Oser Communications Group

1 2 SNACKING NEWS December 2017 Go Cubes Offer Coffee in a Chewable Snack A clever new product that is handy, portable and offers a half-cup of coffee with 50 mg of caffeine in each cube, Go Cubes are the grab-and-go solution for dozens of situations. The cubes, packaged four to an enve- lope, come in three flavors: latte, pure drip and mocha. Besides caffeine, each serving offers additional nutrients such as L-theanine (200 mg, to reduce stress and anxiety and which provides cognitive boosts in conjunction with caffeine), vi- tamin B6 (2 mg, associated with long- term memory improvement in older adults and short-term memory improve- ment in young adults), and vitamin B12 (4 mcg, to assist with neurological func- tion and help generate new red blood cells). The cubes are made with pectin, a natural gelling agent made from plants, and each serving of two cubes is effective for four to six hours, the company says. The cubes are vegan and gluten-free, as well as being soy-free. They contain no peanuts, tree nuts, eggs, dairy, fish or shellfish. Go Cubes are made by HVMN, a com- pany that specializes in biohacking foods and supplements and is based in San Francisco, California. For more informa- tion, visit www.hvmn.com. n BobbySue's Nuts to Launch in all The Fresh Market Stores Dubbed "a luxury version of beer nuts and just plain delicious" by the NY Times, BobbySue's are Non GMO Project Veri- fied, gluten free and low in sugar. BobbySue's Nuts was born in 2008 when Barb "BobbySue" Kobren used a family recipe for spiced nuts to start a business fueled by a love for healthy eating and supporting animal welfare. The company sources organic egg whites from humane certified, cage-free chickens. These blends are now available at The Fresh Market: Original - BobbySue's almonds, cashews and pecans in a sweet glaze. It's Raining Chocolate energizes the Original with organic, fair trade dark, white and milk chocolate. Nuts Over Olives blends herb- and spice-glazed almonds, cashews and pecans with Divina's Kosher chopped olive mix and won a 2017 Silver sofi award. Everything Goes Nuts won a Gold sofi award. Sesame, poppy, onion, garlic, salt and spices combine with almonds, cashews and pecans. BobbySue's Nuts is based in Chap- paqua, New York, and donates 2 percent of net profits to the SPCA of Westchester, New York. For more information, visit www.bobbysuesnuts.com. n UPTIME Delivers New Premium Energy Drink A new energy drink, packaged in an alu- minum bottle, UPTIME offers energy and mental clarity without the crash that fol- lows consumption of many energy drinks. The beverage is offered in both original and sugar-free versions, and is made with non-GMO and gluten-free ingredients such as ginseng and gingko biloba. Its fla- vor is crisp and refreshing, and the sparkling beverage is a nice change from bottled still waters. The company also offers tablets to drop into bottled water. The tablets are available in Original and Maximum Energy blends. The individual suggested retail price for the energy drinks is $2.37. A 12-pack of the drinks costs $28.49. UPTIME is available na- tionally at 7- Eleven and other con- venience re- tailers. U P T I M E is based in C a n o g a Park, Cali- fornia. For more infor- mation, visit www.uptimeenergy.com. n Pork Rinds Get a Face-Lift With New Flavors, Artisanal Production BY ROBIN MATHER Much beloved in the South and South- west, pork rinds (or chicharrones, in Spanish) have had kind of an image prob- lem. That's changing now, as producers are bringing fresh, clean labeling, more transparent ingredient lists, small batch production methods and new flavor pro- files to their products, and their satisfied customers across the country are "digging the pig," as Rudolph Foods' Mark Single- ton says (See a profile of Rudolph Foods on page 5). Made from the skin of pigs, pork rinds can actually be a healthy snack. A single one-cup serving has 80 calories, 9 grams of protein, and 5 grams of fat; it has zero carbs and is gluten-free. They fall easily under the better-for-you umbrella, espe- cially for customers who follow Paleo or low-carb diets. Pork rind evangelists are quick to talk up their improved products' benefits. They're also talking about the way pork rinds fit into a nose-to-tail philosophy of using every bit of the pig, and how their customers like the transparency of their ingredient lists. Who's Making Them Epic Provisions, a subsidiary of General Mills, is based in Austin, Texas, and has introduced pork rinds (made from belly and back skin) and pork cracklings (made from the tougher shoulder skin, usu- ally with a bit of meat attached) in very contemporary packaging. Epic's pork-based snacks are made from or- ganic, non-GMO, pastured, antibi- otic-free pork. The pork rinds are available in two flavor profiles, sea salt and pepper, and barbecue, while the cracklings are available in maple-bacon flavor. All are available nationally. "We are happy to liberate lovers of pork skins from feeling shame and even happier to teleport customers to enlightened levels of 'bacon lust,'" quips Epic co-Founder Taylor Collins. Learn more about Epic's products at www.epicbar.com. Chef and Butcher Ryan Farr of 4505 Chicharrones showed off new packaging and flavors for his brand at the NACS show in October in Chicago. Seven years ago, he started making pork rinds in his apartment and carrying around bags to sell to local bars and gro- cery stores. The company uses h i g h - q u a l i t y cuts of hu- manely raised pork with no antibiotics or hormones, and cooks the pork rinds in lard. They come in classic chili and salt, smokehouse barbecue and jalapeño cheddar. "For us, it's really im- portant that the consumer knows that we are aware of every step of the process and we only work with family farms," Farr says. Learn more at www.4505chicharrones.com. Rudolph Foods' New Southern Recipe Small Batch pork rinds are cooked in sun- flower oil and have less salt than the Southern Recipe main product line. They come in sea salt and cracked black pepper, kimchi Korean BBQ, spicy dill, and pineapple ancho chile flavors. For more information, visit www.southernrecipe smallbatch.com. Arlington, Texas-based Mac's Snacks is now making chile-lime and jalapeño ched- dar pork rinds, in addition to the com- pany's "Old Plantation" original pork rinds and its "Wash Pot Style Fat Back Pork Cracklins." Evans Food Group, which claims to be the world's largest producer of pork rinds, is the owner of Mac's Snacks. For more information, visit www.macs-snacks.com. We heard rumors at the NACS show that Jack Link's, a leading meat snacks pro- ducer, will be introducing its own pork rind products in 2018, but Jack Link's staffers weren't free to comment. n

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