Panettone: The Hot Item This Coming Season!

Italian Panettone, Mussini Style

Note: Mussini Panettone will now be only available on a special order basis only. Minimum amount required will be a pallet's worth. Please contact us directly if interested.

Have you heard about panettone? Unless you are knowledgeable about gourmet foods or Italian cuisine, you probably may not have heard about this gem....and that's where this blog post comes in! The Gourmet Import Shop is going to be importing this directly from our Italian supplier, Mussini, in preparation for the holiday season this year. Read on to learn more about Mussini, the history of panettone, and more down below.

Walk To The Beat Of Your Own Drum

Minox Stainless Steel Fusti

As the gourmet food scene continues to grow in the United States, you will most likely see a lot of unfamiliar and peculiar items that are not normally found in the local grocery store. This is not limited to just food products however. In this post we will be covering one of the hottest trends that's been gaining popularity this year, the Italian fusti (pictured above). We are in a partnership with our Italian producer,  Minox, to bring these beautiful stainless steel containers to the American market. The response by our customers has been outstanding. Read more after the break for details about Minox, the definition of NSF, the significance of welding, stainless steel types, and a few more other related tidbits.

Don't forget to also check out our other post titled True As Stainless Steel for more up to date fusti information!

Sugar, Spice, and Everything Nice!

   

This month we are spotlighting our friends from Down Under, Henry Langdon. Henry Langdon is an Australian based specialist food company with customers in Australia, New Zealand, Pacific Asia.....and now the United States! The Henry Langdon products that we import into the U.S. include a range of salt rubs, aromatic spices, chai tea, and blended flavored sugars. 

Did you know that we're doing a Monthly Special on all Henry Langdon products for May? Well now you do! You can find all these by heading over to our online retail store The Gourmet Import Shop. Each photo that has a product in it will be a clickable link to go straight to its page on the retail website for ease of access. 

Henry Langdon, Founder

Who is Henry Langdon?     

Henry Langdon (pictured to the left) was a United Kingdom native and came over to Australia in 1852 with his wife and infant son. A year before they arrived, gold was discovered in the city of Melbourne and demand for a variety of wares were high.  Langdon was ready to sell household items which included champagne, chocolate, and brandy.

Their line of imported goods had increased in diversity such as matches, honey soap, castor oil, cocoa, china, and crystal by the late 1800s. Then in the 1900s, H J Langdon & Co (officially called at this time) dipped into specializing in teas, herbs, spices, pickles, olive oil, essences and preserved ginger. 

In 2007, the gourmet food and beverage brand was launched leading to what the company is now like in this era. With over 5 generations of family members, the company has an operating history of over 155 years. 

All Live For Olive!

     When you think of Italy, what things would first come to mind? The more common answers would most likely be along the lines of the Leaning Tower of Pisa, the Colosseum, their amazing food, and even wine. But there is another dark horse that many people may not even realize is an essential product in Italian gourmet foods: olive oil. Believe it or not, olive oil is BIG in Italy. Some may even consider ranking it high up there with wine and balsamic vinegar. This leads us up to this month's Gourmet Gab topic which focuses on our Gradassi brand of olive oil from Italy.

Infused Extra Virgin Olive Oil

     In this post, we'll cover various topics which include terms you may have heard but did not quite understand what they mean, the Gradassi and C.U.FR.OL brand, and more in depth information of our Gradassi products. Head on past the break to read on. (Note: Images with product in it are clickable links to our Gourmet Import Shop online store where you can buy them directly)

 

Honey, I'm Home!

It is sometimes asked what is sweeter than sugar, and the majority of people would probably answer "honey".....and that's what we'll be discussing today! In case you have been out of the loop, we have received some new products from a Brazilian company called Novo Mel who produces honey made from the rain forests of Brazil. With the varying plant life in their rain forests, many varieties of flowers bloom which in turn means various honeys can be extracted from these exotic plants. And the result of that are these:

The honey jars you see above (from left to right) come from the Orange Blossom, Cipo-Uva Blossom, Wildflower, Eucalyptus Blossom, and the Capixingui Blossom. But before we get into details about these let's go over some of the basics of this sweet substance, in general.


Honey is usually made up of glucose & fructose (monosaccharides; aka simple sugars) and water. It can get even more detailed with even more scientific terms, but we'll try to keep it short and sweet.

Eat To Your "Red Hearts" Content!

Happy Valentine's Day!

And welcome to The Gourmet Import Shops blog! Our goal with this blog is to bring as much information as we can to the readers. Education in the world of gourmet foods is something we believe should to be shared to those seeking it. If you are one of these people, you came to the right place! Keep coming back to find out what goodies we have to share.

Since Valentine's Day is today, we wanted to highlight one of our products which was a big hit the weeks leading up to the legendary special day. If you haven't seen this yet, take a look at this beauty:

How's that for creativeness? This is our special seasonal Donne Del Grano Red Hearts pasta imported straight from Italy, and this easily became our top seller for late January/early February. This pasta is an artisanally hand made pasta with natural ingredients. There is no artificial coloring used for the bold red you see, but instead consists of tomatoes and/or chili pepper powders.

As mentioned earlier, this is a seasonal pasta and is currently available while supplies last. But hey, it doesn't have to be limited to only Valentine's Day right? There's still special days like birthdays, wedding anniversaries (take note of this husbands!),  or simple get-together parties.

We'd love to hear feedback or questions about this particular item. If this pasta inspired the creative chef in you to make an inventive dish or even something simple, we're always happy to hear from you. Feel free to comment, email, post or whichever is your preferred method of communication (handwritten letters are always nice too). We've got our retail website which you can find by clicking here which shows all the imported gourmet products we carry. And for a little teaser, we've got some new products from Italy on its way to join our growing lineup of products. Stay tuned!