"Natural" news and stories

For years now, I've been hearing about the Fancy Food Show. I'd see clips of it on the Food Network, or read about it in the New York Times, until this week, it had never been something I got to experience personally. And now that I've lived through my first one, I'm struggling to find a way to write about it.

You see, it's a big event. Thousands of people are there, selling, buying, tasting and sipping. I only sampled a fraction of the available goods and by the end of each day all I wanted was a crunchy green salad to serve as a simple foil to all the chocolate, cheese, cookies, crackers, salsas, jams and gourmet popcorn I had munched.

I discovered that herbal flavors are the New! Big! Thing! in sweets, beverages and vinaigrettes, so expect to see lots rosemary, lavender and mint in both sweet and savory items going forward. Another popular flavor combination I encountered was Pear-Ginger. It is a lovely marriage and I'm looking forward to seeing more of it on the store shelves. My gluten-free friends will be happy to hear that lots of companies are working on producing the best in gluten-free cookies, crackers and breads (I'll have more specifics in another post). And lastly, everyone is looking for a way to make their products more natural, organic and artisanal.

I'll have more on the show soon, including specific products that I loved. I'm still working my way through a lot of the samples I brought home with me (the image above is my coffee table after I unpacked my suitcase). Don't forget to check out Kat's Day One Favorites!

Sister site Green Daily has a great new feature: the Sustainability Series is composed of several videos about production and consumption of organic food in America. GD contributor Alexia Prichard interviews several people in the environmental and sustainable food sectors in order to uncover some oft-unknown details about organic and "natural" foods. They're full of depressing facts, like that most food travels, on average, 2500 miles before we get to eat it.

Prichard acknowledges that the USDA organic regulation system is a confusing one, and that most consumers - even otherwise environmentally-conscious ones - are frustrated and baffled by the labels emblazoned on their food. "Organic," "free range," and "natural" are terms that we once thought we understood, but that now take on entirely different meanings within the confines of the USDA's rules.

Learn about "re-localizing" your diet and how to overcome challenges that keep you from getting the healthiest, most local food you can.

Larabar specializes in making healthy, delicious snack bars from a blend of fruits, nuts and spices. Their energy bars are completely unprocessed, uncooked, non GMA, gluten free, dairy free, soy free, vegan and kosher - and despite their simple makeup (each has less than six ingredients) they taste great thanks to the natural sweetness of the high-quality ingredients that they use.

Last year, they added Lemon Bar and Cinnamon Roll to their lineup of bars, bringing the total number of bars in the line to ten for a few months, but the reaction was so positive that they just announced that another pair of new flavors are being launched on March 5th: Key Lime Pie and Pistachio. Hopefully, the Key Lime Pie will have the same bright, almost juicy flavor that the excellent Lemon Bar does.

The other recent addition to Larabar's offerings is the Jocalat line. Jocalat has evolved from the Maya bars that the company was offering last year and are a more candy-like product than the standard Larabars because they use fair trade certified organic chocolate in each one, in addition to their standard fruits and nuts. The bars are available in Chocolate, Chocolate Orange, Chocolate Coffee and Chocolate Mint (the coffee is my favorite) and each has just 190 calories, in addition to being entirely organic, high in fiber, protein, good fats and antioxidants.

Stop what you're doing. Kraft is about to revolutionize the cheese industry with - are you ready? - parmesan cheese that comes in a ready-to-grate block form.

Shocking, I know.

The product, called Kraft Grate-It-Fresh Natural Parmesan Cheese, was actually first introduced last year at the 2006 Food Marketing Institute (FMI) Supermarket Convention, and was available at some east coast distributors as of last November. Now, much to the chagrin of those who like their parmesan cheese to be fresh and not prepackaged, it is now nationally available.

The "natural" cheese block is packed inside a disposable, plastic grater that utilizes a "clockwise twisting motion [to keep] the cheese in place" until ready to use. Kraft is promoting it as the perfect way "to bring the restaurant experience home... without the hassle of pulling out your grater." It is aimed at those who are looking to shave off those three seconds it takes to get out your own grater (a kitchen gadget that is so inexpensive and so handy that even dorm-dwelling college students own them) and use it with a fresh chunk of parmesan.

Kate, the Accidental Hedonist, noted the same thing when she reviewed this product just after its initial introduction and was not a fan. Others, however, liked its convenience and child-friendly usability, so there appears to be a market for the product. In the long run, a cheese grater (nondisposable) will run you less than $10. You can buy the Grate-It-Fresh in a 7oz. size for $4.99 and you'll have to pay for that disposable grater every time - and you'll still have to have a regular cheese grater at home for other uses.

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If you check out the labels on natural food products, you'll see agave syrup listed as an ingredient more and more often. Agave syrup - sometimes called agave nectar - is a natural sweetener that is marketed as a healthy alternative to processed sugars, as well as an alternative to honey, corn syrup and similar liquid sweeteners. The syrup is made from blue agave, a type of succulent, cactus-like plant that is also used in the production of tequila. The thick liquid comes in light and dark forms, the latter being unfiltered, and tastes similar to honey.

So what makes this syrup "healthier" than other sweeteners? It has a very low Glycemic Index (GI) value, so although it is noticeably sweeter than sugar, it doesn't cause the same type of "sugar rush" that other sweets do. Table sugar has a GI value of 68, on a scale from 1 to 100, while honey comes in at 55. Agave syrup has a value of around 15.

Agave syrup can be used in baked goods, with a reduction in the amount of liquid in the recipe to account for its presence. Starting with a recipe that already calls for honey and substituting it in is a good way to start, but as a general rule, you'll will need to spend some time playing around with your favorite recipes to get them to work, especially if you want to substitute it into a recipe that calls for crystallized sugars. The syrup will dissolve easily in liquids and is a good choice for sweetening iced tea or lemonade.