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Loving Earth Bean-to-Bar Chocolate help the Ashaninka community figure out how to turn the cacao they already knew how to grow into a product that could be marketed internationally. " They 'd been selling cacao locally, not getting a good price, quality not good," Fry said. "We pay a significantly higher price than they would get locally." " We make chocolate out of the cacao beans, bean to bar, process the beans and make it into chocolate. We don't roast the beans because the beans are quite a special heirloom variety and they have a wonderful flavor profile. This also maintains the antioxidants and nutrients with all the aromatic complexity of the natural cacao," he added. " We sweeten it with coconut nectar, or coconut sugar, produced in Java, Indonesia, which har vests the nectar f rom coconut trees and processes it into coconut sugar." The result of that process is a unique chocolate with a complex flavor profile that blends perfectly with the caramel flavor of the coconut sugar to make a whole food plant-based bar. Loving Earth produces the bars in several flavors: 85% Dark, 72% Dark Chocolate, Crunchy Mint Dark Chocolate, Creamy Coconut Mylk Chocolate, Raspberr y Cashew Mylk Chocolate, Lemon Cheesecake Caramel Chocolate, Salted Caramel Chocolate, Turkish Delight Chocolate and Berr y Crunch Hazelnut Mylk Chocolate. None of the bars includes dairy or cane sugar, and they're all certified organic and non- GMO, gluten and soy f ree and raw. " We use the nuts rather than dairy, with the nuts ground into the chocolate to approximate a milk chocolate, except without the dairy," Fry said. " We call ourselves a 360 degree brand. We look at every aspect of the product. compostable packaging, post-consumer recycled packaging," he added. "We aspire to look at every aspect of the product in terms of making it sustainable, ethical beautiful and delicious." KN (cont. from Page 15) SPECIAL EDITORIAL FEATURE www.kitchenwarenews.com n FEBRUARY 2018 n KITCHENWARE NEWS & HOUSEWARES REVIEW 1 7 BY LORRIE BAUMANN Lucini Italia, a subsidiary of California Olive Ranch, has launched a new Everyday Extra Virgin Olive Oil f rom Argentina under its Lucini brand. Lucini Italia's Premium Select Extra Virgin Olive Oil and Organic Premium Select Extra Virgin Olive Oil will continue to be produced on partner estates in Italy, and the Lucini oil coming f rom Argentina is packaged in bottles clearly labeled with the oil's origin. Argentina has been known over the past several years for making really great award- winning olive oils, but they hadn't found fans yet in the U.S., and as a result, much of that oil that came into the U.S. market was coming as a component in a blended oil, with its Argentinian origin obscured by its label mention in a country code on the back of the bottle, according to Mike Forbes, Executive Vice President and General Manager of California Olive Ranch. This new 100 percent Argentinian oil is a mild, green, f ruity oil, a blend of oil f rom Arbequina and Picual olives with Italian varietals including Coratina and Frantoio olives, that's great for everyday use, he said, adding that, "Once we tasted it, we fell in love with it." All of the olives for the new Lucini oil are grown in the wine regions of Mendoza, which is also where the grapes for Malbec wines are grown, and in south San Juan. " We work directly with the producers. We visit directly with our team," Forbes said. "We hand-select all of the oil at har vest. ... We take ever y container of olive oil and test it to make sure that it meets our specifications and the specifications that define extra virgin olive oil." The olive growers f rom whom California Olive Ranch Lucini sources the oils are mostly family farmers, some of Italian heritage as the result of a wave of Italian immigration that happened in Argentina at the beginning of the 20th century, just as many Italians arrived in the U.S. at that time. It's estimated that around half of Argentina's current population has some degree of Italian descent. Other contributors of f ruit to the Lucini oil are Argentinian growers who've become attracted to the olives as a new crop over the past decade or two. These Argentinian producers are entrepreneurial and progressive, bringing a New World perspective to their craft as well as the savvy to team up with Lucini and California Olive Ranch, which have established roots in the American market and the distribution network that goes along with that, according to Forbes. "The U.S. is a pretty tough place to do business," he said. "We can help growers with that because we're taking the product and bringing it to the shelf all the way to the consumer." California Olive Ranch also offers the strength of the Lucini brand, which is already familiar to American consumers. "We're