Brain Wave

Hershey Co., Hormel Foods Corp. succeeding in recession

From the AP via USA Today: WASHINGTON — It's not all doom and gloom in the U.S. economy. Some products are bucking the recession and flying off store shelves.

Sales of chocolate and running shoes are up.

Wine drinkers haven't stopped sipping; they just seem to be choosing cheaper vintages.

Gold coins are selling like hot cakes. So are gardening seeds....

Strong sales of Spam, Dinty Moore stew and chili helped Hormel Foods Corp. post a 6% increase in first quarter sales in its grocery products unit....

Profits in the first three months of 2009 at Hershey Co., the nation's second-largest candy maker, surged 20% and beat Wall Street's expectations. Kraft Foods Inc. reported double-digit growth in macaroni and cheese dinners — the consummate comfort food.

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Strange times for coffee industry

The original Peet's Coffee & Tea in Berkeley, California, has reopened.

Meanwhile, dozens of Starbucks are closing across the U.S., including seven in Maryland.

And yet, some small regional roasters are getting off the ground, and seem to be doing fairly well.

Easy tips for beer-and-food pairings

The night before the Myrtle Beach Beer Fest (March 28), I went to the Brewmasters Dinner at TBonz Gill & Grill in Myrtle Beach.

The five-course dinner was hosted by Dave Epstein of New South Brewing, which makes the TBonz brand beers.

As the evening progressed, Epstein offered some pointers worth passing along.

1. Beer-and-food pairings are subjective, but the first rule is simple: “The stronger the flavor, the stronger the beer,” Epstein said. So lighter beers went with lighter fare. The Lowcountry Light Lager was paired with the Tomato Florentine Soup, and the Market Street Wheat went with the salad.

2. Spicy foods – like beer-boiled shrimp with Old Bay or calamari with a spicy marinara sauce – go well with beers like the India Pale Ale, which relies on the bitterness of hops. (That bitterness will strike some palates as spicy.)

3. For steaks, you probably want something robust, like a red ale. “The red still has a little bit of a hop bite to it, but it relies more on malt character,” Epstein said. The Cooper River Red paired well with the New York Strip.

The big surprise for me: Irish Stout is sublime with cheesecake drizzled with chocolate sauce.

-Colin Foote Burch