You have made the food, you found the correct and the most delicious ingredients, you mix them and put them in the correct container and packaging and then what? For a small food company start up, it is difficult to survive and increase the visibility of their product and therefore having some sales, unless their product is recognised as unique as one which deserves attention of the experts, the public or the foodies. An easy way to do make this happen is to win relevant fine foods competition awards. And that means the companies have to participate in these competitions. The more the participation, the better! Through competitions, one learns where they stand with regards to the market from a flavour point of view, as the competitors in some are several thousands. The British ''Great Taste Awards'' have established themselves one of the best in Europe and possibly in the world. We encourage every supplier/producer/farmer that they produce their own product to take part in this competition. Below, you will see a video with some instructions from Guild of Fine Food. There is a very large number of producers around the world claiming their product is premium.
And the olive oil is not an exception. As product the extra virgin olive oil has a superior taste, and from countries such as Greece could be characterised as a superb one. Acidity of no more than 0.8% is not anymore the only criterion for the characterisation of an extra virgin olive oil as premium. Therefore, one might wonder what elements or technical features are making an extra virgin olive oil a finest product then? It is the features coming from the product flavour profile. There are 3 major characteristics: 1. Fruity 2. Pungent 3. Bitter The flavour profile is the main structure and the robust foundation for having a superior or premium extra virgin olive oil. While the chemical analysis remains as one the pillars, the tasting of the product by an accredited panel will put the final signature. Excellent and premium packaging completes the picture of the finest product following always the tasting and the analysis. Whoever is your supplier, ask them to do a taste panel with you explaining some features to understand the extra virgin olive oil (evoo) flavour profile. All these three characteristics should be balanced well, and remember slight bitterness is not a defect on the contrary it indicates high content of antioxidants which is a benefit. There are several competitions of olive oil products around the world, and the awards can not be given so easily to extra virgin olive oils that they do not meet the strict criteria. Such competitions can be used an indication or supporting hand to select the finest of all. In these competitions, world experts/taste panellists ''tear part'' the profile of an extra virgin olive oil and identify which one deserves a gold award. There are 16 sensory classes and 72 flavour descriptions of olive oil! If you would like to familiarise yourself with extra virgin olive flavours, it is wise to start a tasting session by yourself simply by smelling and tasting the several products and write down the intensiveness of each product characteristic. Searching for the definition of premium and fine foods, we found that apart from an exceptional packaging, consumers believe that their value should be defined by the top quality ingredients and subsequently superior taste.
But a more ''scientific'' thorough look through the web and books, we sourced* that fine and specialty foods have the following characteristics: - "Quality, innovation and style, - Authenticity and originality, - A commitment to specific processing rules or traditions, superior ingredients, limited supply or extraordinary packaging". Since FOS-Squared set-up, we have made sure that the above definition is materialised, constantly taking into account that nature is something unique and should be protected and cared. Thus we select organic finest and eclectic foods, ones of limited production, with uniqueness in texture, appearance and packaging. Some of them are hard work derived from family owned businesses. Such selection of fine foods does not lack awards. On the contrary, some of these products have won multiple taste and design/packaging awards. Now we have been looking for foods with even more unique combination of ingredients along with exceptional packaging, not previously found in the market. Idea: What about some figs mixed with some eclectic ingredients, perfect accompaniment for Cheddar or Roquefort? If you are producer of such unique foods, please, feel free to contact us. Our products are now found in the best delicatessen shops in London and surrounding counties. We might be able to add your product into product list. Or if you would like to know more and stock organic, eclectic and fine foods, why don't you have a look on the Products Page? Or send us a message through ''Contact us'' form with your contact details and we will answer as soon as possible. * Source: Good Food Great Business Whether you like to enrich your current honey selection or you look for new unique honey flavours, FOS-Squared is the company to choose for.
Organic, luxury, unique flavours, numbered honey jars and limited edition, PDO, truffle honey, pine trees, 2 gold stars and 3 gold stars of Great Taste awards are some of the words being ''attached'' to our honey products, supplied to London and UK delicatessen and high end grocery market. As wholesaler and distributor, we constantly look for premium and eclectic foods, where the honey keeper has put some serious effort to create an extraordinary product, in flavour and packaging. We constantly try to find flavours which are unique to the UK market, while at the same time we select producers/suppliers whose ''work'' has won them awards in various international competitions.
In order to achieve this, we meet and talk to the producers/suppliers and this is our advantage. We do not buy from ''the phone'', instead we travel and meet the producers at their place or field, where the soil and sun continuously and silently work to create these premium and fine healthy foods. |
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