THE NIBBLE Gourmet News & Views
Trends, Products & Items Of Note In The World Of Specialty Foods
Read all of our content on TheNibble.com, the online magazine about specialty food.
Archive for Gourmet News
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June 22, 2008 at 8:30 am
· Filed under Contest, Cheese/Yogurt/Dairy, Pet Food
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Last year, we published an incredible collection of award-winning macaroni and cheese recipes from Tillamook’s annual competition. We’re thrilled to present this year’s winners. If you have a recipe that’s a national contender, check with Tillamook Cheese for the 2008-2009 competition rules; the deadline for recipe submissions is July 28, 2008. In the meantime, try one of these delicious recipes from this year’s winners, located on TheNibble.com:
-Autumn Comfort Mac with butternut squash, pancetta and cavatappi
-Jumbo Shell Pasta with white cheddar & chicken macaroni
-King Crab Mac & Cheese
-Mi Casa Chicken Pasta
-Pacific Northwest Macaroni & Cheese
-Shrimp Embrochette |
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April 21, 2008 at 12:43 pm
· Filed under Contest, NutriNibbles
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Win this organic snack basket and learn why converting just 10% of your food to organic will help save the planet. |
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Tomorrow is Earth Day, a global observance initiated by U.S. Senator Gaylor Nelson of Wisconsin (1916-2005). It is celebrated on April 22nd to generate awareness of our planet and what we can do to help conserve it. The first Earth Day was observed in 1970, with 20 million Americans participating on behalf of a sustainable environment. In 2007, half a billion people in almost 200 countries worldwide participated.
If you want to do something for the Earth every week of the year, take our Gourmet Giveaway Quiz: It will give you lots of ideas of the things you can do to lessen your carbon foodprint (yes, foodprint). You don’t have to answer the questions correctly in order to win; but if you eat more organics, you and our planet will win. Find some of our favorite organic products in the NutriNibbles section of THE NIBBLE online magazine. |
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April 20, 2008 at 11:37 am
· Filed under Beer, Gourmet News
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THE 2008 champion Best Large Brewery In The World. Blue Moon, based in Golden, Colorado, is owned by Coors. |
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Beers in 91 style categories took honors yesterday at the 2008 World Beer Cup championships, held in San Diego. Every two years, a highly-qualified panel of beer professionals selects winners in what has been called “the Olympics of beer competitions,” because it awards a gold, silver and bronze in each category. A World Beer Cup gold medal allows a brewery to say that its winning beer represents the best example of that beer style in the world. Craft beer has grown enormously over the past decade. In 1996, at the first World Beer Cup, held in Vail, Colorado, 250 breweries in 20 countries entered 600 beers. This year, 644 breweries from 58 countries and 45 U.S. states vied for awards, with 2,864 beers entered. While brewers from all major continents earned awards, the U.S. won 185 of the 268 style category awards and four of the five Champion Brewery/Brewer awards. |
Judges from 21 countries worked in teams to conduct blind tasting evaluations of the beers. Of the 129 judges, professional brewers and brewing industry experts, 64% came from outside the U.S. Where is America’s award-winning craft beer coming from? California (35 medals), Colorado (22), Oregon (16), Illinois (9), New York (8) and Washington (8). Entries were received from 45 of the 50 U.S. states and Puerto Rico—everwhere except Alabama, New Hampshire, South Dakota, North Dakota and West Virginia.
