Nick Erker: Hey, there. Welcome to Get the Scoop with Smirks Podcast, where bulk ingredient conversation happens. We’re sharing our knowledge and expertise as bulk ingredient importers, tapping into the latest trends we are seeing and commenting on what that means for natural food businesses as they approach ingredient purchasing, product development, and marketing. You’ll hear the latest market reports, ingredient specifications, and product applications from Smirk’s in-house experts, as well as origin stories from our growers and processors around the world. Listen in for the scoop on what’s happening with bulk ingredients.
Elisa Louis: Hello, and welcome back to the Get the Scoop with Smirks podcast. I’m Elisa Louis, the VP of Marketing, and the dried fruit specialist here at Smirks. I’m super excited today to have special guests. We are gonna be talking with the NXTDRIED team. NXTDRIED is a dried fruit and superfood products company based out of Peru. And I’d like to welcome Jaime Modonese, the general manager of NXTDRIED Peruvian production facility, as well as Colin Garner, the VP of Global Accounts. Jaime and Colin, welcome. How are you today?
Jaime Modonese: Hello, Elisa. Nice to see you, nice to see you and Colin. And he’s speaking with Colin, calling for a long while earlier today but really nice to be here. Really proud to be here.
Colin Garner: Yep. I agree with, Jaime there. So, Elisa, it’s very nice to see you again. So, I’m looking forward to the conversation.
Elisa Louis: Very good. I am too. Before we kinda launch into our conversation here, I’d love to give our listeners the backstory of how we got to know the NXTDRIED team. How that all started is I was at the March 2022 Expo West in Anaheim walking down the trade show floor, and I stumbled upon the NXTDRIED booth. And I gotta say, you know, the vibrant colors of the products just really drew me in. And of course, I’m a dried fruit fanatic, so I had to see what it was all about. Came into the booth and had the chance to really talk to the NXTDRIED folks and really get to understand not just about the products, but about the company. And I tasted all the products and was just really impressed by the flavor, the aroma, the texture, and of this product line that’s uniquely dried. And we’re gonna get to that in a little bit what that exactly means. But I gotta say, I mean, I walked away from Expo West 2022 thinking like, this is the best product line I’ve seen at the show, and that is a big show.
What I was really impressed by was, the fact that the products were just so on trend. I mean, these organic and conventional single ingredient dried fruits really seem to fit in with what our customers are looking for these days. We’re gonna do a deep dive into what all of this means and what I meant by beyond freeze dried here in a little bit. But gotta tell you what was really cool is that over the course of the year, we build a relationship between Smirks and NXTDRIED. And as that progressed, we decided we would launch the products in the Smirks booth at Expo West in 2023.
So that was super exciting and just like I anticipated, there was a huge positive reaction to the products. People loved the flavor and the aroma, and it seemed like the wheels were turning with everybody in terms of what they wanted to do with these products. Anyways, that’s kind of the backstory and I’d love to jump right into our conversation. First off, Jaime. I’d love for you to briefly share with us a little bit about NXTDRIED company of history and why the company originally launched in Peru.
Jaime Modonese: Thanks for that for that introduction, Elisa. I’m sure that what you’re saying is 100% aligned with what we are with our DNA. Yes, we are probably based in Peru. We are a result of 3 years of a company that is originally from Spain trying to assess what’s how can they give added value to raw materials in Peru? In Peru, we are very strong. Year by year, we are getting stronger and stronger on that fresh food market who will become shortly if it’s not already one of the 10 fresh fruits suppliers worldwide. They were here, the Spanish company right here that was a consulting company, on year 2015. They were looking among all the technologies that can help Peruvian growers to do a to the product with added value, not just supply in worldwide, the raw materials. After many trials of error, they arrive to this technology that is developed by a Canadian company called Nwave. When they found out that this was really unique and what is most is that they could keep the original nutrients, color, texture of the fruit itself. So rather than becoming a processed product to go into the snack or the ingredient industry, we were something very like that raw products, the natural products. And even though we are we’re very close to our raw and natural products, we can be also be considered as an ingredient as a snack. So, at the end of 2019, we decide to bring full scale to the project. So, we grow from a 10k is from a let’s say 10 x a producing machine to a 100 x producing machine. So, basically, at the end of 2019, we put out, we place our first purchase order for the big machine and, we start the process of looking for a factory in Peru. The pandemic came to all of us at that point, March 2020, we were there. We were starting to build a factory and, well, that give us the possibility to do all the capital investments, to rebuild the company, and really, we start our commercial efforts late 2021.
