Exotic/Disgusting Foods and Beverages Forum--Brazilian Cookies

      Let's head down to South America for a venue change.  These were found in the alternate Shop-Rite once again.  I tried three varieties from the Vitarella wafer line--their vanilla, their orange, and their pineapple flavors.

     Vitarella is a moderately old brand, having started in 1993.  Persons unidentified began the operation in Pernambuco, and it was then known as Industrie de Alimentos Bomgosto Ltda.  At first it just made pasta, and originally the workforce was only 34 people.  Sometime along the line the company started making other baked goods, or products associated with baking, such as different kinds of cookies/biscuits, toast, and margarine.  In 1998 the Treloso brand began, which was various kinds of crackers.  In 2008 the business was acquired by M. Dias Branco S/A.  Which made sense, since the new owner, M. Dias Branco, was the leading pasta and biscuit producer in Brazil.  To illustrate this, M. Dias Branco makes 26.1% of the country's biscuits, and 25.4% of its pasta.  M. Dias Branco originated in 1936, and it was named after its founder, Manuel Dias Branco.  I'd like to go into more detail about the two companies that have been involved with the Vitarella brand, but as usual I'm hampered by a dearth of online information.  I can tell you aside from wafers, Vitarella also manufactures stuffed, sweet, and cake-like varieties of cookies.

Vitarella wafers, orange flavor:  These measured about 8 cm. by 2 cm. (or about 3.25 inches by .75 inch), with the traditional cross-hatched outer design/embossment.  Also, like a typical wafer it was a series of layers, of cream filling layers encased in cookie ones.  There was also a very slight orangish tinge to the yellowish cookie layers, while the filling was white.  The taste was pretty mediocre.  The cream was alright, and the cookie layers were slightly crunchy, and had a slight orange-y flavor.  I would have liked a stronger orange and cream taste.  So not bad at all, but not my favorite wafer.  Just kind of average.

Vitarella wafers, vanilla flavor:  Same size, shape, and layering as previous.  Slightly paler yellow cookie color, with a white cream filling.  Texture was the same as the orange kind.  Taste was a bit better--maybe vanilla makes for a better wafer.  Still about average for a wafer cookie.  But it was the best of the three.

Vitatrella wafers, pineapple flavor:  The size, shape, layering arrangement, and texture was identical to others.  Paler yellow color for the outer cookie layers than the orange ones, or about the same as the vanilla.  (I don't know that I could tell the vanilla and pineapple wafers apart from jus their color.)  And once again the taste was okay, but not great.  The pineapple taste could have been stronger.   Probably the weakest of the three.

     So overall, if you enjoy wafers in general, you'll probably think these are mediocre examples of the style.  Not terrible or anything, but not the best, either.  Pretty much "meh."

     Brief update--I'm in the process of signing the contract for my latest anthology addition, which I spoke of previously.  Many more details to follow soon.

    

Exotic/Disgusting Foods and Beverages Forum--A Finnish Version of an American/Alsatian Cheese

      Just the other day I bought a couple of new cheeses at the alternate Shop-Rite, and then brought them home and gave them a try.  Then when I checked out my blog post history, I got a surprise.  Unless I made a mistake, it's been almost exactly a year since my last post about a cheese.  Which is shocking, since cheese is my favorite food, period.  Anyway, I tried the muenster cheese from the Finlandia brand.

     The history of the company behind Finlandia is a little hit and miss.  The Finlandia brand of cheese started in the late 1970's, by an unnamed company.  (Maybe the company was also named Finlandia?)  Nothing more was mentioned until this brand was bought up by the Valio Ltd. company in 1992.  We do know more about Valio.  This company began in 1905, and was headquartered in Hanko, Finland.  It was a cooperative of many small Finnish dairy farms.  Initially this business just sold butter, but in 1909 they also started marketing other dairy products, such as cheese.  In the 1950's Valio began exporting cheese to the U.S.  Currently Valio is huge--according to an article I read it's responsible for 97% of Finland's dairy exports, and 29% of the nation's overall food exports.  In addition to the cheeses and butter put out under the Finlandia line, Valio also makes baked goods, pastries, candy, chocolates, ice cream, other special nutrition dairy products, and formula for infants.  Finlandia consists of 4 categories:  sliced cheeses such as Swiss, gouda, and havarti;  salted and unsalted butter; spreadable cheeses and cheese chunks; "deli loaves," which seem to be cheeses in bar form, and not sliced.  Moving on, Finlandia's cheeses are free of gluten (as all cheese are?).  Some are free of lactose, and use a vegetarian-friendly rennet.  None of their cheeses are kosher.  Oddly, their butters are kosher.  Recent annual total sales of Valio products are reported as being 1.8 billion Euros.  The company exports to between 50-60 nations around the globe.

