Food 'n' Drink – Food and Drink news |

The sauce of great food sauces and condiments from Owen Potts

Those who like to potter around in the kitchen and are constantly looking out for a helping hand will be delighted that their search has come to an end, thanks to the launch of a whole new range of top quality condiments and sauces courtesy of Owen Potts who, until now, has been the best kept secret in the food industry.

Owen can only be described as a culinary expert, and for years now has been behind the scenes developing products. If you have ever bought a luxury sauce, a gourmet salad dressing, a condiment or a chutney, chances are that you will have already sampled one of Owen’s outstanding creations,

With the arrival of his new and delicious  ‘quick to cook range’ you too can now add flair to your dishes, be it making those everyday meals a little bit special or introducing a real touch of indulgence to dining on special occasions. By using the products in this new range you can rest assured that you are safely in the hands of a true food guru.

The Owen Potts range uses the very best, natural ingredients sourced from around the world, and includes everything from store cupboard essentials such as chicken gravy and steak sauce, to classic recipes with a unique twist, such as a mouth-watering cranberry sauce infused with honey, a great-tasting mustard sauce with hints of tarragon and a delectable Spanish dressing blended with roasted peppers and pimenton.

The delicious store cupboard range – with a product suitable for every occasion – will be available in most major supermarkets this winter.

New online Christmas range from ChristmasHamper.com

KPMG and the British retail Consortium recently released figures which have shown that the number of people spending money online has increased in October which was rather unexpected after very poor figures were seen in September. Analysts expect this is because people are starting their Christmas shopping and is providing a boost to online retailers.

An increase on last year of over 10% has been seen and a Christmas hamper company, ChristmasHamper.com have recently said they are very optimistic about their sales figures for Christmas. They’ve stated that even with cutbacks in living expenses they expect demand for their Christmas hampers to be strong.

A spokesperson from ChristmasHamper.com has said:
“We at ChristmasHamper.com pride ourselves on offering a wide and varied range of luxury Christmas hampers that can suit everyone’s needs and budgets, with luxury being at the forefront of all our hamper products.

“By providing excellent quality products with a first class service, we acknowledge that consumers expect the best and we aim to provide only that. By injecting passion into everything we do, it will translate into each and every hamper we produce, therefore challenging all retailers on the high street and online.”

This year ChristmasHamper.com are presenting a new range of Christmas hampers that are presented in colour co-ordinated gift baskets & gift boxes filled with exciting Christmas goodies. The exciting new range starts from only £19.00.

If you would like to view their selection of luxury Christmas hampers then feel free to visit at: http://www.christmashamper.com/, and relax knowing that Christmas is taken care of.

The clever chefs in the Discovery kitchen have done it again with the creation of two new products that build on Discovery’s delicious range of great tasting Mexican Food. Discovery’s NEW Garlic & Herb Tortilla and NEW Crispy Crumb coating are not only tantalisingly tasty, but extremely versatile and easy to share – perfect for a casual night in with friends, a light afternoon lunch or a quick meal after work.

Garlic and Herb Tortilla

Discovery is famous for its extensive range of soft flour tortillas.  The new Garlic & Herb variety is as sumptuously soft as the rest of the range, whilst adding even more flavour to the perfect fajita.  All you need to do is follow Discovery’s simple steps: spice it up, top it up, wrap it up.  Choose a filling – from sizzling meat or succulent chicken to stir-fried vegetables – then spice it up with Discovery’s Fajita Seasoning Paste (a delicious blend of herbs and spices) or Fajita Seasoning Mix (now available in mild). Top it up with Discovery’s Squeezy toppings (cool soured cream, hot, medium or smooth mild salsa and guacamole style topping). Then wrap it up with the new mouthwatering Garlic & Herb Tortilla, which comes complete with its very own on-pack recipe suggestion for those in need of a little Mexican inspiration in the kitchen.

