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GOURMET NEWS JANUARY 2018 www.gourmetnews.com Naturally Healthy NATURALLY HEALTHY 1 3 Eliot's Adult Nut Butters Offer Bold Flavor BY LORRIE BAUMANN There are actors for whom subtlety is just overrated. They like to make a splashy en- trance onto the scene. Enter Eliot's Adult Nut Butters, which showed up in the sofi Award competition this year for the first time and promptly took home a silver sofi for Harissa Cashew Butter and the bronze sofi for Spicy Thai Peanut Butter. Harissa Cashew Butter pairs the complex Moroccan hot pepper sauce's flavor with the rich creaminess of cashew butter. The subtle heat and intense spices of Harissa pair incredibly well with the nat- ural sweetness of the cashews. Spicy Thai Peanut Butter blends true Thai flavors, fea- turing kaffir lime leaves, lemongrass, and cayenne chili. It makes great peanut noo- dles or sauce for broccoli, chicken, tofu or salad rolls. Not a lot of subtlety there — just bold, authentic flavors from a company started just four years ago by Michael Kanter. "I started the company in the Eliot neighbor- hood of Portland, Oregon," Kanter says. "I wanted to pay a homage to the area." The Harissa Cashew Butter and Spicy Thai Peanut Butter are two of Eliot's Adult Nut Butters' current line of seven flavors. The others are Garam Masala Peanut But- ter, Espresso Nib Peanut Butter, Honey Chipotle Peanut Butter, Chocolate Chili Al- mond Butter and Sriracha Sunflower Butter. They're all based on the concept that adults don't have to grow out of their love for peanut butter as they grow into an appreciation for com- plex flavors. "We wanted to stand out from a shelf domi- nated by kid flavors and packaging," Kan- ter said. Kanter decided to make the nut butters after taking a step back from his career as a chef. After cooking in restaurants in New York, Seattle and Port- land, he was munching on some spiced cashews one day while having a think about his next career move. It occurred to him that he was enjoying that flavor by the handful, so he might also like it as a nut butter. A quick experiment convinced him that the idea had merit. Today, his Spicy Thai Peanut Butter is his best seller. One reason for its success is that the home cook can easily to more with it than just spread it on a cracker, and it's an easy few minutes from having a jar of Eliot's Adult Nut Butters Spicy Thai Peanut Butter on the shelf to a peanut noodle entree, accord- ing to Kanter. "You can make something really foodie-sound- ing, but the secret is that you just open a jar," he said. "It's a balance of interesting flavors, but they have to work.... I'm not trying to tap into the latest fad." The 12-ounce jars of the peanut butters retail for $8.99. The Sriracha Sunflower Butter retails for $10.99, and the al- mond and cashew butters retail for $12.99 to $14.99. The prod- ucts are made in small batches in Portland, Oregon with U.S.- grown peanuts, almonds and sunflower seeds. They're naturally gluten free, and all are vegan. See them at the Win- ter Fancy Food Show. GN Empire Kosher Poultry Launches New Products Empire ® Kosher Poultry kicked off of its "80 Years of Trust" anniversary celebration at Kosherfest, the kosher-certified products trade show, held in Secaucus, New Jersey November 14 and 15. Founded in 1938, Empire Kosher is known for offering fresh and frozen poultry, as well as deli, frozen foods, and soups and broths enjoyed by both kosher and secular consumers throughout the United States. "Consumers have known and trusted Empire Kosher for 80 years," said Jeffrey N. Brown, President of Hain Pure Protein Cor- poration, a subsidiary of The Hain Celestial Group, Inc., which includes the Empire Kosher brand. "Empire's award-winning taste and commitment to quality for eight decades has made the Empire brand a fam- ily tradition for generations and is exempli- fied by our natural and organic products," Brown said. "We never, ever administer an- tibiotics, or growth hormones and steroids, and we humanely raise our flocks on family farms before they are harvested under the strictest standards and requirements for kosher certification." "Our organic flocks are free range and fed non-GMO certified organic grains, and consumers can trust that every Empire product meets our highest standards for both kosher and natural at the same time," he added. New products being introduced for 2018 including pre-sliced Natural Southwest Style and Peppered Turkey Deli Meats in re- sealable packaging, in addition to products launched earlier this year to meet the changing tastes of kosher consumers. Em- pire brand is the only kosher turkey brand featured in the recent Cook's Illustrated holiday issue of recommended products and is a Thanksgiving favorite every year. Empire Kosher products are available at select retailers nationally. Empire Kosher's "80 Years of Trust" celebration will continue throughout 2018 with a new advertising campaign and promotion program. GN Joyce Farms Raises Better Grass-Fed Beef For 55 years, Joyce Farms has main- tained a commitment to tradition. The family-owned business believes in doing things the old-fashioned way, which in- cludes bringing back flavors long lost to conventional agriculture. Joyce Farms has made a name for itself with chefs all over the country with its heritage line of products, which now extends beyond poultry to include grass-fed beef. For- merly branded as Naked Beef, Joyce Farms has re-branded it as Heritage Ab- erdeen Angus Beef to honor its unique ancestry. "Joyce Farms beef has always been 'naked,' which we define as nothing added ever. The heritage name better conveys the genetics used in our grass-fed beef pro- gram," said Joyce Farms President and CEO Ron Joyce. "It's a critical component in producing flavorful, well-marbled beef that chefs are proud to serve in their restau- rants." Grass-fed beef has a reputation of not having the best flavor in comparison to its rich, fatty grain-fed counterpart. Joyce Farms embraced the challenge and sought the expertise of Dr. Allen Williams, Ph.D. — a pioneer and expert of the grass-fed beef industry in North America — to pro- duce great tasting beef. Williams imple- mented a system combining Old World genetics, careful soil management practices and a forage "cocktail" of a variety of dif- ferent plants and grasses to produce a grass-fed beef with pleasant, balanced fla- vor. "In selecting our heritage breeds, we carefully consider the genetics of the ani- mals selected. We are able to trace their lin- eage back many generations to the old Aberdeen Angus genetics, ensuring that we are supplying customers with the finest quality gourmet meat, poultry and game," said Joyce. "Our heritage beef comes from heritage Scottish Aberdeen Angus cattle, the original Angus." Less than five percent of American cattle qualify as true Aberdeen Angus. The line- age is important because the original Ab- erdeen Angus, unlike the modern Angus, was bred to thrive on a 100 percent grass diet. Joyce Farms works with small, family- owned farms in the Southeast to raise its Aberdeen Angus in multi-species pastures where they forage on grass that is mature and sweet. In comparison to grain-fed beef, Her- itage Beef offers one third less saturated fat, two to six times more cell-boosting Omega-3 fatty acids and three to five times more Omega-7, which lowers cho- lesterol (LDL). In addition, this beef of- fers two to three times heart-healthy and cancer-inhibiting conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) and one and half times more di- etary protein. "If you have been on the fence about grass-fed beef, try our Heritage Ab- erdeen Beef. Eat it. Put it in your mouth. You'll change your mind," said Joyce. GNv

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