Summer Fancy Food Show: Day 3

The third day of the SFA Summer Fancy Food Show saw less foot traffic than Day 2, but many exhibitors were excited about the contacts they made the previous day. Somehow, I thought it was going to be a slower-paced day for me, but I still didn’t get to visit some booths I’d wanted to see.

Nancy Wekselbaum, aka The Gracious Gourmet, and I keep crossing paths! I interviewed her by phone last year for an article on Hatch chiles. Then at the Winter Fancy Food show, which she was attending but not exhibiting, she happened to sit at the table I was at between booth visits.

This time, I was invited to a scrumptious five-course seafood dinner and olive oil tasting sponsored by Onsuri and who should be seated next to me but Nancy! The next day, I stopped by her booth and finally got to taste a variety of her products. I love pesto, so there was no arm-twisting to get me to try her Roasted Tomato Pesto and Lemon Artichoke Pesto – I could eat a whole jar of those. The Strawberry Black Pepper Jam was outrageously good. She’s got a new Hatch product that’s delicious, too, White Balsamic Hatch Chile Jelly.

I was impressed with Yoele’s new chips, made with the ancient West African grain fonio. The gluten-free chips have the texture of tortilla chips, but not as crumbly. When I got home, I made nachos with them – yum! Fonio is a tiny grain and grown using regenerative farming. Yoele is planning to have more fonio products on the market.

Sweet Logic showed off its Mug Muffins and cake and brownie mixes. They’re keto friendly and just right for those of us who just need a quick, sweet snack. I’m told the Ultimate Carrot Mug Cake mix tastes just like carrot cake. I brought a packet home to test that theory (haven’t made it yet).

I met John Arnold and his family, who create small batch craft nut butter in Vermont as Mixed Up Nut Butter. I can’t say enough good things about the Mud Season nut butter, crunchy cacao nib and coffee with late-season maple sugar and vanilla bean. I also liked Maple Creemee with Vermont maple, cashew, pecan and vanilla bean. I learned that creemee is a rich, soft-serve ice cream, famous throughout Vermont. They had a large poster pairing nut butters with wines – these are my kind of people.

While we’re talking sweets, I got to chat with Eileen Gannon, founder and CEO of Sunday Night Foods. All of the premium dessert sauces were delicious and Eileen says they’re much more versatile than adorning ice cream. If you add powdered sugar, they can make frosting and with vodka and cream, chocolate martinis.

David Little promised me a chocolate food fight at this booth for Immunity Goodness, which didn’t happen, though he gave me handfuls of infused chocolates to take home with me. (I should have taken more Immunity Chocolates – Belgian Milk Salted Caramel Apple Chocolate bites with Vitamin C, zinc, elderberry extract and tetrahydrocurcumin from turmeric – with me because apparently, I brought a cold home.)

We’ll have a roundup of the Summer Fancy Food Show in the August issue of Gourmet News. Subscribe now so you don’t miss anything!