Tanteo Tequila is the first spirit to become a Top Pick Of The Week—it’s that special. We tasted the three superpremium tequilas infused with chocolate, jalapeño and tropical flavors at a show filled with foods from big-name chefs. We were dazzled by Tanteo.

Made with 100% blue agave tequila, Tanteo uses all natural ingredients to infuse the tequila, and it’s a magical marriage. These are sipping tequilas and cooking tequilas—you’ll love flavoring sauces, desserts and marinades with them (more ideas in the full review). Pair them with mains or desserts that have similar flavor profiles. In terms of mixed drinks: If the possibilities aren’t endless, they’ll keep you busy for quite some time. The company offers recipes to start you off.

Tanteo tequilas are a great addition to your bar and a gift that recipients will be talking about for a long time. They can be the hit of holiday parties.

Tantalizing tequila in three irresistible flavors. Photo courtesy of Tanteo Tequila.

There’s a new flower in the garden of Ayala’s Herbal Water. Lemon Verbena Germanium smells and tastes just like geraniums accented with lemon verbena (which some will recall as Ellen O’Hara’s—mother of Scarlett—favorite scent). Like the rest of the flavors, it’s refreshing, delightful and wonderfully different.

Ayala’s infuses organic garden herbs, blended with spices and citrus peel, into purified water to create innovative flavor profiles. We love this line; it complements food so much better than other flavored waters. The rest of the line includes Cinnamon Orange Peel, Clove Cardamom Cinnamon, Ginger Lemon Peel, Lavender Mint Lemongrass Thyme and Lemongrass Mint Vanilla. The first three are wonderful Thanksgiving flavors, especially welcomed by guests who don’t drink.

Ayala’s Herbal Water has zero calories and is certified USDA Organic and OU kosher. It is available at HerbalWater.com and at retailers nationwide, including Central Market, Food Emporium, Giant, HEB, Raley’s, Safeway, Wegmans, Whole Foods Market and many natural food and specialty food stores.

It’s different and it’s delicious! Photo courtesy of Ayala’s.

It’s effortless to save the world by drinking
organic, Fair Trade coffee. Photo by
Ermek | IST.

With coffee emporia nearly everywhere you look—cafés and shops that sell beans—you’d think that coffee was a hot growth category. Yet the annual growth rate of conventional coffee between 2000 and 2008 was just 1.5%. Organic coffee imports experienced a 29% annual average growth rate during the same period, and Fair Trade® coffee, 35%. Last year, the amount of organic coffee imported into the United States increased 12%, and Fair Trade coffee increased 30%, despite the worst economy in 70 years and the premium prices that both command.

You’d think this would be great news, but just 0.6% of the coffee sold in the major consuming countries is organic certified, and even less is Fair Trade certified.

In honor of National Fair Trade Month, we’ve reviewed some of our favorite organic and Fair Trade coffees. Agricultural products can be organic and Fair Trade, organic or Fair Trade (obviously, the vast majority of foods are neither). What do these terms mean? In brief:

Yet of the $18 billion spent on coffee in the U.S. last year, the tiniest fraction went to organic and Fair Trade coffee. You can make a difference while enjoying an excellent cup of java.

We have something to introduce today that may seem out-of-the-box for THE NIBBLE. Let us assure you: It’s so delicious we keep buying more and more. If you’re looking for a healthy hot dog solution, a delicious vegan dish or a way to help the planet reduce greenhouse gases (more about that in the main review), Field Roast Grain Meat is it!

If you’re not a vegetarian or vegan, you may have enjoyed a few jokes about Tofurkey or Veat vegetarian meat substitutes. Even some vegetarians we know turn their noses up at “fake meat” on principle. But at THE NIBBLE, we’re only in it for food, glorious food.

We’ve tried our fair share of vegetarian meats. Some we hope will never cross our plate again. Others, like the tempeh bacon served in a “TLT” sandwich (tempeh bacon, lettuce and tomato) with Nasoya’s Nayonaise (delicious!) at a local eatery, are a delight (“I can’t believe it isn’t bacon!”). We’re not vegetarian; we’re an omnivore. We eat anything that tastes good.

This meatloaf is 100% meatless comfort food. Photo by Hannah Kaminsky | THE NIBBLE.

So when we first tasted a variety of products from the Field Roast Grain Meat Co., we couldn’t believe it wasn’t meat. Not knowing what “grain meat” was, we thought it might be a mixture of grain and meat. Whatever it was, we loved it. When we found out it was 100% vegetarian and vegan, we knew we’d found our next favorite culinary magician.

Whether you’re vegetarian, looking to give up meat a day or two a week to help the environment or your health, or simply looking for a new and delicious food, meet this great “new meat,” Field Roast grain meat.

Golden Star is terrific gift for anyone, and
especially for those who are abstaining
from alcohol. Photo courtesy of Golden Star.

Oops—we forgot to post last week’s Top Pick, Golden Star Sparkling Tea. It’s such a wonderful product, we don’t want anyone to miss out on it.

If you’re a non-drinker, designated driver, or otherwise avoiding alcohol—but yearning for something as sophisticated and flavorful—Golden Star White Jasmine Sparkling Tea was created for you. It looks like a glass of Champagne, but has the sweetness of Sauternes. You’ll like it so much that you may not notice (or care) that it’s non-alcoholic. It’s a real find for non-drinkers and drinkers alike: Anyone who seeks something new and exciting will love it.

In addition to sipping as a cocktail, Golden Star Sparkling Tea pairs well with fish (including sushi), cheese, salads and fruit desserts.