Here are some of the top beers to look out for: The Lost Abbey beers, made by Port Brewing Company in San Marcos, California, is the 2008 Champion Brewery in the Small Brewing Category. The MidSize Brewing Company Champion is Privatbrauerei Hoepfner GmbH of Germany, maker of Hopefner Pilsner. And the Large Brewing Company champion is Blue Moon Brewing Company of Golden, Colorado, which is actually owned by Coors. A detailed analysis of the entries and awards can be found at WorldBeerCup.org. |
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April 19, 2008 at 10:28 am
· Filed under NutriNibbles, Trends
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Buy organic and save the planet. |
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Yesterday, a New York Times headline blared, “Sticker Shock in the Organic Aisles” (Section C, page 1). The newspaper questioned if the cost of organic food—which can be 20% to 100% higher than conventionally-produced food—is “prompting some consumers to question their devotion to food produced without pesticides, chemical fertilizers or antibiotics.” Obviously, those with budgetary constraints need to shepherd their dollars, but organics rarely end up in the shopping carts of such shoppers, much as they might like them. The article emphasizes the high cost of organics by citing $4.55 (on the high end) for a loaf of organic bread versus $3.79 for conventional bread, $4.99 versus $2.99 for a half gallon of milk and $6.39 versus $3.59 for a dozen eggs. This may be more of a rise than regular groceries are experiencing; but with the truly shocking rises in gasoline and real estate, to name just two items, is the increase in organic food a “shock?” |
| Even if your household consumes twice the amounts of the staples cited by the Times each week, the difference is $11—a blip for many of us who pay $4.50 for a daily cappuccino, have cocktails after work and/or buy imported water. In a country where many people spend so much money on recreational trips to the mall to buy extraneous apparel, beauty products and home accoutrements, it’s not a hardship to divert $50 a week to organic food. In fact, it’s an ethical choice. If each American ate 10% organic food, it would curtail greenhouse gas emissions that are the equivalent of taking two million cars off the roads each year. It would have been informative for the Times to offset quotes such as “The prices have gotten ridiculous” and “Man, $6.99 for a gallon of milk is pushing it,” with a couple of sentences explaining that many people who choose organic products do so to help save the environment. On Earth Day, April 22nd our Viewpoint will address this subject in depth. Here’s the New York Times article. Read more about organic issues and trends in the NutriNibbles section of THE NIBBLE online magazine. |
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April 19, 2008 at 8:12 am
· Filed under Condiments, Daily Food Holidays
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| April 19th is National Garlic Day, and we’re celebrating with three of our favorite garlic products:
- Garlic Pepper Jelly from Aloha From Oregon, a savory jelly that’s great on frankfurters and everything else (and a NIBBLE Top Pick Of The Week)
-Garlic Aïoli from Restaurant Lulu, a garlic mayonnaise that’s perfect for for seafood, sandwiches or dipping those frites, (and another NIBBLE Top Pick Of The Week), and
- Garlic Valley Farms Garlic Juice, which jazzes up any dish (and wasn’t named a Top Pick Of The Week only because our Top Pick selections have always been a bit more glamorous than a spray-on garlic juice—but it’s amazing on salads, pizza, pasta, fish, eggs, anything)
Find more of our favorite jazzer-uppers in the Condiments Section of THE NIBBLE online magazine. |
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You won’t believe how good it is!
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April 18, 2008 at 3:51 pm
· Filed under Contest
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Win a keepsake tin filled with 3.5 pounds of Dale & Thomas gourmet popcorn in a choice of flavors. |
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Like popcorn? Enter this week’s Gourmet Giveaway: The lucky winner of our popcorn prize will get three gifts in one! First, there’s 3.5 pounds of gourmet popcorn from Dale & Thomas (one of our favorite producers) in a choice of flavors/combos. Second, there are lots of uses for the keepsake gift tin. Third, the tin is wrapped in a colorful sack tote made from heavy, all-cotton canvas duck. While the popcorn will disappear quickly, you’ll get years of use from the sack and the tin. Certified kosher OU-Dairy. Retail value: $44.99. Enter the Gourmet Giveaway by answering a few fun trivia questions about popcorn; you don’t have to answer correctly to win. Find more of our favorite popcorns in the Snacks Section of THE NIBBLE online magazine. You’ll also enjoy the History Of Popcorn. |
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April 12, 2008 at 6:27 pm
· Filed under Cheese/Yogurt/Dairy, Bread, Crackers, Muffins, Tip Of The Day, Daily Food Holidays
