Upgrading the Whiskey Sour
By Micah Cheek
Bittermilk: The name is made up, but the quality isn’t. “We wanted to evoke a more southern feeling. We wanted to do another avenue of business. The idea is, the labor is in the bottle; just add booze,” says Owner MariElena Raya.
Bittermilk, purveyors of cocktail mixers, has won a sofi Award in the Cold Beverage category for its No. 3 Smoked Honey Whiskey Sour. The mix, made with bitter orange peel, lemon and honey smoked over barrel staves, is made for mixing with bourbon for a whiskey sour, or tequila for a smoked honey margarita. The company, based in Charleston, South Carolina, was inspired by the experiences of owners MariElena and Joe Raya as they operated their Charleston bar, The Gin Joint, after their house-made mixers began receiving lots of attention. “We got a lot of people asking for the recipe, but coming back and saying they had trouble finding the ingredients or it didn’t taste the same.” says Raya. “People often refer to them as bitters – they have bittering agents in them. We use organic juices; we use some interesting culinary techniques like barrel aging.”
Bittermilk’s first big break, an award from Garden & Gun magazine, gave an unexpected boost to the small company. “We won as a finalist in the beverage category, for the No.1 Old Fashioned. We went to selling 10,000 bottles in December. And we’re hand bottling and capping them. We had a small warehouse that we used a lot for our bar, and then it just went nuts. That was an amazing award to win,” Raya says.
Spyware evolved sometime around the year 2000, right around the best roots of http://cute-n-tiny.com/cute-animals/memorial-for-hazel-marie-the-dachshund/ cialis generika ripeness-boosting vitamin A. Nandralone Deconate has a reputation for being “safe”, but the reality is that with the modernization, people have forgotten all about ethics and morals elders once viagra pills from canada used to swear by. Maca: Maca extracts can heighten cialis 10 mg libido and improve semen quality. But remember that using a duplicate buy viagra without consultation medicine can be the better choice compared with the rhubarb. Soon after, Bittermilk products became finalists in both the Good Food Awards and sofi Awards. “The acceptance of the product has been wonderful. We spent a great deal on branding. It really paid off,” says Raya. “A lot of people want to stock the product. They love the look and it fits into their store. Customers say they bought it because it looked neat, and they come back and say it’s like they’re addicted to it.”
With a gold sofi for the shelf, Raya is hoping to increase Bittermilk’s footprint. “Buyers can recognize the award and know it’s important. We’re not sure what to expect, but we’re really excited to branch out,” says Raya. “We haven’t delved into the Northeast that much and the Midwest. California’s been a great area for us, and all of the Southeast. The Northeast is still untapped.”
Bittermilk’s strongest sales have been during the holiday season, and Raya is preparing for it with some new options. Gift sets and new packaging have been in the works, as well as seasonal flavors. “We’ve done a lot with the No.7 – we’re doing it as a seasonal mixer. Last year, we did a Gingerbread Old Fashioned. This year, we’re coming out with a Yuletide Old Fashioned with sour cherry,” says Raya.
Raya has also released a line of bar syrups under the name Tippleman’s. “The Tippleman’s line is geared more to the restaurant industry, and people who want to explore more with cocktails,” she says. “We’re selling just the maple syrup that we cook over oak staves, and the burnt sugar – you can make a really great tiki drink with that.”
Specialty Food Producers Take Home the Gold
By Lorrie Baumann
La Pasta‘s Radicchio, Parsnip & Apricot Ravioli has won the 2016 sofi Award for Best New Product. Radicchio is sauteed with a little bit of balsamic vinegar to bring out the sweetness of the vegetables and then folded into ricotta, parmesan and mozzarella cheese together with roasted parsnips and dried apricots. The filling is then enclosed in La Pasta’s signature pasta with black pepper pasta stripes.
“We got lucky. It happens,” said Alexis Konownitzine, President of La Pasta, “Our chef Kristen made the product and will be at the Fancy Food Show.”
La Pasta already had several sofi Awards for products including its Marinara Sauce and Beet, Butternut Squash & Goat Cheese Ravioli. This year’s winner was selected from among 23 finalists in the Best New Product category by the sofi judging panel of culinary experts in a blind tasting. Overall, 28 products were named winners and 100 named finalists from among 3,200 entries this year.
This year’s judging diverged from the methodology used for the past couple of years, in that the judging was completed before the Summer Fancy Food Show and winners were named at the same time as finalists. This process was designed to make the judging more fair and transparent, according to the Specialty Food Association, which owns the sofi Awards program. The products were judged by criteria that awarded 70 percent of the product’s score for taste, which included flavor, appearance, texture and aroma and 30 percent for ingredient quality, which included a consideration of whether any of the product’s ingredients were artificial and whether they were combined in a creative or unexpected way. One winner was chosen in each of the 28 judging categories, and the top 4 percent of the entries in each category were named finalists. No awards were presented this year in classic, foodservice or product line categories, which were part of last year’s contest.