That’s why we came to know each other on 2022. Now we are when I say we we’re proudly based in Peru because one of our of our intangibles or one of the unique value proposition is the fact that we work with raw materials from Peru. That we can work with large farmers, but, we like to work with us this smallholder farmer groups because this bring a little more of social responsibility or commitment to society. A little bit more of like, something more compelling to bring to our value proposition. Also, we have these raw materials, an approach that is very unique that can give you a really good taste that is very raw, very real, if it’s compared with that product that that we bring to them, with a fresh products. Sorry. And then we can have all the super foods that also come from Peru, you know, that being processed and being delivered. Always to the global market, to the global market. And that’s how we start. That’s how we start. Now I can proudly say that we are having some really good prospects, becoming clients, of course, having Smirks on our side, that is something that we are really looking forward for the results because we think that is, like, the perfect platform for us to bring worldwide our products. And that’s what we are. That’s what we are, in at then. I will perhaps I will explain more about our unique, value proposition, how do we focus and divide our certifications, next right approach because that’s aligned with what we believe but so far, that’s what we are. And that’s why we are here.
Elisa Louis: Yeah. Well, that’s amazing. And I appreciate that recap of your history. You’ve come a long way in a short amount of time, it seems. And just the the plethora of raw materials that are available in Peru just, you know, and you being kind of centrally located in Peru makes it an amazing location to gather all those fresh raw materials. And from what you’ve told me, you’ve talked about how it’s so important that the product comes fresh and you’re able to get it to just the peak ripeness before producing. So, that’s fantastic. I mean, just you know, just to hear that kind of backstory of how you got started and and how you’re helping the different communities develop these small holders, small farmers, throughout Peru. So, appreciate that so much and we’d definitely love to hear more about, you know, the value proposition that NXTDRIED offers and more about, and obviously we wanna get into the technology as well. The REV dry technology you touched on the the machine that you purchased would be great to understand that as well. So yeah, tell us more.
Jaime Modonese: No. But it’s something that that I think I I’m passionate about, you know, in between brackets. I love to do sports and even intense sports and to eat and take a natural produce is part of what I do previous to a marathon or previous to another run that I am involved. So I’m not so only a passion about this as the business that I run, but also about what I do when I am when I am off work. Now let’s say, yes but in general, in general, we have a couple of certificate. Our intangibles are supported by a couple of certifications and those certifications are really focused, and in each part of the certifications that we have are clustered in 4 in four groups where we cover, all what we claim for. You know, the food security. That’s let’s say that’s a first group, a food security. We are certified that by the BRC AA which is a very high standard for security. One of our important claims is traceability, you know, and while being certified by the BRC is inherently, you need to be very, you need to trace down all of the products that you deliver even to the the day it was picked, to the plot it was picked, to the farmer it was picked. So that’s how we can tell the world, we are certified with BRC. That traceability is there. Then that the 2nd block, the 2nd block, it’s environmental impact, no, to watch out and build really after our environmental impact. And then there’s these events that everyone needs to have is that the organic, the culture, certified, non-GMO. Yeah. That pretty obvious. but I can tell you that that we have a low carbon footprint given that 90% of our electricity source is hydroelectric and that’s very powerful hour nowadays. And now we are starting to search and put some really good focus on regenerative agreement too. Because it’s quite easy to be organic, quite easy to be Kosher certified. I mean, everyone is there and being organic and Kosher, non-GMO, but the fact of having a low carbon footprint and also, being able to source produce from, people who are regenerating or doing regenerative agriculture is something quite unique. And that’s the that’s part of what we are after. What is unique about the value proposition. Let’s go there and let’s go there and find out what it what it is. You know? So in the environmental impact, I think that we cover everything with that. Then our social responsibility, of course, you know, I think we will be shortly in 2 months we will be SMETA certified. SMETA certified is like a worldwide world class A certification scheme that everyone knows.
Elisa Louis: Yes. For social audits. Correct. Yeah.
