The Savvy Gourmet

Welcome to The Savvy Gourmet blog!

There are thousands of food blogs. Why add another?

To find recipes and comment on them, to pinpoint the best restaurants in your neighbourhood and publish your opinion, to discover and comment on chef’s shows and many other related subjects – there is a wide selection of blogs, magazines and websites for all this and more.

On the other hand, discovering and making use of the characteristics of a category of foodstuffs, finding guides and indicators to help you choose the best product or seeing that the fine foods you choose come with quality assurance is quite something else. In fact, it can be a difficult and frustrating task.

The purpose of our blog is to partly fill the information gap on fine food products, simply and honestly. It is produced by OGourmet, an online food store for gourmets.

Continue reading "Welcome to The Savvy Gourmet blog!"

Food info on your iPhone

Looking for nutrition and the ingredients of food items? Do you have an iPhone?

Then the FoodFacts.com app is just what you need! Search for products by keyword or ingredient, browse food categories, or scan a product's bar code for more information about that product.

And it’s free!

New products: Apricots with Honey and Brandy

Fruits in liquor are the perfect accompaniment for ice cream or sorbet, in cakes (Black Forest, cheese cake, etc.) and fruit salads, or simply as a tasty, light dessert.

Apricots with honey and brandy from Vergers de Gascogne (France) are light in alcohol and sugar.

They make a perfect family treat. You’ll soon want to try all the other flavours too!.

Producers in the Spotlight - Gourmet Sauvage

New products, new formats, new packaging, and an improved website – Gourmet Sauvage has a new look!

These delicious wild products are inspired by Native American traditions and are always of very high quality.

And it’s all still under the direction of the man with the green thumb, Gerald Le Gal.

3 Top Olive Oils Named by 1st OGourmet Tasting Panel

Of the ten oils evaluated by the sensory analysis panel, three are clearly outstanding. The winning oils are:

Marqués de Valdueza (Canaleja S.A., Spain) with a score of 4.8 out of 5. This is an intense, aromatic oil with fruity flavours of apple, fresh herbs and almonds and notes of dried fruit. Soft, slightly bitter and pungent.

Andy: very light, beautiful balance.
Guillaume: scents of basil and greens; smooth silky texture; a favourite.
Olivier: nice in nose, pleasantly light, persistently bitter but not aggressive.

The panel conclusions correspond well to the sensory evaluation made by an independent laboratory, and are also consistent with the many awards that this exceptional oil has earned. Congratulations to the Álvarez family from Toledo who created this outstanding oil!

Desert Miracle (Agro Health SARL, Morocco) with a note of 4.3 out of 5. Produced in an oasis in the desert, this oil stands out from the get-go. Andy: fruity, herbaceous and notes of black olive in the mouth; aroma of toasted almonds.

Ari: powerful flavours and strong overall intensity. Bitter at final.
Guillaume: well-balanced fruitiness and bitterness; a favourite.
Olivier: enjoyable fruitiness in nose; bitter in mouth at final.

This oil has been chosen by many critics around the world, including La Presse food critic Marie-Claude Lortie.

DOP Kolymvari Single Estate (Terra Creta, Greece) with a note of 4.0 out of 5.

This result comes as no surprise. This oil has a coveted Guarantee of Origin label and is recognized as one of the best olive oils in the world in its category.

The big surprise is its price. It has one of the best quality-price ratios of all olive oils tested. A true bargain!

Guillaume: well balanced, pleasant oil.
Olivier: overall aromatic intensity; bitter and persistent flavours in the mouth.

Inaugural OGourmet Sensory Analysis Panel – 10 olive oils tested!

A panel of four experts conducted a sensory analysis of extra virgin olive oils on August 26.

The experts used criteria based on the International Olive Oil Council standards to conduct blind tests on 10 olive oils. It is important to keep in mind that fruitiness, bitterness and pungency are three positive attributes for olive oils.

Ariadne Beristáin Gil. With a university degree in food chemistry, Ari is a specialist in sensory analysis with more than eight years of experience in this field. She is now in charge of the organoleptic evaluation of all food products offered by OGourmet.

