"Hot"test Selection at the Show

In 2006 Stephanie Marcon had just graduated from the Pastry Program at Greystone, the west coast's arm of the Culinary Institute of America. She interned with famed chocolatier Michael Recchiuti before deciding to launch her own line of chocolates. (In the last paragraph of this post is a coupon code to receive a 15% discount, read on !)

The result? Coco-Luxe Chocolates. Coco-Luxe is a unique line of chocolates based upon Stephanie's childhood favorite treats. In her own words, “I saw and tasted dozens of super premium chocolates but not many that celebrate classic American flavors,” says Stephanie. “I decided to make high quality chocolate in retro American flavors that are whimsical, fun and delicious – better than what you remember having as a child. I think of it as comfort food in a high end form.”

And, she does not disappoint. I noticed Coco-Luxe's tower of Chocolate tins from the corner of my eye. It intrigued me and I decided I had to see what they were all about. Well, Coco-Luxe was launching their new Hot Chocolate line at the show and I decided, after tasting it, I had to write about this great company.

Stephanie, came from the corporate world. Armed with an MBA and 10 years of corporate America behind her, she was ready to strike out on her own and I am glad she did. I chose Coco-Luxe's Hot (Chocolate) as my "Best in Show" item. You see, I am a hot chocolate connaisseur! I have tasted them all. From the chocolate giants to the small independents and Stephanie's product is the best by far. You simply must try Hot!

It is heading into springtime and if you are not feeling the need for Hot, buy a tin and wait until the chill is in the air. While you wait you can have a few of the delicious confections they have available. My fave? Chocolate Malt. Yep that old favorite, real malt and deep chocolate. Mmmm. Oh and the Banana Split, and oh my goodness the German Chocolate! You simply must try them.

Right now Coco-Luxe is offering Food Chronicles readers a 15% discount on your purchases through February. Just type in FOODY in the coupon box when you check out! I know Valentine's Day is approaching, and that is a great gift, but really is there really a bad time for chocolates this good?

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Q Tonic

For quite some time I have been a fan of a cold glass of tonic water with fresh lime. There is nothing quite as refreshing to me. I don't drink alcohol, but still find tonic a great replacement for soda. However, I about two years ago stopped drinking it because of the high fructose corn syrup used by most makers of tonic water. Now that has changed!

Q Tonic, drew my attention as I passed by their booth at the show. Black and white, classic elegance indeed. The bottle, drew me in. Is it not gorgeous? But the proof is in the taste. Clean, crisp, with light fragrance and taste. Delicious!

So who is Q Tonic? Q Tonic is the brain child of Jordan Silbert. The idea began in November of 2006. Around the barbeque with a group of friends, Jordan was at his best. Mixing drinks, sharing stories, and enjoying the light breezes of November in Brooklyn. He had mixed a couple of drinks for himself and noticed a sticky coating on his teeth. He looked at the ingredient panel on the tonic water he was using and noticed it had 25 grams of sugars listed in the form of high fructose corn syrup. A friend was having a Sprite, he looked at that label and was astounded to see Sprite only had 1 more gram of sugars. Each of his friends were amazed that tonic had sugar at all. And now to realize it was high fructose corn syrup, the conversation quickly turned to the movie Fast Food Nation.

That discussion lingered with Jordan. He asked his friends if it was time for a high end tonic water? You're buying upscale vodkas and gins, don't you want to mix it with something of as high a quality? Of, course was their answers.

So Jordan began the task of developing a better tonic water. Four years in the making, Q tonic has the benefit of exhaustive research and the finest ingredients. Q Tonic is sweetened with Agave. The other ingredient that makes this product so good is Peruvian quinine, Cinchona Bark. All bottled in a beautifully designed glass bottle. The calories? 24 per serving. Now that, I can live with.

If you haven't seen or tasted Q Tonic, go to their website and see where you can pick some up and begin enjoying this fine addition to your liquid refreshment.

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So many booths, so little time

The hardest part of attending the trade show every year is the time constraint. I did do my pre-show work by looking at every website listed on the Fancy Food Show exhibitor's list. Yeah, talk about making you not want to look at the web for a while. Thank goodness you have a few days to spend at the show!

So after looking over the web, I made a list of companies I had to talk with and those I'd have to ignore this time around. The ignore group had to be the usual suspects this year. Who are they, you ask? Well, the giants of industry of course. The Guittard's, Ghirardelli's, the Sunkist's and all of the foreign olive oil dealers.

