Monbana Training!

Monbana is well-known for their chocolate and Houston’s will be selling a few of their featured items. First, we carry four of their gourmet chocolate powders. When it comes to the gourmet chocolate powders, they are much different than drinking a mug of American hot chocolate. These sipping chocolates have a unique flavor in which the chocolate taste comes first, followed by the texture and flavor of the chocolate, and at the end of the sip, you can taste the sugar. This is much different than American hot chocolate because the taste of sugar tends to come first and the chocolate second. The Monbana White Trésor Gourmet chocolate powder, (trésor is a French word meaning “treasure”) is made from 45% cocoa butter whereas the Trésor Gourmet chocolate powder, Suprême European Style chocolate powder and the Organic chocolate powder are made with 32% cocoa. The Suprême European Style chocolate powder is a thicker product meant to be heated in an espresso machine and you should drink it as soon as you finish making it for the best flavor and texture.

We also carry nine of their frappé flavors. These flavors include; vanilla, mocha, yogurt, chocolate, strawberry, lemon, lychee, mango passion fruit, and caramel. Never heard of lychee before? It is a floral flavor perfect for a summer treat. The best part about the frappés is that no matter how long they sit, they do not separate. That’s right! You can drink it for an hour and it will still be together until the last drop. Similar to the gourmet sipping chocolates, the frappé flavor is always forward and the first thing you taste. After that, the body comes and then the sweetness of the frappé is in the back. It is recommended that both the frappés and the gourmet chocolate powders are used with whole milk, but they also work great with a dairy alternative as well.

Interested in how the gourmet chocolate powders and frappés work? Check it out!

Gourmet Chocolate Powders:

Option 1- Steamer: Add 7 fluid ounces of milk and steam it for 5 seconds. Then add one heaping scoop of powder and steam for a maximum of 20 seconds. Voila! You now have a yummy chocolate drink.

Option 2- Chocolate machine preparation: Add 35-170 fluid ounces of milk and heat for 15-45 minutes at 149°. Then add five heaping scoops for every 35 fluid ounces Let the chocolate thicken and then serve the tasty treat!

Frappés:

Place 8 fluid ounces of ice cubes in a cup with 8 fluid ounces of cold milk. Pour the mixture into a blender with two scoops of the frappé mix. Blend the mix to your desired consistency of approximately 20-45 seconds and there you go! A delicious milkshake- like treat.

Want to try some Monbana products? Contact Inside Sales and let us know what you think!

The post Never Underestimate the Power of Chocolate! appeared first on Houston's Blog.

That being said, there are some trending foods you can expect to see crop up on menus.  And they can be just as arbitrary as the tastes of the customers they are serving.  From artisanal candies to meat spreads to scrambled eggs for dinner, from Spanish cuisine and tacos to in-your-face spicy and pucker-up-sour.  The trends are running the gamut this year and it may be difficult to pinpoint what the masses are looking for when they dine out.  The younger crowds aren’t brand-loyal, either, making each and every restaurant fair game, thus amping up the competition.  Food favorites are getting more and more far-out, too, as the kale fad is quickly evolving into a seaweed fad, as ugly root vegetables make their way in to kitchens across America—fried, mashed, or pureed kohlrabi anyone?   Moving away from the Sriracha craze, chefs are experimenting with habanero honey and ghost chili honey, sweet and spicy combinations that tantalize the taste buds.  Hummus is outpacing salsa in restaurants these days, and crazy yogurts just might be all the rage—vegetable yogurts with flavors such as squash, beet, tomato, and kimchee.  Even desserts aren’t spared the infusions of taste.  Have you tried gelato made with anchovies, gorgonzola, pistachio, and mortadella?  Get in line, because these crazy ice cream flavors are getting hyped up and are selling like hotcakes.  Did I mention hotcakes?  Gone are the days of maple syrup slathered across the top of your pancake stack.  Savory flapjacks are being sought after, with versions made from sauerkraut and ricotta or even horseradish-buckwheat with beef tongue at State Bird Provisions in San Francisco.  It seems our “restless palate syndrome” won’t let us leave well enough alone, and chefs and diners alike are constantly looking to outdo one manic flavor trend after another!

Millennials are driving the market, and the “I want what I want, when I want it” attitude may appear to be a bit tantrum-like at first glance.  But their desire to find new or unique foods and flavors, to be able to customize their meals, and to easily accommodate their seemingly odd cravings has set the restaurant world on its heels, at the ready to pounce on unique and inventive creations to drive customers to their dining room.  In a way, it’s kind of an exciting new phase of food we are entering, and I’m eager to continue my quest to find my own wacky favorite.   Fried pork-ear pasta with fish sauce vinaigrette, anyone?

The post Food Trends 2015: Funky is Better appeared first on Houston's Blog.