Limited Edition Foods

October is National Breast Cancer Awareness Month, which always brings a landslide of pink themed products. Tasty Baking Company has joined the flurry, creating a limited edition TastyKake Strawberry Jelly Krimpet which is on the market for as long as supplies last.

The company will be donating ten percent of the profits from this limited edition version of the legendary Pennsylvania sponge cakes to breastcancer.org. Breastcancer.org is an online resource for women with breast cancer and their families, and as part of the partnership the boxes for the limited edition cakes will have information about breast cancer and breastcancer.org.

“Despite the widespread consumer awareness of breast cancer as an issue, the disease itself remains quite a confusing and scary experience for the people going through it,� according to Dr. Marisa Weiss. “The fundraising opportunity that Tastykake has created will have a significant, lasting impact on breastcancer.org and the millions of people who visit our site each year.�

The partnership with breastcancer.org is not the company’s only philanthropic endeavor, earlier this year the company introduced a limited edition lemon spongecake called Alex’s Lemon Krimpets. Fifty cents of the proceeds from the sale of each box of those lemon-jelly filled cakes went to Alex’s Lemonade Stand Foundation, an organization that raises money for pediatric oncology research.

TastyKake Strawberry Jelly Krimpets can be purchased in regional grocery stores or by the case from Tastykake.com. The Tasty Baking Company has over one hundred varieties of baked products, and sells them in larger quantities for corporate gifts or special events as well.

October, Breast Cancer Awareness Month, Pink, Krimpet, limited edition, strawberry, pediatrics, oncology, Alex’s Lemonade Stand Foundation, TastyKake, Tasty Baking Company

Panera Bread Company is bringing back thier limited edition Pink Ribbon Bagel in honor of October, National Breast Cancer Awareness Month.

The bagel is in the shape of an awareness ribbon and features cherry chips as well as real bits of cherries and cranberries. A portion of the sales of each bagel will go to breast cancer awareness and research, although the portion of profits and recipient charity varies depending on location. Some franchisees are supporting the Susan B. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation, while others are donating to hospitals, mammogram programs, and awareness organizations in their local areas. Customers can pre-order the bagels for their breakfasts, brunches, and other events by using a form available on the Panera website.

The pink breast cancer bagel has been an annual event since 2001. The idea was developed by Sue Stees, a breast cancer survivor and Panera Bread franchisee with nineteen cafe locations in Arkansas, Missouri, and Oklahoma.

Panera, bagel, pink ribbon, breast cancer, Breast Cancer Awareness Month, October, cherries, cranberries, Komen, mammogram

Chips Ahoy! has two limited edition cookie varieties out on the shelves right now. One is the Limited Edition Chips Ahoy! Chunky with Almonds, featured in the photograph to the left. The second is the Limited Edition Chips Ahoy! Dark Chocolate cookies, which I can’t find anything about on the Internet but I know exist because there is a package sitting in my cabinet right now. Have you tried either cookie? If so what did you think?

Chips Ahoy!, chocolate chip, dark chocolate, cookie, almonds

Longbottom Tea & Coffee in Portland, Oregon is offering a limited edition coffee this October called Bali Blue Moon. Named for its Indonesian origins, the coffee blend apparently contains beans that are difficult to obtain due to the lack of organized bean sales in Indonesia.

Longbottom Tea & Coffee is celebrating its 25th anniversary this year. The company specializes in international blends and focuses on the origins of their beans.

coffee, Indonesia, Bali, limited edition

On July 4, 2007 Ruth’s Hemp Foods introduced a limited edition Red, White & Blueberry Hemp Bar created in support of the Vote Hemp initiative. The bar is available as long as supplies last, and for the first three months one hundred percent of the proceeds from the sale of the bars will go to Vote Hemp.

The bar contains sesame seeds, organic hemp seeds, raisins, blueberries, cranberries, almonds and other all-natural flavors and textures. It has 180 calories and like all of the Ruth’s products the bar contains no GMOs or refined sugars, transfats or hydroxy fats, and this version is gluten free as well.

If you are interested in tasting the bar but cannot find a retailer in your area, you can buy the bars online for $20.00 for 12 bars. Retailers who would like to inquire about wholesale pricing are invited to do so as well.

If you are interested in learning more about the Vote Hemp campaign they have an interesting website complete with an FAQ that explains the difference between hemp and marijuana. They make a good case for using industrial hemp as a resource rather than treating it as contraband, and point out the ways in which this legal substance is misunderstood in the United States.

Hemp, Vote Hemp, blueberry, cranberry, almond, organic, transfat, GMO, calorie, limited edition, marijuana

Oreo Dunkers are coming to Canada and the U.K. as a limited edition food product. The Oreo is a classic, but over the years it has been through several variations of color, shape, size, and taste. The Oreo Dunkers are made in an oblong shape which increases the ease of dunking for those who like to dip theirs in milk.

The Dunker is the result of an intensive study made by Oreo’s parent company into how consumers liked to eat their Oreos. It was introduced in the U.S. as a limited edition product last year. Click here for Kraft Foods’ press release analyzing the way that consumers eat their Oreos.

Click here for an ergonomic review of the cookie and its functionality. Special thanks to Slipsonic for the picture of the cookie.

Oreo, limited edition, cookie, dunk, U.S., U.K., Canada

A high end agricultural coop has created the perfect wedding item for the bride with a passion for the details: heart shaped cucumbers. Produced in Japan these lovely and light limited edition foods will be on the market until October and cost approximately $2.50 each. The company who created them made headlines by giving several to this couple for their wedding. Based on reports the actual stalks are not heart shaped, but the cucumbers have a heart pattern when they are sliced for an appetizer or salad.

This seems to be the Summer of the Cucumber in Japan, as the vegetable made headlines last month for being the central flavor in a new limited edition Pepsi product named Ice Cucumber.

cucumber, limited edition, vegetable, wedding, Pepsi

How do you tell the difference between a true limited edition food and faux limited edition food? The former is a truly unique food item, the latter is usually the same food item in a different package. When a cereal is created just for a movie, or a company makes a new pink version of a candy bar to promote breast cancer awareness, or something NEW is done that actually alters the food production process … that is a limited edition food. When the food product remains the same but the packaging features a cartoon character then that is simply a promo, not a new food. Make sense?

The exception would be when a company creates a food that probably is the same as another food they already sell, but they don’t try to tie the two together. So, hypothetically, the giant General Mills Company might sell Mr. Smithers Checkered Tie Cereal with brown and blonde checkered cereal. Close observers might think this is two different types of Chex cereal that have not been sold together before, but the packaging is fully unique and the company claims this is a whole new cereal. So this is still a limited edition food, because two items are being sold together in a unique way for a limited time and the packaging is completely focused on the limited edition purpose without the major brand tie-in. Make sense?

That is my personal opinion anyway … what do you think?

The limited edition foods market has traditionally been dominated by candy, cereal and snack foods but that did not stop the California Pizza Kitchen from making its cajun pizza available as a limited edition pie in grocery stores.

I did not find much info on the web, but was fortunate to eat one and found that to be a pleasing experience. If you like your pizza spicy and with a thin crust, this is a good choice while it lasts.

California Pizza Kitchen, pizza, cajun, limited edition