taking this great Argentinian oil and we're showcasing it as a 100 percent Argentinian oil, and that's really exciting for the growers," Forbes said. "What we have seen in the U.S. is that there's a huge and increasing demand for high-quality olive oil. People want to know where it's f rom. They want high-quality oil with good flavor." Adding the Argentinian oil into the company's product range will help ensure the availability of f resh oil on the shelf throughout the year, since Argentina's location in the southern hemisphere means that its olives are ready for harvest during the United States' spring. " There's obviously a f reshness benefit," Forbes noted. California Olive Ranch is offering the Lucini Everyday Extra Virgin Olive Oil in 500 ml and 1-liter bottles. The 500 ml bottle retails for $10.99, with the liter retailing for $17.99. "That's a price point that works for the consumer," Forbes said. " We find that consumers are willing to pay a little extra to get something they know is good." KN Argentinian Extra Virgin Olive Oil Launches into American Market BY LORRIE BAUMANN With its win of a 2017 Good Food Award for its Landrauchschinkin, a Swiss-style country smoked ham, Olympia Provisions, a Portland, Oregon-based salumeria, achieved a record for Good Food Awards in the charcuterie category, and salumist Elias Cairo solidified his position as one of the top Good Food Award winners across all categories. His total now comes in at 11 Good Food Awards since his Loukanika, Saucisson d'Arles and Pork Liver Mousse were named winners in the inaugural competition for both the Good Food Awards and himself, and his Chorizo El Rey and Green Peppercorn Pate are finalists for 2018 Good Food Awards. Olympia Provisions was one of 279 companies named as finalists f rom among 2,057 entrants for the 2018 awards in the competition that honors the makers of food that 's both delicious and produced with concern for environmental sustainability, social justice and humane treatment of animals. Just to enter his charcuterie in the competition, Cairo was required to pledge, among other criteria, that his product was f ree of artificial additives, that the meat came from animals raised according to the standards of the Animal Welfare Approved organization and that the people who raised and harvested the animals and who made the product in his plant were all paid fair compensation for their work. All of that 's a fit for how he's always run his business, he says. Cairo is the son of a first-generation immigrant f rom Greece, born in Salt Lake City, Utah, into a family that valued hard work and good food raised on a small farm where they preserved their f ruit, made a little alcohol and cured meat for the winter. "My father was the typical Greek man," Cairo says. The family also owned two Greek- American restaurants, and by the time he was 17 years old, Cairo figured he'd learned all they had to teach him, and he needed to light out for formal culinary school. "I wanted to be a fancy-pants chef," he says with a laugh. "I was reading a lot about the Culinary Institute of America." His father argued that what he really needed was a taste of hard work and more practical experience in a restaurant kitchen, and he offered to send him back to Greece where he could really learn how to cook. "I sort of figured that I already knew all that," Cairo says. His father reached out to f riends in Greece who might have a place in their kitchens for an apprentice cook who needed a good lesson or two and was referred to a Swiss f riend who had a six- month opening for an apprentice. "This area is called the Alpstein, and it 's very famous for mountain restaurants," Cairo says. Cairo took the apprenticeship and found himself working for the village jagermeister, the meat cutter to whom the local hunters brought their game for processing. "I really fell in love with hanging out in the restaurant and butchering meat and curing it," Cairo says. "All of these producers were the most amazing people. I fell in love." The six-month apprenticeship ended, but Cairo's stay in Switzerland didn't. He ended up staying there for five years. Meanwhile, his sister had moved f rom Salt Lake City to Portland, Oregon, and she started telling him that he should think about going back to the U.S. His family needed him, she argued, and Portland wasn't Salt Lake City. Finally, she argued him into coming, at least for a visit. "I was kind of skeptical," he says. "I landed, and she took me right to the Portland farmers market." That visit was the start of a love affair between Cairo and Portland's food culture that has culminated in a love affair between American gourmands and the Olympia Provisions products. KN Award-Winning Salumist Curing America's Food System

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