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2007 Winter Fancy Food Show - Part 6 (Tea)

YumSugar — Thu, 01 Feb 2007 15:58:41 -0800

The last trend from the Fancy Food Show that I want to talk about is tea. Ice tea, hot tea, blooming tea, organic tea, chai tea, flavored teas, tea infused chocolate. Tea. Tea. Tea. Tea.

There were at least a billion and a half tea booths (that is not a completely accurate statement, I lost count at around 22 and just rounded up) and most of them had some pretty pleasant teas on hand. The big show crowd pleaser was the new "blooming" teas. These teas are made by hand-tying edible flowers (like roses, carnations, jasmine, etc.) into a ball that "blooms" when placed into hot water. It's pretty gimmicky, but definitely elegant. The only catch is, you'll now have to invest in a clear teapot as well. The one pictured here is either the Jasmine & Chrysanthemum or Jasmine & Marigold from Tzuni (just one of several companies promoting blooming teas). A box of 12 tea "pearls" will set you back $19.20.

Even though there were many normal teas to try, one of my favorites came from Ineeka. Their award winning teas are grown and shipped directly from founder Shashank Goel's family plantations in India. They only use whole leaves with no added flavorings or oils. The teas are treated with love much like a fine wine and their packaging even shows it. It's like loose leaf tea inside of an ingenious tea bag that opens up and allows the tea to unfurl completely. Founder Shashank Goel was kind enough to talk to us about their start, and show us how to brew the perfect cup of delicious tea. Check out the video below to see:

To see more tea coverage, read more

Some more teas I really enjoyed included:

Finally, the last thing I noticed in the world of tea was the number of energy teas. Steaz had an organic energy drink made from green tea, yerba mate, açaí and guarana (it tasted a lot like red bull, but without the lingering aftertaste). Whereas the folks at TeaTech, had Jackie Chan's XGT (a green tea energy drink mix complete with Jackie's face on the packet).

Click on an image to view some of the teas we saw:

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2007 Winter Fancy Food Show - Part 5 (Superfruits)

YumSugar — Wed, 31 Jan 2007 11:09:29 -0800

Looks like 2007 is the year of the superfruits. Over the last few years, the solid pomegranate and his pals blueberry and cranberry have done a lot of the groundwork (now almost everyone knows what antioxidants are). With their help, the world is ready for more. While I was at the Fancy Food Show, I noticed that everyone who didn't have a pomegranate flavor, now has one, and those that already did, now have something new. Ladies and gentlemen, meet the superfruits. read more

Pomegranate - The trend is still going strong. It's now available as ice cream, soda, organic lollipops and Jelly Bellys.

Goji Berries (aka Wolfberry) - These are sold dehydrated (a bit like raisins) and are believed to enhance the immune system, improve eyesight, and a bunch of other magical medical properties. I guess the western world is finally learning what the Chinese have known for years. You can buy them plain for snacking, but expect to see them in a lot of your granola bars, cookies, etc.
Açaí - Another super antioxidant fruit (I imagine this one is going to give pomegranate a run for its money). Since these tiny Amazonian berries don't travel well, they're usually sold in the form of flavoring or juice. One of the featured items was the açaí flavored coconut water.
YumBerry - From the outside, this Chinese fruit looks like it's part of the lychee family. However, once opened, the inside is a deep hue. You'll have a hard time finding these fresh, but soon you'll be able to drink the juice.
Mangosteen - Although it has the word mango in its name, this highly antioxidant fruit does not taste anything like mangoes. It's currently unavailable in the US (except Hawaii), but that may be changing soon. Until then, you'll have to get the health benefits from the actual mangosteen nectar.

Oh and while I'm on the subject of fruits, there was a new one from Chile called Carica. It was golden yellow and tasted like a mixture of mango, papaya, apricot and pineapple and was definitely one of the show highlights (in fact almost everyone who went to the show ended up talking about this one). Currently it's not available fresh in the US, but Tamaya Gourmet is importing it jarred in a sweet natural syrup (which would be great in drinks, salads, etc.). Definitely worth seeking out.