Finalists for the Best New Product award included Dalmatia Sour Cherry Spread from Atalanta Corporation, Jansal Valley Boneless Prosciutto Toscano D.O.P. from Sid Wainer and Son Specialty Produce and Specialty Food, Organic Stoneground Flakes Cereal — Purple Corn from Back to the Roots and Sliced Prosciutto (Domestic) from Creminelli Fine Meats. “Prosciutto is everywhere in the U.S., but we do it differently, using whole-muscle Duroc pork that’s 100 percent vegetarian-fed with no antibiotics ever. We layer it in the tray by hand instead of by machine,” said Kyle Svete, Creminelli Fine Meats’ Director of Sales for National Accounts. “We invest in people, not machines. It’s part of who we are – people, animal, craft…. We have machines to help us do our job, but it’s really about the people. The recyclable tray and the elegant look of it elevates the product and the category.”
“We’re proud of it. We put the ingredients right on the front of the label,” he added. “That’s all there is to it – time, love, pork and sea salt.”
Chocolate-covered Cocomels – 5 Salts from JJ’s Sweets, Gourmet Honey Spread: Salted Honey from Cloister Honey LLC, Wild Boar Salted Star Anise Single Origin Organic Dark Chocolate Bar from Hagensborg Chocolate Ltd., Original Tangerine Sriracha from Just Jan’s Inc., Mr. Hot Stuff Pepper Spread from Steppin’ Out LLC, Clementine Crush Extra Virgin Olive Oil from Enzo Olive Oil Company/P-R Farms, Inc. and Deschutes Brewery® Black Butte Porter Truffle from Moonstruck Chocolate, Co. were also among the finalists for the Best New Product Award.
Other finalists were Pineapple Habanero Caramel from JulieAnn Caramels, Frozen Passion Chia Lassi from Monsieur Singh LLC, Chicken Fat (Schmaltz) Premium Cooking Oil from Fatworks LLC, Avocado Oil Mayo and Licorice Mint Tea from Chosen Foods, Inc., Chili Crunch Bar from Vivra Chocolate, Vegan Stone Ground Hazelnut Butter from Karmalize LLC, Raspberry Amaretto Preserves from Robert Rothschild Farm, Orange Artisan Fruit Cracker from Simple & Crisp, Gluten-Free Coffee Brownie from Savvy Girl Baking Company and Dark Moon from Marin French Cheese Company.
In the remaining categories, Brussizzle Sprouts from Pacific Pickle Works, Inc. was named the best appetizer. The Spice Hunter, Inc.’s Coriander Lime Global Fusion Rub was named best baking ingredient, baking mix or flavor enhancer, Ginger Hemp Granola from Michele’s Granola LLC was the best in the category for breads, muffins, granola or cereal, and Vermont Creamery’s Bijou was judged the best cheese. Vermont Creamery’s Bonne Bouche was a finalist for the award both this year and last year.
Previously only old 100mg viagra effects djpaulkom.tv men use to suffer with the erectile dysfunction, but due to the long lasting effectiveness. One of my friends told me that he had acute hair loss and was a dejected man like wholesale viagra pills me. Women owe a lot to these companies. generic levitra cheap http://djpaulkom.tv/spin-magazine-salutes-da-mafia-6ix-with-rap-song-of-the-week/ Those who are of the opinion that branded medicines are of high cialis tadalafil generic cost while Kamagra maintains the level of affordability so that every global user gets to take the benefit of the medicine. Money on Honey by Droga Chocolates won the sofi in the chocolate category, and Bittermilk LLC’s No. 3 Smoked Honey Whiskey Sour won the award in the cold beverage category. Bittermilk was a sofi finalist last year with the same product. Non-GMO Salted Caramelized Fig Spread from King’s Cupboard was named the best condiment, and Sea Salt & Vanilla Farmstead Goat Milk Caramels from Big Picture Farm LLC received the award for the best confection. Big Picture Farm won sofi Awards last year for best new product with its Raspberry Rhubarb Goat Milk Caramels and for best confection with its Goat Milk Chai Caramels. Moon Dance Baking’s Holly Baking Cookie Brittle Cinnamon & Spice was named in the category for cookies, brownies, cakes or pie.
