Embers Products Ltd., a fine food producer of specialty sauces located in Kinkora, has been named a finalist in the dessert category of the Canadian Fine Food show. The winner will be announced on April 28 in Toronto, the evening before the opening of the show.
Embers' entry at the show is a chocolate with orange sauce, one of four chocolate desert sauces which will be marketed as "Over the Top Chocolate Sauce" by Embers.
"We couldn't be more excited," said Rhysia Smith, co-owner of Embers Products. "We were up against products from across the county, so it's thrilling to be recognized as having one of the best desserts in Canada."
Rhysia and her husband Brian have been developing sauces for the past seven years. They wanted their newest sauces to be made with chocolate and solicited the support of a well-known food technologist, Carol Crouse.
Carol is the owner of The Food Chain Limited, a food laboratory located in Fredericton, New Brunswick. Carol's instructions from the Smiths were to develop a decadent chocolate sauce for adults that would have a lingering taste of chocolate.
The sauces are made with the finest Island ingredients, using absolutely no preservatives. The chocolate sauces are unique in that they can be served at room temperature, heated and served warm and cooled again.
"Over the Top Chocolate Sauces" by Embers has four basic flavours, including chocolate with ginger, chocolate with coffee, chocolate with cranberry and chocolate with orange. They also make a number of other specialty sauces including a variety of maple mustard sauces, a fresh garlic and molasses sauce, and a cranberry and wild blueberry sauce with Grand Marnier.
"We don't know the impact the show will have on selling our products," said Rhysia. "It will certainly be a major boost in visibility for our business, so we anticipate the results will be good. Regardless if we win, the whole experience has been absolutely wonderful." She added, "However, if a chocoholic is on the judging panel, we'll have it made."
Embers products are sold all over Canada through various distributors in Ontario and Quebec. The Smiths are currently pursuing markets in New England and Eastern USA.
The chocolate sauces as well as other Embers products will be available at the Farmers Market in Charlottetown the first Saturday in May. The Smiths welcome anyone to drop by the Farmers Market or their facility in Kinkora to test their products and learn how they are made.
Embers Products Ltd. received support in setting up its Kinkora facility from Prince Edward Island Business Development (PEIBD) through the Small Business Support Program. Through its Food Development Division, PEIBD assists food processors in developing and advancing good business ideas.