Monday, January 10, 2011

New: Fooducopia and Me

I've recently launched a little food-related project in conjunction with the folks at Fooducopia, a site where small food producers sell their products.

It's kind of a neat concept. Small producers might have a hard time getting the word out about their products, so being on Fooducopia brings them a little more exposure. Consumers can go to just one site and find interesting products from a number of small companies they might not have known about otherwise. And of course, Fooducopia makes a little profit from bringing sellers and buyers together.

My part in this is that I'll be creating recipes specifically for products sold on the Fooducopia site.

To be clear, I'm not reviewing these products, nor am I endorsing them when I publish the recipes. I''ll be creating recipes so Fooducopia can post them on their site so customers can get ideas on how to use the product in different ways.

Of course, I'll post those recipes here, as well, along with a little message that explains why I'm naming specific products.

Needless to say, I won't be creating recipes for products I don't like. And there's nothing stopping me from reviewing the products. Like this:

My first set of samples included five products from a company called Frawg n' Turtle. That included Apple Butter, Apple BBQ, Hickory Apple BBQ. Apple Mustard, and Hot & Horsey Apple Mustard. Sense a theme there?

I only needed one item for a recipe, but they all sounded interesting, so we opened all of them. Yeah, all. That's why the jars in the top photo aren't quite full.

The apple butter was brown and rich and had a strong cinnamon taste, but that didn't hide the flavor of the apples. I was pleased that it wasn't overly sweet. I'm thinking this would be great in my morning oatmeal.

The Apple BBQ was a nice barbecue sauce. Which is a lot for me to say, considering I've tasted so many barbecue sauces that I don't like. Even more surprising was the Hickory BBQ. I usually don't like hickory-flavored sauces at all. So many of them have a strange chemical odor and flavor that I just can't stand. This one hand a natural smoke scent and flavor. I was pleasantly surprised about both of them.

And then we come to the mustards. Okay, I'll admit it. I've got a mustard problem. Other people agonize over which wine to pair with food, I open the fridge and have to pick among a half-dozen mustards to pair with whatever I'm planning. Having two new mustards to sample is never a bad thing.

The Apple Mustard had a nice sweetness and apple flavor, but not so much that it would interfere with whatever you're eating it with (or on). The Hot N' Horsey was a little surprising. Based on the name, I expected it to have a kick of horseradish. Instead, the heat was more of a pepper spice. Cayenne-like. Interesting. I like both of them. For completely different reasons and I'm already planning different uses.

So which of these will be the secret ingredient in my first Fooducopia recipe? I'm not telling. You'll have to wait just a little while to see.

Or, then again, I've got products from two other companies here too. I might surprise you. Stay tuned.
Yum

2 comments:

Jessica Lymberopoulos said...

Thanks for collaborating with us, Donna! We can't wait to unveil your first recipe :)

Stephanie Trahd said...

I feel the same way about hickory smoked and flavored products - can't stand the smell or after taste! Thanks for sharing your positive experience with the Apple BBQ!

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