How To Add Trending New Sea Vegetables and Edible Seaweeds To Your 2019 Menu

Sea vegetables and edible seaweeds make their menu debut

Seaweed Consumption on the Rise

If you run a foodservice business and want to know what’s trending in the industry and what is expected to increasingly appear on 2019 restaurant menus everywhere, it’s time to learn all about the seaweed, aka sea vegetables. Recent Nation’s Restaurant News headlines reveal that seaweed is experiencing a tide of popularity, while James Griffen, an associate professor at Johnson & Wales University, reports that consumption of seaweed is growing 7% annually in the United States – and for good reason. Bursting with a rich array of nutrients and associated with multiple scientifically proven health benefits, the growing appetite for sea vegetables such as nori, kombu, and wakame is not expected to wane anytime soon.

What are Sea Vegetables?

So, what exactly are sea vegetables and how can you add seaweeds to your recipes and menus? Neither plant nor animal, sea vegetables are classified under a group known as algae. Also referred to as edible seaweed, they grow in marine salt waters as well as fresh water lakes and seas and are commonly found on coral reefs or in rocky landscapes. While relatively new to the Western palate, seaweed varieties have been a staple of Japanese diets for millennium. Remarkably, while some types of sea vegetables require soaking for 5-10 minutes before adding them to your recipes or dishes, most require no cooking or sautéeing whatsoever. Due to growing demand, while once available only in specialty shops and health food stores, you can now increasingly find seaweed varieties in local supermarkets and grocery stores as well.

Types of Edible Seaweed

Seaweeds are categorized into three main groups, based on color:

  • Green Seaweed: Rich in chlorophyll; found in dark leafy greens and other green vegetables
  • Red Seaweed: Especially high in carotenoids; known to have anti-inflammatory properties
  • Brown Seaweed: Formidable source of iodine; popularly referred to as ‘kelp’

Continue reading How To Add Trending New Sea Vegetables and Edible Seaweeds To Your 2019 Menu

Follow The Success Stories of Women Chefs Who Are Mastering The Food Scene

Female chefs are rising the ranks of the food industry

Female Chefs on the Rise in the Food Industry

Women chefs are trending. Whether you are a restaurant owner, caterer, baker, food truck/food station operator, bar owner, or manager of a bistro, this is good news. While female chefs are not going to be featured on your next menu, they do represent some of the up-and-coming superstars in the biz and are a formidable force to recognize and be reckoned with.

Proliferation of Women Chefs: A Welcome Trend

In what was once a largely male-dominated arena, the increasing proliferation of female chefs is encouraging, especially given the fact that more women are now enrolled in the Culinary Institute of America than men, and in light of National Restaurant Association (NRA) reports that the number of women-owned establishments has increased by more than 50% over the last decade.

This is not only good news for the female culinary stars who are now receiving their due recognition, but to the millions of delighted consumers whose tastes are being tantalized and whose palates are being pleased by scores of mouth-watering recipes and pioneering dishes created by female chefs.

State of the Restaurant Industry Past and Present

In the past, the restaurant industry has been described as generally unfriendly to women, be it in the form of sexual discrimination /harassment, poor or non-existent maternity leave policies, absence of benefits, inability to advance in the field, or failure to secure funding to begin their own businesses. At the same time, a minority of females did manage to beat the odds, mastering the food scene and becoming icons in their own right. Who doesn’t remember the groundbreaking successes of mavericks such as Julia Child, Christina Campbell, and Martha Stewart?

Continue reading Follow The Success Stories of Women Chefs Who Are Mastering The Food Scene

Offer Your Customers Healthier Foods with an Air Fryer

Update Your Commercial Kitchen with an Air Fryer

Air Frying Transforms the Commercial Kitchen

Just about everyone loves fried food and, as a caterer, one of your goals is to give people what they love. However, most people don’t love the calories and the dubious health benefits of fried foods, such as onion rings, French fries, or even fish (which at least has the advantage of being a protein). So what’s a caterer to do? Enter the air fryer: the caterer’s road to making everyone happy.

What is an Air Fryer?

If orange is the new black, air may be the new oil. With an air fryer, you can cook food with the help of circulated heated air, producing tasty and healthier dishes with a lot less oil. We won’t pretend that air frying replicates exactly the heavenly crispy-crunchy texture of deep frying, but with just a tablespoon of oil, French fries, chicken, fish, and vegetables do achieve the yearned for goal: crispy on the outside, soft on the inside, and a great taste.

Continue reading Offer Your Customers Healthier Foods with an Air Fryer

Poke Bowls, Originally from Hawaii, Are a Big Hit in the Rest of the U.S.

Poke Bowls: The Trend Continues in 2018

Poke Bowls Come to the Mainland

Although in Hawaii, the poke bowl is as integral to the national cuisine as pasta is in Italy or sushi is in Japan, in the rest of the United States it’s a trend that, while new a few years ago, seems here to stay. Poke is chopped raw fish that is usually seasoned with soy sauce and sesame oil, and served over warm or hot rice, and it’s a staple in the food culture of Hawaii, where it can be found everywhere from supermarkets to take-out joints. For those in the “lower 48” who are just discovering poke bowls now, it’s not a moment too soon.

Poke Facts

If you take the elements of sushi – raw fish, rice, vegetables, seaweed, sesame oil, etc. – and put them together in a bowl (and not in a roll), you’d be looking at a poke bowl, a tradition that dates back centuries in Hawaii. Poke is pronounced poh-kay, and the word means “to cut.” The fish in a poke bowl – ahi tuna or salmon, for instance – is marinated, chopped, and dished out over hot rice. The rice-fish combination is then seasoned with a variety of sauces, such as rice vinegar, soy sauce, spicy mayo and other, more-exotic options like ponzu sauce (more on this flavorful sauce later); vegetables, like chopped scallions or tomatoes can be added, along with sesame seeds or other seeds.

Continue reading Poke Bowls, Originally from Hawaii, Are a Big Hit in the Rest of the U.S.

Discover the Health Values and History of Familiar Mustard

Mustard: A Healthful and Flavorful Condiment

Mustard: Possibly the Greatest Condiment of Them All

Mustard may have come alive for Americans in the early 20th century, when it was first coupled with the hot dog, but its history is longer and spicier than you might have imagined. The mustard plant, a member of the Brassica family, has tiny round seeds and tasty leaves, and the condiment mustard is made from the seeds of this plant. Its English name, mustard, is derived from the Latin words, mustum ardens, which mean “burning must.” This is a reference to the spicy heat of the crushed mustard seeds and the old French practice of mixing the plant’s ground seeds with “must,” the unfermented juice of wine grapes.

Mustard Facts and Stats

To keep things straight, mustard is technically the plant, while prepared mustard refers to the condiment. (In most cases, though, when people say “mustard,” everyone knows they’re referring to the condiment.) The seeds aren’t flavorful until they are cracked, after which they are mixed with a liquid to become prepared mustard.

Continue reading Discover the Health Values and History of Familiar Mustard