Golden Star White Jasmine Sparkling Tea is totally different from artificially carbonated tea soft drinks, be they herbal, green tea or other. The tea is fermented like grapes in wine fermentation tanks. While management is mum on the process, they describe it as a marriage of the artisanal crafts of wine making and brewing. The result is complex, sophisticated and as worthy of your attention as a good glass of wine. And, the ingredients are organic. This sparkling tea is intoxicating—although no one will get intoxicated.

They may look like other granola bars, but
Olympic Granola Bars taste like dense nut
tortes. Photo by Hannah Kaminsky |
THE NIBBLE.

Whether or not you’ve ever eaten a granola bar, Olympic Granola Bars are a bar of different color…and flavor…and thrill. Although they call themselves “gourmet granola bars,” we’d go a few steps further. Put a scoop of ice cream atop these 2-1/2-inch squares and the experience is tantamount to eating a dense nut torte.

On the other hand, you can pop one of these individually-wrapped wonders into your pocket, gym bag or desk drawer and have a more-than-pleasing snack. One of the flavors approximates a very nutty chocolate brownie; there are lemon, mint and flavors to satisfy any sweet tooth. Add a cup of coffee or tea for a very filling snack: chewy, all-natural and healthy.

And surprise: This is raw food, very nutritious and good for you, with 10g of protein per bar. We love that something this delicious is also healthy sustenance with nothing refined and good fats and sweeteners. It’s everything your nutritionist would encourage you to eat and that you feel good about giving to your kids, with enough flavors to keep them interested (the line is also (wheat- and dairy-free). The only problem is, we can’t stop eating them.

What else can we say: We’re in love. In full disclosure, we’re also publishing an extensive review of every artisan granola bar in America that the writer was able to uncover. But they’re just granola bars. Olympic Granola Bars belong in a different category entirely. We suggest “happiness bars,” for what could be happier than finding something so delectable yet good for you.

Say “allo” to Alo Original Aloe Drink.

Most people know about aloe vera. It’s an attractive succulent plant that’s often kept on the kitchen windowsill because its sap is soothing to burns and cuts.

The same gel-like sap that has medicinal and cosmetic uses is also made into beverages and other foods, popular in Asia. They can be absolutely delicious—juicy, fruity and fun—they’re filled with chewy pieces of aloe pulp. The challenge over the years we’ve been tasting them in the U.S. has been that they’ve been limited to Asian grocery distribution.

Now, through an arrangement with Ito-en, maker of the Top Pick Teas’ Tea line of bottled teas that have wide distribution in premium food markets, you’ll be seeing more of Alo Original Alo Drink (it’s also available online). It’s a better sweet drink for kids, who will love the floating pieces of aloe pulp and the groovy colors, and it’s hip and sophisticated for adults. Alo is a juice drink, a cocktail mixer and can be frozen into popsicles.

If you live in the vicinity of Geneva, New York, you can pop into the Stony Brook Bakery for warm, fresh-from-the-oven cookies. The rest of us have to order them by mail—slightly less warm, but sent fresh from the oven and arriving as delicious as if you’d baked them yourself (or as grandma baked them, if you’re not a whiz in the kitchen). In fact, in these days, when most of us have more good intentions than time to enact them, Stony Brook Cookie Company is our surrogate, baking home-style cookies with finesse, packing them in cocoa-colored excelsior and dark brown tissue paper, and nestling them in a dark brown or kraft paper box. It’s just homey enough to convey to the recipient that you could have baked them yourself.

All of the ingredients are fresh as can be: butter and eggs from a local dairy co-op, flour from a local artisan mill and almonds and pecans toasted in the bakery oven. The chocolate is from Callebaut. The varieties include Super Chocolate Chunk, a classic chocolate chunk cookie; Double Chocolate Pecan, made with bittersweet chocolate and cocoa; Oatmeal Cranberry & White Chocolate, a superior oatmeal cookie; and Stony Brook Jumble, with dried cherries, chocolate chunks, almonds and coconut. Read more about these charmers in the full review. And think of whose day would be brightened with a fresh-baked cookie gift.

These times require comfort food. Photo by Hannah Kaminsky | THE NIBBLE.

One more tip: The same folks make a unique butternut squash seed oil under another umbrella, at WholeHeartedFoods.com. We’ll be writing more about it, but if you’re looking for an exciting new culinary oil, this is it.

Is there any salami more wonderful than truffle salami? Nope!

Shoppers at Seattle’s Pike Place Market already know how special Creminelli salami and sausages are. They are carried by fine food stores nationwide, although not necessarily identified as Creminelli. It’s time for the rest of America to learn the name and demand this delicious line of specialty meats. The Creminelli family has been producing artisan meat products in Italy since the 1600s, according to family lore.

But more recently, in 2007, master artisan Cristiano Creminelli brought the family’s recipes and techniques to America. The pork-based salami and sausages will be a revelation to Americans for whom Old World artisan traditions have long since disappeared. If you have enjoyed fine charcuterie in Italy and long to return to taste them again, they are now ready to visit you, via express delivery (or your local retailer).

All of the Creminelli meats are handmade with choice cuts from select pig breeds raised on small family farms and fed with organic white grains. You can taste the difference—even the fat in the well-marbled pork tastes exceptional. Organic spices complement the beautiful flavor of the natural pork without getting in the way of it. You know you are eating recipes made with skills passed down from generation to generation.

Certain products are simply not to be missed: the truffle salami, made with real truffles, and the Piemonte sausage, redolent of fresh rosemary, are two we don’t want to be without again. Pair them with the simplest foods—bread, cheese, pasta—and fireworks begin. But there’s much, much more to revel in here.

• Read our review of Fizzy Lizzy, a NIBBLE Top Pick Of The Week.
• Take a look at our Wine and Dessert Pairings Chart.
• Learn more about value wines for everyday and holidays in our Wine Section.