     I always assumed from the name that muenster cheese was German in origin.  It isn't.  It's actually American, although made by German immigrants, in an unrecorded year and place within the U.S.A.  The cheese has nothing to do with the German city of Munster in Westphalia/Lower Saxony, nor the Irish province of Munster.  It's actually named for the Alsatian city of Munster.  For those that don't know, Alsace is a disputed territory--both France and Germany have claimed it at various points in history, and its culture is thus a mix of the two.  Anyway, muenster cheese is a semisoft cheese, pale in color, with a distinctive orange rind, which is derived from one of its seasonings, annetto (which is also used for making cheddar and colby cheese, among others).  It's made from pasteurized cow's milk, and its taste is thought to be mild (although if aged longer its flavor is more intense).  As it melts well it's often used for grilled cheese sandwiches, and for tuna melts, etc.  The original Munster cheese, with no "e" in the name, is made in the Alsatian town of the same name, but is unpasteurized.

Finlandia muenster cheese:  Had a pale yellow color, with a orangish rind.  Plain it was delicious.  Semisoft texture, mild, and creamy.  I also had some melted on a roll, and this was also excellent.  So the search for a kind of bad cheese continues.  This one was very tasty.  Buy it if you can, unless you're one of those rare folks who doesn't like cheese, or doesn't eat it for other reasons.

     One final note--Valio had a very famous and lauded employee.  Artturi Ilmari Virtanen worked in their labs, and won the Nobel Prize for Chemistry in 1945.  It was for his "research and invention in agriculture and nutrition chemistry, especially for his fodder preservation method preserving nutrition in hay."  Meaning the cows had better food, and then were able to produce better, and presumably more, milk for use in dairy products.

 

Exotic/Disgusting Foods and Beverages Forum--Belgian/American Rice Cakes, and an Announcement

      In general, I'm not a fan of rice cakes.  At least any of the plain ones.  They usually taste remarkably bland--similar to what I imagine packing "peanuts" would.  There have been a couple that were okay--the ones sprinkled with powdered cheese, or one that had a decent apple flavor.  But even these weren't especially dazzling or anything--they were just mediocre enough to eat when I was trying to lose weight.  And sure, you can put toppings on a plain rice cake, but that seems to defeat their purpose.  Doing so would result in more calories, and/or more fat, so if you're going to do that, you might as well use a cracker or bread base that tastes better itself.  Anyway, explanatory rant over.  This was just to illustrate my usual feelings about rice cakes.  However, I am willing to risk trying something I don't traditionally like if it's from another country, or has something else atypical about it.  So that's why I tried these rice cakes today.  Which are technically "thin puffed cakes," but since their main, or at least one of their main base ingredients is rice, who are we kidding here?  These were made by the Suzie's brand.  I tried their lightly salted brown rice thin puffed cake kind, and their multigrain thin puffed cake one.

     Those hoping for an extensive paragraph or two about the Suzie's company are in for a disappointment.  Yup, it's that time again--the company that reveals little to nothing about its founders, company history, etc.  The official company website just includes a product list, and their "about us" page is incredibly vague.  Although, other business-related websites like LinkedIn weren't much help either.  Possibly because "Suzie's" is such a generic company name.  Therefore, about all I can tell you is that Suzie's may have been founded by a Marty Sokoloff.  (I know, right--not a person named Suzie, or Susan?)  And the company's headquarters seem to be in Huntington Beach, California.  Also, their website mentioned that the brand is made by factories and by suppliers around the world, including Spain, Greece, and Italy.  They do admit that the company started in 1983.  But that's about all I could learn.  One of my cake packages read that it was exclusively imported by Good Groceries Company, Inc., out of Brooklyn, NY, and even provided a website address.  Which when I checked, didn't include Suzie's on its product list of crackers.  So I don't know what's going on.  It's like the most boring conspiracy theory in the world, to deny some basic information about a baked snack food company.  If you're curious, aside from the thin puffed cakes (i.e. rice cakes), Suzie's also makes other crackers, flatbreads, and some quinoa combos.  And, unusually for the products I report on, some of their wares contain soy, tree nuts, and even gluten.  Both of my cake labels did note that they were a "Product of Belgium."  But that's all--maybe I'll never learn who the mysterious Suzie is/was.  Perhaps humans were never meant to know, and it hides a great secret which would destroy the Earth, or even the entire universe.  Or the Solokoffs are just publicity-shy, and Suzie was Marty's wife or mom.  Either way.

Suzie's lightly salted brown rice thin puffed cakes:  These were squares, about 8 cm.(or about 3 inches) to a side, and about .125 of an inch (about .3 cm.) thick.  Mostly white in color, although some grains were brown or yellow.  The texture was typical for a rice cake--slightly crunchy, but mostly soft.  And like most rice cakes, when eaten plain the taste was lacking, almost none.  With fig spread applied to them they did taste better, but that was only the spread--the cake was only the transport vehicle.  Almost like it was a utensil.  So I can't say this cake tastes good, but maybe if you're one of those folks who actually like rice cakes, you might like these?

