THE NIBBLE BLOG: Products, Recipes & Trends In Specialty Foods


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TRENDS: Flavor Combinations For 2009

Looking for palate excitement this year? McCormick, the world’s largest spice company, has developed cutting-edge flavor combinations that are sure to inspire. International influences and natural foods figure prominently in the company’s Top 10 Flavor Pairings for 2009, allowing for flavorful yet healthy dishes. After reviewing the introductions to each flavor pairing, you can click through to a delicious recipe that expresses those flavors. If you love these innovative pairings as much as we do, you can still enjoy the wonderful recipes from Flavor Trends 2008, as well.

How does a spice company decide what’s hot? McCormick draws on the expertise of sensory analysts, chefs, trend experts and food technologists. Joined by some of today’s most innovative and cutting-edge restaurant chefs, cookbook authors and TV food personalities, this collective culinary vision helps chart a delicious course for the year ahead.


Saké and mixed peppercorns: one pairing to wake
up flavor in 2009.
Influencing the flavors of 2009 are Asian-infused and internationally influenced tastes, a desire for all-natural foods and a craving for favorite ingredients reimagined with contemporary whimsy. McCormick explored these and other trends to develop the top 10 flavor pairings for 2009. See which one of the following you’d like to try first:

Pairing 1: Cayenne & Tart Cherry
Pairing 2: Chinese Five Spice & Artisan-Cured Pork
Pairing 3: Dill & Avocado Oil
Pairing 4: Garam Masala & Pepitas
Pairing 5: Mint & Quinoa
Pairing 6: Peppercorn Mélange & Saké
Pairing 7: Rosemary & Fruit Preserves
Pairing 8: Smoked Paprika & Agave Nectar
Pairing 9: Tarragon & Beetroot
Pairing 10: Toasted Sesame & Root Beer

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ENTERTAINING: Cheese Wafers With Cocktails

Planning a party to celebrate Martin Luther King’s birthday? Why serve another “same old, same old” cheese plate, when you can thrill your guests with Mamie’s Cheese Wafers? Cheese wafers are a southern favorite. Dr. King would approve.

-Read the review of Mamie’s Cheese Wafers.

-Find more snacks in our Hors D’Oeuvres & Cocktail Snacks Section.

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PRODUCT REVIEW: Silver Creek Jerky Snack Strips

For portion control and convenient packaging, these 50-calorie, one-ounce snack strips can’t be beat.

-Beef Sirloin With Cranberries & Blueberries has excellent beef flavor with a nice natural sweetness from the dried fruit. There’s a light pepperiness. The nutrition label: calories from fat, 15; total fat 2g; saturated fat .5g; trans fat 0g; cholesterol 15mg; sodium 286 mg (12% DV); total carb 4g; sugars 2g; protein 10g; vitamin A, 0% DV, vitamin C, 0% DV; iron 2% DV.

-Skinless Chicken Breast With Black Bean Salsa & Wisconsin Cheddar has real black bean flavor and heat from the “salsa” component, although there’s no prominent flavor of Cheddar—not that it’s needed. The nutrition label: calories from fat, 10; total fat 1g; saturated fat 0g; trans fat 0g; cholesterol 20mg; sodium 340 mg (14% DV); total carb 1g; sugars 0g; protein 12g; vitamin A, 4% DV, vitamin C, 2% DV; calcium 2% DV; iron 2% DV.


Jerky snack strips, an apple and a can of sparkling
juice are an easily portable and nutritious snack.
-Chicken Breast With Italian Seasoning & Romano Cheese started out meaty and cheesy, as if it belonged on an Italian antipasto platter. (There’s some red bell pepper for flavoring, too.) Then the black pepper kicked in, and sustained a long, fresh-ground peppery finish. The nutrition label: calories from fat, 10; total fat 1g; saturated fat 0g; trans fat 0g; cholesterol 20mg; sodium 290 mg (12% DV); total carb 1g; sugars 0g; protein 12g; vitamin A, 15% DV, vitamin C, 60% DV; calcium 4% DV; iron 2% DV.

Read THE NIBBLE’s article on the best gourmet jerky.

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PRODUCTS: Everything Old Is New Again

Le Creuset Gourmet cookware manufacturer Le Creuset has launched its new color for 2009: White. Our thoughts: This looks like all the white, enameled cookware we got rid of when we traded up to Le Creuset years ago. We prefer jubilant colors in our kitchen, such as Le Creuset’s red, yellow and blue cookware, which also look great at the table. But then, we weren’t in the focus groups that voted for white! You can find Le Creuset at Sur La Table and other fine stores. Le Creuset has been making enameled cast iron cookware since 1925. The factory is located in the north of France, in Fresnoy-Le-Grand, not far from the border with Belgium. Cast iron is a favorite of chefs because it most evenly conducts and retains heat—it’s the original slow cooker. It’s also very heavy, so you build your “kitchen muscles.”

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PRODUCT REVIEW: Go Appetít Cool Soup

A new alternative for healthy eating on-the-go, Cool Soup makes soup “drinkable” from a bottle at room temperature or chilled. It’s a new way to fruit and vegetables without having to chop and cook. The portable plastic bottle has a nine-month shelf life. As a snack or meal replacement, it’s high in vitamins and antioxidants, low in calories and 100% natural.

Go Appetít is “taking soup to new places” with Cool Soup, a new category in specialty convenience foods, Drinkable Soup. The company calls its products “souperfood.” Now, when you need something nutritious on the go, and want more than a piece of fruit, yogurt or an energy bar, you can have some yummy comfort food—soup! No spoon needed, just twist the cap and drink from the 8-ounce, single serve bottle. If you want a soup and sandwich or soup and salad combo, it couldn’t be easier.

Cool Soup is low in calories and 100% natural with no preservatives, artificial colors or artificial flavors. While it is ideal to consume the soup chilled for enhanced flavor, no refrigeration is required, and they taste just fine at room temperature. We toted them our purse and backpack, the latter with an ice pack, the former without, and didn’t feel any loss of quality drinking them unchilled.

Read the full review.


An easy way to eat your fruits and veggies on the
go: soup that you drink from the bottle. Above:
Rich Vegetable Gazpacho.

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