Lately I’ve read several articles and blogs about bisphenol-A (BPA) being used in canned goods.  Examples include an article in the Huffington Post, Consumer Reports and an article by the editor of Prevention Magazine.  The issues with BPA’s being used in canned foods are they can leach into the food.

According to Liz Vaccariello of Prevention Magazine canned tomatoes can have a lot of BPA due to the high acidity of the tomatoes.  Apparently the high acidity causes more of the BPA to transfer to the food.  As a result Liz Vaccariello recommends that people concerned with this do not purchase tomatoes in cans, and purchase them in glass jars instead.  This is a good idea, but I’d like to expand on this.  Just because a product such as canned tomatoes, salsa or marinara sauce is in a glass bottle doesn’t mean it doesn’t have high amounts of BPA.  For example it’s possible that a bottle of salsa at the grocery store is made with crushed tomatoes that were packaged in #10 metal cans before being produced into salsa.  The larger manufacturers most likely purchase their tomatoes in large plastic drums or totes, however some smaller companies do purchase canned tomatoes in #10 cans.  If concerned about BPA’s showing up in glass containers you’re probably fine if it’s a large manufacturer.  However, if it’s a small company and you’re concerned about BPA, it may be a good idea to contact the company and ask if they purchase their tomatoes in BPA free containers.

The fact that BPA could be transferred into ingredients before the final product is manufactured made me think of something else.  A lot of ingredients such as fruit juices, vinegar, and olive oil are stored in plastic drums or totes before being manufactured into the final product.  This made me wonder if these drums contain BPA and could contaminate our ingredients at Simply Boulder Culinary Sauces.  I looked into this and luckily the plastic drums we use are made with HDPE which doesn’t contain BPA.

To sum everything up, just because a product comes in a glass bottle or jar does not mean it doesn’t have BPA.  It’s possible that one of the ingredients such as crushed tomatoes could have come to the manufacturer in #10 metal cans.  As I mentioned this is very unlikely for medium and large manufacturers, but it’s not uncommon for very small manufactures to order some ingredients in metal cans.  I’m hoping that one day BPA will be banned from metal cans, but until then it’s best to try ask questions if unsure.

In time for the holidays our 4 bottle gift boxes are now 30% off which makes them only $16.80 each.  They make a delicious and unique gift that people are sure to love.  To receive 30% off use promo code “decemberspecial” at checkout.  Good until the end of the month.

This weekend Sunflower Farmers Market (Newflower Farmers Market in Texas) will be hosting a Thanksgiving tasting fair in all of their locations.  Not only is it a good way to try out  delicious and healthy recipes, but it’s a terrific way to sample new products.  Simply Boulder Culinary Sauces will be sampled along with about 10 to 15 other products.  Our cooking sauces that will be sampled are coconut peanut, truly teriyaki, and pineapple ginger.  I’m not sure how they’re going to use them, but I think they’re going to use the pineapple ginger as a glaze or dipping sauce for roasted turkey.  It sounds like a match made in heaven.  The tasting fair is scheduled to last between 11:00AM and 2:00PM on November 14th, 2009.

Last weekend I attended the Orange County, California gluten free food fair.  It was only the second gluten free food fair that this chapter has hosted, so I wasn’t sure what to expect.  Luckily, it turned out terrific.  Not only were there a good mix of gluten free food manufacturers and restaurants, but they offered free celiac disease testing.

Celiac disease tests can run hundreds of dollars, so I was really surprised when I found out that they were offering free tests at the event.  From what I was told, chapter leaders spent a lot of time organizing this, and it involved getting a grant to cover the costs.  I figured it was such a good opportunity, I even got tested.

When I was filling out the paperwork to get my blood drawn for the celiac test, one of the members of the CSA chapter was surprised that I was getting tested.  I think she just assumed that I had Celiac Disease (or had it diagnosed in the past) since I have a company that makes gluten free sauces.  This question always seems to come up a lot.  I mentioned that besides creating sauces that taste wonderful and are as healthy as possible, we try to make them so as many people as possible can enjoy them.  In regards to being gluten free, I know a lot of people with either celiac disease or people just trying to avoid wheat and gluten.  The purpose of making our sauces gluten free is so they can enjoy them. 

Besides having free celiac disease testing, there were about 30 vendors present.  Of course Simply Boulder Culinary Sauces was one of them.  I occasionally took breaks and sampled food at other tables.  One of my favorite foods from the show was gluten free pizza from Cicero’s.  Their pizza was so delicious; I couldn’t even tell it was gluten free.  It was so good, I decided to head over there for dinner that evening.  I figured if they did such a good job with gluten free pizza, I wanted to see how their regular pizza was.  It was good, but somehow I think I liked the gluten free pizza even more than their non-gluten free pizza.  I couldn’t find a web site for Cicero’s, so I’ll list their contact information at the bottom of this e-mail. 

Cicero’s Pizzeria Kitchen Inc

24531 Trabuco Rd # F
Lake Forest, CA 92630-2162

(949) 855-3114‎

This weekend in Longmont there’s going to be a terrific party complete with hor d’oeuvres, beverages, and a silent auction.  The best part is all money raised will be going toward research for leukemia and lymphoma.

My fiancé, Adrienne Hedrick is running in the Nike Women’s Marathon next month for Team in Training, a not for profit that raises money for cancer research.  In order to raise money for Team in Training, Adrienne is holding a fundraiser that will have a large silent auction.  So far there are over 20 items up for bid.  Some of the companies that have contributed items are:  Whole Foods, the Colorado Rockies, Vodka 14, Left Hand Brewery, El Dorado Water, Oogie’s Popcorn, and many others.  To see a complete list of auction items please visit the fundraiser web page.