Check out some of the images from the show:

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2007 Winter Fancy Food Show - Part 4 (Waters and Sodas)

YumSugar — Tue, 30 Jan 2007 17:15:22 -0800

PartySugar and I don't always agree, for example, she's not a fan of pre-flavored water (preferring to flavor it herself), whereas I sometimes enjoy the convenience of buying pre-flavored water. So when we saw bottle after bottle of flavored or "enhanced" water at the Fancy Food show, she was definitely more skeptical than I. Yet, after the first few booths, my skepticism was almost as high as hers. It seemed like everyone is getting into the "enhanced water" business. And, if they weren't doing enhanced water, then they were marketing soda to adults. Either way, we drank a lot of beverages. Some of them were good, others not so much.

One of the more interesting waters was Nature 101's (a subsidiary of Sugar Bowl Bakery "Vitamin+Fiber Water." I tasted both the guava and the peach flavor and was pleasantly surprised. I also sort of knew what I was getting into since the "80mg of Invisible Dietary Fiber" looked (and tasted) like a lot of Asian jelly drinks, except that the fibers were clear and chopped up to be really tiny. It looks and seems like a sports drink, but beware, there are 120 calories per bottle, so it's not like it has the same caloric content as water. Since I am pretty familiar with Asian jelly drinks, I wasn't that surprised. PartySugar, on the other hand, didn't know what she was getting into. She "liked the magical invisible aspect of it," but it still didn't win her over. It's a new product with limited distribution at the moment, but if you can find it, I'd say it's at least worth a try.

To check out more "enhanced waters," as well as sodas made for grownups, read more

Along with the fiber water, we tried a myriad of waters, including:

Hint - Their motto is drink water, not sugar - with no artificial sweeteners or preservatives, it's nice and clean with just a "hint" of flavor.

Function - Okay, so this one is actually more like juice or gatorade than water, but I still thought it was interesting. Developed by physicians, each flavor is intended to perform a health boosting function.
Metromint - In addition to their peppermint and spearmint water, they now have orangemint and lemonmint. I enjoyed the lemonmint, but the orange was just so-so (in fact, I actually saw people give back their bottles of orange).
Michele's Extreme Water - I got to take a bottle of this home, and I'm not exactly sure why or how it's "extreme."

O Water - Fruit flavored water available in both infused and regular versions. The infused contains electrolytes, antioxidants, etc., whereas the regular just contains a hint of fruit.
Purity from Iceland Glacial - No enhancements here, just pure water from Iceland. I personally heart Iceland, so I might be a little biased about this one. You should be able to find it in Target stores.
Hi-ball energy - Although marketed as mixers, these drinks are really flavored, carbonated water infused with taurine for energy.
Contrex - This natural mineral water is high calcium, magnesium and other minerals. The taste was a bit, well, "mineral-y" but not bad. It's being marketed as a great source of calcium for women.

Along with the fascinating water trend, I also noticed a high number of sparkling non-alcoholic (ie: sodas) marketed to adults. Last week I wrote about my favorite one (Vignette), but here are a few others you might be interested in:

GUS - I love the fact that their company is actually an acronym for "Grown-Up Soda). Their product was created with adult palates in mind and is less sweet than other flavored sodas. It's a little bit like flavored sparkling water, but obviously more "soda-y."
Rush - I still don't understand how something that is ultimately just cola can be marketed as "Delicious. Natural. Healthful," but hey, it's made with real ginseng, so it must be healthy.
Ramune - This Japanese soda has a unique package where once opened, the marble will act as a lid, to help preserve the carbonation longer.
Steaz - A lightly carbonated healthy soda, this time it's made from green tea and so promises all the same health benefits as a cup of green tea.
Cabernet de Bordeaux - Organic sparkling juices from france. Sort of like Vignette, but made with the grapes from Bordeaux. I personally enjoyed Vignette's flavor, but these were also nice.
Izze - I already enjoyed Izze before seeing it at the show, it's a nice "sparkling juice" that contains no refined sugar. For some reason we also picked up the blueberry, it's a great, unique flavor.

To view some of the products listed above, click on one of the images below:

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Fancy This: We Chat With The Barefoot Contessa

YumSugar — Tue, 30 Jan 2007 08:01:12 -0800

What do you know? It's time for even more Fancy Foods coverage! This time we've got a nice treat for all of you. Ina Garten, the Barefoot Contessa herself, was there and she kindly took a few minutes out of her schedule to answer a few of our questions. PartySugar was pretty star struck, but who could blame her, I mean this wasn't just any celebrity chef this was the Contessa!