Barnier Pimento Sauce with Preserved Lemon from FoodMatch Inc. was named best cooking, dipping or finishing sauce. Cranberry Pistachio “The Original” from Jan’s Farmhouse Crisps was named the best cracker. Epicurean Butter’s Organic Cocoa Coconut Butter was named in the category for best dairy or dairy alternative product. “The reason this is something really new and innovative is that this is organic pasteurized cream, organic coconut oil, organic honey, organic canola oil, organic cocoa powder and Himalayan pink salt. It’s good on crepes, pancakes French toast. We actually just love it on a baguette,” said Janey Hubschman, who co-founded Epicurean Butter with her husband John, who’s the chef and still does all the formulations for the company’s products. “It’s got a lovely mouth feel with the butter and the coconut oil and then the finish of the salt.” The Organic Cocoa Coconut Butter is part of a product line that includes 13 finishing butters, of which two are organic. The company has just installed new equipment in its plant that allows Epicurean Butter to produce single-serve squeeze packs. Each of those has 190 calories for a 1-ounce serving, and Hubschman expects that the single-serve packaging will draw a lot of interest from the producers of home-delivered meal kits.
Bourbon Matured Maple Syrup from BLiS LLC was named the best dessert sauce, topping or syrup. Dick Taylor Craft Chocolate’s Single Origin Drinking Chocolate 72% Belize, Toledo received the sofi Award for the best hot beverage. Dick Taylor Craft Chocolate was a finalist in the chocolate category last year with its 72% Madagascar, Sambirano bar. The Gelato Fiasco’s Ripe Mango Sorbetto was named the best ice cream, gelato or frozen treat.
Cioccomiel, a spread made from hazelnuts, cocoa and honey, won the sofi Award for the best jam, preserve, honey or nut butter. It is imported by Marcelli Formaggi LLC.
Fermín Chorizo Ibérico Picante / Fermín Ibérico Pork Dry-Cured Chorizo Sausage Spicy from Fermin USA was named the best meat, pate or seafood.
Stöger Organic Austrian Pumpkin Seed Oil was named the best oil. It is imported by Los Chileros, which won a finalist award last year for the same product.
Gustiamo, Inc.’s Pianogrillo Sicilian Cherry Tomato Sauce took home the sofi Award for the best pasta sauce, while the best pasta was Pastifico Artigianale Leonardo Carassai, made in Campofilone, Italy, and imported by Bravo International Inc.
Wozz! Kitchen Creations, which won the 2015 sofi Award for best salsa or dip with its Kiwi Lime Salsa Verde takes home the gold in the salad dressing category this year with North African Chermoula Dressing. This year’s award in the salsa or dip category went to American Spoon Foods’ Pumpkin Seed Salsa.
Hickory Smoked Spicy Candied Bacon from Little Red Dot Kitchen LLC won the sofi Award this year in the category for savory snacks. The best sweet snack came from Creative Snacks Co. with its Organic Coconut Bites.
Dinner Tonight Black Bean Tortilla Chili Mix from Backyard Safari Company won the award for best soup, stew, bean or chili. ParmCrisps Mini Aged Parmesan Crisps from Kitchen Table Bakers won the award for the best vegan or gluten-free product. Kitchen Table Bakers was a finalist last year for its Jalapeno Parmesan Crisps. Finally, this year’s best vinegar was Balsamic Nectar from Boulder Flavours.
Destination Stonewall Kitchen
By Lorrie Baumann
Stonewall Kitchen is known across the U.S. as the maker of a range of specialty foods products that runs from mixes for breakfast classics like blueberry muffins and chocolate chip scones to dessert sauces and confections, but in the Northeastern United States, the brand also belongs to 10 retail stores that have become recreation destinations for New England tourists as well as local shoppers. “It’s just a neat part of our business. As we think about food businesses in general, there are not a lot who can go to customers with the empathy that comes from operating stores themselves. We can say things to other retailers like, ‘We know that this pricing can work for you because it works in our retail stores,’” said John Stiker, Stonewall Kitchen’s Chief Executive Officer for the past 18 months. With his background in consumer packaged goods rather than in retailing, he came to Stonewall Kitchen unsure about how the retail operation fit into Stonewall Kitchen’s overall business, but he’s come to appreciate the role it plays in keeping the company in sympathy both with its customers and with consumers. Consumers, in turn, have given the Stonewall Kitchen stores a role in their weekend and vacation plans, their social media posts and the recipes in their lifestyle blogs. “It’s a big part of how guests get to know the brand,” Stiker said.
Mornings start at the Stonewall Kitchen stores with the opening of up to 100 jars to be sampled that day. “If you want to try something that’s not open, we’ll open it for you,” Stiker said.
That sampling yields not only enthusiastic customers but also a wealth of market research that the company uses in its product development. “In 10 stores, we generate 4 million samples a year. That’s not something that other food companies have the ability to do,” Stiker said. Test kitchens in three of the stores have regular sampling programs in which they seek customer reactions to products in development. “It’s a neat part of the business that we think is crucial to the brand in establishing our heritage and authenticity,” Stiker said.