On this year's list were new names, and a few old favorites. I did have to stop by Hammond's Candies as they are my all time favorite company. Along the way were Yam Good Pies, J.K. Adams Co., Sheer Bliss, Coco-Luxe, The Truffle Kit, Sister's Gourmet, EMSL Analytics, Umpqua Indian Foods, cmb sweets, Cooks Kitchen, Chronicle Books, Seasoned Skewers, TSP Spices, Dr. Stuarts, Clearbrook Farms, Amano Chocolate, Linda's Gourmet Latkes, HINT, Mrs. Meyers, Dry Soda, Bissinger's, Brandt Beef, The Savannah Bee Company, Crummy Brothers, Hint Mint, and Carlsbad Gourmet.

I'll be writing up a bit on each of these companies and a few more that caught my eye at the show. My favorite time spent? It had to be talking with Cooper Bates and Harley Cross of HintMint. They are two of my favorite guys. Cooper and I spent way too much time talking together that I should have spent elsewhere , but gee, he's really a nice guy and I needed the rest stop.

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The Spoils of the Fancy Food Show

There was so much more! But this is just a peek at all the different businesses I spoke with while perusing the show. It was a good show all in all.

My biggest impression was that for all of us living in the burbs is not good. Most every vendor I spoke to answered the question "where can I find your products?" Answered with the same answers: "Whole Foods (2 hours away), Bristol (75 minutes away), or Ralph's (35 minutes away). Ugh. We in the burbs just don't count. It bugs the heck out of me. I think we are actually an un-mined demographic that if, or when the majors discover us, they'll wish they'd been here all along.

Kevin Davis of Bristol fame once wrote me that there couldn't possibly be a Bristol Farms in Temecula (not my town but 30 minutes away sort of) could not be a reality as it "was not supply chain friendly" meaning it was not part of their natural distribution channel so we would not be enjoying their presence any time soon. Bristol, for a long time was only local to the greater Los Angeles area and Kevin's response made sense. That was until i learned they were opening a store in Palm Springs. Palm Springs is so far off the distribution channel it was surprising to say the least. But then again, that store is now my local albeit 75 minutes away, local Bristol Farms.

All in all the Fancy Food Show was well done, huge and surprisingly well attended. I though moving it to San Diego would possibly lower attendance a bit as it was not San Francisco, but the crowds were there. There was a plethora of chocolate companies, olive oil companies and tea companies. Wowzer, who knew tea had grown so large??!!!

I had some favorites, met some new people and saw some old friends. There were a few surprises and a new favorite. In the next few weeks I will be focusing on some of the companies I met at the show and hopefully you'll be interested in doing business with them after I introduce them!

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Anyone else going?

Sunday the Winter Fancy Food Show begins in San Diego! San Diego!!!!!! Yes! I have traveled to San Francisco to the show for years... Not that there is anything wrong with San Francisco at all. It's just great to not have to get a hotel room this time around.

Will you be there?

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Off to the Fancy Foods Show!

Today I am off on my yearly pilgrimage to the NASFT show in San Francisco!

What is the NASFT? It is the National Association of Specialty Food Trade. Every January they hold the winter edition of the show in San Francisco. Then in the spring, in May, they hold one in Chicago and the mother of shows is held in New York in the summertime - July to be exact. “The NASFT® has sponsored and produced the high profile, well-attended International Fancy Food & Confection Shows® since 1955. They are well funded, aggressively marketed, and highly regarded by attendees and exhibitors alike.” To quote their website.

This year there will be 900 domestic vendor/exhibitor and about 250 international exhibitors. The international exhibitors include the countries of India, Japan, Germany, Australia, Spain, Italy - Tuscany has their own spot, France, New Zealand, Brazil and Canada.

The types of things we always get to see and sample are Candies, Chocolate, Appetizers, Cheese, Ice Cream, Sorbets, Snack Foods, Vegetables, Meats, Jam and Jellies, Olive and other seasoned oils, Honey, Fruits, Breads, Cakes and Cookies, Rice. They also have a Beer and Wine Pavilion, and plenty of Coffee and Tea vendors. There are also some vendors with kitchen and cooking accessories. This year there is even a vendor for our favorite friends – pets!

Over 30,000 people usually attend this three-day shindig. It is a great way to see what’s new, what’s innovative and what new vegetable is hot! They have great short seminars geared to the industry and each year they have a vote for the best of show categories in foods. It is a great honor to have been awarded an NASFT award and when you peruse the net you’ll see many specialty food vendors feature the fact that they won an award during one of the shows.

It is a good way to spend a few days networking and sharing ideas and seeing old friends. I will post when I can anything new or different I see. It’s fun and work at the same time! So off I go to the show!

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