Suzie's multigrain thin puffed cakes:  These were the same size, shape, and approximate color of the previous.  And despite the different ingredients the texture, and taste were also the same.  Plain, or with fig spread on them.  So, same deal as before--incredibly bland, no appreciable taste to speak of.  Unless you're really into rice cakes, I can't imagine recommending these to anyone.

     Also, I'm pleased to report that I recently heard back that a story of mine will be a part of a horror anthology due out in the late summer of this year, or maybe only 3 or 4 months from now.  Much more info to follow, including an interview with the publisher (and possibly other contributing authors), an author list, blurbs, the cover, where to buy it, etc.  Stay tuned!

  

 

Exotic/Disgusting Foods and Beverages Forum--A Cranberry Wine From New Jersey

      Even very occasional readers of this blog have surely noticed that I don't discuss wines very much at all.  I'm definitely a beer first, hard liquor second, and wine a distant third sort of guy.  But, I'm making a rare exception today.  Because I noticed something unusual in the wine section--one made using cranberries and not grapes.  The fact that it was also made in New Jersey was a nice bonus, since I like to promote my home state's wares when feasible.  Anyway, the cranberry wine I'll talk about was from the Tomasello Winery.

     The vineyard at the Tomasello farm started back in 1888.  But for a long while it was just used for and by the family itself.  All of this changed in 1933.  In February of that fateful year, Frank Tomasello heard that the U.S. was going to repeal Prohibition.  Therefore, he wasted no time--he jumped into his vehicle and drove down to Washington, D.C. despite a snowstorm.  He was one of the earlier applicants for a license, as he was the 68th in the nation.  Then, in June of 1933 New Jersey passed the 21st Amendment, repealing Prohibition in the state.  And so the Tomasello Winery was in business.  The company's first products were a Ranier Red, a Ranier White, and a Ranier Rose.  (Ranier was the maiden name of Frank's wife.)  In the 1940's Frank's son, Charles and Joseph, joined the family business, and helped introduce sparkling wine.  By the 1960's half of all Tomasello wines sold were of the sparkling variety.  Later, Charles made Tomasello the first winery to plant the French-American grape hybrids developed by Cornell University's Extension Station.  Charles Jr. and Jack came on and introduced the Chardonnay and Cabernet Sauvignon varieties.  As of now, Tomasello makes just under 50 kinds of wine, and exports them to 37 U.S. states, and parts of Canada and Asia.  It's the only third generation, family-owned winery in New Jersey, and is the second oldest winery in the state (after Renault).  Creating a winery in the Hammonton, NJ area was no coincidence, as folks had noticed that the area was perfect for growing grapes long before.  The neighboring town of Vineland is named after this attribute.  (Although ironically the founder of that town was staunchly anti-alcohol.)  This part of New Jersey is part of the Outer Coastal Plain viticultural region, which is similar to France's famous wine-making Loire Valley.  It has the right kind of soil (sandy and loamy), a slightly acidic soil pH, and a longer growing season due to the proximity of the warmer ocean currents.  Additionally, cranberries are not the only atypical source of wine that Tomasello uses.  It also makes concoctions made from peaches, apples, blackberries, raspberries, huckleberries, tangerines, pineapples, grapefruit, pomegranates, and even watermelon.

Tomasello Winery, cranberry wine:  The color of this wine, not shockingly, was red, and the odor was of cranberries.  And the taste was....like cranberry juice.  Since I enjoy cranberry juice, this was a positive.  It was good, and tart.  I didn't really detect the alcohol content much at all.  It was rather weak for a wine, being only 9% alcohol, but still.  So, if you like cranberry juice, I would highly recommend this.  It was basically cranberry juice for adults.  A neat alternative  wine--I would buy this again, and will probably try other "offbeat" fruit wines from Tomasello.

     Some final tidbits about cranberries--I learned that 97% of the world's production comes from three nations--the U.S., Canada, and Chile.  Also, recently the rumor about cranberries providing protection against UTIs (urinary tract infections) was found to be valid, at least for certain groups of people (primarily younger women and children).  Furthermore, I was excited to read that there had been something called the Great Cranberry Scare of 1959.  Alas, instead of being something absurd and dramatic, such as giant cranberries ripping the faces off of folks, or cranberries that caused hallucinations and insanity for consumers, it was when the cranberry market in the U.S. collapsed due to crops being tainted by a particular herbicide.  So, it was undoubtedly tragic and damaging for cranberry farmers, but not a suitable subject for a fun and cheesy horror movie or anything.