Twice a year, the Fancy Food Show gives restaurateurs, retailers, and the press a chance to check out 180,000 specialty products from 81 countries, with everything from farmstead cheeses and organic crackers to exotic spices and rare liqueurs available to sample.
This intrepid eater walked the aisles for hours to bring you the top ten tastes of this summer's show, from companies like Tillen Farms, Shakedown Spice, Danielle Snacks, Beehive Cheese Company, and Raw Ice Cream Company.
1 Don't be fooled by the jar! The pickled vegetables from Tillen Farms are crunchy, fresh, and perfect for your next Bloody Mary or martini. The Crispy Snap Peas were one of my all-around favorite tastes of the day.
2 Danielle Market's all-natural, vacuum-fried fruit and vegetable chips are much more crispy and flavorful than you'd expect from a "fruit and vegetable chip." I could become addicted to this okra.
3 Shakedown Spice is so named because as soon as its chef-inventor gave his friends a taste, he started getting requests for the mix of curry, dill, garlic, and other savories. Put it on popcorn and you'll understand why he decided to start charging.
4 If za'atar is old hat for you, here's another Middle Eastern/North African spice to try: sumac. It's the key to adding lemony flavor to many dishes, from everyday hummus to the Palestinian chicken dish Musakan.
5 These GreeNoodles are made with organic moroheiya (a.k.a. mulukhiya or mallow leaf), a leafy ancient Egyptian plant loaded with fiber, calcium, beta-carotine, and vitamins A, B1, B2, and B9. They're uber-healthy and they taste like...noodles!
6 Gluten free does not have to be a bummer when there are options like these nutrient-rich flours from Peru made from ancient grains like amaranth, mesquite, quinoa, and purple corn.
7 These unique goat and sheep milk cheeses from family-run Fromagerie Ottavi of Corsica are worth seeking out for their tangy, fresh, herbal flavors. (Those are Corsican flags flying!)
8 Utah's Beehive Cheese Company scores with unusual flavors like Seahive (sea salt and honey), Barely Buzzed (espresso and lavender), and Big John's Cajun Rubbed.
9 Raw Ice Cream Company manages to transform raw cashews, coconut, agave nectar, cocoa butter, and natural flavoring into a tasty frozen treat, minus the dairy, soy, gluten, eggs, preservatives, and fillers. I arrived skeptical and left impressed.
10 Machu Picchu Trading takes ancient Peruvian grains like quinoa and amaranth and dips them in dark chocolate for a tasty treat with a (tiny) bit of nutrition to boot.
Stay tuned for more reports from the show, including a post on my favorite drinks!
From: Milla | 7/6/10 at 11:14 am
Happy to see Peru getting the culinary props it deserves!
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