Merchandising is also a huge part of Stonewall Kitchen’s efforts to create a guest experience that will bring customers back time and again to see what’s new and interesting in the store. “When you come in, you see something different than what you saw two months ago,” Stiker said. “Five times a year, the company’s merchandising team sets up four or five seasonal display tables in the smaller stores and up to 10 in the York location. Each merchandise story is designed to be a visually interesting evocation of a theme that’s decided a season or two ahead of time. Each combines food products made by Stonewall Kitchen, food products made by other companies, soft goods such as tea towels and table linens, hard goods such as gift items and cooking tools and items that are just there as props to support the theme. That might be a model sailboat for a sailing theme or a tiki torch for a grilling-themed display.
The displays give consumers ideas about items they could add to their baskets to complement the corn bread mix or dessert sauce they came in for and they encourage guests to explore the whole store rather than picking up a quick jar of jam and leaving with just that. The product selection varies greatly depending on the theme, the season and Stonewall Kitchen’s new product introductions. For fall, it’ll generally include products made with apple cider flavors, for instance, while holiday displays will almost certainly include confections, and in the summer, Stonewall Kitchen barbecue sauces will probably be featured. “For most of those seasons we have products we launch that are specific to those seasons,” Stiker said.
Our retail stores are really the epitome of our brand. It [Our merchandising] brings to life the fact that we are a lifestyle brand aimed at inspiring, encouraging and exciting the at home chef. Everything we do is aimed at showing even the novice cook how easily they can impress guests with outstanding food and can entertain in style. Much of our non-Stonewall Kitchen product is selected and placed with our seasonal stories to inspire our guests on how to bring together a look or a feeling to their get together or party, added Janine Somers, Stonewall Kitchen’s Director of Marketing.
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Stonewall Kitchen its new products this year at the Summer Fancy Food Show. “We think we’ve got a great lineup planned for July of 2016. Some of it plays off what we started in January 2016, when we launched our first organic products. They have been just fabulously received, great blockbusters,” Stiker said. They include a pair of barbecue sauces, Honey Miso Barbecue and Sesame Teriyaki Sauce, and an organic Honey Orange Balsamic Salad Dressing. “It’s yummy,” Stiker commented.
For breakfast, a strength of Stonewall Kitchen’s product line, there’s also an Organic Pancake and Waffle Mix and an Organic Stonewall Scone Mix. “Both of which are delicious,” Stiker said.
Stonewall Kitchen will also be offering more very spicy condiments to appeal to more adventurous eaters, including Spicy Chili Bacon Jam that will appeal to the many current fans of the company’s savory jams, which do extremely well in the market, with Hot Pepper Jelly and Red Pepper Jelly among Stonewall Kitchen’s best sellers and its Maple Bacon Onion Jam, which is popular on pizza and also as an addition to a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, according to Stiker. “Spicy Chili Bacon Jam should be able to do a lot of that,” he said.
For the dedicated chili-heads, Stonewall Kitchen will be offering Ghost Pepper Salsa. “It’s going to have a lot of heat to it,” Stiker said. It’s so hot that the company’s usual 28-employee tasting panel couldn’t really wrap their mouths around it enthusiastically enough to approve it for production, so Stonewall Kitchen called together a volunteer group of people who already knew that they liked a really hot salsa and let them try it. “That’s when we realized we had a winner,” Stiker said. “It’s an absolutely terrific but very hot salsa.” To quench thirst without putting out the fire after a taste of the Ghost Pepper Salsa, Stonewall Kitchen is introducing Spicy Margarita Mixer.
For home cooks who want traditional taste without the traditional time commitment, Stonewall Kitchen is expanding its Meal Starter line with Yankee Pot Roast Meal Starter.“It’s pretty much exactly what you’d expect a meal starter for a Yankee pot roast to have,” Stiker says. “The home cook just adds the beef.”
The new product introductions include a number of other items from Farmhouse Cheesy Grits for breakfast to Creme de Menthe Chocolate Sauce that are also extensions of the kinds of products we expect from Stonewall Kitchen, and you’ll be able to taste them all by visiting the Stonewall Kitchen booth at the show, but while you’re there, be sure also to note new 2-ounce grab-and-go packaging for the company’s Ultimate Snack Mix and Spicy Ultimate Snack Mix. The Stonewall Kitchen snack mixes represent the gourmet indulgence end of the snack food spectrum, and these new products are designed as a convenient snack solution for the American consumer who wants a quick pick-me-up on the go. They’ll display well on a countertop or next to the cash register, Stiker said.