Five Key Products from Expo Comida Latina
El Restaurante Mexicano publisher Ed Avis just returned from Expo Comida Latina in Los Angeles, and he reports that mole, purple corn, and great cheese were among the highlights of the show:
Purple Corn Masa Flour
Minsa showed tortilla chips made with a deep purple masa flour. The flour was made possible by a new partnership between Minsa and Suntava, Inc., which grows the purple corn. Suntava’s purple corn, which is a non-GMO hybrid cultivated from ancient corn species, contains more than triple the anti-oxidants of any other type of corn. Learn more here.
New Tortilla Machine from Villamex
Villamex demonstrated the new Modelo V-2000 Sencilla, a slightly smaller version of it popular V-2100 machine. The V-2000 creates a single line of tortillas rather than a double line, as the V-2100 does. Nevertheless, it still cranks out more than 6,000 fresh, hot tortillas in an 8-hour shift, which is more than enough for even a large restaurant. Learn more here.
San Angel Prepared Mole
As anyone who has ever tried to make mole knows, it can take hours to prepare and requires a pantryful of ingredients. San Angel Mole showed their solution at Expo – delicious, authentic prepared mole. San Angel, which has sold its mole poblano and mole negro in retail outlets for several years, now offers it foodservice-size containers. The moles, and the company’s cascabel sauce, were created by the husband-and-wife team of Tim and Florence Guerrero McCarthy and are made in small batches with all-natural ingredients. San Angel’s distribution to the foodservice industry is limited, but ask your supplier about it. Learn more here.
Los Altos Authentic Mexican Cheese
Artisanal cheese is a great addition to an authentic Mexican menu, and Los Altos Food Products Inc. was showing off several varieties at Expo, including queso panela, queso Oaxaca, and queso La Cubeta. Los Altos’ foodservice distribution is growing, and now solidly covers the Southwest and some other parts of the country. Learn more here.
Robot Coupe CL50 Gourmet
A representative in the Robot Coupe booth told a great story: A Mexican restaurant owner came up to him at a demonstration and said, “Thank you for selling us this machine – it has changed our lives! For 25 years we have been coming into the restaurant early every morning to chop vegetables for four hours – now we let the machine do it and we have free mornings!” Robot Coupe’s latest model, the CL50 Gourmet, was on display at Expo. It does the vegetable chopping as the regular CL50, but it also cross cuts to make waffle fries and really tiny pieces of vegetables. Learn more here.