More Fancy Food Show – Winter 2009

I promised to tell you our favorite items from the Fancy Food Show so here they are.

Our Favorites

Baconnaise
Let me start with the obvious. Yes, they were there. Justin and Dave, the Baconnaise boys. If you haven’t read tangobaby’s escapades with Baconnaise yet, click here.

Image by Baconnaise

Their booth took on the atmosphere of a tailgate party put on by fraternity brothers. First it was BaconSalt, and then it was Baconnaise, now it is Baconnaise Lite – now there’s an oxymoron. The big surprise is that Baconnaise does not contain bacon, only bacon flavoring. I think it might even be a vegetarian product. Believe or not, they are kosher certified. Now that takes chutzpah! When it became obvious that I was a bona fide groupie, either Justin or Dave (don’t know which), reached behind the counter and handed me: (drumroll) Bacon lip balm! Tangobaby, I scored a second one for you. It’s the perfume you were looking for!

California Wine Wafers
On the other end of the scale are the very elegant wine wafers by California Wine Wafers. These beautiful, crispy, light, delicious wafers have a four hundred year history starting in a spa resort town in the Czech Republic. They are delicious with wine. They are beautifully packaged, see top photo; they would make a lovely hostess gift. Their website has dessert recipes including one called Nutella Light Torte, where the only ingredients are Nutella, whipping cream, and cinnamon-hazelnut wine wafers. I bet that’s delicious!

California Porridge
Every one of us who tasted the California Porridge by Our Daily Grain loved it. The combination of the steel cut oats, wheat berries, rolled oats, sunflower and flax seeds create a great flavor and texture. The plump, nutty wheat berries made it especially memorable. The best part is that is comes in ready-to-eat individual serving containers. Just heat and serve!

Photo by Our Daily Grain

The porridge has no sugar in it, even diabetics can enjoy this product, but we were given the option to add maple syrup flakes. They were great because they added a great crunchy texture and just the right amount of sweetness.

Other Favorites
I polled my co-reviewers for their favorites. They found lots of interesting booths that I wish I didn’t miss.

Linda loved the sweet, yet spicy, Peppadews , stuffed with cheese, which looks like a small red pepper or large grape grown in South Africa.

Stephanie and Edith thought the Cantaré Foods' booth with the Spanish tapas were out of this world. Their national sales manager, Jim, made hand-pulled mozzarella cheese. Edith said “they had the best tasting samples from the whole show; I think I tried four different things there.”

Photo by Stephanie

Stephanie also enjoyed the Agave Dream line. “Two dental hygienists from Southern California scraped together their savings to launch delicious ice cream and granitas that have only agave nectar as sweetening. Apparently agave nectar has a very low glycemic index; even diabetics can eat this ice cream. Nicole and I sampled the chocolate and the pomegranate granite; both were delicious.”

Photo by Stephanie

Stephanie also visited the Strauss Family Creamery. They just launched soft-serve vanilla ice cream...”delicious, and I'm not a soft-serve fan!”

Interesting Combinations of Flavors
RoseAnn’s and my favorite combination of flavors is found in the sea salt chocolate caramels from Lula’s Chocolates. Even though it was at the end of five hours of continuous tasting, these chocolates truly stood out. The combination of the soft caramels, dark chocolate, with a few crunchy crystals of salt was magic. They offer a nine-piece box of caramels, each with a different artisan salt. That would be a fun tasting with some wine!

Photo by Lula's Chocolates

Just to prove that we are a diverse group, Jodi thought it as a dreadful idea. "That was such a great piece of chocolate, why would you ruin it by adding salt to it?" Nor did she like the lavender vanilla gelato: “I would use it as a face cream”. (Dakota Angel and I loved it.) Just when I chalked Jodi off as someone who didn’t like new flavors, she tried and liked the wasabi cheese. Now I wish I tried it.

Photo by Stephanie

Vosges chocolates, Stephanie’s favorite, offered a bacon-flavored (!) chocolate which was wildly popular.

The Cheese from Britain booth offered a cheese called “Red Dragon” which is made with mustard seeds and ale. My friend Jodi pointed it out to me and told me that she had it when she was in Wales last year. Because cheese is so filling and rich, I was careful not to taste too many cheeses because the day was still young and I wanted to taste many, many more foods. I was leery, but I decided to try it anyway. I liked the crunchy mustard seeds and the little kick in the flavor but I didn’t taste the ale at all. I assumed it was overpowered by the mustard until I realized that the ale arrives as an aftertaste. I think foodies call it a finish because “aftertaste” has a negative connotation. Mustard and ale are a great combination, especially if you add some celery, crackers, and a glass of beer.

Another interesting flavor combination that Jodi and I enjoyed was in the onion jam in merlot by Huerto Azul:

It was delicious: I think this would be great inside baked brie!

If this didn’t send your head spinning, next post I will write about the most beautiful, most unusual products, and about some of the beverages.