Trendwatch: Do-it-yourself food kits
The term 'artisan’ has become ubiquitous recently as part of a marketing strategy that aims to seduce consumers, conjuring up images of skilled craftsmen putting old-fashioned elbow grease into kneading dough, or butter makers churning cream.
In the last six years, for instance, Datamonitor says that more than 800 new products carried the label 'artisan’ on their packaging.
And this growing interest in consuming foods that are as minimally processed as possible was on display at a major gourmet food show this week, where do-it-yourself kits for butter, mozzarella and popcorn attracted attention.
After debuting a mozzarella cheese making kit last year, for example, Roaring Brook Dairy in New York is using the 37th annual Winter Fancy Food Show in San Francisco to launch a Homemade Butter Kit that requires just the addition of a pint (473 ml) of heavy cream.
The Mozzarella Cheesemaking Kit comes with a dairy thermometer, gloves, citric acid, rennet and salt.
479 Popcorn PIY (Pop It Yourself) also showcased popcorn kits which contain heirloom varieties like Shaman Blue, Yellow Topaz, Dakota Black, White Diamond, La Tourangelle Sunflower Oil and four seasonings that include Toasted Coconut Sugar, Aromatic Curry Salt, Fiery Habanero Sugar and Roasted Onion Salt, reported Specialty Foods magazine on Monday.
Meanwhile, making foods from scratch has become increasingly popular at a time when consumers are asking more and more questions about where their food comes from and how it’s made.
Other examples include at-home wine and beer making kits, root beer making kits, grow-your-own mushroom starter boxes and automatic yogurt and soymilk makers.
The 37th annual Winter Fancy Food Show kicked off Sunday in San Francisco and ended Tuesday. The show is a major gathering place that brings buyers and producers of fine food and gourmet products together. More than 80,000 products from 35 countries were on display. — AFP-Relaxnews
