Press Coverage

HGD Foods in the News:

All-natural food companies are sprouting
By Jordan Gass-Poore - Express-News

Along with fresh fruits and vegetables, all-natural and organic products are sprouting up at local farmers markets as more buyers and sellers think green.

One such purveyor is Home Grown Design Foods in Converse, which specializes in all-natural, 100 percent gluten-free salsas, sauces, seasonings, jams, cornmeal and baking mixes.

Owner Sally Drew, who purchased Lamb Stone Ground Cornmeal from the Lamb heirs, started HGD Foods in 2003.

"We had a family member (who) found out that she had to eat gluten-free," Drew said. "So when we started doing blending and mixing, we just kept the entire facility gluten-free."

HGD Foods Gluten-Free Baking Mixes are produced in a gluten-free facility, and most products are dairy-, egg-, peanut-, tree nut-, fish-, shellfish-, soy- and wheat-free.

"Since it's such a small family business, we only have two phases to our processing," Drew said. "We have a commercial kitchen where we can our products, like salsas, jams, jellies and apple sauces, and then we have the dry facility where we grind fresh stone-ground cornmeal almost every day and we blend the gluten-free baking mixes and we do seasoning blends and cocoa blends."

Hand-peeled chunks of tart Granny Smith apples from Washington are used in HGD Foods' applesauce, complementing the sweetness of the mango and strawberry.

"Our pizza crust compares to Papa John's, our brownie mix compares to Betty Crocker, and (recently) they wrote up in the SAVOR SA online that our pancakes were big and fluffy like International House of Pancakes," Drew said.

www.savorsa.com

HGD Foods from Converse had a diverse selection of gluten-free mixes, including some for pizza crust, bread, brownies and pancakes.  I sampled a prepared pancake, slightly sweet and still fluffy.  According to Sarah Dauphinais, the $4 mix is enough to make three breakfasts for a family of five.  To top the pancakes, I would suggest their sweet apple butter. Give the mix and apple butter together for a great hostess gift.

A customer waiting at the Chef Table:  "I waited in line to sample corn-dusted shrimp with a salsa made from market ingredients, but the tray was empty by the time the line reached about four people in front of me.  Chef Johnny Hernandez said that he used ingredients from three of the farmer’s market vendors, including cornmeal from HGD and Natural Shrimp from outside La Coste.  As it would take about 15 minutes until the next cooking demonstration and since the sun was very strong, I decided to continue my rounds."