie Baumann The half dozen or so varieties of Laura's Gourmet granolas all have two things in common, in addition to their clean ingre- dient labels: they all contain oats as their foundation, and they all assert them- selves with flavors that reflect the culi- nary aesthetic of their creator, Laura Briscoe. Briscoe is the Founder and still the Executive Chef for Laura's Gourmet, which she started in 2004 after attending Scottsdale Culinary Institute. She'd been training for a new career after fleeing from her former career in high-tech sales with the thought that she'd eventually use that training as a private events caterer. She was well on her way in her new career, using her culinary training as well as her own creativity to dazzle clients and serving her friends with samples of her dishes. Her friends raved about her gra- nola and started urging her to think about selling it outside her catering gigs. She packaged up some of her Vanilla Almond Crunch Granola in paper bags with labels she'd printed on her home computer and took it off to AJ's Fine Foods, the gourmet banner of the Basha's Inc. grocery chain, headquartered in Chandler, Arizona, a Phoenix suburb. Nothing happened at first, but Briscoe kept making her granola, serving it to catering clients and giving some of it to her friends, and they all kept telling her how great it was. Then one day, while she was on her way to teach a cooking class, she ran into a group of Basha's execu- tives in her local AJ's store. They includ- ed Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Eddie Basha, and Briscoe seized on the opportunity to pitch him on her product. "They started us on the shelf," she said. "That's all I ever wanted was AJ's." Over the next few years, though, Briscoe started meeting other people who loved food and then turned out to love her food, most notably her granolas, and some of them worked for restaurant com- panies and some worked for specialty grocers. It wasn't too much longer before she was making her living by making her granola. "There was never an intention," she said. "I didn't wake up one morning and say, 'I want to be in the granola busi- ness.'" Her line has now expanded to include LocoCocoNut Crunch, CherryRific Crunch, AppleLicious Crunch and Honey Roasted Peanut Crunch in addition to the original Vanilla Almond Crunch and Pumpkin Pecan, which is seasonal in the fall, and Sinful Cinnamon, which is the brand's newest flavor. Vanilla Almond Crunch is still the company's top seller, LocoCocoNut Crunch is doing very well in the food service channel, and AppleLicious is also a top seller. Honey Roasted Peanut Crunch is appealing to those who don't like tree nuts. "I had a friend who would pick the almonds out of Vanilla Almond Crunch. I created Peanut so I didn't have to watch my friend pick almonds out of his granola," Briscoe said. "It's peanut butter cookie meets peanut brittle and gets a con- science." CherryRific was Briscoe's first vegan flavor – it's made with dried tart cherries, agave sweetener (rather than honey) and some flaxseed to give it a bit of a nutty flavor. Sinful Cinnamon is a nut-free version of her granola that's sweetened with agave to make it vegan as well. "The agave changes everything," Briscoe said. "With the agave, it's the same amount of cinnamon, but you can taste it much more." The whole line is based on oats. "By definition, granola has oats. I've hung my hat on making a classic prod- uct that's as elevated as I can," Briscoe said. "Nothing weird, no fillers, nothing that ends with 'ite.'" A new facility that's triple the size of her previous location has given Briscoe the capacity she needs to expand her distribution beyond Arizona, and Laura's Gourmet Granola is finding its way into specialty markets in other areas. The products' price point is prohibitive for mass-market stores, but it works well in specialty markets, Briscoe said. "We are an all-natural prod- uct that's now kosher-certified Parve and dairy-free," she said. "It's just a matter of getting it into somebody's mouth and then they buy. Price point stops mattering when they taste it." Briscoe is now working on a choco- late flavor, and she's experimenting with other options to appeal to those following a plant-based diet. "We want to do it in a way that you don't eat it because it's good for you, but you eat it because it's delicious, and it just happens to be good for you," she said. "I'd rather be in 30 well-picked stores than in 300 'Let's hope it sticks' locations." For more information, visit www.lauras gourmet.com. What's Going On with the Water at Your Facility? Managing a Precious Resource Have words like pH adjustment, equal- ization, clarifiers, settlers, discharge monitoring and dissolved air flotation become part of your vocabulary lately – whether you wanted them to or