Grocers introduce their hot new products

VANCOUVER - If the lineup of new products on display at Grocer Showcase West is any indication, you can expect to see flax hitting store shelves by the pallet-load in the weeks and months to come.

The colon-friendly grain is on display at the exhibition of the Canadian Federation of Independent Grocers in chunks, hunks, flakes, flours and every cereal and cracker shape you can imagine and a few you probably can't.

There's so many, in fact, that the T-bone filet-mignon flavoured dog biscuits tasted pretty good after sampling a few too many super-fibrous snacks.

The grocery showcase is a chance for the nation's storekeepers to see and sample new products and place orders for the ones that capture their imagination or fill a void in their local market. What will be the next big thing? Cheese-filled bagels shaped like Twinkies? What about Bodacious Ketchup in a foil bag?

McCain wants to help consumers join the slow food revolution . . . instantly.

Their Slow Cooker Solutions are all-day simmered stews that you just open and tip into the Crock Pot.

None had the immediate curb appeal of the flax products.

Flax is the latest craze of the health conscious eater as it promotes "digestive regularity" and is said to have potent cancer-fighting qualities.

The Flax Plus Red Berry Crunch is a rustic-looking breakfast cereal being promoted by food giant Acosta Foods. Across the aisle, the Weetabix Minibix Chocolate Crisp is a disconcerting combination of chocolate chips and fibre in a puck form that took a full minute to chew.

Leaping Lemurs is a new breakfast cereal that is refreshingly devoid of colon-cleansing seeds, instead opting for tried-and-true Cap'n-Crunch-like balls of crunchy peanut butter and chocolate.

Such confections are noticeably rare among the new market entries with their obsession for digestive health.

The independent grocers, whose ranks include Stongs, Save-On Foods and Choices Markets, were also presented with a number of unique B.C. products including sweet fruit and pepper jellies from Campbell River and dips and spice mixes from Kelowna. Both were among the mom-and-pop B.C.-based operations that were cheek-by-jowl with the major food conglomerates vying for new customers and bigger markets

Karen Pattison has been running Bite Size Specialty Foods for seven years. Her preserves run from jams made from local fruit and berries to blistering fruit and pepper jellies. A large yellow card warned of the incendiary nature of the habanero jelly samples.

Pattison grew the business slowly after a back injury forced her to leave her job as a bartender. She still runs the business on her own, but that could change if she lands enough orders at the exhibition.

"I still do most of it myself, but I am getting really busy," she said. "Yesterday was just great. I have seven people interested in placing orders."

Maple Leaf Spices is run by Dee Mole, who started her business four years ago in her Kelowna kitchen. She sells dip mixes and spice mixes at the Kelowna farmer's market and 150 stores across the country.

"At the farmer's market you get people tasting and that helps build the brand," said Mole, who was a human resources manager for 25 years before following her dream in the food industry.

"I'm a one-man show still," she said. "And I love this."

Organic Farming - Introduction

Organic cultivation of mixed vegetables in Capay, California. Note the hedgerow in the background.

Organic farming is a form of agriculture that relies on ecosystem management and attempts to reduce or eliminate external agricultural inputs, especially synthetic ones. It is a holistic production management system that promotes and enhances agro-ecosystem health, including biodiversity, biological cycles, and soil biological activity.

In preference to the use of off-farm inputs, organic farming emphasizes management practices, taking into account that regional conditions require locally adapted systems. Utilizing both traditional and scientific knowledge, organic agricultural systems rely on agronomic, biological, and mechanical methods (these may require external inputs of nonrenewable resources, like tractor fuel), as opposed to using synthetic materials, to fulfill any specific function within the system. Organic farming is also associated with support for principles beyond cultural practices, such as fair trade and environmental stewardship, although this does not apply to all organic farms and farmers.

Field-Grown Tomatoes

Field Grown Tomatoes
The two types of round field tomatoes are "mature green" and "vine ripen." The main type of tomatoes grown in Florida and California and are the backbone of the U.S. fresh field tomato industry is mature green tomato. Mexico only offers minimal production of mature green tomatoes.

Mature Green Tomatoes
Mature green tomatoes are harvested early; while still green however, still sufficiently mature to continue ripening after harvest when treated with the plant's natural ripening agent, ethylene gas. Mature green tomatoes have a long shelf-life, slice well, firm and generally cost less than other types of tomatoes. Mature green tomatoes dominates the food service industry, especially the fast food service industry.

Vine-Ripe Tomatoes
While mature green tomatoes are harvested before peak ripeness, vine-ripe tomatoes are picked when fully ripen -- eliminating the need for ethylene treatments. Mexico is the main supplier of vine-ripe tomatoes during winter seasons. Florida does offer vine-ripe tomatoes, however, they are only a minor supplier during winter. Southern California and Baja California are the main suppliers of vine-ripe tomatoes during summer months. Round tomatoes exported from Mexico are usually all vine-ripe. In general, vine-ripe tomatoes appeal to some high-end food service firms, however, most sales are generated through the retail market due to generally higher cost than mature greens.

During the fall of 2004, food service buyers were willing to try other types of tomatoes as substitute, while the mature greens were in short supplies - possibly leading to food service preference change over time.

Plum Tomatoes
Fresh Roma Tomatoes (Plum Tomatoes) grew fast in the 1990s because of retail demand from the expanding Mexican consumer segment. More recent demands for plum tomatoes are from the food service industry. The main supplier of plum tomatoes is Mexico. California and Florida are also playing the market as well.

Other Field-Grown Tomatoes
Other type of field-grown tomato includes specialty varieties such as cherry, grape, pear, organic heirloom tomatoes. Some of the tomatoes are grown in greenhouses, however, most are field-grown crops. Grape tomatoes are one of the newer variety of available field-grown tomatoes

What You Need To Know About Chili Pepper

According to new research, the chili pepper has been found to be the oldest spice in use in the Americas, and one of the oldest in the world. Described in a February 2006 report in the journal Science, the research findings provide details about early plant cultivation and the use of chili peppers for food and ceremonial purposes.

Peppers are in the botanical family Solanaceae, an edible family flowering plants like tomatoes, eggplant and tobacco.•

The research shows that the study of microscopic starch granules stuck in the crevices of cooking implements and in bowl-scrapings can reveal foods that originally weren't thought to have enough starch in them to be traceable.•

"The usual idea is that the tropical lowlands were mostly on the receiving end, that they were not areas of innovation. Now our findings are beginning to cast doubt on that," said J. Scott Raymond, an archaeologist at the University of Calgary.•

Chili peppers are thought to have been domesticated at least five times by prehistoric peoples in different parts of South, Central and North America.•

Chili peppers have been part of the human diet in the Americas since about 7500 BC. •

Evidence of chili peppers at archealogical sites in the Americas show they may have been domesticated over 6,000 years ago. •

Within decades of European contact, the New World chili pepper was carried across Europe and into Africa and Asia, adopted widely, and further altered through selective breeding.•

They are now grown around the world and are widely used as medicine, and as or vegetables in cuisine. The chili pepper is an essential cooking ingredient in places as diverse as Hungary, Ethiopia, and China.