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Hunt’s Is Naturally Cultivating Goodness From Vine To Plate
Hunt’s Kicks Off Biggest Cooking & Entertaining Season with Celebrity Chef Cat Cora and Food Trend Expert Phil Lempert
(Nov. 15, 2007)
The natural food trend, fueled by Baby Boomers, continues its upward climb. According to a new survey1 commissioned by Hunt’s, the leader in canned tomatoes, more consumers are seeking premium-quality natural ingredients as they head into the busiest cooking and entertaining season of the year. Tomatoes are a key ingredient in most Americans’ (78%) favorite recipes. What’s more, nearly 60 percent prefer to use canned tomatoes over raw ones when cooking because they require less preparation and are always in season.
Flavorful Cooking
Responding to this ongoing demand
 for natural foods, and the popularity of Mexican and Southwestern flavors, Hunt’s is introducing two new premium pantry items – new Fire Roasted Diced Tomatoes and Fire Roasted Diced Tomatoes with Garlic, debuting in stores now. Both new varieties – gently roasted over a real open fire – pack a great smoky, Southwestern flavor ideal for adding flavor to everyday meal favorites or creating new, upscale culinary dishes. Cooking enthusiasts can find recipes from celebrity chef Cat Cora and Hunt’s on hunts.com. Hunt’s has transformed its Web site into the ultimate destination for the latest on-trend recipes. Consumers will find easy, great-tasting recipes for pasta, chili, soup or salad that all provide increased servings of vegetables. The site also features recipes for heart-healthy Thanksgiving alternatives and post-Thanksgiving crowd pleasers, such as turkey chili, turkey soup and salads with Hunt’s.
Hunt’s two new offerings are on par with America’s surging interest in cooking. Three-in-four Americans (76%) say they cook “very” or “somewhat” often, and 36 percent confess to cooking more this year than last. Boomers are leading this movement. More than half of Boomers (54%) feel they often cook meals that rival restaurant offerings, and nearly nine-in-10 (87%) are interested in incorporating healthy and all-natural ingredients in their cooking. This passion for experimentation, coupled with a desire for natural ingredients, is leading to a zest for more sophisticated dishes.
Food and consumer expert Phil Lempert sees this trend born out in supermarkets around the country. “This cooking season, Hunt’s uncovered that 95 percent of Americans agree there’s a connection between eating well and living well,” said Lempert. “Our SupermarketGuru.com consumer panel validates this: over 84 percent of consumers are on a quest for healthy meal solutions. As mealtime reclaims its status as a priority and home entertaining hits new peaks, the heavier meals of yesteryear are out and fresh, premium, tasty meals made with natural ingredients are in. Tomatoes are a key component of so many of our favorite dishes; they are the ingredient of choice for those who want to explore and create new, adventurous dishes this season.” Cat Cora, chef, cookbook author and star of “Iron Chef America” confirms the culinary trend. According to Cora, “Food is a way for people to connect and share an experience, and tomatoes are at the heart of many dishes. Creating a memorable meal starts with using the best ingredients. I rely on Hunt’s canned tomatoes because of their premium quality and the fact that I can enjoy fresh tasting, vine-ripened summer tomatoes all year – especially during the fall and winter months when fresh produce is scarce.”
 Straight From Vine to Can
As consumers are seeking premium-quality ingredients, the process is important to the quality of the finished product – and not all tomatoes are created equal. Hunt’s is the only leading brand of tomatoes that flashsteams its tomatoes. For more than a century, the tomato experts at Hunt’s have stocked pantries across America with naturally vine-ripened tomatoes that are hand-selected at the peak of ripeness, not on a predetermined schedule. The complete journey from vine to can takes only hours, ensuring maximum freshness, quality and consistent flavor in every can. The result is 100 percent natural, premium, red vine-ripened tomatoes that are delicious, fresh, flavorful, extremely versatile and entirely free of any artificial ingredients or preservatives.
Better Nutrition … Canned is Better than Fresh
When consumers open a can of Hunt’s Tomatoes, they expect great taste. However, they may not know Hunt’s Tomatoes have triple the health benefits of raw tomatoes. That’s because just one half cup of canned tomatoes contains more than three times the lycopene2 (an antioxidant that may help prevent heart disease) found in one medium, uncooked tomato. According to scientists, the body absorbs more lycopene from cooked tomatoes than from raw.
Also See Recipes:
Chili Lime Shrimp
Fire Roasted Tomato Salsa
Rustic Marinara Sauce
Southwestern Turkey Chili
Tomato Butternut Stew with Couscous
Tomato Dill Soup
About Hunt’s
It's been more than 100 years since Joseph and William Hunt founded the Hunt Brothers Packing Company in Oakdale, California. Since then, Hunt's has grown to become one of the largest tomato processors in the world, offering a complete line of canned tomato products: diced, whole, crushed, stewed, puree, organic diced, organic whole, organic crushed, tomato sauce and tomato paste. Along the way, Hunt’s gained an unprecedented knowledge of everything tomato. From locating the perfect fields to developing all-natural processing methods that ensure superior quality and consistent flavor, Hunt’s is committed to providing great–tasting products that enrich your family's meals. Owned by ConAgra Foods, Hunt's continues to innovate and introduce exciting new products. Hunt’s rich history, extensive tomato knowledge and unparalleled dedication to quality set us apart, and that's why the world looks to Hunt's as the Tomato Expert.
About ConAgra Foods
ConAgra Foods, Inc. (NYSE:CAG), is one of North America's leading packaged food companies, serving grocery retailers, as well as restaurants and other foodservice establishments. Popular ConAgra Foods consumer brands include: Banquet, Chef Boyardee, Egg Beaters, Healthy Choice, Hebrew National, Hunt's, Marie Callender's, Orville Redenbacher's, Reddi-wip, PAM and many others.
1 Hunt’s commissioned a survey among a nationally representative sample of 1,000 Americans from Oct. 16-19, 2007 with a +/- 3 percent margin of error at the 95 percent confidence level.
2 U.S. Department of Agriculture.
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