2007 Winter Fancy Food Show - Part 3 (Alcohols & Mixers)

YumSugar — Mon, 29 Jan 2007 13:48:48 -0800

DSC_8290.JPGBelieve it or not, we're not finished with all of our Fancy Foods coverage. There are still a few trends that I wanted to discuss in a little more depth, so expect a few more posts throughout the week. Today it's the all things alcohol trend. Okay, so this isn't exactly a new thing, but it was definitely something I noticed a lot of. There were organic mixers, regular mixers; hand bottled infused alcohols, organic alcohols, new flavors and so much more.

One of my favorite things at the entire show was the Tamborine Mountain Distillery booth. At first I was just wild for founder Michael Ward (when you watch the video you'll find out why, he's so amazingly charismatic and fun!), but after tasting several of the infused liqueurs as well as the Australian Vodka Company vodkas, I was wild for their product too. They were all deliciously smooth (seriously, the Lemon Myrtle vodka was amazing) and beautiful (the liqueur bottles are all hand-painted). Besides, he's a great storyteller and like I said, I was wild for him too. To check out their history in Michael Ward's own words, watch the video (more show highlights below the video, so scroll down).

Two more products I liked, plus a gallery of others, read more

Another really interesting product was from 267 Infusions. Their hand-bottled "premium" spirits (which have been at all the latest celebrity parties) contain actual pieces of fruit inside of a perfectly pretty bottle. As they said, "their trick is how they get the fruit in, your trick is how you get it out." Normally, I would find something like this to be rather gimmicky. However their product stands up to the hype. Available in eight flavors (including olives & pearl onion vodka, and mango infused rum), a bottle of 267 will definitely bring a zing to your party.

Aside from flavored and infused liqueurs, there were several different mixer companies. One of the ones that stood out was Mixerz (which actually launched the first day of the show). I had an opportunity to speak with one of the founders (Al Williams) and he told me that the company was born due to the resurgence of retro cocktails and that he wanted to make a product that was "bar-chef quality - something that would be easy to make in the home or in the bars." Personally I enjoyed their Sour Apple mixer, it was nice and crisp and lacked the awful sweetness found in most apple mixers (also, it wasn't bright green). After the apple, I tasted the Bloody Mary mixer, and thought it was okay, but a tiny bit thick. Based on some of the things I overheard, it seems that fruit is the way to go.

Stirrings was also around. I've been a fan of their company for a while now. In addition to mixers, they now offer bar ingredients (grenadine, bitters, triple sec, etc.), as well as cocktail essences (rose martini, rosemary martini, etc.).

To go along with your mixers, there were also several organic alcohols. Most of the ones we saw were imported from England (such as Juniper Green and UK 5 Vodka). Both PartySugar and I found these to go down easily and both lacked a weird aftertaste. I definitely think I'd hunt these down again.

Overall there were many mixers (even Jelly Belly had some new slushy options) and many alcohols to taste. The biggest trend was definitely more all natural and organic products. And if you ask me, if all natural and organic means tastier and easier to drink, then I'm all for it.

Check out some pictures of the alcohols and mixers:

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2007 Winter Fancy Food Show - Part 2 (Goat Cheese!)

YumSugar — Wed, 24 Jan 2007 14:54:40 -0800

Trendspotting: Goat Cheese and Friends
Like I mentioned earlier, we ate a lot of cheese at the Fancy Food Show. But oddly enough, we ate more goat milk flavored items than cow milk flavored items. Now there's nothing wrong with goat cheese (in fact, I LOVE LOVE LOVE the stuff), but it seemed as if goat milk products far outnumbered cow milk products. And I know that goat milk has been a trend for a little while (in fact I'd seen a lot of these products before), but it was still surprising to see so many of them under one roof.

There were too many products to actually keep up with, but here are a few that garnered my taste bud's full attention:

Goat Milk Butter from Meyenberg
This was one of my favorite things at the show. It was a rich creamy European style butter but with a rich goaty flavor. I had to go back for seconds... actually thirds.
Creamy Goat Cheese from the Vermont Butter & Cheese Company
This was a nice and spreadable goat cheese that was available in three flavors: Classic, Roasted Red Pepper and Olive & Herb. I thought it might make a nice alternative to cream cheese in the morning, or tossed with pasta.

