Category Archives: New Products

Sip, Sip, Hooray: Part 5

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Sanzo Sparkling Waters offer up refreshing flavors beyond the standard lemon and lime.
Sanzo Sparkling Waters offer up refreshing flavors beyond the standard lemon and lime.

Sanzo Sparking Water

I can’t believe it’s taken this long for someone to come up with sparkling waters inspired by Asian ingredients.

But thankfully, Sandro Roco, a Queens-born Filipino American, finally did.

The result is Sanzo Sparkling Water.

It’s made with real fruit juice without any added sugar. It’s also vegan and gluten-free.

The canned sparkling water comes in five flavors: Yuzu with Ginger, Pomelo, Calamansi, Lychee, and Mango, all of which I had a chance to sample recently.

These do not taste like overly sweet soda by any stretch. They are refreshing, fizzy waters with a vivid, natural fruit taste.

The Pomelo is bright and tangy, but with less bitterness than the fresh fruit or a grapefruit.

The Yuzu with Ginger is yuzu forward with just a faint touch of ginger. It’s floral and citrusy with far less aggressive acidity than lemon.

The Calamansi is lime-like but with a lovely flowery presence to round it out.

The Lychee might be my favorite for its touch of natural sweetness along with an expansive floralness.

Sanzo Mango Sparkling Water.
Sanzo Mango Sparkling Water.

Unlike the others that are pretty much clear in color, the Mango one is yellow-orange in the glass. It’s made with Alphonso mango puree, so you really get the characteristic musky, peach-papaya-apricot taste.

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A Gold Star For Gold Ridge Organic Farms Apple Vinegars

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Gold Ridge Apple Cider Balsamic is so wonderful, you will even want to drink it -- in a shrub or cocktail.
Gold Ridge Apple Cider Balsamic is so wonderful, you will even want to drink it — in a shrub or cocktail.

Sebastopol’s Gold Ridge Organic Farms grows impeccable apples — more than 75 varieties, with many of them heirloom ones — available at its farm shop and area markets such as Whole Foods.

So, it’s no surprise that any products made from such primo apples are also stellar.

Recently, I had a chance to sample two new releases: Apple Cider Balsamic and Apple Cider Vinegar.

One taste of the Gold Ridge Apple Cider Balsamic will instantly make you go “Wow!”

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World Central Kitchen’s First Cookbook

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Chef Brooke Williamson's nourishing farro salad made with carrots and carrot juice.
Chef Brooke Williamson’s nourishing farro salad made with carrots and carrot juice.

It’s a good bet that following any disaster around the world no matter how far-flung, those jumping into action immediately after first responders are the chefs and volunteers of World Central Kitchen.

This global nonprofit was founded in 2010 by renowned Chef Jose Andres, who has a roster of restaurants around the United States.

After jumping into action to cook in Haiti after a devastating earthquake, he got the idea to create the organization. Since then, WCK has mobilized to serve more than 300 million meals worldwide.

Andres never expected that people would want recipes for the food served under those circumstances, he writes. But plenty did.

That’s what prompted “The World Central Kitchen Cookbook” (Clarkson Potter), of which I received a review copy. It was written by Andres and World Central Kitchen; with Sam Chapple-Sokol, editorial director of the Jose Andres Group.

All proceeds from the sale of the book will be donated to WCK’s emergency efforts.

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“Under the Tuscan Sun” Olive Oil

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Extra-virgin olive oil from trees growing on the estate made famous in the best-selling "Under the Tuscan Sun.''
Extra-virgin olive oil from trees growing on the estate made famous in the best-selling “Under the Tuscan Sun.”

If you fell under the romantic spell of the memoir, “Under the Tuscan Sun” you’re sure to appreciate a chance to enjoy your very own taste of sorts of that escape-to-Italy life that author Frances Mayes wrote so lovingly about.

The book chronicled Mayes’ fraught escapades in restoring a Tuscan countryside home known as Bramasole that had been abandoned for 30 years.

In addition to renovating the house to new glory, she and her husband Edward Mayes also brought back to health the property’s olive trees.

Each October, the olives from these centuries’ old trees are pressed for olio nuovo, new oil with the freshest taste that’s meant to be used immediately.

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The Delight of Cherry Spumoni

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Cherry spumoni -- a celebration of almonds, chocolate, and glace cherries.
Cherry spumoni — a celebration of almonds, chocolate, and glace cherries.

It’s been ages since I last dined at an old-school Italian restaurant, the kind that sets down a brimming relish platter almost before you’ve ordered, and ends the meal sweetly with a frosty goblet of spumoni.

Thought to have originated in Naples, this fanciful creamy dessert can’t help but feel festively nostalgic with its cherry, pistachio, and chocolate or vanilla ice creams all mingling together in one scoop, often with crunchy nuts, bits of dark chocolate, and chewy candied fruit. Talk about an entire party busting out in one spoonful.

So, when I received some samples recently of red candied cherries, otherwise known as glace cherries, from Paradise Fruit Co., I couldn’t help but grow wistful for that classic treat, especially as the holidays approach.

Paradise Fruit Co. candied red cherries.
Paradise Fruit Co. candied red cherries.

Rather than going to all the trouble of making three different flavors of ice cream, I zeroed in on this New York Times recipe for “Cherry Spumoni.”

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