The new Garlic & Herb Tortilla joins the successful range of Discovery Tortillas already available, including Preservative Free, Plain, Wholemeal, and Chilli & Jalapeno, reinforcing Discovery as the home of great-tasting Mexican food.
Available in Sainsbury’s –  RRP – £1.59

Crispy Crumb

Discovery prides itself on listening to its customers and as such it caters for an increasing demand in ‘free-from’ food.  With this in mind, Discovery reveals its NEW gluten free, Crispy Crumb coating.  Sprinkle this cracking coating generously over chicken, vegetables and fish for a tasty light lunch or dinner. You can even use it in place of Discovery’s Fajita Seasoning Mix to add a little variety to your perfect fajita.  What’s more, the new Crispy Crumb coating is mild, which means your kids will love it too!
Available in Sainsbury’s  - RRP – £1.09

Cornish Sea Salt are a company that has taken much time to create a product that is in demand. Export markets are something that most companies want to break into, they can be very lucrative but unfortunately many companies fail in their efforts. This is often due to a lack of resources and not having a long enough view.

The UK retail market is rather different to others internationally and just because a product has been successful at home does not mean it will take off abroad. Sometimes it is better for companies to focus on their home markets, which while less exciting, can often provide better returns. For example, in the US, just to do business you need to establish relationships with distributors in that country.

When you choose to export a product there will be many layers to the process, such as the distributors, as well as brokers, manufacturers, and wholesalers. At each layer the person will want a cut, which ultimately reduces a company’s profits.

The success of Cornish Sea Salt in Waitrose leads the company to believe that they would have success in the United States with similar retailers, such as Whole Foods. Those particularly keen on specialist foods in America would probably enjoy the niche brand. It might just be for Cornish Sea Salt that a move into the American market is the right choice if they have already saturated the one in the UK.

At some point in a company’s life, small food producers do tend to move towards exports. The first step in such a move is to understand what the customers want in the target country. Detailed research must be conducted so that sales will successfully grow. Companies looking to export would be wise to join the Food & Drink UK Exporters Association.

This group often have stands at trade fairs which are held internationally, recently these have been held in Paris and Germany. They also became involved when the ‘Food from Britain’ scheme had its funding reduced.

Some analysts might say that Cornish Sea Salts would be better off sticking to exports in Europe, and Ireland is still the largest importer of food from the UK. Another consideration that companies must have when they plan to export is to translate the language on their packaging. Not only will this mean the product has the greater appeal to consumers but it will also ensure that various food regulations can be met.

Autumn/Winter range of inspirational foods with a twist from My Secret Kitchen

My Secret Kitchen have just launched their new and intriguing range of foods with a twist, and these new products are just as interesting as the rest of them.

The White wine and Porcini finishing sauce. has been developed after they received requests for something special for pork, white fish and chicken dishes. A finishing sauce, as the name suggests, is designed to add a finishing touch to your dishes and should be added at the very end. White wine has been combined with Porcini mushrooms to create an elegant and classy flavoured sauce.

Adding a touch of the sauce to fish pie, or mixed with chicken stock it will bring a delicious taste to a risotto. It is also great for using with those turkey leftovers, for finishing off a pasta dash and will make your mashed potato extra tasty. It is also suitable for vegetarians as the vegetable based bouillon has been used in its creation.

Chocolate Peppermint Sauce.  is a mouthwatering combination of dark chocolate, fresh peppermint oil and vanilla extract, resulting in a cool and creamy sauce. Add it to your desserts or ice cream, use it to make delicious peppermint profiteroles or stir a spoonful into hot milk to make a soothing drink. Why not pour over the Ultimate Chocolate Brownies for an exquisite taste sensation.

Mochaccino Cookie Mix.- A brilliant cookie mix, bringing coffee together with chunks of white and dark Belgian chocolate.
Background

My Secret Kitchen is the UK’s first nationwide food and drink tasting company, and was started by husband-and wife-team, Clare and Phil Moran They’ve taken the traditional Tupperware style business concept of home demonstration parties and turned it into a wonderful food tasting evening, where the host and his/her friends have an enjoyable time experiencing unusual and different foods, sharing recipe ideas in a warm relaxed non-pressure environment.

