I recently attended the Fancy Food Show in New York City, and as you can see in the above gallery, some great products were featured. I also got to test out some exhibitor’s product samples (many of which were sent to my home). Some sample highlights include:

Nielsen-Massey’s Pure Vanilla Extract is a great product which I have substituted for my regular vanilla extract in my morning oatmeal.

I’ve been grilling with Char Crust‘s spice rubs. I was always a fan of the Tunisian Fire and Bamboo Curry varieties, but their new Holy Mole is a hit on grilled chicken.

I’ve tried some great Israeli products, including Olia’s Coffee Vinagrette (great as a grilled chicken thigh marinade), Shelley Anne‘s Whole Rye Crackers (these are addictive but the label isn’t clear on which seeds and grains are used), Neviot‘s Grape Flavored Water (my room mates downed it), and Baracke‘s Classic Halva (at only 99 calories per bar, the vanilla with pistachios variety was tasty).

Citriburst Finger limes are long thin limes that you cut in half and squeeze to drop the tasty little lime pearls into a drink or seafood dish.

I have been a fan of Chuao Chocolatier for quite some time. Some of my favorite Chuao chocolates include the Orange-A-Go-Go (dark chocolate and a combination of orange and the citrus fruit used in Earl Grey Tea (bergamot)), Pop Corn Pop (milk chocolate with little crunchy bits). and the Triple Nut Temptation Bar (Dark Chocolate with whole roasted almonds, hazelnuts and pistachios). These chocolate bars are gluten free.

Tortuga has always made some excellent Caribbean rum cakes (in a variety of flavors), but I also sampled two of their coffees (Rum Cream and Rum Liqueur) and two of their hot sauces (Jamaican Jerk) and Pepper sauces. The rum flavor combined well in both coffee varieties, so if you are a fan of both rum and coffee, these are the products for you. I made a batch of wings, and used each of the hot sauces on half the batch, and the wings all came out spicy and wonderful. I do thinks its funny that the spices listed on the jerk sauce bottle are “approved spices.” Approved by who and for what? I’m guessing the spices include allspice.

Pukka makes some of the few herbal teas I actual like. Whoever blends the flavors knows what they were doing. My favorites are the Love (organic rose, chamomile & lavender), After Dinner/Calming (organic fennel, chicory & cardamom), Green Chai (fair trade organic herbal tea with sweet cinnamon & star anise), Three Ginger (organic ginger, galangal & golden turmeric), and Vanilla Chai (fair trade organic herbal tea with cinnamon & sweet vanilla).

-JAY