Locally-produced Angostura bitters has topped the world as the number one selling bitters and number one trending bitters.
Angostura issued a statement on Thursday saying that Drinks International has released its Annual Bar Report 2018 and Angostura has swept both of the categories.
Drinks International is one of the most trusted and respected global drinks journals.
Its Annual Bar Report provides a snapshot of the buying habits of elite bars around the world.
This year’s expanded list of voters included bar owners, managers and head mixologists from Drinks International’s World’s 50 Best Bars group, Asia’s 50 Best Bars, the Time Out Bar Awards, The Class Bar Awards, Taste of the Cocktail, and the Mixology and Australian Bartender Awards.
“We are pleased with the results of the poll,” said Angostura Chief Executive Officer Genevieve Jodhan, “today’s bitters market is more competitive than ever and these awards show that Angostura bitters is truly in a class of its own.”
Angostura bitters is made with the original closely guarded secret recipe first developed in 1824 by company founder, Dr. Johann Siegert.
The brand is manufactured exclusively in Trinidad and Tobago and holds the Royal Warrant of Appointment to the Crown first granted to it in 1955.
​Source:  CNC3 Jan 11, 2018

Healthy eating is a key factor in reducing the occurrences of non-communicable diseases (NCDs) such as diabetes, hypertension and cancer.
This habit also contributes to increasing your overall quality of life. While many people struggle with finding healthy alternatives to problematic foods in their diets, one humble root has been rising in popularity with health gurus and culinary experts alike: dasheen.
Dasheen is an excellent source of many minerals including iron, magnesium, potassium, zinc, manganese, copper and phosphorus. It also contains healthy doses of vitamins A, C, E and B6, and contains significant amounts of healthy dietary fibre. While most people in Trinidad and Tobago eat them boiled as a side dish, dasheen is incredibly versatile and presents a gluten free and fibre rich alternative to many dishes. The best part is dasheen is tasty, affordable, and can be grown in your own backyard (maybe not in Ottawa though)
Here are some proven health benefits of dasheen root, and some ideas for you to incorporate this delicious root vegetable into your diet and live a healthy, nutritious life free of NCDs.
Blood sugar managementAn important benefit of dietary fibre is its ability to regulate blood sugar levels and control insulin release. This is especially important in people with diabetes or those at risk of developing type 2 diabetes. A 100 gram serving of dasheen contains around 27 per cent of your recommended daily requirement of fibre.
Try it: Dasheen has about 30 percent less fat and more fibre than its cousin, the potato. Try substituting potato for dasheen in dishes like scalloped potato pie or Shepherds’ pie to cut down on fat, but not flavour.
Anti-cancer antioxidantsResearchers believe that our risk of developing serious illnesses like cancer can be greatly reduced by eating a healthy diet, ensuring that sufficient natural antioxidants are put into our system to protect our cells from damage.
Dasheen contains antioxidants in the form of vitamin A and C, as well as polyphenols. These can neutralise the damaging effect that free radicals have on our cells that may lead to mutations into cancer.
Try it: There are many creative ways to include dasheen in your diet, not just in foods, but also in drinks! Boiled dasheen makes a creamy, delicious punch, or even an exotic blended cocktail.
Improved heart health
A strong, healthy heart is key to avoiding instances of hypertension, heart attack and stroke. Dasheen is high in potassium which helps control the heart beat and also relieves stress and pressure on blood vessels and arteries. Potassium is also necessary for keeping blood pressure in check and reduces the effect of sodium on the body.
Try it: Obesity is a huge factor in decreased heart health. Try replacing refined carbohydrates such as white flour with healthy alternatives such as dasheen flour to help manage your weight and have a healthier heart. Dasheen flour tastes delicious in breads, biscuits, and even cakes! (not sure if it is available in Ottawa though - maybe at one of the local Caribbean stores? If you find it in the area, please note the name and location of the store in the comments section below).  