not? Perhaps the issue of water in your facility has become a front-burner topic of con- versation. Don't worry. You're speaking Complete Water Services' language. Complete Water Services (CWS) pro- vides the experience and resources that produce innovative solutions to water and wastewater treatment. It has a proven track record assisting the baking industry in meeting their unique challenges involved in managing our planet's most vital resource. Water for the 21st Century Purity of water used in food and beverage processing industries is essential to every- thing we eat. From bread and sweet-good bakeries to meat, fish and poultry pro- cessing, vegetable preparation to animal and vegetable oil processing, beverage to condiment preparation, clean water is fundamental. You have to have it coming into your facility for sure. But it's what comes out that can cause worse problems. Pretreatment and Wastewater Systems CWS has extensive experience in finding solutions for existing wastewater issues, as well as custom-designing brand new sys- tems. Even though manufacturing process- es vary across food and beverage indus- tries, there are similar characteristics and problems you might have become aware of, including: pH excur- sions caused by acid and caustic cleaning processes; high levels of settleable solids and suspended solids caused by cleaning operations and in-prod- uct loss during production; high levels of five-day biochemical oxygen demand (BOD5) and chemical oxygen demand (COD); excessive fats, oils and grease (FOG) caused during bakery operations cleaning, product loss during transfer and in blending and clean-up operations. Hands-On, Real-World Designers and Operators There is no such thing as a cookie-cutter approach to wastewater treatment. Each facility is unique and requires the practiced eye of a CWS professional to see what would work best to provide reliable, cost- effective water and waste- water solutions while ensuring regulatory com- pliance. Whether you have a water or wastewater issue at your plant, need to install a com- plete water or wastewater treatment sys- tem for your facility, or need experienced assistance with a specialized bakery application, CWS can help. Sometimes CWS uses the latest, most innovative technologies. Other times it uses tried and true methods that have proven effec- tive for years. Each design is different. For more information, go to www .cwaterservices.com. New Additions to La Truffe Royale Line MarDona Specialty Foods announces four new products in the La Truffe Royale line. After much research, taste testing, rejections and so on, the compa- ny came up with these four great new items to add to its La Truffle Royale product line. It is certain you will find these to be a great addition to your truffle retail lines. Black Truffle Acacia Honey MarDona had searched for quite some time to replace its Wild Forest Tupelo Honey, but kept getting batches of honey that didn't meet its standards. After some research, MarDona discovered a great acacia honey, the best of the best. It imported this fine, smooth acacia honey from Italy, then blended it with some black truffle pieces along with truffle essence. This honey makes a perfect addition to any cheese platter or roasted poultry, and it's great over fresh ricotta cheese and toasted bread. It is perfect for any dish or even as a dip. Black Truffle Rub MarDona has been working on a truffle version of a rub for some time. It wanted the rub to stand out on its own merits. After much research, trials and errors, it came upon a great find. By incorporating a dried black truffle with a hand harvest- ed salt, MarDona came up with the rub to beat all rubs. It's a very fine powder that rubs well into any meat, poultry or seafood, and can be added to sauces and more. Black Truffle Sea Salt One of MarDona's great finds was its new imported Black Truffle Sea Salt. This sea salt is a perfect addition to anything you would put salt on. Perfect over fries, onion rings, pizza, all burgers, sand- wiches, popcorn and so much more. The salt is a perfect blend of truffle essence mixed with a fine imported sea salt and truffle pieces. Black Truffle Tapenade MarDona had many requests for a truffle spread, but the company just never got around to it. Then one day after doing R&D, it worked out this great formula of black truffles, truffle infused oil along with some TLC, and came up with a great spread. But it's more than that; this is a tapenade. Use it straight from the jar and spread over some toasted crusty bread, or mix with a mayon- naise and create a wild truffle aioli. Add to hot cooked pasta as a great truffle pasta dish. There is no limit to what you can do with it! For more information, call 855.OIL SPRAY (645.7772), email info@ mardonaspecialtyfoods.com or go to www.mardonaspecialtyfoods.com.