General Mills is adding more whole grains to their cereals and now over 50 of their cereal boxes boast the fact that whole grains are the leading ingredient. This begs me to ask you the question…are you adding more whole grains to your line up? You know, there are easy ways to do it. Products like Abel & Schafer’s whole grain bread mixes and bases for starters, but have you forgotten that we also have amazing whole grain mixes and bases for products like cakes, muffins and sweet dough? Imagine the combinations you can come up with, and the advertising you can do for your customers! To prove it, Abel & Schafer would be happy to provide nutritional information for any of the products we sell you, so you can show your customers how making small changes makes big differences and how you are looking out for them! Start with Abel & Schafer’s Natural Whole Grain Good Nature Chocolate and Yellow Cake Mixes (37330 and 37331), Natural Whole Grain Fiber Muffin Mix (22260), or the Whole Grain Sweet Dough Mix (22285). Read more about General Mills here.

A London based analyst group has said that healthy grains, including ancient grains, are going to be a leading force in research and development for the bakery sector in 2012. According to the report as reported by www.bakingbusiness.com, customers see whole grains as a benefit for being healthy and natural, even when they are in more processes foods. They also said that many grains are benefiting from being linked to personal health benefits, the way oats are linked to heart health. With the trend of ancient grains and the healthy whole grains being more public these days, customers are more willing to try “new” grains like quinoa and amaranth, especially when they are associated with weight maintenance and loss. There were 9 other trends noted. To read more, click here…

Trends...On my way to follow a link to an article about 2012 bakery specific trends, I ended up with a dead link and being redirected to the Modern Baking website homepage. The first thing that caught my eye had to do with trends, so I went there. Finally! It seems that consumers are beginning to avoid once trendy claims like "diet" and and "low calorie", and instead looking for more positive messages like "healthy" and "smart". While it isn't likely less people trying to lose weight, hopefully, more people are trying to be smarter about it.

The good news for bakers is that means that healthy breads are no longer taboo because of carbs, but appreciated for their heart benefits. Treats in moderation, whole grain pastries or high fiber breads could be a huge hit for the spring and a welcome relief to customers! ABEL & SCHAFER offers a huge line of whole grain breads, pastries and healthy bakery ideas. You all know our Choice Six Grain (21020), that contains omega healthy flax and whole grains, but maybe it's time to shake things up a bit with customers, come on! Try something new! With our home base in Germany and facilities around the world, you know Abel & Schafer knows how to do fantastic European Breads. Pick one and just try it. Maybe Korn Duo Bread (01039) a Pumpernickel-like whole grain German black bread that contains meals, cracked grains, malt & natural rye sour is something your customers don't even know they love! Or you could try Pan D'Oro (21038) a semolina bread that is golden and chewy, has authentic flavor and a great shelf life. Sample a few loaves, slice off a piece for your customers and send them out the door with it without them asking for it. Get them hooked on real bread not it's a wonder they even call it bread, and open their eyes to the wonderful world of fresh baked bread!

Rise Up and Bake!

The American Society of Baking is hosting their annual baking conference again this year in Chicago from March 4-7th, with the theme “Rise Up: Community, Company, Industry, Self.”

This year there will be a large focus on the breakout sessions, providing participants with more information, learning opportunities and industry subjects than ever before. The sessions topics which range from refresher conversations like managing dough temperature and problem solving to topics like co-packing, sustainability and changing market demographics. The keynote speakers will be David Grossman, founder and CEO of The Grossman Group, a leading authority on internal communications, Paul White, PhD and coauthor of newly released 'The Five Languages of Appreciation in the Workplace', Klaus Tenbergen, PhD, a baker and assistant professor in the department of food science and nutrition at California State University, Fresno, CA. For a full schedule of times, people and topics, check out the special report in Baking Business.

Chairman Jeff Dearduff said he is excited to see the faces of the attendees leaving the sessions, as this conference was designed to bring more energy than ever before to the industry. Registration for the conference is open and the last chance for early registration will be February 3rd. You can register online at http://www.asbe.org, where there is also updates to the schedule.

My Hearts Second Desire...

Valentines Day...it's coming, the Hallmark holiday that typically men dread and women put too much emphasis on. I'm guilty. I admit it. If I was logical about it (and I'm not, I'm a woman and favor emotion over logic, probably too often) I'd realize that everyday should be special, not just some random, usually weekday, where time, money, Hallmark and my facebook relationship status dictate how I end up feeling. And while for most of my life I was usually single on Valentine's Day, again this year I am not. But this doesn't help me, my boyfriend is in the military was deployed last year on Valentine's Day, our first together and this year will be on another mission. SO...the old standby will have to do. Chocolate my old friend, I need you.

I'm sure you have all heard of retail therapy. Today, I want to share with you a way to cash in on that and combine it with another soothing and successful line of help; chocolate therapy. Teenage girls, jilted collegiates, long distance lovers and scorned lonely hearts of the world UNITE! Eat chocolate. Last week we talked about the Chocolate Strawberry Valentine's Day Hearts, an excellent idea and great use of the Abel & Schafer Chocolate Creme Cake 22011 (as well as a handful of other fantastic A&S items) and this week, I'm taking it up a notch. This week I'm serious. In preparation of another Valentine's Day alone I'm asking all of you out there to make for me Molten Lava Chocolate Desserts. Ooey, gooey, chocolatey, rich and decadent. Plus, it's made with the Abel & Schafer Gourmet Brownie Mix 22035, which is just...yumm. If you don't happen to have the A&S Gourmet Brownie Mix, honestly you should get some, it's amazing. But you can also use the same Chocolate Creme Cake from last week, we're good like that. Reply to the post if you have any questions. I'm here. With chocolate.

