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GENERAL NEWS www.kitchenwarenews.com ■ JUNE 2014 ■ KITCHENWARE NEWS & HOUSEWARES REVIEW 7 Future Sticks: Chopsticks for the 21st Century BY LORRIE BAUMANN Chopsticks were invented in China by about 1,200 BC and began to be used as eating utensils during the Han Dynasty. A few years ago, Inventor Greg Resnick came up with an idea to improve them. Resnick says that Future Sticks, patent-pending chopsticks made with gripper teeth at the end that comes into contact with food, came about when he was trying to figure out a way for his arthritic Chinese mother-in-law to use chopsticks after the disease had robbed her hands of strength. His first model was made of wood, with gear-type teeth hand-cut into their tips to grab food and hold it without much help from the hands. The wood had a couple of problems, just as other wood chopsticks do. They tend to discolor, and with repeated use, they tend to break down and splinter. They also don't stand up well to hot water. Disposable wood chopsticks have their own set of problems. "People do use them, especially when they go out to eat. The very white chopsticks contain a bleaching agent that comes out when you eat. The brownish ones often have mold inside. It doesn't hurt you, but it's not very appetizing," Resnick says. "Then I got introduced to plastic by a friend." Most plastics don't make great chopsticks either, he says. Chinese government efforts to switch people f rom wood to plastic chopsticks, to save the 11 million trees a year that are cut down for disposable chopsticks, failed because the plastic that had been used wilts in hot water or emits unpleasant fumes, Resnick says. So he went looking for another kind of plastic. He wanted his new Future Sticks to be transparent, so that users can see that they're clean; to be very hard to break, so that users wouldn't have to worry about teeth breaking off; and to be autoclavable, so they can be used in institutional food service settings. He found a plastic patented by General Electric and originally intended for use in medical appliances, but now superseded for that use by a newer plastic and only recently approved for use in other applications. "It's still one of the better plastics out there," Resnick says. "It can go into a dishwasher. Nothing sticks to it … These can be used in cooking – you're not going to hurt them." Future Sticks have already found a market in the U.S. as promotional items for companies that want a memorable giveaway that they can put their logos on. "These things are memorable. People want them," Resnick says. "People remember them even if they don't use them, so they make a great promotional item." Resnick is now raising the money to bring them into production on a scale that would make the American-made Future Sticks viable as eating utensils in the Chinese market. "I'm going to be taking American chopsticks and selling them to Chinese," Resnick says. "In China, 1.3 billion people use chopsticks every day at home." Future Sticks are made in Waterbury, Conn. f rom a material manufactured in Pittsville, Mass. A set of portable Future Sticks packed in a plastic case retails for $9.95. Company promotional pricing goes from $6.85 to $5.85, depending on quantity. For further information, email Greg Resnick at Gresnick@futuresticks.com or call 214.716.8737. Visit at www.futuresticks.com. Do Try This at Home: Molecular Gastronomy at the End of a Fork BY LORRIE BAUMANN When we see the cheftestants of Top Chef or Iron Chef offering up the results of their molecular gastronomy wizardry for the judges, it always seems to come with an implied warning. Something on the order of: "Professional chef in a closed kitchen. Do not attempt this at home." With the AROMAFORK, Co-creators and Molecule-R company Co-founders Jerome De Champlain and Jonathan Coutu are urging us to do just that. The product won them recognition as a finalist at this year's International Housewares Association Innovation Awards. At first glance, the AROMAFORK looks just like any other fork, but then you notice the space ahead of the head of the fork that 's intended as a receptacle for a tiny piece of blotting paper. The paper absorbs a droplet of concentrated liquid flavor. Then, as the user lifts the fork to his or her mouth, the aroma f rom the liquid aroma drifts up to become part of the taste experience that goes with that part of the meal. "It multiplies the experience because our taste buds can only taste five primar y tastes. Most of the tasting experience actually happens through the nose," says Sophie Boivin, the company 's spokesperson. "For instance, you might pair a piece of nicely cooked meat whose very strong flavor might hide the herbs that had been incorporated into the cooking, so you might choose to add that flavor back in. You might also want to try a nutty flavor, like an almond." W ith the AROMAFORK, you can experiment with flavor pairings without exercising the ingenuity that it takes to incorporate the flavors into the food itself. "It amplifies the experience of the flavors and offers the opportunity of tr ying various flavor pairings without having to balance flavors in the actual food," Boivin says. "You can have a bite of food on the fork and then, completely distinct f rom that, have an aroma of your choice that might otherwise have been overpowered by whatever was on the fork.... It 's almost a new world of possibilities, all these pairings that people might have been unsure they wanted to involve in their cooking. Now they're very, very accessible." AROMAFORK is available as a component in the Aroma R- EVOLUTION kit, which contains four AROMAFORKs along with 50 pieces of blotting paper, 21 liquid aromas and four glass droppers that are specifically designed to deliver tiny droplets of aromas onto the blotting paper. " You get everything you need," Boivin says. The kit retails for $58.95. The kit also comes with instructions for an evening program to turn your tasting event into a social experience with f riends. "You can bring a little structure into the experience with some recommended flavor pairings, some classic pairings that you can enjoy in a new way, and then some new pairings that will provide an experience that 's unlike anything I've ever seen before," Boivin says. Molecule-R also offers a molecular mixolog y kit called Cocktail R- EVOLUTION, which applies the same molecular gastronomy principles to cocktails, and "Molecular Gastronomy by Molecule-R," not just a recipe book but also information about the techniques and their history, including the food science, and tips and tricks to aid home experimentation. The Cuisine R- EVOLUTION molecular gastronomy kit, Molecule-R's first product, includes natural food additives in premeasured sachets, specialized utensils and instructional material which features techniques such as spherification, gelification and emulsification, which are the techniques that the Cocktail R- EVOLUTION applies to making drinks. For further information, visit www.molecule-r.com. Portmeirion Expands Sophie Conran Collection with Saucepans, Frypans Sophie Conran and Portmeirion have expanded the lightweight but strong Sophie Conran for Portmeirion Cookware Collection of non-stick ceramic coated cast aluminum cookware to include saucepans and f rying pans. Designed for today 's modern living, the 7-inch and 8-inch saucepans and 10.25-inch and 12-inch frying pans feature elegant, organic shapes that look great going f rom stovetop to tabletop. Each features an innovative ceramic non-stick coating that is f ree f rom plastics, PTFE and PFOA and will not emit harmful fumes and toxins if accidentally overheated. The cookware pieces are incredibly hard and scratch resistant, easy to clean, and have very effective non-stick properties that make the collection ideal for low fat and low oil cooking techniques. "The new saucepans and f rying pans in the Sophie Conran collection help create the complete set of essential cookware you need to prepare delicious meals, f rom sauces to stir-f ry, at home," states Wendy Motlaq, Corporate Vice President for Portmeirion Group. Each piece features a cast aluminum body with integrated handles and a heavy gauge base that eliminates 'hot spots' and guarantees quick heat transfer and heat retention to cook food evenly. The Sophie Conran Cookware pieces can be used with any heat source and are oven safe to 390 degrees F. Tempered glass lids with polished stainless steel rims accompany the saucepans. The new additions to the Sophie Conran Cookware Collection are available in two colors - black and white. Suggested retail prices range f rom $128.50 to $143.00. To view the complete Sophie Conran Cookware Collection, including the 8-inch and 9.5-inch casseroles and shallow 12- inch casserole, visit: www.portmeirion.com/collections/sophie- conran-cookwware.html.

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