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CHEF'S NEW INGREDIENT - (MAY 31, 2008)
SABLEENESIn their efforts to more fully utilize food animals, chefs have been bravely experimenting, if not frightening their customers, with the introduction of such novelties as tongues, ears, feet and other "less popular" cuts of meat onto their fine dining menus.
The seafood department is getting no exemption from these trendy ideas about waste reform either. The greater dining public may not be ready for fins and eyeballs, nevertheless, fish carcasses are being reexamined for overlooked tasty bits that hitherto may have been flung from the backs of fishboats as seagull buffet.
From this search has come the sableene (pronounced like Mabeline), and it's an item that's not turning out to be a hard sell at all. ...
CONTINUE READING ...
Filed in FOOD/New Product _____________________________________________________
NEW PRODUCT - (May 27, 2008)
CAFE FEMENINO - COFFEE THAT COULD CHANGE A WOMAN'S LIFE
Canterbury Coffee has announced that they have just become a western Canadian distributor for
Café Femenino -- a very special coffee imported from Peru by a small West Coast company called
Organic Products Trading Company, or
OPTCO.
OPTCO was founded in 1989 by
Gay Smith and her husband
Garth, with the express goal of developing and importing high quality certified organic and fair trade coffees. Today their company is a recognized industry authority on certified organic coffee, but they do far more than just sell better coffee. They are also one of the pioneers of the Café Femenino project. ...
CONTINUE READING ....
Filed in FOOD/
New Products
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NEW PRODUCT - (
May 23, 2008)
AMBER WAVES OF ... FISH?Smoked rockfish is a specialty seafood product, that up till now, we’ve only seen processed and sold commercially out of Alaska, with the principle market being Japan. (We wouldn’t be surprised to hear however, that custom smokers in and around Tofino were making smoked rockfish to order for customers.)
Ocean Amber, however, is a new BC company that is attempting to make a go of marketing the product direct to consumers. Sisters
Sheryl and
Debbie Mann and their family are introducing the item to the public this weekend at the
EAT! Vancouver: Everything Food + Cooking Festival, and if you are attending you'll have the opportunity to try a slice. . ...
CONTINUE READING ...
Filed in FOOD/New Products
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NEW PRODUCT - (
May 21, 2008)
SOUP'S ON AT HAPPY PLANET
Happy Planet is a privately owned, community-minded, eco-aware and health conscious BC company known for selling fresh, organic juices.
Now they have extended their line to soups, and having sampled a few of them we think they are worthy of a recommendation.
The soups come in six versions: Berkeley Butternut Squash, Moroccan Chick Pea, Armenian Red Lentil, Louisiana Corn Chowder, Tuscan Tomato and Thai Coconut. “Like the juices their labels boast of many trendy virtues: low fat, low salt, vegetarian, gluten, stabilizer and preservative free, and in most cases also dairy free. Four of the six varieties have even earned the right to be labeled “organic.” ...
CONTINUE READING...
Filed in FOOD/New Products ...
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NEW PRODUCT- (
May 20, 2008)
VITALA MILK Thanks to a local dairy, it’s now possible to drink your fish.
Well, maybe not the “fish” but the ingredient that has had many people increasing the amount of seafood in their diet despite concerns over mercury levels and declining species sustainability levels. That ingredient would be docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) Omega-3, an essential fatty acid believed to promote the healthy development of brain, heart, eyes and nerves. ...
CONTINUE READING ...
Filed in FOOD/New Products ... and ... SHOP/Local Products.
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IN SEASON AT THE FARMERS MARKET - (April 24, 2008)
KALE BUDSKale buds are now in season and the
UBC Farm Market has them for sale. Market organizers provided the recipe below from restaurateur
John Bishop’s latest cookbook. According to John, kale buds form after the kale plant has fully matured, when it ‘goes to seed. Frost brings out their sweetness, hence they are at their best after they have had a little winter frost. It is the yellow seed that provides all the goodness. Kale contains the highest levels of beta-carotene of any green vegetable. ...
CONTINUE READING ...
Filed in FOOD/Peak of the Season ... and ... FOOD/Farmers Markets.
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TRENDS AND ISSUES - (April 14, 2008)
LOCALVORE OR JUST LOCO?Apparently in a bid to prove they are hip to the trends, we hear that
Kraft Foods, of all people, are preparing a major ad campaign promoting themselves as localvores.
The other astounding part to this rumour is that Chef
David Hawksworth has been signed to be their spokesperson.
We’re not sure what this portends. Does it mean that Hawksworth is going to have to say he stocks up on Kraft Dinner and Oreo Cakesters? Or will he merely be dreaming up recipe cards using local ingredients paired with Velveeta and Triscuits? ...
CONTINUE READING.
Filed in FOOD/Trends and Issues.
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PEAK OF THE SEASON - (March 19, 2008)
HOLY, HOT CROSS BUNS!
What would Easter be without
hot cross buns, the food item that is as traditionally associated with the holiday as chocolate bunnies and coloured eggs, but with more religious justification. At least the
historic sweet bun. filled with currants and leavened with yeast, displays a characteristic cross on its top crust as a symbol of the crucifixion.
But considering the usual insiped samples available in supermarket bakeries this week, the challenge is where to find the best ones, without going to the trouble of baking them yourself, of course. ...
CONTINUE READING ...
Filed in FOOD/Peak of the Season.
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PEAK OF THE SEASON - (March 18, 2008)
THOMAS HAAS CREATES CHOCOLATE TREATS FOR EASTER
Now, how cute is this?
The little chocolate car and driver, created by Chocolatier
Thomas Haas, is just one of the many whimsical (and deliciously edible) designs on sale for Easter at Haas' workshop and retail store in North Vancouver. We think this one would be equally appropriate as a present for someone who has just passed their Drivers License test.
Check out some of the other designs
here, two of which (35-lb. dinosaur-sized Easter eggs), were created specifically as fund-raisers for the North Shore Rescue.
Filed in FOOD/
Peak of the Season.
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NEW PRODUCT - (March 10, 2008)
WOULD WOMEN RATHER HAVE SEX OR CHOCOLATE ... With their bacon?
Two new items argue the case for both sides of that question.
In the heavy breathing corner is a new book by
Sarah Katherine Lewis entitled
Sex and Bacon: Why I Love Things that are Very, Very Bad for Me.
...
CONTINUE READING ...
Filed in FOOD/
New Products.
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FARMERS MARKETS - (March 10, 2008)
RED-FLESHED APPLES - THE APPLE OF THE FUTURE?
By Harry Burton
Red-fleshed apples are truly the apple of the future.
We grow 23 varieties at Apple Luscious Organic Orchard on Salt Spring Island and they are great to eat. The excitement of biting into the apples, the great taste and the novelty is amazing. You never have to encourage a child to eat them. Kids love them.
Not only that, but the red colour is an indication that the fruit has extra antioxidants, in the form of anthocyanins, that are great health benefit. I predict that red-fleshed apples will become the apples of the future, in the same way that red grapefruit has displaced white grapefruit as the common type. They taste even better than they look. The first reaction to biting into the red flesh is always “WOW”. ... CONTINUE READING ...
Filed in FOOD/Farmers Markets.
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