Andy Brasseur is a specialist in sensory analysis accredited in the Jacques Puisais method (France). She is president of the Quebec Tasting Institute, a speaker and a sensory awakening trainer. Andy is one of the few experts in this field in Canada.

Olivier de Maisonneuve received the title of Sommelier-Adviser from the University of Wine in Suze-la-Rousse (France) in 2006. Since then he has worked as a consultant for the Quebec Liquor Board, both for selecting new products and evaluating products in wine competitions. He is also a sought-after speaker.

Chef Guillaume Goulet earned his cooking stripes at Relais Gourmand (L’Eau à la Bouche hotel) in Quebec, and then in France where he worked in several renowned restaurants. Upon his return he was a chef at Toqué!, one of the best restaurants in Canada. He now provides private catering under the Chef Privé banner.

Three oils were clearly identified as outstanding and are described separately in another article. The overall results will be published soon in an olive oil guide.

Launch of OGourmet Sensory Analysis Panels

Except for wine and certain specialty products, the publication of the results of sensory evaluation tests of gourmet products is uncommon in North America. OGourmet has decided to help fill that gap by launching its own panels of sensory analysis of fine products.

These panels have two major goals:

• Improve OGourmet capacity to select the best products in any given category.
• Provide OGourmet customers with objective information to help them select and enjoy the best products offered.

Each panel will also pursue specific objectives:

• A list of evaluation criteria specific to each product category.
• A systematic method and rules for evaluating product samples.
• Results to be published in product guides and in the product descriptions on the OGourmet Web site.

All OGourmet sensory analysis panels carry out blind tests. Panel members do not know the product or producer names before testing.

The first OGourmet sensory analysis panel was conducted August 26 on extra virgin olive oils (EVOO).

Olivier de Maisonneuve, New OGourmet Collaborator!

Olivier de Maisonneuve received the Sommelier-Adviser title from the University of Wine in Suze-la-Rousse (France) in 2006. 

Since then he has worked as a consultant for the SAQ*, both for selecting new products and for evaluating products in wine competitions. He is also a sought-after speaker.

Olivier offers consulting services for the preparation and management of wine tasting events.

We are pleased to present this new collaborator, who will no doubt make a dynamic contribution to the sensory analysis panels organized by OGourmet.

* SAQ (Société des alcools du Québec) is a Quebec state-owned corporation responsible for sales of alcoholic beverages.

OGourmet now Ships to the USA!

As of July 20, OGourmet has been accepting orders to be delivered to any address within the territory of the United States. This might seem to be a simple affair, but it in fact required very significant efforts to modify our on-line transaction systems to meet the requirements of U.S. federal authorities.

But the results are impressive! As soon as the system is informed that a client wishes to send an order to the United States, only products that can be shipped to the USA are displayed, and prices are automatically adjusted to include any applicable custom fees. As simple as that!

To meet the requirements of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA Prior Notice) and U.S. Customs, all documents are created in real time, without any additional intervention from the client.

For the moment, shipments are made via Canada Post and the United States Postal Service. In a few months, other courier services will be added.

Roasted Walnut Oil from La Tourangelle (US)

La Tourangelle handcrafts this roasted walnut oil by strictly following a 150 year-old traditional process.

Slowly roasted to perfection, expeller-pressed and lightly filtered, this oil adds a rich walnut taste to salad dressing, pasta, grilled meat, fish or baked pastries. It is also the perfect bread dip.

Ari’s comments: La Tourangelle walnut oil is the best of what we should expect from this delightful type of oil. An excellent quality-price ratio!

Producers in the Spotlight - La Tourangelle

The production of gourmet oils is a time-honoured tradition in France. Originally, each village had a mill which roasted and extracted the oil from nuts gathered by local farmers. These delicious oils were used in hearty rustic fare and were also found in Paris' finest restaurants.

La Tourangelle is one of just a handful of these remaining mills that keep this tradition alive. Through a partnership with one of the oldest and most respected French artisan oil mills (Huilerie Croix Verte in Saumur, France) and California Oils Corporation, La Tourangelle has succeeded in recreating the spirit of a traditional French oil mill in Woodland, California.

Hand-crafting a wide range of delicious artisan oils in California and France, La Tourangelle distributes an exclusive line of premium quality oils in many countries around the world.