The best tasting cake in the world is officially a Trini one. 
Trinidadian chefs, Michelle Sohan and Kathleen Lange made the country proud after their cake was given the award for Best Tasting Cake in the World earlier this week at the World Cake Designers Championship 2017 in Milan, Italy.
The group, which was one of 20 countries which competed, also placed seventh in the World Cake Competition which was held by the FIP Federazione Internazionale Pasticceria Gelateria Cioccolateria. 
In a public Facebook post, Sohan, who owns local business Bakery Treatz, thanked all those who helped her and Lange win the coveted prize. 
Source:  The Loop Oct 27, 2017.

In celebration of International Chocolate week, Britain’s luxury retail store, Harrods will feature a range of chocolates from around the world.
Included in the special collection will be chocolate from Trinidad and Tobago: The Trinidad & Tobago Single-Estate Chocolate Box, available from today, October 10.
Unlike the other packages which feature the origin of the chocolate from a country, the T&T chocolate will be the only one to feature the cocoa plantations from which the chocolate originates – La Reunion, Ortinola, Aripo and Tableland. There will only be 1000 boxes of the limited edition chocolates available.
“Harrods has partnered with the Trinidad & Tobago Cocoa Company to launch an extra-special chocolate treat. Available to buy soon in-store and online, the Trinidad & Tobago Single Estate Chocolate Box contains four unique chocolate bars which are almost too good to share! Despite being made from the same type of bean – called the ‘Trinitario’ – each bar has a unique flavour and is named after the estate at which the cocoa was harvested,” Harrods wrote on its website.

​The distinction of having four Trinidadian estates featured, in addition to being in the prestigious Harrods, is a major accomplishment for Ashley Parasram, the director of the Fine Cocoa Company.
For Parasram, this achievement, following two years of discussion, is a testimony to the strides that have been made in cocoa and chocolate production in recent years.
“If your quality is not right, your quality is not in place and you get into a big market and give someone salmonella then you are done. If you follow through everything and don’t cut corners then you can get access to different markets,” he told Loop during a visit to his company located in the compound of the Cocoa Research Centre in Centeno where the La Reunion estate is based.
The First Cocoa Processing Facility
The Fine Cocoa Company, which has the country’s first cocoa processing facility, has been positioned to lead Government efforts to regulate the burgeoning chocolate industry.
Parasram, who said he was working internationally in sustainable development, was inspired to start the company six years ago when the then British High Commissioner mentioned that while T&T had the best cocoa but it was facing a failing industry.
The company spent the first three years assessing the industry and understanding its needs.
“We spent three years getting data then we built a facility,” said Parasram.
They entered into a public/private partnership through a Memorandum of Understanding with the Government under which they share their processing facilities with other cocoa producers.
The facility has the capacity to process 50 tonnes per annum. T&T processes on average 500 tonnes of cocoa per annum.
“We offer affordable processing and chocolates. We produce in volumes that allow for lower prices. We found out that bulk cocoa is one third the cost of local cocoa. Our cocoa is three times the price so our cocoa will never come down to the low prices but we’ve chosen the size of machines carefully to give economies of scale,” explained Arvind Mahabirsingh, Operations Director.