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| Today is a holiday you can really sink your teeth into: Grilled Cheese Day! In fact, April is also Grilled Cheese Month—a much tastier concept than Taxes Are Due Month. Grilled cheese sandwiches are one of our favorite comfort foods—for lunch, light supper or snacks (you can cut them in quarters for casual hors d’oeuvres, too). Ask at your cheese counter for a tastier alternatives to American cheese, and test to find your favorites. We love smoked mozzarella and Jarlsberg, a Swiss-type cheese from Norway; and we find that making our sandwiches in a panini press in the best method. Otherwise, a frying pan will do just fine. Assemble the sandwiches and butter the outsides with softened butter. Fry: When the bottom slices are golden brown (2 to 3 minutes), flip them over, press down with a spatula and cook for another 2 to 3 minutes. We like tomatoes on our sandwiches: We first sprinkle them with oregano or marinate them briefly in a vinaigrette for added flavor. |
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 Tuscan-style grilled cheese combines Fontina, mozzarella and grilled vegetables. |
| But don’t stop there. We have a dozen gourmet grilled cheese recipes for you, along with tips on making the perfect grilled cheese sandwiches. Read the full article and pick your favorite recipes. We’ve been making two a day for lunch at THE NIBBLE offices, and the voting is intense. (HINT: If you love blue cheese, the two blue cheese recipes are a slam dunk…except for the sweet mascarpone and dulce de leche recipe. Testing and voting is HARD WORK!) Get the gang together and make all 12, for one heck of a grilled cheese-a-thon. When you’re done, you can fnd more sandwich recipes in the Bread Products section of THE NIBBLE online magazine. |
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April 11, 2008 at 2:18 pm
· Filed under Beverages, Events
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Part of the Tea Of The Month Club offering from TavalonTea.com, an exhibitor at the show. |
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If you have a passion for coffee or tea, hopefully you’ll be in New York City this weekend. Then, you can attend the 3rd Annual Coffee & Tea Festival NYC. You can even save $5.00 (half the ticket price) when you buy tickets online (enter code FESTIVAL or NIBBLE). Some of the area’s finest NYC coffee, tea and confectionery companies will be showcasing and sampling their wares to enthusiasts who like the finer things (and yes, you can buy what you like). The 30,000-square-foot exhibit space will be loaded with:
- Coffee and tea sampling
- Lectures / Classes
- Shopping
- Contests
- Demonstrations
- Art
- Java/Tea Lounge with music &
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If some in your crew don’t like coffee and tea, the area is a shopping mecca, on both the Sixth Avenue (large chains) and Seventh Avenue (boutique) sides. Come join us: THE NIBBLE staff will be there!
11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday, April 12
11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday, April 13 |
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April 11, 2008 at 11:52 am
· Filed under Contest, Candy
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| Take this week’s Gourmet Giveaway food trivia quiz and learn more about caramels. You’ll have the opportunity to win one of our very favorite candies. Das Caramelini Salted Caramels were a NIBBLE Top Pick Of The Week, and we just can’t get enough of them. Three winners will get gift boxes that include Lavender, Chocolate & Toasted Walnut and Candied Ginger & Pistachio (shown here)—each more heavenly than the next. But you need to take the quiz by midnight, Eastern Time on Sunday, April 13th. You don’t have to answer correctly in order to win.Read about more of our favorite caramels in the Old-Fashioned Candy Section of THE NIBBLE online magazine. |
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Ginger & Pistachio is just one of the stunning flavors of Das Caramelini Salted Caramels. |
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April 10, 2008 at 5:07 pm
· Filed under Travel, Cocktails & Spirits
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| Our childhood favorite, Garlic & Fine Herbs Boursin cheese, still tastes great on a bagel, as part of an hors d’oeuvre (we stuff cherry tomatoes with it), on a sandwich, crumbled into salads and pasta dishes, in a stuffed chicken breast and any number of uses. Now, the brand has partnered with the Susan G. Komen Foundation, making a $50,000 cash donation plus a special consumer mail-in offer. Through April 30th (while supplies last), you’ll get a free pink tote and will donate $1 to the foundation for two proofs-of-purchase from any Boursin flavor. The ladies at THE NIBBLE were tickled pink with this purse-size tote, and your teen, tween, young adult or eternal pink-lover will want it too. It’s a great deal, and a great cause. During the special promotion, Boursin Garlic & Fine Herbs will wear pink packaging, too (shown in the tote bag), and is joined by a new flavor, Garlic & Roasted Red Pepper Boursin (in front of the tote bag). Other flavors include Fig Raisin & Nut (try it with fruit for dessert), Garlic & Fine Herbs Light, and Pepper, Shallot & Chive. Learn more at Boursin.com. |
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 How can you resist! Buy two packages of Boursin and send for your free tote bag by April 30th. |
| Read about our favorite cheeses in the Cheese Section of THE NIBBLE online magazine. |
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