THE BEST: Picks for Top Healthy Gourmet Snacks of 2020

2020 TOP HEALTHY GOURMET SNACKS

The world is full of fantastic, delicious, and innovative healthy gourmet snacks. That’s why we’ve tasted some of the best, and here’s what we found.

The 6th Annual Snack Awards selects and rewards the Top Healthy Gourmet Snack creations of the Year.

Products from across the country entered into this competition, and were sent to a select jury panel of food & wine media and industry judges located throughout North America. This panel tasted, reviewed and voted on which they consider to be the “Top Healthy Gourmet Snacks of the Year” by the TASTY AWARDS panel, the Academy of Media Tastemakers

The Healthy Snack Awards look for the tastiest, most appealing , and healthiest snack choices on the market. It doesn’t matter if it’s a bar, a chip, popcorn, or nuts, as long as it looks good and tastes good and is good for you then it has the chance of making the list. Gluten Free, Sugar Free, or just made with fresh and natural ingredients, the bottom line is that they have to satisfy your urge to munch.

The judges and reviewers for this year’s selections come from a panel of gurus from the Academy of Media Tastemakers. Here are their favorites

OUR TOP PICKS FOR GREAT HEALTHY & TASTY SNACKS

GOODTO GO Snacks Strawberry Macadamia Nut Snack Bar

“Tastes like something you have to keep checking the package to make sure it’s actually healthy. But it is!”

Kathies Kitchen: SuperSeedz Dark Chocolate & Sea Salt Gourmet Pumpkin Seeds

“Be ready to maintain a bit of portion control, it’s easy to keep munching on these tasty Salted pumpkin seeds in dark chocolate”

Nature’s Path Love Crunch Dark Chocolate & Red Berries Granola

“So cool to see a granola that adds unique ingredients and seasonings like red berries, healthy dark chocolate, and organic coconut”

Mary’s Gone Crackers – Super Seed Classic

“Fully plant-based gluten-free protein, these crackers can be eaten alone or paired with a topping such as cheese, avocados, or even peanut butter”

MadeGood Food Red Velvet Soft Baked Mini Cookies

“If you have a taste for red velvet, you’ll like these, but because of their size and healthy ingredients you won’t feel too guilty about having them”

Barebells Protein Bars – Crunchy Fudge

“The snack bar with no added sugar that you want to take with you to the gym or before a good run. “

Finally, a Bolognese Sauce that is 3 in 1: Delicious, Versatile and Healthy

A thick and rich tomato Bolognese sauce is a gift for the home chef. That is because it is so versatile. A new sauce we have discovered is Otamot, and its versatility is perfect for these challenging times.

This organic sauce is made from vine ripened tomato, carrots, red bell peppers, sweet potatoes, butternut squash, spinach, red beets, sweet onions, garlic, extra-virgin olive oil, and shiitake mushrooms. Otamot is also certified as vegan, gluten-free, and GMO-verified.

We have used this sauce on everything from pastas such as tortellini and ravioli, to the base for deep dish pizza, to meatball sandwiches. It has yet to fail us!

Based in Brooklyn, the brand was founded by a dad Andrew Suzuka, who wanted his daughter to be able to eat healthier while enjoying her meals. As Suzuka says, “Tomato sauce CAN be packed with vegetables, vitamins, antioxidants and have no added sugar or preservatives.”

Find it at https://www.otamotfoods.com

USA Rice President & CEO Addresses Domestic Rice Supply

Rumors and false facts abound regarding the availability of food and resources. Especially regarding essential foods, such as rice, beans, and even chicken.

Social media platforms are full of pictures of empty store shelves, fueling rumors of shortages, and potentially fueling additional panic and hoarding.

With this in mind, USA Rice President & CEO Betsy Ward issued the following statement:

“U.S. consumers need not be concerned about a shortage of U.S.-grown rice. There is no shortage. Rice is a nutritious and inexpensive staple that when kept under the right conditions can last almost indefinitely, so it makes sense consumers would want an ample supply on hand during this crisis.