​In the facility, beans are screened and roasted. Mary Ethen-Gray, the Food Technologist, creates a roasting profile based on the moisture, size of bean, load and client requirements. From roasting the beans are placed in a winnower which disposes of the shells.
The beans are then placed in a pregrinder and can then be taken to a conche machine which breaks down the grains into cocoa liquor to be made into chocolate, pressed cocoa butter or powder.
The chocolate is refrigerated and stored for further use.
Setting standards for the industry
More than a chocolate producer, the Fine Cocoa Company is also co-sponsor of a programme designed to boost the industry.
The project, Improving Marketing and Production of Artisanal Cocoa from Trinidad and Tobago (IMPACTT) was started in 2016 and is a joint venture with the Ministry of Agriculture, the Inter-American Development Bank and the Cocoa Research Centre of the University of the West Indies.
The aim of the project is to establish standards across the industry.
“It is a very fragmented sector with varying degrees of quality and scale so what we are trying to do with the development project is setting standards. We are on a very steep learning curve,” said Parasram.
 “We are in a period of transition from the Cocoa Board to the Cocoa Company and there is a lot of uncertainty. With this project, we want to give farmers a checklist and give them guidance. We want to tell farmers that their beans are over fermented or if there is fungus,” he explained.
With the processing facility at the core of the project, Parasram noted, that now more than ever, farmers can see the results of their hard work.
“They weren’t getting feedback to improve their process and this is very important to the industry. When you taste the product you understand why you need to change the process,” he said.
IMPACTT, he said, will improve everything from farm to table with improved standards in packaging, labelling, storage and shipments, among other aspects.
There are currently eight plantations under the IMPACTT project. Parasram estimates that in five years there would be 40 with tractability.
Award-winning chocolate
Noting that the Fine Cocoa Company is still in growth stage, Mahabirsingh said there are a number of new chocolate producers who buy their product to make chocolate. The company also supplies industrial chocolate which acts as a base for some chocolate producers.
As producers, the Fine Cocoa Company produces chocolate bars, cocoa powder, nibs and cocoa butter. Their chocolates range from 50 to 70 percent cocoa.
The company is known for its attractive and clever steelpan tin packaging.
“We needed something to stand out and act as an ambassador. We aren’t really selling chocolate, we are selling T&T,” said Parasram.
The Steelpan design, launched in London last year, was awarded two silver awards by the London Academy of Chocolate in July.
Satisfied that their efforts have paid off where processing, quality and packaging are concerned, the Fine Cocoa Company is now turning its attention to marketing.
While penetrating foreign markets is top of the list through partnerships with the likes of Chef Gordon Ramsey, there is also a major focus on local market expansion.
“We have not been exposed to chocolate made from our cocoa. Our cocoa is well suited to dark chocolate but we have been accustomed to sweet chocolate which we have to change. It requires a nationwide effort and even Government intervention,” said Parasram.
“We have made significant inroads into the food sector with five or six chefs using our products,” he said.
Source: The Looptt 

Check out this article - wonder if someone will bring this to Ottawa!
A DOUBLES factory operator in San Juan says the company has invented a doubles-making machine and a pholourie machine, which can cut production times of the local culinary delights by 40 per cent.
The doubles machine can produce up to 1,000 doubles an hour while the pholourie machine can make 12,000 pholouries in an eight-hour shift.
The machines are the brainchild of Toddy Ramsahai of Radha Swami Industries Ltd, the company which owns and operates supermarket-based doubles outlets branded as “Doubles King”.
For the past three years, the Boundary Road, San Juan factory has been using the machines to mass-produce barra and pholourie which are then sold to local vendors.
In an interview with Express Business at the factory last Friday, Ramsahai disclosed that a businessman in England has already put in an order for the machines.
“The England client has a roti business and he wants to diversify into doubles and pholourie now. He came to Trinidad and tested them out. We’re in the process of exporting,” he said. “The initial idea behind the machine was to simplify the doubles-making process and to make the barra more consistent, so when you go to buy doubles you will have a consistent type of product.”
Source:  Trinidad Express May 3, 2017.​
To find out about purchasing the machines, you should contact Toddy Ramsahai of Radha Swami Industries Ltd, Boundary Road, San Juan, Republic of Trinidad and Tobago..

