Doug's Domain RSS
Douglas J. Peckenpaugh

Douglas J. Peckenpaugh is community director of content and culinary editor of Food Product Design. His career has centered on food and agricultural publishing, working as a writer, editor and publisher of magazines, books and websites. He also worked as a cook and restaurant manager while earning his B.A. in Professional and Creative Writing from Purdue University.

Interesting Finds—Organic or Not

Comments
Print

As I walked down the bowling lanes that comprised the All Things Organic show last week (go ahead, roll a ball … we few amblers are the pins…), I was interested to find a small handful of truly intriguing products—organic or not. Despite the less-than-lively feeling (I really hope the show did OK and that my visit was just an irregular blip in the overall scope of things…), I was interested to find items like green tea and ginger beer (interesting use of tea), black malted barley flour (fiber-rich, whole-grain source of dark color, cocoa replacer), yacón syrup (prebiotic-rich, glycemic-friendly sweetener from the Andes) and coconut sugar (another glycemic-friendly option)—and toss in a little popped sorghum and some grass-fed beef jerky just for fun.

One item that had already blipped onto my radar was a frozen yogurt fortified with DHA (from algae), inulin (prebiotic) and a good blend of probiotic cultures. It also provides a “good” source of calcium and vitamin D. I’m currently looking into whether or not they have any chain-level foodservice distribution. Fortified ice cream? Not a chance in my book. But yogurt already has a healthy halo surrounding it, so it just might work.

Organic or not—and I’m anticipating the rise of “natural” and a leveling of “organic” in the marketplace in the coming year or so—ATO always manages to throw a few fun curve balls my way.

Comments