The business concept has proven to be a great success in the recession for food lovers who are looking for an extra income and have joined My Secret Kitchen as a consultant, earning money from showing all the great foods.

Food prices are constantly increasing, and branded goods are being ditched in favour of cheaper, own label brands, with over 41% of us buying more of these than we did a year ago. These findings come courtesy of Which?, who have been comparing the buying habits of consumers between 2010 and 2011.

The discount food chain Aldi recently commissioned the MMU,Manchester Metropolitan University to conduct an independent survey in to the difference between brand leaders and their own label goods. The study has revealed that 91% of their own label products tasted just as good as the top brands, and 27% were rated as being better than the brands.

Beans certainly didn’t mean Heinz to the panel of testers, who rated Aldi’s own Corale beans as tasting significantly better than the traditional favourite, in taste as well as appearance. As far as Pimms o’clock is concerned, it seems that their Austin Summer Drink was enjoyed just as much as Pimm’s No.1, and the appearance was scored higher that Pimms.

There were a total of 7 of Aldi’s products that were rated to be of comparable quality to brand leaders. Anchor butter was matched by Aldi’s Greenvale Creamy butter and testers could tell little difference between a kingsmill toastie loaf and Aldi’s village bakery toastie bread. The other products found to be nearly the same were tea bags, tinned tomatoes, lemonade and milk chocolate digestives.

The only brand that the panel preferred to Aldi’s own was when they compared Kellogg’s Special K to Aldi’s Harvest Morn Benefit.

Furthermore, Aldi’s Four Seasons frozen garden peas had a significantly more acceptable smell than family favourite Birds Eye frozen garden peas.

Dr Kritika Mahadevan fromManchester Metropolitan University commented: “When consumers tested the samples with no information about their origin or packaging, they liked many of the unbranded household staples just as much as their branded counterparts.”

She added: “The study used an almost equal split of male and female participants aged between 18 and 84 years (average 48.3 ± 17.3 years), who were students, professionals, family household members, empty nesters or retired pensioners, to represent a cross-section of consumers.”

The research incorporated eleven everyday basket items, including cereal, bread, tea, lemonade, ketchup and baked beans, with one own-label version and one brand version for each. Both products were tested and compared in five key areas: appearance, aroma, flavour, texture and overall liking. Statistical analysis was carried out.  Products that scored more than their counterpart were deemed to be significantly better if p<0.05, i.e. if there was less than 5% probability that the difference was just by chance.

Tony Baines, Managing Director of Buying: “The research shows that choosing lower priced products doesn’t always mean compromising on quality. Savvy shoppers can save large sums of money each time they shop with us and be reassured that they aren’t sacrificing standards. Aldi’s products are like brands, only cheaper.”

According to the study, shoppers who switch these eleven products from the brand leaders to Aldi’s own-label range stand to save £14.27 per shop.

Wing Yip offers new look sauces at Tesco

Wing Yip, the leading oriental grocery brand has secured a deal with Tesco to list four of its stir fry sauces after a significant investment was made in customer research and a whole new look given to its packaging. The four sauces are Kung Po; Cho Mein, Black Bean and Spicy Szechuan. They are available in 185ml and appeared in 300 Tesco stores last month.

Using consumer focus groups, Wing Yip undertook massive research to explore different buying patterns, perceptions of the oriental food sector and also attitudes towards the current branding of products. This resulted in their packaging being redesigned and the listing with Tesco was thus secured.

The director of Wing Yip, Brian Yip, says that their range of sauced combines quality ingredients with traditional recipes to create an authentic tasting Chinese dish. He added that consumers were taking more notice than ever of ingredients and provenance and he was delighted that his company was now able to offer these products to Tesco shoppers.

Mr Yip went onto say that the new look range was the result of the in-depth research they had carried out with their target consumers and that they believed the refreshing new packaging would really stand out in the aisle where the sauces would reside.

These are the first stir fry sauces from Wing Yip that Tesco have stocked, and if they prove popular they will be added in another 200 stores. This should then lead to more products being stocked by the company; and Wing Yip are no doubt looking to a long and successful relationship with Tesco.