Consume: Our favorite food products this week
Store
Bramble
$9.24; chefn.com
Produce stays fresher in this Chef’n 1-quart basket as air circulates on the bottom of the container. The inner basket serves as a colander for rinsing berries, cherry tomatoes, grapes and the like. The BPA-free container cuts down on recycle waste.
Compete
Innovative Cooking Competition
$1,000 top prize; confucius.ucdavis.edu
The Confucius Institute at UC Davis is launching a recipe competition for amateur cooks in partnership with food company Lee Kum Kee. Original recipes must use one or more Lee Kum Kee sauces and be submitted with a photo of the prepared food by May 21. Finalists compete in an on-site event June 18 and will be judged on the basis of originality, taste and nutrition. Find the sauces at markets throughout Sacramento.
Sip
Cuppa Chocolate Tea
$10.25 for 36 bags; republicoftea.com
Indulge in the taste of chocolate without the guilty calories. The Republic of Tea has paired rooibos (red tea) or caramel malted barley with chocolate and other ingredients such as strawberry, peppermint, coconut and essence of ripe banana for its line of herbal teas. None of the five varieties is more than five calories a serving, and most are calorie-free.
Try
Torie & Howard Chewie Fruities
$3.49 for 4-ounce package; Starbucks: torieandhoward.com
Chewy, juicy, delicious is how one 6-year-old describes them. This organic candy – similar to Starbursts – will satisfy your sweet tooth with flavors such as pomegranate and nectarine and have no artificial dyes or corn syrup.
Drink
Santorini Brewing Co. Eureka Donkey Beer
$26.95 for a six pack; Corti Bros.; cortibros.com
Grocer Darrell Corti was traveling in Greece a few years ago when he came across a brewery that he liked on the island of Santorini. He ended up shipping local Sacramento hops to the brewer there, and the result is this delicious, malty unfiltered beer with a pleasing bitter finish.
Bee staff
To suggest items for Consume, please send submissions to sacfeast@sacbee.com.
This story was originally published April 29, 2016 at 7:00 AM with the headline "Consume: Our favorite food products this week."