The First Step is Always the Hardest.

I don't know if that's particularly true in this case, but once you take the first step, in whatever you do, the next step is easier. Taking a chance on yourself and seeing it through can be quite a challenge, but that’s what makes success taste so delicious, you work for it! According to Open Forum, the small business blog/newsletter put out by American Express and an article written by Mike Michalowicz, along with that first step you need to take five others to push yourself over the tipping point and into success. Michalowicz says all successful people take six steps, no matter what their success is in, and you can take those same six steps! Are you ready?? YES!!

Step 1. Set Goals. Give yourself a start date and an end date for when you want to reach that goal and don’t cut corners or slack! Make the goals achievable, small at first, but attack them and be proud of yourself for doing it!

Step 2. Get Started. I mean, right now! Go!! Have you ever noticed how much more you can get done when you are excited about something? It seems less of a chore when you have momentum and excitement behind you, break your project down into manageable parts and tackle one of them right now!

Step 3. Think Happy Thoughts. Some fairy dust might help too, but since we don’t have that, use your own magic powers. Successful people aren’t pessimists, they are optimists all the way. When you put out good, you get back good. They see the bright side, believe they can do what they set their mind to, and they achieve. 

Step 4. Take Action. You might not think you have all the info you need, but use what you have and do something with it. I have news for you. If you wait until you feel like you have all the answers, you will be waiting forever. As long as you have key details, you can get moving.

Step 5. Sticktuitiveness. What? It’s a word! Have a strong will to carry on, you may not know how things are going to go, but you won’t find out until you actually see it through. And remember, everything happens for a reason. If things aren’t working out exactly as you planned, maybe they are actually working out for the better!

http://www.dreamstime.com

Step 6. Bring it to you. Have you heard of The Law of Attraction? How, if you think positive, clear thoughts and focus your energy on something particular, you notice it more. Use your thoughts to draw success to you. Bring it your way, grab on to it and take it for a ride. There is a quote on the Open Forum blog from Buddha; “All that we are is the result of what we have thought. The mind is everything. What we think, we become.”

To Be Fair...

Barry Callebaut recently introduced Fairtrade-certified versions of their chocolate the 35.1% milk, 55.3% and 70% dark chocolate with no recipe adjustment. I hear Fairtrade a lot, but thought I might do a quick delve into what it actually means, so you can determine if it’s something you would like to support. To start, a definition off a webpage I found on the Green America website helpful; "Fair Trade is a system of exchange that honors producers, communities, consumers, and the environment. It is a model for the global economy rooted in people-to-people connections, justice, and sustainability”. It encourages women to participate in the work force and leadership roles, and strictly regulates human rights and child labor laws alike ensuring safe working conditions and finally a chance to take a small business that may have otherwise gone unnoticed and allow it to become part of the global market. Fairtrade certification ensures the product being sold is bought meets particular economic, social and environmental standards providing workers with fair pay for their labor, goods and empowering them to receive an honest ability to sustain themselves and the earth.  Barry Callebaut will have agreed to pay a fair price for the chocolate, an amount that would cover cost of production, wages, and the basic necessities of living including food, shelter, clothing, medical care and education. Fairtrade items include coffee beans, cocoa pods and chocolate, sugar, rice, flowers, olive oil, tea, vanilla beans, wine, crafts, bananas and…sports balls. You learn something new everyday!  Fair Trade is monitored by World Fair Trade Organization, a global community consisting of over 350 organizations committed to the principals of Fair Trade and they operate in over 70 countries and in five different regions of the world, including Africa, Asia, Europe, Latin America, and North American and the Pacific Rim. And for clarification, there is Fair Trade and Fairtrade. The difference is Fair Trade is the movement to make the world better. Fairtrade is the actual labeling stamp you see on products, like if you are ever in a Whole Foods, they are amazing with this. The Fairtrade Labeling Organization puts this stamp only on products that meet the standards from the supported producer.For more information, check out the following links and share what you learn!

http://www.bakingbusiness.com

http://www.greenamerica.org/programs/fairtrade/whattoknow/index.cfm

http://www.fairtradetowns.org/about/faq/

No BPA for the FDA?

By the last day of March, 2012 the FDA must decide whether it will ban the use of BPA in food packaging. BPA is chemical bisphenol A, found in hard plastics of food packaging containers, and linings that seal many metal food containers. In studies done on animals, it has been found that it may have negative effects on health. Scientists believe that BPA will negatively react with the “brains, behavior and prostate glands of fetuses, infants and young children” others link it to an increased risk of cancer and other life threatening diseases.

The FDA has said that a recent assessment of B.P.A. at current levels of exposure has not been shown to harm people of any age but did recognize the harm in animals and sees the need for further studies. As of 2010 the FDA said that additional research was in progress and that there should be steps to reduce exposure to BPA and support action to stop producing products for infants contaminated with BPA and minimize BPA levels in other items. The American Chemical Council has said that BPA is safe, and they don’t expect the FDA to change their position, maintaining that BPA is safe in food containers, as government agencies around the world have determined.Click on the link below to learn more and determine if you want to take additional steps to avoid BPA exposure.

http://www.foodbusinessnews.net

http://www.hhs.gov/safety/bpa/