Ancient grains are making a comeback in terms of healthy baking, with consumer demand driving this comeback. Perhaps it’s a ‘back to the future’ scenario, but old habits die hard and catering for this healthier taste is not that simple. In…

The art of baking has been about for centuries with the world’s oldest oven – found in Croatia in 2014 – reckoned to be 6,500 years old. Over the years, this art remains a skill and is important for nutrition, as baked goods, especially…

It seems to go both ways – bakeries trying their best to get personal with their consumers and the consumers, in turn, expecting more from the product they buy, while its packaging will enhance that experience. That is the global packaging…

Craft baking, it seems, is a growing trend. Research by IRI shows that sales of baking products have been rising steadily, up by 62% since 2007. The market research and shopper insight firm says this trend is driven partly by families being…

Nanotechnology sounds all new-fangled and modern. But it is not.  According to José Miguel Aguilera of Universidad Católica de Chile, Santiago, “nano” has been part of food processing for centuries, since many food structures naturally…

Being in the business of baking, as any other business, is about improving that bottom line and making a profit. This, in turn, depends on the market itself, writes Andre Erasmus, and growing that market can mean moving outside of your…

The thinking consumer, it is said, discerns the difference between fads and trends, between fashion and something that is here to stay. And, writes Andre Erasmus, getting this right if you are a major baker is crucial to preventing a loss…

The UK government has taken the lead in fighting obesity with the launch of its childhood obesity plan, writes Andre Erasmus. It’s a program that will initially focus on the categories that make the largest contributions to children’s sugar…

You might have heard people talking about ‘fusion’ as a new food sensation, writes Andre Erasmus. Fusion, in a few words, is the process or result of joining two or more things together to form a single entity.

It’s an interesting business, the baking industry. Companies come and go, mergers are mooted – sometimes in vain and often successfully, writes Andre Erasmus. Now, we have a new star in the merger constellation – pladis (yes, with a lower…

Snacking – that all-important meal between meals – has been around for a long, long time. It offers a brief respite from a job’s routine and provides that necessary pick-me-up in energy and focus to continue with the task at hand.

Umami. Heard of it? Maybe not but it is the ‘new’ taste that is changing the way we think about and experience our food. In essence, umami (a Japanese word meaning delicious taste) is a savory...

 From New York to Cape Town and from Pompeii to Cairo, street food is out there and seemingly experiencing a major resurgence in popularity, writes Andre Erasmus.

 At the start of every year, when most us are making resolutions to give up smoking, drink less and eat more healthily, along come the food trends for the year ahead. And these can turn our plans upside down, writes Andre Erasmus.

 I can remember, as a kid growing up a few decades back, that it was crucially important that my mother bought the right cereal. Not necessarily the one with the goodness and healthy stuff, but the one with the free Disney characters,…

 When you pop into your supermarket or corner boulangeries, do you ever stop to think about how much effort, time, expertise and money went into that loaf that you are about to buy? Setting up a bakery is more than a profession, it is a…

 In this fast-paced world we have, there never seems to be enough time. Sayings like ‘life is too short to stuff a mushroom’ or as actress Kristin Scott Thomas says ‘life’s too short to eat low-fat everything’ are symptomatic of the…

 We have all heard of millet, spelt and sorghum. They are, perhaps, not grains we knowingly use or consume on a regular basis.