“If you see depleted rice shelves in your local grocery store, it is not a supply problem, it is a signifier of changing logistics in the retail market. For a few years now, stores that used to keep one month or more of products on hand have largely shifted to a ‘just-in-time’ model to improve their efficiency. When there is a surge in consumer interest for a particular product, supplies on hand may be depleted, but will be quickly replenished. This is the case for U.S.-grown rice.

“Not only are shipments of sustainably-grown U.S. rice on the way to stores now, but this is also the time of year when our thousands of family farmers are out in the fields or preparing to be, planting the next crop to ensure our supply of delicious, safe rice never runs out.”

Tasty Awards Picks for Top Artisan Jerky of 2019

The Annual Jerky Awards competition rewards the Top Jerky creations of the Year. See our top picks of beef, turkey, fish and vegan jerky.

Château Les Maubats 2015 Bordeaux Superior is a Vegan Wine that Pleases the Palate

Château Les Maubats 2015 Bordeaux Superior

Vegan wines taste as good as regular wines, that’s our proclamation! If you don’t believe us, then try Château Les Maubats 2015 Bordeaux Superior Rouge.

This wine is bright and refreshing, and fully meets our expectations of a pleasantly drinkable French vintage. The fact that it is vegan is an afterthought, at least from a palate perspective. What does surprise us more than anything is that it is French, because the style is so New World in presentation, almost Californian or Australian.

The winemaker describes Château Les Maubats 2015 Bordeaux Superior Rouge as “Deep ruby core with aromas of red cherries, raspberries, thyme, and earthy notes. Full-bodied on the palate with integrated oak flavors, ripe red fruit, coffee, a hint of tobacco, and a touch of licorice”

Definitely a great drinking or gift wine, and guaranteed to be a conversation starter… or deal closer.

WHAT IS VEGAN WINE?

We are often asked, “Wait, aren’t all wines vegan?” No, mon frere! They are not , just like honey is not vegan, nor is butter, because they both came from animals.

Wine may be made of grapes, but it has to be cleared up and filtered to make it drinkable, otherwise there are a number of unpleasant floating things you might swallow. An agent added to the wine can absorb this debris and when removed, leaves most of the wine a tasty and clear liquid.

As Vegan Wines describes, “traditional wine fining and filtering may involve many animal products, such as isinglass (from fish bladders), gelatin (from animal hooves and sinews), chitosan (from crustaceans), albumin (from eggs), and casein (from milk).” Vegan wines use non-animal derived methods to clarify the wine, including no slaughterhouse byproducts such as animal blood, bone, feathers, or fish waste are used to enrich and fertilize soil.

Vegan Wines is expanding its offerings and wine club, especially for lovers of reds and lower-priced wines. It’s also the the U.S.’s first all-vegan wine club

ABOUT VEGANWINES.COM

Vegan Wines began in 2018 to make buying vegan wines easier, to give boutique vineyards and wineries more exposure, and to raise awareness about the exploitation of animals in winemaking methods. Founded by Frances Gonzalez, a long-time vegan and wine enthusiast, with an assist from in-house sommelier Sunny Gandara, DWS, CWE, Vegan Wines offers unique wines that are animal-friendly ‘from the vine to the glass.’ Vegan Wines visits wineries across the U.S. and the world, touring vineyards and winemaking facilities, talking with owners and winemakers, and of course, tasting wines, to uncover rare and small-scale wines that are guaranteed vegan. Vegan Wines also offers the first online vegan wine club in the U.S., with hand-selected wines, special discounts, recipes, events, and more. For more information visit http://veganwines.com.

Château Les Maubats 2015 Bordeaux Superior Rouge retails for around $30, find it here.

Fresh Spices are a Key Ingredient to Recipe Success: Spaghetti Puttanesca

Sometimes your spices are not fresh enough for your recipes. Pereg Natural Foods has a line of spices that is quite fresh and can add that critical touch to a meal. TasteTV had a moment to talk with them about how they source their herbs. Pereg also shares its recipe for tasty Spaghetti Puttanesca.