Wings Made for the Air Fryer
PerdueFarms.com
Perdue Farms is helping consumers say goodbye to soggy takeout wings with the rollout of Perdue Air Fryer Ready Crispy Wings, which they claim are the first wings made specifically for air fryers. The frozen product comes in Lemon Pepper, Hot ’ N’ Spicy and Roasted varieties. They are ready to eat after less than 18 minutes in an air fryer. Conventional oven directions are also offered.
To celebrate the release, the company offered “The Ultimate at Home Wing Kit” for a limited time on its website. The kit cost only $10 and included a bag of each wing variety, a four-quart air fryer, a “Crispy Business” apron, one pair of tongs, a tote bag and a coupon for a future purchase. Like all Perdue products, Air Fryer Ready Crispy Wings are made from chicken raised without antibiotics, hormones or steroids, fed an all-vegetarian diet and raised cage free.
No-Cheese Mac & Cheese
Kraft Heinz Not Company LLC, a joint venture between Kraft Heinz Company and TheNotCompany Inc., is rolling out its third plant-based concept: Kraft NotMac&Cheese. Available in Original and White Cheddar flavors, the boxed pasta mix is available nationwide. The joint venture will continue to scale into several more categories and begin international expansion in 2024.
“The Kraft Heinz Not Company creates plant-based versions of fan-favorite foods that taste like the real thing, yet don’t require people to drastically change their eating habits,” says CEO Lucho Lopez-May. “NotCo brings its revolutionary AI technology that has a proven track record in creating mouthwatering plant-based foods to Kraft, the beloved mac and cheese brand that sells over a million boxes every day.”
A Twist in Soft Serve
www.bluebunny.com
Wells Enterprises Inc., owned by Ferrero SpA, now offers its packaged soft-serve ice cream in clear plastic pints to showcase the swirls of goodies inside. Each variety of new Blue Bunny Twist contains two flavors of soft-serve frozen dairy dessert twirled together with a ribbon of variegate.
There are six varieties. Blu’s Birthday Cake is cake and sweet cream soft-serve with purple frosting. Candy Bar is peanut butter and chocolate soft-serve with caramel. Chocolate Vanilla is made with the two namesake soft-serve flavors and chocolate fudge. That same ribbon of chocolate fudge is also in Cookies & Cream and Mint Chocolate Chip. The final variety is Strawberries & Cream. It features twisted strawberry-flavored and sweet cream-flavored soft-serve with a swirl of strawberry sauce.
Cauliflower Gets Puffed
Family-owned CauliPuffs debuts a new crispy puffed snack made from a blend of cauliflower, rice and corn. CauliPuffs also are made with avocado oil, rather than traditional seed oils, and come in White Cheddar, Habanero Ranch, Honey BBQ and Vegan Salt & Pepper flavors. They are all gluten free, soy free and non-GMO. The snacks come in 0.75g, 100-calorie packs, as well as 4-oz. bags for sharing.
“Our girls are picky eaters, and it was important for us to create a healthy ‘school safe’ snack that checked all the boxes and made our kids’ taste buds happy,” says Thai Lan Tran, co-founder of CauliPuffs with her husband Joey Rosa. “Our goal is to provide a healthier alternative to traditional snacking options while also offering a range of flavors that cater to everyone.”
Keto-friendly Cereal Enters Bar Business
Following the successful launch of Catalina Crunch Pairings Cereal in August 2023, Catalina Crunch is entering the nutrition bar category. The high-protein, no-added-sugar bars pair the brand’s low-sugar cereal with flavorful inclusions, such as nuts and dried fruit.
The bars were designed to provide a portable version of the cereal. They are making their debut as Dark Chocolate Cookie Bars in either raspberry or mint flavors. They feature a crunchy cookie center with a flavorful filling that is enrobed in a 55% cacao dark chocolate. One bar contains only 2g of sugar and 3g of net carbs. A 20-bar pack sells for $59 on the company’s website. Starting in 2024, the bars are slated to roll out in retailers nationwide.
Hard Seltzer Pioneer Ditches the Booze
White Claw, which helped change the way adults drink when it rolled out its namesake hard seltzer in 2016, is once again redefining drinking with the launch of White Claw 0% Alcohol. After years of research and breakthroughs including the development of a proprietary plant-based sweetener, the brand says this new premium seltzer for adults has a depth of complexity that tastes, feels and looks like no other non-alcoholic drink in the marketplace.
Alcohol gives adult drinks a distinct taste and flavor that disappears when removed, the company says. The result is a bland, flat beverage that tries to compensate for what it is missing through layers of flavor and sweetener. To overcome this hurdle, parent Mark Anthony Brewing researched how taste and alcohol work together. This investment resulted in patents and proprietary beverage technologies used to make White Claw 0% Alcohol.
The drink is made with ultra-refined seltzer in familiar White Claw flavors, such as Black Cherry Cranberry, Mango Passion Fruit and Peach Orange Blossom. The beverage also contains hydrating electrolytes and only 15 calories per 12-oz. can.