​Angostura bitters. You’ve definitely seen it: that tiny little bottle with the big white label and the bright yellow cap. It’s an indispensable bar fixture almost as common as ice cubes (so make sure you know how to pronounce it).
What is this stuff, exactly? How has it set up camp in pretty much every bar you’ve ever been to? Why should you care?
Let’s start at the beginning.
SCIENCE, WAR AND A FAMILY BUSINESS
​The inventor of this tiny tincture is a fellow named Johann Gottlieb Benjamin Siegert, so you know it’s serious. J.G.B. was a medic in the Prussian army, and fought against Napoleon (no big deal). He then went on to become Surgeon General for Simón Bolívar, and was stationed in a little town in Venezuela called Angostura.
Siegert became fascinated with the herbs and plants in the area. He experimented with different blends and mixtures to create a bitter medicine to boost the health of the troops. When Bolívar finally moved on to fight across Latin America, Siegert stuck around Angostura and kept working on his recipe.
It was years later, when his sons started helping him on the business side of things, that everything changed. They moved operations to Trinidad, sold cases of their bitters to international royalty, and hired a sugar technologist – yes, you read that correctly.
To this day, The House of Angostura bottles up bitters for the world to enjoy, using the same recipe Siegert came up with back in 1824. A recipe shrouded in mystique.
WANT THE RECIPE? GOOD LUCK WITH THAT.
Production of Angostura is kind of cloak-and-dagger. It’s speculated that the recipe contains over 40 ingredients, but only five people on the planet know the formula. They’ve made a pact to never fly on a plane together — or to even eat in the same restaurant. That’s commitment.
Raw ingredients are first collected in a facility in England, where they’re separately and discreetly bagged. Then they’re shipped to the island of Trinidad, where everything slips quietly through customs without inspection. It’s all part of a deal the Siegert family made long ago.
Once the packages reach headquarters, they’re collected in The Sanctuary, an exclusive upper chamber. That’s where the five secret experts grind and blend the herbs and spices. Next, the base mixture drops, as if from heaven, down into carts on the first floor, where other workers take over.
Everything is infused with a high-proof spirit in giant percolator tanks. The resulting distillate is combined with brown sugar and coloring, then diluted to 44.7% alcohol. After that, the treasured bitters are ready to emerge from the shadows of secrecy and depart to the cocktail bars of the world.
WHAT’S WITH THAT LABEL?

Next, of course, comes bottling, packaging and distribution. And the quirkiness continues. Bottles of Angostura are well-known for the unusual label, which sticks up around the neck like a cone of shame.
The story of the label seems to go something like this: the Siegert brothers were entering a competition. One brother rushed off to get bottles, the other to create labels, but they kind of failed to sync up on the details—so the label was too tall. Without any time to correct it, they headed off to the competition with what they had.
Well, they lost. Afterwards, however, one of the judges pulled them aside and said they should keep it as their signature packaging. They took the advice, and it’s been that way ever since.
COCKTAILS WOULDN’T BE THE SAME WITHOUT IT.
When it comes to cocktails, Angostura is synonymous with several classics. There’s the Old Fashioned, the Manhattan and the Daiquiri, plus a slew of Tiki drinks. Each one only uses a couple dashes of Angostura, but now bartenders are playing with recipes that use much heftier portions.
The Angostura Sour holds an incredible 1 1/2 ounces of its namesake bitters. That burly serving gets shaken up with lime juice, sugar and an egg white, which means Angostura is the only boozy ingredient in the mix. This recipe has been around a while, but recently another contender has caused quite a stir, the bracing Trinidad Sour.
The Trinidad Sour also contains a whopping 1 1/2 ounces of Angostura. Blended with orgeat, lemon and a touch of rye, this is a varsity-level drink that bartenders admire. In fact, it’s become quite popular, which is why you’ll see barkeeps prying the drip caps off of Angostura bottles, allowing for a steady pour.
In 2014, Angostura released a new item to celebrate its 190th year: Amaro di Angostura. The blenders in Trinidad have used their famous flavor profile to create an Italian-style digestif. They suggest using it in the Amora Amaro, a lime-laden cocktail with 1 1/2 ounces of the new amaro, plus an additional 3/4 of an ounce of the bitters. Prepare yourself, friends.
BEYOND THE BAR
Considering Angostura’s origins, it’s no surprise that there are a lot of other uses for it besides dressing up your whiskey.
Siegert created it to alleviate digestive problems and battle Venezuelan parasites. It makes sense, then, that people still take it to calm an unsettled stomach. Similarly, it’s known to tame the acidity of citrus, which is probably why it works so well in the sour recipes above.
Angostura can add depth and complexity to everything from stews to seafood to sauerkraut. On the sweeter side, it pushes pies to a whole new spiced-up level, and would probably be pretty interesting in something like a root beer float (or a cocktail that just tastes like one).
You don’t have to consume Angostura to make good use of it, though. The wooden fixtures in Seattle’s Canon Bar are all stained with Angostura, an aesthetic feat that must have required a massive supply of those little bitter bottles.
Some even say that if you rub Angostura on your skin, it makes an excellent mosquito repellent. Give it a shot? Siegert would, no doubt, be proud.
​Source:  Vinepair
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