Four more and a photo gallery, so read more

Humboldt Fog from Cypress Grove Chevre
I was happy to see that my current favorite cheese was there in full force. It's creamy and lucious with a nice tangy flavor. I could eat this by the buckets full. I would probably end up with a pretty wild tummyache, but I bet I could do it. The other cheeses from Cypress Grove were also really nice, including the Lamb Chopper (a sheep's milk cheese) and the fresh herbed chevre.

Goat Milk Yogurt from Redwood Hill Farms
This yogurt is a nice offering for people who can't digest cow milk. However, I found it to be quite strong in flavor and rather "goaty." But, if you're into that, then seriously look for this stuff, it's delicious, but I just couldn't see myself eating an entire container in the morning. Oh, and they get bonus points because they stop milking their goats in the winter so that they can provide milk to the babies. It causes a "yogurt shortage" but it sounds well worth it to me.
Echo Mountain Cheese from Rogue Creamery
This blue cheese is actually a goat and cow milk blend. The result was creamy, yet potent. I'd say it's a truly American flavor and one that I want to eat over and over again.

Marin Chevre Blue from Rouge et Noir
Another goat style blue, but this time it was a goat milk Brie that has a traditional Roquefort culture mixed right into the milk. It had a nice tang, but was smooth and creamy from the goat's milk.

Sadly, I heard there was a goat milk frozen yogurt somewhere, but somehow I missed it. With over 1,100 booths, I guess that's easy to do, but I still would have enjoyed trying it.

Oh and word of advice to cheese companies, don't serve your cheese on an overly salty or potent cracker. How am I supposed to know what the cheese tastes like?

Check out some of the goat milk products we encountered:

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2007 Winter Fancy Food Show - Part 1

YumSugar — Wed, 24 Jan 2007 08:00:00 -0800

As you probably know, PartySugar and I have spent the last several days at the SF Fancy Food Show. Just so that you get the idea of what it's all about, let me start by saying that it's a bajillion square miles of food vendors, food packaging, gift baskets and anything and everything you can think of food related. Okay, so it wasn't really a bajillion square miles, but it was HUGE. There were over 1,000 companies from all over the world, hawking products ranging from homemade gingerbread to fiber water and everything in between.

While there we met some famous faces (Paula Deen, Martin Yan and Ina Garten) and some not as famous faces (Heidi Swanson from 101cookbooks.com and Cybele from Candyblog.com).

We also ate and drank everything. Cheese, chocolate, carica (a delicious chilean fruit), sparkling juice, sorbet, infused water, freeze dried fruit, infused liqueurs, drink mixers, cured meats, bacon, hot sauces, teas, pomegranate jelly beans and just about anything else people shoved into our faces. It was like food heaven - carpeted, flourescently lit food heaven.

Although there were over 80,000 items on display (I'm pretty sure I read that in one of the brochures), there were definitely some things we kept seeing over and over again. Some of the big trends were:

Anti-oxidants - the trend is still riding high, only this year it's goji berries
Infused waters and soda marketed for adults
Tea - especially a "blooming" tea
Goat milk products - move over little cows!
Infused liqueurs and easy drink mixers
Chocolate, chocolate, chocolate - actually seems that dark isn't a trend anymore, it's more of a standard

I'm working on posts for some of the big trends, so stay tuned. Also, we lured our amazing Sugar video producer with promises of free cured meats and candied apples, so stay tuned for some great video footage too! Now if only we had smell-o-vision, or better yet, taste-o-vision!

Meet Martin Yan

YumSugar — Tue, 23 Jan 2007 08:58:17 -0800

When I decided to go to the 2007 SF Fancy Foods Show, I had no idea that I would run into celebrity chefs. First there was Paula Deen and then a few minutes later, why look, it's Martin Yan.

Martin took time from his busy presentation schedule to answer a few of our questions. Check it out and let us know what you think! And boy does he look "maah-valous!"

Guess Who?

YumSugar — Mon, 22 Jan 2007 16:35:15 -0800

Guess who we saw at the SF Fancy Foods Show today?
To see who, just read more

Why it's Miss Paula Deen herself! She was surrounded by handlers and press people at the Peanut Shop booth at the Fancy Foods Festival here in San Francisco.

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Check Out What We Saw at the Fancy Food Show

YumSugar — Fri, 26 Jan 2007 07:59:34 -0800

Our fabulous Sugar video producer finally awoke from his cured meat and cheese induced coma and has created this great video overview of the 2007 Winter Fancy Food Show. Warning: you might want to put on a bib, there are some drool-worthy scenes ahead!