Tradition with a twist won the day at Savor Virginia, the 10th Anniversary of the Virginia Food and Beverage Expo, held March 17, 2004 in Richmond, Virginia. The winners of the Expo's Best New Product competition were products that turned an old favorite into a delicious innovation. Selected by Expo attendees, winners were judged on their originality, taste and packaging.

ROWENA'S TAKES THE CAKE. At Savor Virginia, the 10th Anniversary of the Virginia Food and Beverage Expo, Rowena's Luscious Lemon Scoopable Cheesecake won top honors for Best New Product. At her Expo booth, Rowena Fullinwider (second from left), company president and owner, talks to one interested buyer while husband Peter assists another.

Luscious Lemon Scoopable Cheesecake by Rowena's took top honors overall for Best New Product. Rowena Fullinwider, company president and owner, reacted: "I was so thrilled and so surprised to win. We are very excited about this new product. I knew we did not want to do the usual baked cheesecake. When this idea came to me, I thought Wow! Why can't we do that? So we developed it and it works. Our new version tastes like cheesecake but scoops like ice cream. It's great served on cake, or on a plate surrounded by sauce. In addition to the lemon, we offer Very Vanilla, ChaChing Cherry and Pina Colada."

Rowena's, Inc., located in Norfolk, Virginia, has been in operation since 1983. The company's line of gourmet products can be found in over 2,000 gourmet and gift shops and catalogs. For more information, Rowena's Web address is www.rowenas.com.

NEW BLACK CHERRY BRANDY FLAVOR COMES OUT ON TOP. The Original Velatis caramel company took Best New Food honors at Savor Virginia, the 10th Anniversary of the Virginia Food and Beverage Expo with a new version, Black Cherry Brandy. At his Expo booth William Servais, company CEO, explains to a visitor how he added new ingredients to his hundred-plus year old recipe to create the new prize-winning flavor.

The Original Velatis caramel company returned to its Richmond, Virginia roots to claim Best New Food honors for its unique Black Cherry Brandy flavor candy. "I was astounded that we won and very pleased. We had never entered a contest before," said company CEO William Servais. "The black cherry brandy caramel came about because I love chocolate covered cherries. We added ingredients to our original caramel recipe and people seem to love it."
The company started in Richmond prior to the Civil War, moved to Washington, D.C., then returned to the Richmond area in 2002. The Servais family purchased The Original Velatis and the original old European recipes and began production in 1996.

Products include more than twenty varieties of chewy and sugary caramels including vanilla and chocolate, made with and without nuts and marshmallow centers, plus seasonal varieties such as raspberry, pumpkin spice, coconut, butter rum and eggnog. More information is available on the Web at www.velatis.com.

 

JAMMIN! NECTARS' NEW FLAVOR IS A WINNER. Food industry buyers at Savor Virginia, the 10th Anniversary of the Virginia Food and Beverage Expo loved the unique flavor of Jammin! Nectars' Pure Passion and voted it Best New Beverage at the event. Here "Juicemon" Gregory Henry, founder of the company, offers samples of his taste of the islands.

Jammin! Nectars new Pure Passion flavor won the Expo's Best New Beverage prize. Said company founder "Juicemon" Gregory Henry, "Winning this award is confirmation that consumers consider Jammin! Nectars one of the best beverages on the market. It also signifies that the palate of mainstream consumers is becoming more and more diverse by their willingness to indulge in exotic fruits such as passion fruit. We are excited and happy to be recognized."

More than juice, Jammin! Nectars provide the exotic taste and health benefits of the all-natural fruit beverages created in the Caribbean. In addition to Pure Passion, the company also offers Mambo Mango, Razz-Ade, Ginger Party, Guanabana Limbo and C-Beta Carrot. To find out more about Jammin! Nectars, log onto www.jamminnectars.com.

 

The Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services (VDACS) presented Savor Virginia, the 10th Anniversary of the Virginia Food and Beverage Expo on Wednesday, March 17, 2004 at the new Greater Richmond Convention Center in downtown Richmond, Virginia. The event gave hundreds of buyers for grocery and specialty stores, restaurants, hotels and institutions a quick and convenient survey of scores of new and traditional foods and beverages exhibited by more than one hundred Virginia companies. The event also included cooking demonstrations by Shirley Simmons of WTVR-TV's On the Menu, Chef Martin Gravely and Chef John Maxwell as well as seminars on wine tastings, event marketing and using a Web site effectively. VDACS organizes and presents the Virginia Food and Beverage Expo every other year.