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Gourmet News special issue for Summer Fancy Food Show 2016

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GOURMET NEWS www.gourmetnews.com n JUNE 2016 n GOURMET NEWS 1 1 6 Introducing Farmer's Pantry Farmer's Pantry™ is a company that's pas- sionate about creating scrumptious, hearty snacks using the kind of authentic, identifi- able ingredients you would find in a farmer's pantry. Every snack is lovingly crafted from meats, grains and vegetables, all sourced on American farms. Farmer's Pantry is debuting two snack lines: Farmer's Pantry Cornbread Crisps and Farmer's Pantry Meal Snacks. Both snack lines are designed to feed a nation that has moved away from the traditional three meals a day routine. "Americans are working longer hours and commuting more, so each snack is munch- able, portable and totally delicious," said Josh Chaitovsky, Co-founder and CEO of Farmer's Pantry. "Farmer's Pantry Snacks are very relevant for today's hard-working Americans, and they are also highly distinc- tive as no one else in the marketplace is of- fering these kinds of products. In fact, there are no other cornbread crisps or meal snacks available to consumers." "We believe that it's high-time for snacks to be wholesome, substantial, made from natural ingredients and delicious," Chaitovsky added. "We also believe that to be truly sustainable, we must also pledge to give back to our American farmers and Americans in need by supporting important charitable organizations such as Veterans Farm, Farm Aid, and The FamilyFarms Charities." Farmer's Pantry Cornbread Crisps are made from 100 percent American farm- grown corn, and they're always baked, not fried. These are not tortilla chips. The company has transformed freshly baked cornbread or corn muffins into con- venient, crunchy, mouthwatering crisps for a taste so delicious con- sumers will be instantly hooked. Cornbread Crisps come in three flavors: Original, Jalapeño, and Honey-Butter. Farmer's Pantry Cornbread Crisps are available in two sizes: 6-ounce bags of regular size Cornbread Crisps and 2- ounce bags of bite-sized Corn- bread Crisps. Perfect for supermarkets, mass market retailers, airport stores, and convenience stores, Farmer's Pantry Cornbread Crisps are available in 12 per case, and will retail in the $3.99 range for 6-ounce bags, and under $2.00 for 2-ounce bags. Farmer's Pantry Meal Snacks were devel- oped with proprietary natural spices and a proprietary slow cooking method for the beef, chicken and turkey, blended together with slow roasted, hearty and crunchy veg- etables in an innovative double-pouched bag. Each meal snack is inspired by traditional American recipes such as: Herb Roasted Turkey with vegetables, cran- berries and stuffing; Flame Grilled Chicken with slow roasted corn; Garden Harvest Chicken with vegetables; and Mesquite BBQ Beef with roasted corn, and tomatoes. Every bite of Farmer's Pantry Meal Snacks has a substantial serving of vegetables and protein as well as flavor and crunch. Farmer's Pantry Meal Snacks have a sug- gested retail price of $5.99, weigh 2.5 ounces, and are packed in an 8 pack case. They are perfect for supermarkets, mass market retailers, airport stores and conven- ience stores. For more information, visit www.farmers pantry.farm. Italian Delicacies from Cibo California by Lorrie Baumann Start-up company Cibo California, founded last year, has reached exclusive distribution agreements for artisanal products previously unknown in the United States and is ready to launch them into the American market. Cibo California Chief Executive Officer Massimo Cannas says he spent months and even years persuading families that make artisanal Ital- ian food products in traditional ways to share these products with the American market and to trust his company with that mission. One of those product lines is Campofilone egg pasta from the Pastificio Decarlonis Srl, a family company run by brothers Paolo, Pietro and their father Enzo Decarlonis, who agreed to hold a "serious family meeting" after a long conversation with Cannas that ended with the decision that they were ready to enter the American market. "I spent sev- eral years convincing this family to start sell- ing their products to the United States," Cannas says. "We are the only company that is able to import their products to the U.S." The company is located in the Marche re- gion on the eastern coast of Italy, directly across the Adriatic Sea from Croatia and sep- arated from Florence by the Appenine Mountains. It's a beautiful part of the country with an uncontaminated environment, and the pasta made in the tiny village of Cam- pofilone is protected by the Italian govern- ment with an IGP designation, "Maccheroncini di Campofilone I.G.P.," which means that the pasta can be traced back to this geographic area. "It's only there that they can use this name, the Campofilone pasta," Cannas says. "Only there, by the law, are people authorized to produce this kind of pasta and authorized to call it Campofilone pasta." Made with just egg and flour, with no added water, the Campofilone pastas cook in just two minutes. "They make this pasta using just flour and hand-cracked local, fresh eggs. This is what makes the difference," Cannas says. "One by one, the eggs are cracked by a team of ladies. They must be quick." Federico Pavoncelli, Vice President of Cibo California, says that one of his fa- vorite recipes for the Decarlonis Mac- cheroncini di Campofilone IGP is Mac- cheroncini with lobster. "Very simple, quick to cook and delicious," he says. He makes it with some chopped onion, chili pepper, a whole lobster and some white wine. He cooks the Maccheroncini separately for just one minute and then tosses it with the lobster sauce. "All this in no more than a minute. Serve it and enjoy!" he says. Americans are familiar with the name Giuseppe Verdi as the composer of "La Traviata" and "Aida," among other operas, but