From Sweet Onion to Cinnamon, Essential Cane sugars pack a flavorful punch (click on the link to see the full story)

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WOODINVILLE, Wash., Jan. 15, 2009 — No one has to settle for sugar that just tastes “sugary” anymore. American cooks and foodies who use flavored sugars to add an extra kick to food and beverages can turn to Essential Cane(TM) (http://www.essentialcane.com) for an assortment of flavored cane sugars produced without preservatives, additives, essential oils, or artificial colors or flavors.

Essential Cane’s dynamic new flavors include tangerine, lemon, lime, wild blueberry, raspberry , vanilla bean, espresso, sweet onion, green chili and many more. Creative gourmets can put the sugars in beverages and spice rubs, on the rim of cocktails or on ice cream, desserts, salads, cereals and other foods. Visitors to the Web site can select each flavor category to see specific suggestions.

“Naturally flavored sugars are one of the top food trends for 2009, and Essential Cane has created the most revolutionary flavored sugars ever developed,” said Mark Zoske, co-founder of Essential Cane. Flavored sugars are sugars that have been combined with spices, fruits or other flavor mates. Essential Cane sugars contain only two ingredients: the raw organic cane sugar and the whole flavor mate.

“Essential Cane uses ‘whole flavors’ only,” explained Gregg Novotny, co-founder. “For example, we use the whole blueberry instead of just a flavoring. Whole flavors are the real deal. These sugars are not neon-colored, refined sugar sprinkles, and the flavors are grown naturally by farmers, not formulated by scientists in a lab. Our sugars get their flavors and colors from the fruit, spice or vegetable that they are bonded with.”

Essential Cane is a division of FlavorStorm Inc. (http://www.flavorstorm.com) and began when Mark Zoske and fellow co-founders Gregg Novotny and Naomi Novotny noticed a scarcity of gourmet sugar offerings among food retailers, wholesalers, manufacturers, coffee and tea houses, bakeries and restaurants. They saw it as an opportunity to develop a new high-quality product line.

The trio organized a worldwide search for the finest flavor ingredients as well as the best-tasting fair trade and organic raw cane sugars. After 20 months of research and development, they developed a proprietary flavor bonding process that dries ingredients without sacrificing any of the natural flavor, color, vitamins and minerals.

The Essential Cane product line will be officially launched at the 2009 Winter Fancy Food Show, being held January 18-20, at the Moscone Convention Center in San Francisco. However, the sugars are already available in select gourmet specialty stores and grocery stores, such as Whole Foods Markets and Sur la Table.

The sugars can also be ordered by downloading an order form from the Web site (http://www.essentialcane.com) and faxing it to the company. E-commerce capabilities will be available by the end of March 2009.

“To us, each flavor of sugar is a work of art and we want others to share that experience,” stated Naomi Novotny. “It’s our mission to provide the finest flavored sugars ever produced.”