Specialty Food Magazine is the leading publication for retailers, manufacturers and foodservice professionals in the specialty food trade. It provides news, trends and business-building insights that help readers keep their businesses competitive.
Issue link: https://www.e-digitaleditions.com/i/195987
ANCIENT GRAINS AROUND THE CLOCK These foods feature ancient grains for every meal and snack. Good Groceries Suzie's Whole Ancient Grain Puffed Cakes. Made with organic kamut kernels, these puffed cakes are higher in vitamins and minerals and contain more protein than commercial wheat. goodgroceries.com Kind Healthy Snacks Healthy Grains. These snackable clusters blend whole grains such as amaranth, quinoa and buckwheat, along with superfoods like blueberries, walnuts, chia seeds and flax. kindsnacks.com Lentz Spelt Farms Resurgent Grains. Grown using organic dryland farming in eastern Washington, these standout ancient grains include emmer farro, spelt, einkorn, black nile barley and camelina seeds. lentzspelt.com Lotus Foods Forbidden Rice. Known for thousands of years in China as the finest grain, forbidden rice is packed with nutritional attributes and exceptional taste. lotusfoods.com Manicaretti's Organic Farro Bucatini. Imported from Italy, this hearty and chewy farro is available in its raw form both coarsely ground, much like polenta, and as the whole grain. manicaretti.com Mary's Gone Crackers Pretzels. Organic, whole-grain brown rice, quinoa, flax seeds, sesame seeds, amaranth, millet and chia seeds go into these super-pretzels. marysgonecrackers.com New Hope Mills Organic Sprouted Mixes. Gluten-Free Chia Pancake & Waffle Mix and Sprouted Spelt Cinnamon Oat Cookie Mix offer a healthful beginning and end to the day. newhopemills.com Q.bel Foods Whole Grain Crispy Wafers. Q.bel makes these Belgian dark chocolate–dipped wafers with 25 percent teff flour; the rest of the goodness comes from vanilla or hazelnut filling. qbelfoods.com Urbane Grain Whole Grain Side Dishes. These gluten-free mixes come in trendy flavors like smoky bacon and Thai red curry. urbanegrain.com Wholesome Mixes. combine Kitchen's Grain Ready-to-cook mixes grains with dried fruits, herbs and spices. New: farro mushroom and herbs and tabbouleh currant and bulgur wheat. wholesome-kitchen.com Ziyad Brothers Importing Roasted Green Wheat Pilaf/ Freekeh Pilaf. Fully cooked and ready to eat, these all-natural Mediterranean pilafs are made from roasted spring green baby wheat. ziyad.com 36 ❘ SPECIALTY FOOD MAGAZINE Clockwise from top left: New Hope Mills Cinnamon Oat Cookies; Mary's Gone Crackers Sticks & Twigs; Kind Healthy Grain Bars; Qbel Foods QThins in vanilla. specialtyfood.com one that I'm pretty sure most people haven't heard of," says CEO Elizabeth Stein. "It will certainly be interesting to hear customers' reactions and questions on this new old grain." Bob's Red Mill Natural Foods, a widely recognized supplier of whole-grain and gluten-free foods, debuted its Grains of Discovery line in March (see sidebar, p. 34). Paleo, non-GMO and other diet trends make an impact. "There are various dieting trends like paleo and the wheat belly diet, moving people away from traditional wheat, maybe even rice," says Matthew Cox, marketing director at Bob's Red Mill. The growing non-GMO movement, he adds, is making consumers reconsider corn and wheat. Add to that ancient grains' highly nutritional profiles and, "It's a good time to turn people onto the wonders of these other grains." Multiple departments are contributing to sales. In addition to its prepared food section, Dorothy Lane Market offers ancient grains in grocery and bulk, but the biggest sales are in the bakery. "We're seeing the most interest in our ancient grain bread where we use quinoa and chia seeds," says Mayne. The retailer also offers several popular breads made from sprouted grains. "Even if they're not gluten-free, per se, these ancient and sprouted grains are more easily digestible, more like vegetables, and they can add a lot of flavor." Raw grain sales are making progress. Cooking raw grains at home is slowly gaining traction, says Janet Little, director of nutrition at Sprouts Farmers Market, an independent natural foods grocery chain with more than 160 stores throughout eight states. "Quinoa is the most popular grain that our customers are trying, as well as farro," she notes. Little attributes the growing popularity to consumers becoming aware that processed grains (or precooked grains) tend to be high in sodium and some may have added preservatives.