today's Giuseppe Verdi is making vine- gars at the Acefificio Aretino in Tuscany in the beautiful medieval city of Arezzo. Cibo California is offering the Verdi brand vine- gars in a wide range of products for which it is the exclusive importer into the U.S. These include balsamic vinegar, red and white wine vinegars, organic red and white wine vine- gar, red and white wine vinegar made with IGP Chianti wine in Tuscany, apple vinegar, and, very specially, blood orange wine vine- gar made with blood oranges cultivated in Sicily. "This is something different, some- thing unique," Cannas says. "I tried it with a smoked salmon carpaccio and very thinly sliced sweet onions, a little radicchio, and a little lemon juice. It's delicious." Cibo California is also importing a range of innovative high-quality products made with white and black truffles from Tartu- flanghe, which is recognized as one of the world's leading producers of truffles from Italy, according to Cannas. "Tartuflaghe is the master. We are talking about a very high- end product, the Louis Vuitton of the truffle industry," he says. The company based in Alba, Piemonte, is recognized as a leader, not just for the quality of its truffles but also for the elegance of its packaging, both for its retail and foodservice products. "This is a company that does a lot of research. They are not following the mar- ket. They are anticipating the trends in the food industry worldwide," Cannas says. "It's more expensive than the average imported truffle products, but in two or three bites, you see the stars, the best expression of an exten- sive line of truffle specialty products." Tray the Parmiggiano Reggiano Cream with Truf- fle, or the Truffle Butter or the Acacia Honey with White Truffle! Delizie di Sardegna and Sarda Affumicati are Cibo California's source for bottarga, both from tuna and mullet. Bottarga is salted, cured fish roe, with mullet bottarga traditionally being produced in Sardinia, while tuna is used in Sicily. Most people prefer mullet bottarga for its flavor, which is less fishy than the tuna bottarga, Cannas says. "Bottarga is extracted from the fish and cleaned and covered with salt and put in a special drying cellar for a very slow drying process. In the last century, this process was done just under the sun," he adds. "Today, bottarga is made in a drying system that produces an even better quality, flavor and consistency. Then it's vacuum- packed and shipped all over the world." The bottarga is offered as the baffa, the egg sacs which have been extracted and processed whole, as well as grated or pow- dered in 40-gram jars. The baffa is vacuum- packed and sold at weights between 70 and 200 grams, with the best seller at around 100 grams. "Add it to pasta to add a special flavor to any kind of meal. Over pasta, rice or soup, on top of a cioppino, drop a few drops of olive oil infused with grated bottarga," Can- nas says. "Or the bottarga is fantastic grated, a little spoon on top of grilled pork chops. This is the Sardinian way. Just use a little sprinkling of the bottarga to finish the meat after grilling." "With the baffa, you just slice the bottarga very thin, slice fresh artichoke heart, mix those together, add extra virgin olive oil, lit- tle bit of salt and two-three drops of lemon. This is all. You are in paradise," he says. "That is a delicious appetizer that is offered in every restaurant in Sardinia. Instead of ar- tichokes, you can use celery and add some cherry tomatoes." For dessert, Cibo California is importing biscotti and cookies from Grondona Pastic- ceria Genovese, a very traditional baker-bis- cottificio in Genoa since 1820. The pastries are made with simple ingredients of the high- est quality, including, Cannas says, a lot of butter. Grondona products are made with La Madre Bianca, the com- pany's mother yeast, in which baker's yeast and ben- eficial bacteria have been nurtured for almost two cen- turies. The process for feed- ing, tending and dividing the yeast has been kept a secret through four generations of the Grondona family – the art is rare today even in Italy, according to Cannas. "They are starting right now to enter the U.S. mar- ket, and we have been able to become exclu- sive importer for western U.S.," he says. Likewise, Grondona recipes are based on almost 200 years of tradition. Today, the company is operated by Orlando Grondona and his family. His son, Andrea Grondona, is in charge of the export division. "I took the airplane, I go to Genoa and I spent two days with Orlando and Andrea, the son. They are two wonderful human beings. Orlando is a lovely person, a genius, a master in the bis- cotti and cookie industry, not just in Italy but in the world. He is also a master wine expert and collector," Cannas says. He is importing four Grondona products: the Baci di Dama in 100-gram packages, super-delicate and rich with real butter, honey, 14 percent chocolate and 17 percent hazelnuts; Canestrelli Antica Genova in 100-gram packages, in the shape of stars, 25 percent butter, lemon juice, Madagascar vanilla pods and packaged with a small packet of icing sugar intended to be sprinkled onto the cookie just before eating; Cuori Mori, heart- shaped and rich with butter, 9 percent choco- late and 3.5 percent cocoa; and Pandolcini Antica Genova, a miniature version of a cake that's traditionally bought on the way home from church on Sunday to be served with Sunday's lunch. It's made from wheat flour, butter, 30 percent sultana raisins, orange peel, apples, pears, pineapples, 2.3 percent pine nuts, fresh eggs and lemon juice. Cibo California is currently seeking account executives and distributors for southern Cal- ifornia and other areas in the western U.S. Anyone interested in evaluating local distri- bution agreements for both foodservice and retail products is invited to contact Cannas at 949.230.6866 or email m.cannas@ cibocalifornia.com.

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