So you’ve seen my top lists from Natural Products Expo West 2014: my top beverages, my top sweets, and my top meals/snacks.
But with 2,000+ vendors, it’s really hard to fit all the amazing stuff in just a few posts. I wanted to highlight some other awesome stuff that you guys should see from Expo West. Take a gander at some of the cool stuff below!
—–
Massel was launching their concentrated liquid stock – and I was very excited about their vegan-friendly chicken-style stock. I was also stoked to see Tess (aka The Blender Girl) and see her make a soup from her upcoming book using the Massel broth. Her book comes out April 8th 2014, but you can pre-order it here.
I love this broth – it makes it SO easy to make great quality soup and stocks. I throw a cube into my rice cooker when I cook rice or quinoa. I recommend everyone have some of these cubes (or the new stock) int their kitchen.
I don’t watch Shark Tank, but the minute I instagrammed this photo of Bambooee, I was informed that I was a day late in introducing this company to the universe. Regardless if I was scooped, this product is badass. You buy one (yes one) roll of this bamboo “paper” towels, and you just wash them. You can wash them like 100 times! You’ll never buy paper towels again. They also make a line of Swiffer replacers so you can clean your floor with a reusable material. Seriously, buy this.
Bob’s Red Mill is always coming out with new gluten-free products, and they didn’t let me down this Expo West. I finally got to hold my very own gluten-free pie crust that I can never seem to find. I can’t wait to make my own pie (and probably ruin it, but at least have fun trying).
I think besides the pie crust, I’m MOST excited about their new Scottish Oats. I currently eat their quick cooking oats, but the Scottish oats just give a new texture to the oats. You can learn about the different oat consistencies here.
I can’t get enough of these velvet truffles from Alter Eco. Alter Eco is an amazing company that truly cares about the people and environment in which they get their raw material from. I want to support them and support their mission. Their chocolate is also super amazing, so really – I think I’m the lucky one. They also make a line of rice and quinoa that I’m really excited to try. Watch one of the founders talk about their purple rice in my video here (around 1:15).
Lindsey and XO Baking Co. did it again with the launches of several new products at Expo West. I had a chance to try her biscuits and they were awesome. I can’t wait to try making scones with this!
Go Picnic launched several lines of ready-to-eat snack boxes and new breakfast-themed boxes. Many of their new products are non-GMO verified (hooray!). Look for great things to come from them this year!
I always talk about Nutrasumma on social media – because they have amazing gluten-free supplements and superior testing methods to make sure you’re not taking crap! I take several of their products currently and can’t wait to start taking more of their products to improve my overall health and increase my energy levels.
Arctic Zero had a #DessertForBreakfast party to launch their new whey-protein-based frozen dessert (low calories – major bonus) with our BFF’s Bakery on Main.
I took some digestive enzymes and battled the whey-protein dessert (even though it’s lactose-intolerant friendly), because let’s face it – if I had to fart during a busy expo – no one would know it was me anyways. Plus, this stuff is totally worth it. The new salted caramel and coconut flavors were my favorite.
These low-calories frozen desserts are a great alternative! These are readily available at my Whole Foods’ freezer section.
Next, Sarah and I from CanIEatHere.com got to interview Pamela from Pamela’s Products about her new Figgies and Jammies “Fig Newton-esque” product. We had a great time with her – thanks to Chandice from Gluten Free Frenzy for setting that up.
Schar was there promoting two lines of products – their Schar line of products including the new entertainment crackers and their Bonta d’Italia line including this new pasta. Schar is always coming out with new great items and I love seeing what is next from them.
As I previewed before Expo West, i’m excited about the new Hilary’s Eat Well gluten-free dairy-free dressings. I stopped eating dressing because I haven’t found a gluten-free one on the market that I actually like (so I just go without or use balsamic vinegar).
We love Beanitos, and we fully support their new PUFFS line – the first bean puffs out on the market! Think of hot Cheetos, but waaaaay better for you! I regretfully forgot to pick up a sample of the white cheddar, but I can bet they are magical. Certified gluten-free and non-GMO verified.
