It’s not scientific or comprehensive, but it is fun. The only rules are that the items are nationally available and "new," meaning introduced since July of 2012. Our list this year:
- Bud Light Lime Straw-Ber-Rita
- Budweiser Black Crown
- Crystal Farms Cheese Nibblers
- Green Mountain Farms Cream Cheese & Greek Yogurt
- Johnsonville Grillers Cheddar Bratwurst Patties
- Mondelez/Nabisco Whole-Grain Brown Rice Triscuits
- Noosa Yogurt
- Orville Redenbacher’s Signature BBQ Popcorn
- Safeway/Lucerne Cinnamon Cream Horchata Ice Cream
- Sheila G's Brownie Brittle
We've been writing this cover story every November for a couple years now, and it's probably our favorite story of each year. We editors write plenty of stories on emerging non-nutritive sweeteners, energy-efficient motors and ethnic food trends. But every day when we clock out, we're consumers and shoppers. So it's nice to be able to write at least once a year about the joy of food.
We do write about product introductions in every issue of Food Processing. Rollout and Food Biz Kids are devoted to them, and new products pepper our features on product development and sometimes even plant operations. But this is the only issue in which we make them personal and put them on the cover.
Every year we survey our full-time editors, our sales and support staff, our regular contributing writers and others who help us out and ask them for the new products that have delighted them during the year, the ones they actually buy, repeatedly, for themselves and their families.
We also try to hard to find a common thread so we can package list as something thematic. But we don't see any nice labels, such as "healthful" or "convenient" or "groundbreaking" – themes we've stretched to fit in the past. "Yummy" seems to be the only one that applies to all. And there's nothing wrong with that.
Johnsonville has been on an innovation kick lately, and this general concept is interesting enough. But the first variety in this line that I bought added little chunks of cheddar cheese to the patty. The result is the irresistibly juicy and full flavor of bratwurst with the added zing of the cheese.
A few weeks later I bought Cheddar Cheese & Bacon. As they say, everything's better with bacon! Both of those varieties are winners. Sadly, I haven't (yet) tried the other three varieties: Italian sausage, Swiss cheese & mushroom and the regular bratwurst patties. But I will.
One confounding thing about these becomes apparent after you're done cooking and eating. The frying pan (if that's how you cook these) has almost no grease in it. That's far different than the mess you get with most preformed burgers, leading me to believe these are low in fat. But they're not. I'm looking at the back of the Cheddar Cheese & Bacon box now and it says 39g of fat (60 percent of your daily value)! Although I'll also note these are a hefty one-third pound each. I think a quarter-pound brat-burger would sufficiently fill me and keep my arteries a little clearer. But that won't stop me from eating these.
- Dave Fusaro, Editor in Chief
Budweiser Black Crown
A crowning achievement for big-batch beers.
Millennial dilettantes will roll their eyes and tighten their grips on their ale glasses, but the A-B chemists have delivered a flavorful lager in a higher gravity (6 percent alcohol by volume) beer than they normally brew. The caramel malt is front and center, and the sweet notes are more sublime than standard-issue Bud. Best of all, you know the next bottle will deliver the same taste and effervescence as the last. Quality is a synonym for consistency in food manufacturing, and the boys and girls in St. Louis solved the quality equation decades ago. Their products are the liquid equivalent of the Big Mac.
All this, and a twist top, too.
- Kevin Higgins, Managing Editor
Whole-Grain Brown Rice Triscuits
My life-long love gets a new twist.
The taste certainly did not disappoint. Using new flavor combinations, such as Red Bean seasoned with Roasted Red Pepper and Sweet Potato seasoned with Roasted Sweet Onion, the flavors infusions went along fabulously with my cheese and hummus pairings.
That the new varieties still delivered on whole grains while also leaving out high-fructose corn syrup, hydrogenated oil, cholesterol and artificial flavors made for a happier experience all around. A 9-oz. box has a suggested retail price of $3.69.
- Erin Hallstrom Erickson, Digital Development Manager
Orville Redenbacher’s Signature BBQ Popcorn
Throw some popcorn on the barbie!
Yes, it’s a source of carbs, but, popcorn is a whole grain. A 1-oz. serving (about 2.5 cups) of this particular product actually provides 2g of both fiber and protein. At only 160 calories, I am one this salty snack’s biggest fans.
Other flavors in the line include Classic Kettle Corn, Farmhouse Cheddar and Sharp White Cheddar. I just wish they would bring over the flavors recently introduced to the Canadian market: Dill Pickle and White Cheddar Chipotle. They sound super yummy.
- Donna Berry, Dairy & Food Communications and a past Food Processing contributor
Sheila G's Brownie Brittle
If you like the crispy edge of home-made brownies.
