{"id":7746,"date":"2010-06-26T04:00:29","date_gmt":"2010-06-26T08:00:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.ourgrandmotherskitchens.com\/?p=7746"},"modified":"2010-06-26T15:33:40","modified_gmt":"2010-06-26T19:33:40","slug":"scooping-up-a-sofi","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ourgrandmotherskitchens.com\/?p=7746","title":{"rendered":"Scooping up a Sofi"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u00a0\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
Dave Wallace of Bittersweet Herb Farm<\/a>\u00a0in Shelburne, Massachusetts (two towns away from my home in Hawley!), has a smile on his face this week. His wife Jill and son Miles are feeling pretty perky too, as you can see from the picture above ( which comes courtesy of Bittersweet Herb Farm).<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n

\nOne of this family company\u2019s classic products, its Spices of India mix, has made it to the finals in the sofi awards.<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
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\u201cSofi\u201d is an acronym for \u201cspecialty outstanding food innovation.\u201d The awards are sponsored by the National Association for the Specialty Food Trade<\/a>, which will hold its annual New York Fancy Food Show<\/a> beginning tomorrow, June 27, and running through Tuesday the 29th.<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
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\u201cThe NASFT is the biggest gourmet food organization in the country, and the Fancy Food Show is the premiere show in the country and perhaps in the world,\u201d Dave told me recently. \u201cIt\u2019s a major event.\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
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I love the Fancy Food Show. What food writer could resist wandering through the Javits Center in New York encountering aisle upon aisle of things to taste? I\u2019ll miss the show this year\u2014although to tell you the truth my feet and my digestive system won\u2019t! It was nice to have a chance to talk to Dave about it.<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
He explained that his company seldom misses a Fancy Food Show. Asked what he gets out of exhibiting there, he mused, \u201cYou get some orders. You don\u2019t get a lot of orders.<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
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\u201cYou get a lot of contacts. Everybody in the food industry goes there. We come home with probably about 200 leads that we spend pretty much the rest of the year following up on.\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
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For this year\u2019s sofis about 2000 products were submitted by food companies throughout the world. Bittersweet\u2019s spice mix is one of four finalists in the category \u201cappetizer, antipasto, salsa, or dip.\u201d<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
\n

At the Food Show the NASFT will ask 300 buyers to rate the finalists. The grand-prize winners will be announced at a reception Monday evening.<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Even if Bittersweet\u2019s spice mix doesn\u2019t get first prize in its category, Dave explained, he and his family will still be winners.<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
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\u201cYou\u2019re awarded a silver medal just by being a finalist. It is a big deal. We talk about waiting till the show to find if we won but in reality we’ve already won,\u201d he noted. \u201cTo be among such a select group of products is definitely an honor.\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
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Beyond the honor, Dave observed that he is already gaining attention and orders from buyers because of his silver medal.<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
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Perhaps ironically, the Spices of India mix is not a new product. \u201cActually it\u2019s one of our original seasonings, which would make it about 27 years old,\u201d said Dave. \u201cI\u2019ve loved Indian food since as long as I can remember.\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
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He didn\u2019t necessarily expect the spice mix to win, he admitted. \u201cIndian food or Indian cuisine seems to be the trend of the year. I noticed that there were several products with Indian flair [in the finals]. We just happened to enter the right product at the right time.\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
Dave said that he had actually expected one of Bittersweet\u2019s newer products to be nominated for a sofi\u2014perhaps its wild blueberry and limoncello jam (excellent in crepes or tarts) or its new southwest seasoning mix, which the Wallaces like to combine with mushrooms, onions, vegetable sausage, and cheese for a southwest egg scramble.<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
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\u201cLife would be much easier if I had a crystal ball,\u201d Dave chuckled.<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
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Asked about his favorite way to use the Spices of India mix, he responded, \u201cI make a sauce, a very quick and easy sauce with unsweetened coconut milk\u2014an eight-ounce can\u2014and two tablespoons of the Spices of India (or to taste). I heat it up and add a little salt and pepper. You can use it as a sauce on just about anything: fish, chicken, lamb vegetables.<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
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\u201cOr I just add a pinch to my tuna salad, egg salad, chicken salad.\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
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He explained that the mixture is popular because it is spicy but not necessarily hot.<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
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\u201cWe do a lot of these consumer shows. People are afraid to try it because they\u2019ve had a negative experience with Indian spices being too hot. They\u2019re surprised at how mild it is, how flavorful it is.\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
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The judges in New York will try the spice mixture in one of the recipes featured on the label, probably the first recipe given, which makes a creamy, flavorful cheese spread. Dave gave me a jar of the spices so I made the spread for friends recently. Everyone loved it.<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
\n

The mayonnaise made the cream cheese a little less heavy, and the spice mix really brought depth to the cheese. The recipe appears below.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
Bittersweet Herb Farm Spread of India<\/a><\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
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Ingredients:<\/em><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
1 cup cream cheese, softened
\n1 cup mayonnaise
\n2 tablespoons Spices of India mix<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
Instructions:<\/em><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
Blend the cream cheese and mayonnaise and stir in the spices.<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
Chill in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes. (A little longer is a little better!)<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
\n

Serve with crackers, pita chips, or vegetables. Makes a little less than 2 cups of spread. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Courtesy of the NASFT. Photography by Mark Ferri.<\/p><\/div>\n

\n

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\u00a0 \u00a0 Dave Wallace of Bittersweet Herb Farm\u00a0in Shelburne, Massachusetts (two towns away from my home in Hawley!), has a smile on his face this week. His wife Jill and son Miles are feeling pretty perky too, as you can see from the picture above ( which comes courtesy of Bittersweet Herb Farm).\u00a0 One of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[3],"tags":[86,1243,1242,1239,1241,1240],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ourgrandmotherskitchens.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7746"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ourgrandmotherskitchens.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ourgrandmotherskitchens.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ourgrandmotherskitchens.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ourgrandmotherskitchens.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=7746"}],"version-history":[{"count":13,"href":"https:\/\/ourgrandmotherskitchens.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7746\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7757,"href":"https:\/\/ourgrandmotherskitchens.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7746\/revisions\/7757"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ourgrandmotherskitchens.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7746"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ourgrandmotherskitchens.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7746"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ourgrandmotherskitchens.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7746"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}