I just placed my first online order for Molly ‘s Suds. I’m all about natural laundry detergent (especially fragrance free) since I have some jacked up skin issues. I took home a sample of the cloth diaper, only because their newer liquid All Sports Wash wasn’t available to sample. I can’t wait to try! No SLS, biodegradable,, vegan, and cruelty free as well as gluten free.
I’m still upset to this day that I didn’t get to try the new Chocolate Chip Hail Merry macaroons. The table was so busy and I was in such a hurry that I snapped a pic and made a mental note to come back to try it…but I never did. Sad face. I need this to get to my store ASAP!
I’ve seen a lot of chia desserts and yogurt substitutes and all of them kind of looked like snot to me. I was never curious about trying one until I saw Nemi Chia. For some reason, their coconut yogurt with chia seeds and fruit compote intrigued me. I’m glad I stopped to try it, because these were really good!
Whole Me is a grain-free paleo breakfast company that creates filling bars and paleo cereal. Really great products and I hope these guys go far! And unlike some of the products at Expo West that you can’t find until 6 months from now, you can buy all of their products online!
I ate crickets! Yes, I had a sample of a gluten-free bar that is made from cricket flour (yes, ground up yummy insects) from Chapul. It’s such an inventive idea from a sustainable resource – although I would recommend eating them in bars instead of grabbing them from under your refrigerator after the cats finds one. You can buy their bars online, but hopefully their flour will take the world by storm – crickets are paleo, right?
Not half bad – chirp chirp chirp.
NEAT is a meat-replacement made from nut, seeds, and grains (including gluten-free oats). They not only use certified gluten-free oats, but they are certified gluten-free and made in a certified gluten-free facility! It’s soy-free, gluten-free and vegetarian (it asks you to make it with eggs, but you can easily make it vegan by using flax, etc.). I’m always interested in soy-free meat substitutes, especially since my body hates beef and with my recent acquisition of vegan friends – I need to have some fun new alternatives to wow them with that we can both eat.
NibMor is a great chocolate company that makes chocolate bars and drinking chocolate. The “extreme” sample we got also came with cocoa nibs in the chocolate – super yummy. While I love NibMor, they are made in the same facility as wheat and are not certified gluten-free although are made without gluten-containing ingredients.
I received a sample of the chocolate Nuttzo in my press bag and I could have probably eaten this whole jar if they gave me it. It’s organic, high-protein and low-sugar, although I do wish they were certified GF. They use organic Peruvian dark chocolate to flavor this chocolate flavor. Seriously. I just licked the screen.
Good Boy Organics has several products – BOPS (the awesome organic potato chips) and Organicasaurus – organic corn puffs in the shape of a dinosaur. Pretty awesome. BOPS and Organicasaurus lines are both certified gluten free, certified organic, and non-GMO verified. Your kids will love that they’re shaped like dinos and you’ll love that they’re high-quality snacks.
The new Melt is now chocolate and amazing – and still organic and non-GMO made from fruit and plant oils. This tastes pretty fantastic. It does have honey so it’s not vegan, but it’s dairy-free and I want it on my toast immediately. Again, not certified gluten-free but made without gluten ingredients.
Mary’s Gone Crackers released their regular and chocolate vegan gluten-free graham crackers. See also – awesome re-branding! I can’t wait until these get into the store. I can never seem to find good quality grahams in the store (without having to buy Schar’s online). Can’t wait for these to come out and make some s’mores!
The Berry Breeze neutralizes the mold, germs, yeast, fungus, etc. in the fridge to keep your fruits and veggies fresher longer – 2-3 times longer! I really hope to work with them in the future, this would be such an awesome product giveaway that every healthy celiac needs to keep fruits and veggies longer!
Hey girlie – great write-up! It’s exhausting to compile reviews for all these great new products, but what a good problem to have! Loved your take on all the goodies!
~jules
OMG you are so brave! We saw the cricket bars but just couldn’t do it!