Florida Tan
Brown sugar is ordinary refined sugar granules coated with a film of molasses. Florida Crystals Unbleached Cafe Sugar, on the other hand, is a “minimally processed” refined sugar--99.5% sucrose, rather than 99.9%--so technically it’s a pale tan, rather than brown. But it does retain, along with some trace elements, a faint molasses-like flavor. The granules are superfine size, so it dissolves more readily than white sugar, and the molasses content also makes it caramelize faster. In health and gourmet stores; call (800) SUGAR-A1 for a store in your vicinity.
Green’s Back
Two years ago, Los Angeles entrepreneur Wendy Jaffee founded the Cool Chocolates company in order to sell tiny chocolate candies under the brand name The Green Ones. They looked a whole lot like green M & Ms, which urban folklore credits with aphrodisiac properties. M & M/Mars Co. immediately sued and The Green Ones went off the market. However, Cool Chocolates is back, this time with tiny sugar-coated chocolates called . . . The Greenies. Order direct from Cool Chocolates, (818) 704-4363.
M & Ms Struck by Candy-Nappers
In an unrelated story, Peanut, the M & Ms Brand Character (who happens to be bright yellow, since you asked), was stolen from the Scottsdale Plaza Resort in Phoenix March 3. “We are distraught over the theft,” said an M & M/Mars associate. A one-year supply of M & Ms is being offered for information leading to the yellow guy’s return and conviction of the thief. Peanut should be easy to spot; look for a smiling 20-foot-high M & M-shaped Character wearing white boots and gloves. If you have info, call Tammy Palmer, (212) 260-3744.
The Hardest-Working Man in Pizza
In other pizza news, the World Pizza Championships were recently hosted by Italy. The freestyle pizza-handling contest (to which contestants bring their own music tapes, like gymnasts doing floor exercises) was won by Graziano Bertuzzo. Maestro Bertuzzo twirled two pizzas simultaneously to the strains of James Brown’s “I Feel Good.”
No Pizza Is an Island
Domino’s Pizza has opened in Iceland. The pizza invasion might have come earlier except that all vegetables in Iceland have to be grown in greenhouses located over hot springs and geysers, because of the country’s brutal climate and infertile rocky soil.
Well, Back to the Drawing Board
Last year’s story in Seafood Leader Magazine: China is a growing exporter of true bay shrimp. This year’s story: 80% of China’s farmed shrimp crop has died.