Best Food Products | October 2014
From Pumpkin Pasta to Funfetti Candles, 10 Must-Have Foodie Finds
As POPSUGAR editors, we independently select and write about stuff we love and think you'll like too. If you buy a product we have recommended, we may receive affiliate commission, which in turn supports our work.
If loving pumpkin spice everything makes us basic, then so be it. This month's picks include the cream of the pumpkin crop as well as the fanciest chocolate-covered pretzels we've ever seen, a drop-dead-gorgeous cookbook you'll actually cook out of, a birthday-cake-scented candle (because, why not!?), and much more.
Photo: Nicole Perry
TheBu Kombucha
I love chai and I love kombucha, but until I tried TheBu Chai Spice Kombucha ($4), I absolutely did not love the two together. Previous blends I tried were harsh, too sweet, or just didn't work; theBu's take is bright and refreshing and reminds me of tart, mulled cider (a major win).
— Nicole Perry, assistant editor
Photo: Nicole Perry
Montane Designs Birthday Cake Candle
When I came across this 100 percent soy birthday cake candle ($20) on Preserve, I knew it had to be mine. Complete with rainbow sprinkles and an addictive, buttery-vanilla scent, the candle makes it like my birthday anytime I'm in the mood.
— Anna Monette Roberts, assistant editor
Donna Hay The New Classics
I pretty much want to live inside the pages of The New Classics ($45) by Donna Hay. Stuffed to the gills with extraordinarily beautiful photos, this hefty volume is one of those rare cookbooks that both excels as a coffee table book and as an actual instructional manual.
— NP
Kollar Chocolate Covered Pretzels
Our latest chocolate obsession: Kollar Chocolate Covered Pretzels ($7). Made with Valrhona dark chocolate and jeweled with gold-dusted nibs, this salty-sweet combo will lead to compulsory snacking . . . not that we're complaining. We could imagine filling bowls of these for a classed up Halloween party. Another star from Kollar: the nine-piece truffle assortment ($18), which includes a few seasonal pieces like the Magic Pumpkin truffle (caramel and ground roasted pumpkin seeds with cardamom, cinnamon, and chili).
— AMR
Everything Pumpkin Spice
Look on store shelves in the coming weeks and it'll quickly become clear that the pumpkin spice market is fully saturated, to say the least. But don't give up; we've tasted everything in this Fall flavor that we can get our hands on so that you don't have to suffer through anything that's less than superb. My suggestion: stick to only those that are rated four stars or above.
— NP
Photos: Brinton Parker, Nicole Perry, and Anna Monette Roberts
Edoughble Cookie Dough
Edoughble is just as the name sounds — ready-made, safe-to-eat cookie dough, and no, this is not a dream. Cookies N' Dream ($9) is our favorite of the collection. It basically tastes like crushed Oreos and butter, which is a very good thing.
— AMR
BakerStone Pizza Oven Box
As anyone who's ever made pizza at home knows, it's pretty much impossible to turn out restaurant-quality results using a standard oven, as it just doesn't get hot enough. Enter BakerStone Pizza Oven Box ($120), a grill attachment which concentrates the grill's heat up to a near-brick-oven temperature of 750°F. My recommendation comes with one caveat: don't purchase unless you have a high-powered three-burner grill or larger; a two-burner grill won't provide enough flame to make it work.
— NP
Marella Pumpkin Shaped Pasta
Pumpkin spice foods are an obvious choice in October, but there's a special place in my heart for pumpkin-shaped foods too, like Marella Pumpkin Shaped Pasta ($13), dyed orange with paprika. The ridged pasta is delightful and seasonally appropriate, especially when paired with a pumpkin parmesan sauce or homemade butternut squash sauce.
— AMR
Photo: Anna Monette Roberts
Kitchen Curry Master Set
If you've ever been dissuaded from cooking Indian food at home due to the lengthy list of spices involved, Kitchen Curry Master's The Master Set ($80) is for you. Tucked into a handsome tin are 12 of the most commonly used Indian spices as well as a step-by-step guide, which includes 25 recipes, making the whole process hardly more complicated and a lot more fun than calling for takeout.
— NP
New York City Wine & Food Festival
Quite possibly the largest food festival in the nation, the New York City Wine & Food Festival runs from Oct. 17 to 20 and we'll be there to cover all the action. Why should you care about NYCWFF? It's the mecca of all things food and drink as celebrity chefs like Justin Warner and America's favorite restaurants like Shake Shack create epic trends that will inspire the food scene for the year to come.
— AMR
Photos: Anna Monette Roberts