In addition to the auction, there is going to be plenty of delicious food and beverages.  In particular I’m looking forward to trying Thai food prepared by a local chef that’s going to be attending culinary school at Johnson and Wales later this year.

The event will be this Friday at 6:30PM in the Prospect area of Longmont.  It will be held in a vacant two story retail space with an amazing atmosphere.  Not to mention the address is on “100 Year Party Court” and I couldn’t think of a much better address for this fundraiser.  To attend a $5 donation to benefit Team in Training is suggested.  If unable to attend, donations can be made by clicking here.

Naturally Boulder Days 2009 kicked off tonight in Boulder, Colorado.  This evening’s events consisted of dinner and an awards ceremony.  I’ll have more to say later this week, but wanted to let people know who the award winners were.

 I. Best Young Business – A new rising star in our industry that has been in business 5 years or less.

II. Company of the Year – A stellar company making tracks in natural and organic that has been in business at least 5 years.

III. Local Hero Award – We also want to honor a local community leader in the areas of not-for-profit, government or academics. This is a person or organization that is making a difference by developing, building or fostering the values and ideals shared by Naturally Boulder and the natural and organic community.

IV.  Lifetime Achievement Award

And the winners were:

Best Young Business:  Mix1

Company of the Year:  Eco Products

Local Hero Award:  Community Food Share

Lifetime Achievement Award:  Mark Retzloff

This weekend I went to the Ft. Collins Whole Foods local road show.  It’s a big event that featured over 40 local natural and organic food companies.  Besides giving out samples of Simply Boulder Culinary Sauces, I also got a chance to walk around and check out some of the other booths. 

My booth was right next to the MouCo Cheese Company.  Until this weekend I’ve never heard of this company before, but I’m glad that I discovered them.  They have 3 types of cheeses and they’re all excellent.  My favorite is the ColoRouge.  It’s a type of Muenster, but has the consistency of brie since it’s not pressed.

Similar to a lot of health conscious people, I try to avoid corn syrup.  Lately I’ve found that accomplishing this can be challenging since it’s in so many things that I would never expect it to be in.  And it’s not just in foods found at conventional grocery stores, but natural food stores as well. 

My favorite example is with coffee creamer.  A few months ago we purchased some creamer that said “Sugar free” in big letters across the front of the bottle.   A few days later I was reading the ingredient list and noticed that it was loaded with corn syrup.  How ridiculous.  They were bragging about not using cane sugar, but used corn syrup instead.  That’s extremely misleading since most consumers would strongly favor sugar over corn syrup.

After my run in with corn syrup creamer, I’ve been quick to check the ingredient lists on all products that would typically use a sweetener.   I quickly found that’s not good enough and I should really check the ingredients on everything.  As an example I read the ingredient lists on some salsa verde and enchilada sauce and both contain corn syrup.  I’d never expect either to contain a sweetener.

Its crazy how many products contain corn syrup and shopping at a high end store doesn’t guarantee that there won’t be any products that contain it.  If you’re like me and wanting to avoid corn syrup you may want to take a closer look at the ingredient lists on the food you purchase.

This weekend I got the opportunity to attend the Denver Celiac Sprue Association annual picnic.  Luckily this year the weather was absolutely perfect.  I remember in 2008 we had what seemed to be hurricane strength winds.  There was gluten free food flying all over the place!   

At the beginning of the picnic I gave away gift boxes of Simply Boulder Culinary Sauce.  It seems like lately I’ve been giving away a lot of culinary sauces.  I may bankrupt Simply Boulder in the process, but at least it’s fun giving things away.  Plus, people get so excited when they find out that our sauces not only are gluten free, but are made with extra virgin olive oil and agave nectar. 

A few months ago I planned to give away full sized bottles, but then learned that the park had a glass free policy.  We found out that the park would let us bring the bottles as long as they were covered the whole time.  So, I figured the gift boxes would be the perfect solution.  Plus, that also allowed attendees to bring back a nice variety of sauces to use at home.

After giving away 40 gift boxes I decided to grab a plate and have lunch.  They had terrific food.  My favorite was the gluten free pasta salad made with Simply Boulder Lemon Pesto.  Of course I’m slightly biased about that.  Actually everything I had was delicious.  There were so many high quality gluten free foods there it was incredible. 

In addition to food, they had about 8 cases of gluten free beer.  Since neither glass or alcoholic beverages were allowed at the park, they were wrapped in bags for people to take home with them.   After the beer was chilled at my home, I opened it to see how it tasted.  It had a much better flavor than some “regular” beer, but I thought it was average.  It seems that there is some catching up to do with gluten free beer.  Although, it would be a great alternative to regular beer for people on gluten free diet. 

For anybody in the Denver area that missed the picnic, the Denver Celiac Sprue Association has one annually.  Luckily, you don’t have to wait another year to attend one of their events since they meet once per month.   Information can be found on the Denver Celiac Sprue Association web site.

As mentioned a few weeks ago in a blog post, Sunflower Farmers Market has approved Simply Boulder Culinary Sauces. This week our gluten free sauces were delivered to all of their locations! Look for our culinary sauces at the meat counter or throughout the store as case sets. Within the next few months Sunflower will most likely add Simply Boulder to the sauce section, but they are currently in between reset periods.