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GourmEt nEWS FEbruArY 2018 www.gourmetnews.com Supplier News SuPPliEr nEWS 1 1 BRIEFS Lake Champlain Chocolates: Inspiration from Belgium, Ingredients from Vermont bY lorriE bAumAnn Lake Champlain Chocolates was built around the ideas of creativity and quality, and the com- pany continues that family tra- dition today. The company won three sofi Awards in 2017; a bronze award for It's Hot, Honey Chocolate, a spicy organic 57 percent dark chocolate bar that fea- tures a rich caramel center infused with Vermont honey and habanero chile pepper, and a bronze award and best new product award for Moka Fleck Chocolate, a tanta- lizing blend of organic 43 percent dark- milk chocolate, fine-ground Dominican coffee, and crunchy flecks of house-roasted cacao nibs. Lake Champlain Chocolates was founded in 1983 by Jim and Anne Lamp- man, who owned the Icehouse restaurant in Burlington, Vermont, at the time. "They decided to get out of the restaurant busi- ness and dived into chocolate with hand- rolled chocolate truffles and the Chocolates of Vermont line that's still made today," said their son Eric Lampman, who is the current President of Lake Champlain Chocolates. He runs the company along with his sister, Ellen Reed, who is Vice President. Together, they're keeping alive their father's dream of using Vermont-sourced ingredients to make chocolates so good that they could compete with Belgian chocolates, and they're updating that dream to emphasize fair trade and organic ingredients that ap- peal to an evolving marketplace. "We've al- ways liked to do things in balance. We certainly are not turning our backs on the tradition of European flavors, tradition and technique, the evolution of consumer de- mands and the market," said Eric Lamp- man. "The world isn't the same. Truffles used to be sold in d e p a r t m e n t stores in cases behind glass, but it's not done that way much any more. C h o c o l a t e bars have taken over. We're trying to move with that evolution and not be stuck in the past." As the company moves forward, it's also not turning its back on the Ver- mont values of quality and craftsmanship, Lampman said. "Vermonters appreciate quality, simplicity, things done well," he said. "Vermont is a strong area for craft makers, whether it's cheese, beer, or ourselves with chocolate. Those are the people we're surrounded by, who value that type of craftsmanship and quality." Lake Champlain Chocolates' product range now includes chocolate bars, including the best-selling Five Star Bars – a chunky filled bar – as well as the Chocolates of Vermont line inaugurated by his parents. That's a suite of four pieces of chocolate: Evergreen Mint, Honey Caramel, Maple Crunch and Green Mountain, which is a melange of fruit and nuts in a mountain shape. The four confection pieces were designed by a Vermont jeweler and intended to express the various moods of the state. The overall product range also includes truf- fles, caramels, gift assortments and gourmet hot chocolate. They're available online, nationwide at spe- cialty food stores, and at three com- pany-owned stores in Vermont: one at the factory in Burlington, Ver- mont, where factory tours are of- fered to visiting tourists; one in downtown Burlington and the third near Stowe. "We have always really prided ourselves on our sourcing," Eric Lampman said. Maple syrup, honey and heavy cream used in the chocolates are all local products. Butter comes from Vermont Creamery. Lake Champlain Chocolates worked with a local hard cider brand to use apples from their orchard in an apple syrup that's in- trinsic to its Milk Chocolate Apple Cider Caramel, which was a 2016 sofi Award fi- nalist and a finalist for a Good Food Award in 2015. The company was awarded its SQF cer- tification two years ago, and Lampman's focus today is on continuing to improve production practices in the factory as well as continuing to adapt many of its recipes to fair trade and organic ingredients to make confections for what has been a growth area for the business. Lampman ex- pects that growth to continue as consumers gain understanding and appreciation for the practices that go into the products they use and continue to support products that align with their values around environmen- tal sustainability, social justice and fair trade. New for 2018, the company is intro- ducing a brand-new line of organic bar in a bigger size, with a new wrapper design and more than 20 different flavors. Adapt- ing the company's recipes to the new or- ganic and fair trade ingredients has taken a fair bit of creativity, since those ingredi- ents don't always share the properties of their conventional counterparts, but cre- ativity is an ingredient that's never been in short supply at Lake Champlain Chocolates, Lampman said. "We feel very strong in our positioning as a creative maker of confections that are fully trace- able, fair trade and organic," he said. "The creativity has definitely always been there. That's what started the business – trying to bring European tastes and fla- vors to Vermont by making them utilizing local ingredients. We continue today, in pursuit of extraordinary chocolate mo- ments." GN Plant Protein Powders on the rise Many Americans regard January as the month to get back to the basics by adopting healthier eating regimens. According to Meijer nutrition buyers, the consumption of plant protein powders is on the rise. The adoption of plant-based protein powders continues to grow, as opposed to traditional dairy-based powders, such as whey or casein, due to the rise in lactose intolerance or sensitivity to dairy proteins. Smoothies are still the most common way to use protein powders. Applications open to Participate in First iFtnEXt Food Disruption Challenge Applications to participate in the Institute of Food Technologist's (IFT) inaugural IFTNEXT Food Disruption Challenge competition will remain open through February 8, 2018. The IFTNEXT Food Disruption Challenge is a competition designed to help investment-ready food companies advance the science of food. Twenty-five semi-finalists will be selected in two stages. From there, six finalists will be selected to participate in a mentoring program, where they will receive guidance from experts. The competition will culminate with the finalists participating in a high-profile pitch event at IFT18. Judges representing influential sectors of the food and related industries will select a finalist to be the recipient of the IFTNEXT Future Food Disruptor of the Year award, including a $25,000 cash prize. Food Disruption Challenge session attendees at IFT18 will be asked to select an IFTNEXT Future Food Disruptor People's Choice awardee for a cash prize of $5,000. In addition to the cash prizes, other services and products for entrepreneurial advancement will also be included. Confectionery market Growing The confectionery market size was valued at $184,056 million in 2015 and is expected to reach $232,085 million by 2022, registering a combined annual growth rate of 3.4 percent from 2016 to 2022. In October 2016, The Hershey Company launched Hershey's Cookie Layer Crunch bar to cater to the growing demands for various snacking occasions and multi-textural eating experiences. Goya Foods offers Culinary Arts & Food Science Scholarships Goya Foods, America's largest Hispanic-owned food company, will offer five $20,000 nationwide Culinary Arts and Food Science Scholarships, granted annually, to five students entering their freshman year of college with an undergraduate degree in culinary arts and/or a food science. One of the five scholarships will go to a student enrolled in the Culinary Arts program at County Prep High School in Jersey City, New Jersey. Goya's Culinary Arts Scholarship is available on a competitive basis to students entering an accredited two-year or four-year institution. Scholarships are in the amount of $5,000 awarded per academic year starting in fall 2018 and are renewable for up to three additional years provided the student remains eligible to receive funding, totaling $20,000.

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