- Jim Maddox, East Coast Sales Manager
Green Mountain Farms Cream Cheese & Greek Yogurt
Greek yogurt meets bagels with double the protein, live cultures.
While shopping at a Fresh Market store in Normal, Ill., I recently encountered Greek Cream Cheese, a line of cream cheese products formulated with Greek-style yogurt.
Made by Franklin Foods Inc., Delray Beach, Fla., the line is marketed under the company's Green Mountain Farms brand. The spread follows the initial introduction in September 2012 of a brick form. The latest extension offers flavors including Cucumber Garlic, Roasted Red Pepper, and Sundried Tomato. Fruit flavors are also in the pipeline. The plain spread tasted just like other low-fat cream cheeses but with those nutritional bonuses associated with Greek yogurt. It's available at major retailers in 6.5- 8 oz. containers for $3.99-4.59.
-David Phillips, Technical Editor
Bud Light Lime Straw-Ber-Rita
It's a tough job, but someone's gotta do it.
As a margarita fan, my arm didn't need to be twisted to try the adult beverage. I took on the challenge with gusto, picking up both a Lime-A-Rita and a Straw-Ber-Rita for comparison.
Both the Lime-A-Rita and Straw-Ber-Rita tasted as I would have expected: A margarita infused with hints of beer. The Straw-Ber-Rita, an 8 percent alcohol-by-volume flavored-malt beverage, has the added benefit of a tangy strawberry taste that makes it that much smoother to swallow.
The beverage comes in three party-friendly pack sizes: a 12-pack of 8-oz. cans and a four-pack of either 16- or 24-oz. cans.
- Erin Hallstrom Erickson, Digital Development Manager
Safeway/Lucerne Cinnamon Cream Horchata Ice Cream
These gringos nailed the horchata taste.
It seems every year I pick an ice cream product, and this year is no different. I think I only tasted horchata for the first time 10 or so years ago, but I immediately became a fan. If you're unfamiliar with it, it's a blend of rice milk, sugar and cinnamon, a beverage staple at Mexican restaurants, most of which add some unique spice to their blend.
I'm also a fan of unusual and unique flavors in at least some of my foods (especially beer), so I was excited to see this product at my local Dominick's grocery store. Just opening the lid you get a good whiff of the cinnamon, and that flavor is attractively swirled into the ice cream. Maybe rice milk does not lend itself to ice cream, because there's none on the ingredient statement (but rice flour is part of the "horchata flavor base"). And that base nails the horchata taste.
There are more pleasant surprises. The consistency is not as dense as other ice creams; now, maybe that's overrun (the addition of cheap air) but in this product the lighter texture works. And at 140 calories and 6g of at per serving, this is not gonna kill me. Safeway is Dominick's parent firm, and Lucerne is the brand for its private label dairy products. So I don't know who exactly concocted this ice cream treat, but they did a great job. It stands up to any of the nationally branded ice creams.
- Dave Fusaro, Editor in Chief
Crystal Farms Cheese Nibblers
Cheese snacks that satisfy my flavors cravings.
I first sampled this product at the International Dairy Deli Bakery show this past June in Orlando. I was anxious for the product to appear in my local supermarket and finally made a request for it after the Independence Day holiday. Within a week, there were my Nibblers, merchandised near natural chunk and process sliced cheeses.
Nibblers are real cheese curds with bold seasonings. There are four varieties: Chipotle Pepper Cheddar Cheese, Habanero Monterey Jack Cheese with Jalapeno Peppers, Smoky BBQ Cheddar Cheese and Sour Cream & Onion Monterey Jack Cheese. A pack of the Jacks contains 9g of protein, while a pack of the Cheddars contains 10g. Calories range from 150 to 170, depending on variety.
The 1.5-oz. single-serve units come in stock-friendly trays, with eight units per tray and four trays per case. They also come in five-pack multipacks. I typically purchase a multi-pack every seven to 10 days and enjoy a pack while chauffeuring my sons to their afterschool activities. Not only do Nibblers tide me over until dinner, they also satisfy my flavor cravings. Smoky BBQ is my favorite!
- Donna Berry, Dairy & Food Communications and a past Food Processing contributor
Noosa Yogurt
Is there room for an Aussie yogurt?
What’s more remarkable is its use of tapioca starch or locust bean gum, agar, gelatin and pectin. Usually, yogurts loaded with such thickeners and additives taste fake and have a chalky mouthfeel. Noosa, though, surprises with an authentic texture that makes the tongue think in terms of sour cream or a super-premium, zero-overrun ice cream. The tart cherry is good, but the fruit tastes like canned pie filling. It’s the lemon or the rhubarb you’ll want, both amazingly "just-exactly-tart-enough" flavors that evoke pie in a good, decadently indulgent way the cherry misses.
