FOR those who love to keep things hot, you probably have a bottle of Tabasco Sauce always ready in the kitchen. The pepper sauce brand is one of the few kitchen staples that has lasted the test of time, tracing its origins all the way back from 1868. However, not everyone knows it can also be a very versatile cooking ingredient, something you can add to pretty much anything.
International Chef Gary Evans compares Tabasco to salt or pepper, something that helps to bring out the flavor of the ingredients.
“I like to tell people to use it the same way you would use salt. Just like salt, when you add it to food and the cooking process, it takes on a different role. It’s almost like an umami effect and helps bring out the flavors of ingredients. It helps lift the dish without adding an overwhelming spice—you can put Tabasco in anything and everything,” said Chef Evans.
“If you’re going to use it in a sauce or a soup, add Tabasco at the beginning, and you’ll be surprised, how much you add without adding heat. If you add Tabasco at the beginning, the vinegar evaporates during the heating process, and you’re left with a much fuller flavor, a lot of depth, but not necessarily the heat. What you find is that, just like with salt, it helps to lift the flavors.”
The versatility of the pepper sauce brand was among the highlights of the recent two-day Taste Setters workshop organized by premium food brand importer-distributor Sysu International Inc.
TasteSetters is a workshop series that celebrates the thriving food culture in the Philippines, and puts the spotlight on the country’s emerging food scene. Through the TasteSetters workshops, local culinary enthusiasts and food entrepreneurs get the chance to be front and center as new food and flavor trends emerge. It also seeks to provide a venue to discover new food trends, and challenge and thrill foodies as they discover new flavors during the workshop.
“Sysu developed the workshop series as part of its mission to develop a noteworthy program that elevates the art and science of food. By being part of TasteSetters, the attendees will gain the opportunity to be on the forefront in the introduction of emerging food trends which, in turn, positively impacts the country’s thriving food industry,” says Sandy Go Cu, product and business development director of Sysu International.
During one of the sessions, Chef Gary shared the shared the trend predictions made by global market leaders Whole Foods and Tyson Foods, as well as the top foodie searches on Pinterest.
Pinterest has always been the go-to app for people in search of inspiration, and foodies are no exception. The social media platform determines if an idea is trending by looking at what people are progressively searching for.
Finding ways to drink enough water is always a popular Pinterest search. The platform predicts water infusion recipes will again trend, and it has gone beyond citrus. Ginger slices will be big in 2019 as not only flavor boosters in water bottles, but also for their health benefits.
We Pinoys are quite familiar with oxtail and now the it seems the entire world is also hungry for oxtail recipes they can try at home. Pinterest boards focusing on integrating vegetables into meals are perennial favorites and this year, two specific veggies are claiming the spotlight. First are mushroom recipes that include them in everything from coffee concoctions to chocolate bars, while the second veggie trend prediction is more unique—chocho. The superfood chayote, or chocho, is often still an unknown option but with a 76-percent growth in chayote recipe searches, Pinterest sees the unique gourd option as trend.
Last, with all those new food trends, Pinterest adds a potential weight loss trend to their 2019 list. Going “pegan”—part paleo, part vegan—is a diet that is taking root with people on the hunt for healthy habits, and has become one of the top pins as well. The “pegan” diet is already starting to climb the Pinterest search lists with a 337-percent increase in searches.
Meanwhile, “Flavor Your World” is Tabasco’s first global campaign in celebration of its 150th anniversary. As an ingredient or condiment, Tabasco can make your food or drink taste better. By the drop, dash or splash, the pepper sauce brand offer a variety of heat levels and flavor profiles for exploration and personalization, providing excitement whenever, wherever you are cooking, eating or drinking.
Adding even more choices to its lineup of sauces is the new Tabasco Sriracha, a blend of authentic flavors unique to Southeast Asian cuisine. It is flavored with oak barrel-aged tabasco peppers, with no preservatives or fat, is gluten free, with no food coloring or dyes, and made with the Tabasco brand Original Red Sauce.