FMCG Innovations and Trends by Sophia Nadur

Move over  acai  and  goji berry , here comes  JUJUBE !  Tg Green Tea wins Great Taste Award Gold Stars….including 1 blend containing an exciting new superfruit. The world’s most coveted blind-tasted food awards, Gr eat Taste , has just released the  Great Taste stars of 2015  and Hua and Sophia, co-founders of a new London-based beverage company  Tg Green Teas , are amongst the producers celebrating  Gold star wins.  Tg Green Teas  recently won  a gold star for two of its hot blends , namely Green Tea and  Green Tea with Jujube & Osmanthus.   The Great Taste Award judges also noted their discovery of a tasty new fruit, the JUJUBE, during their feedback. So just what is this delicious new superfruit – the jujube? Jujube  fruit or Chinese red date ( hong zao 红枣 ) – pronounced “joo-joob” – has been cultivated in China for more than 4,000 years. Having the  texture and flavour of an apple  when eaten ripe, the jujube tastes of  sweet dates or plums  when left to dry, the

The  Speciality & Fine Food Fair  is coming to London (UK) on  6th – 8th September 2015  and there will be as usual a number of new speciality food & drink from across the world exhibiting at the trade show. Tg Green Teas  will be on  STAND 4468  showcasing their refreshingly delicious new range of hot and iced green teas including their  Great Taste Award Gold Star winners  Tg Green Tea and Tg Green Tea with Jujube & Osmanthus.  Click HERE  if you would like to register for a  FREE TRADE PASS  to access the  3 day Speciality & Fine Food Fair . Hua and I look forward to sharing a cup of tea and a chat at our stand. Ancient green tea and wellness traditions, blended into refreshing hot and chilled brews,  Tg Green Teas  are natural energy infusions using delicious ingredients, some borrowed some new. Inspired by the  Middle Kingdom , designed and developed in  Britain , Tg Green Teas care about delivering  great tasting drinks  with “ responsible sugar levels ”,

I agree with  Ian Quin  that  monk fruit  is a potential  “breakthrough” natural sweetener  (" Sweet and Innocent? ", 9 Aug, p24. The Grocer). Named for the  Chinese Buddhist monks  who cultivated it for centuries,  monk fruit  is part of a basket of fruit and herbs (that includes ginger , jujube , rhubarb and osmanthus ) used in China in traditional medicine and everyday food & drink.  The U.S.  FDA  first granted  zero calorie  monk fruit approval back in 2010 and it’s been in use since in a number of countries outside of Asia under brand names like  Nectresse, Monk Fruit in the Raw, Fruit Sweetness, Sweet-Delicious, and PureLo . Monk fruit sweetened drinks have less of the perceived bitter liquorice aftertaste of  stevia  particularly in  juice based applications , hence it’s potential.  [It surprised me a bit during a panel discussion at  FoodVision  in March - summarised in a  BeverageDaily   article -  just how little awareness there was for the fruit a

Tesco 's announcement earlier last week regarding the removal of added-sugar juice drinks targeted at kids resulted in a noisy backlash by the public on various social media sites.  It's a pity on two fronts. Tesco's initiative helps deliver healthier lunch boxes Firstly, I applaud wholeheartedly  Tesco 's initiative to help ensure school kids have healthier drinks in their lunch boxes.  David Beardmore ,  Tesco 's Category Buying Manager for Soft Drinks and Juices, has long been at the forefront calling on manufacturers to reformulate and deliver healthier drinks to Tesco stores. His move was rightly lauded by many parents up and down the country as well as key health lobby groups e.g.  Action on Sugar 's  Kawther Hashem  who said “This is great news from  Tesco ; it shows they are taking the issue of sugar in soft drinks seriously." .....but we don't need no nanny state, says the consumer! The social media backlash over "#Ribenagate&