Jaime Modonese: Yes. Yes. But rather than us presenting us, yes, your SMETA certified blah blah blah. Yes. Yes. Yes. I’d rather say that we are really closely connected to the smallholder farmer groups all around Peru that grow banana, grow mango, grow pineapple, will come, come, will grow golden berries. So I think that our relationship with the smallholder farmer group and there, how we relate within. And then there’s another certification that goes through that. That is the upscaling. Now, everyone’s talking about upscaling. So, for instance, if a farmer a harvest of 10 tons and they usually can sell 50% to the export business, 50% will be sold on the local market that sometimes is more profitable to dump the product right and selling that in the in the local market because it’s very cheap, that market. So, when we come, we can tell we can provide small holder farmers with a possibility of instead of exporting 50%. They can sell product, known by exporting by selling us, like, 10 or 20% more of their production. So instead of is selling 50% at good prices. They sell 70% at good prices. So that’s how we impact, we are not talking about something very complicated, very sophisticated. We just impact there. Now giving them, like, scaling up their business and making it more profitable, you know, rather than giving them I’ve always heard, you know, that better to give the milk give them the cow so they can produce milk.
Elisa Louis: That’s a nice analogy, Jaime. Appreciate that.
Jaime Modonese: Yes. And that’s how we, that that’s how we are perhaps contributing to society, especially in countries as Peru. You know?
Elisa Louis: Do you mind, Jaime, if I just chime in for a moment, you’ve touched on something. When you talked about the carbon footprint and working with the small holders in Peru and kind of like the big picture — that Smirks thought about as we got to know NXTDRIED was, you know, the closest thing you can compare the NXTDRIED products to is freeze dried products. While it’s not the same, we have to kind of compare it because it’s low moisture. It’s a similar type of product, but from our perspective, at Smirks, what we hear from our customers is that a lot of the products that they buy that are freeze dried tend to be the raw material tends to be coming from the frozen and shipped all around the world into one production facility in whatever country it’s produced. And produced there and then shipped to the US. So, as you talked about the carbon footprint, that’s really the key difference here. I just wanted to point it out. And it’s something that really was brought to life, when you all described it to Smirks because we hear a lot about the opposite, you know, as I mentioned, raw material frozen and shipped all around the world to somewhere to be processed and then shipped back to the US. So, this is all coming right from Peru. And, you know, for us and everything that you’re doing in the local communities there, it is truly adding value. I didn’t mean to interrupt you or anything, but I just wanted to chime in to kind of bring it to life in a bigger picture and I didn’t wanna not stop and talk to you a little bit more about you and your marathon running, and what you’re doing with that.
First off, I’m totally blown away that you have time to do it, Jaime, with your big job of being a general manager at NXTDRIED, but I know that you are passionate about it as well as you’re consuming the NXTDRIED products all the time. So, can I ask you a little bit? Can we go a little bit deeper into, you know, your personal story on that? Cause we love to hear it. I think that the listeners would too.
Jaime Modonese: Yeah. Well, first, I will start with a carbon footprint. Yeah. Because you didn’t touch base there and then I speak a little bit more. I mean, this Sunday, I have my Ironman. So, I am like with all this momentum of the final day of this whole preparation, I’m quite excited about this.
Elisa Louis: So very exciting.
Jaime Modonese: And I did a couple. Well, but I didn’t want to compare ourselves with freeze dried because I think freeze dried is okay. I mean, I personally like some freeze-dried products, and I think it’s okay. They are in the market. That’s why I spoke. I say that our low carbon footprint was basically because our hydroelectric source, but yes, that’s correct. Many, many of companies, I will not say freeze dried, but I wouldn’t say X dried, they are importing, from Peru, from my neighbors. They’re importing frozen fruits in I don’t know, in Europe, in a country in Europe, they are doing the freeze dry there or the x dry there, and then they export to Canada to Seattle to wherever. You know? So, if yes. Yes. Yes. I mean, yes. Our growers are very close to us. Yes. The furthest it can be 900 kilometers. That is one day by truck. Yes. That’s correct. Perhaps for banana mango one day, but they come to our facility fresh, and we process the produce, and that’s what we export now. And also, our process is 3 hours, 4-hour process in total, as opposed to other technologies that are 24 or 48 hours. So, our consumption and energy is rather small. So, in various steps of the value chain, we are reducing the carbon emissions. Yes. I have this, I am another part of my background is that at some point, I studied the Netherlands. I study, I am an environmental science engineer in one very good university back in the Netherlands, and I am very close to the environmental problems. You know, as part of my academic background. So, I think it’s part of my DNA to constantly think in how to be more sustainable. Beside living in the Netherlands, make you by default an environmental responsible person. So that’s another thing. Yeah. So yes, in the aim, our reduced carbon footprint is resulted from various steps of our value chain. Not only because we have natural problems very close to our ours, but also because it’s a short time, short period where we are producing and also because we have from hydroelectric. So, three sources of, that can support our claim. Then go into what I do. Yes. I am a sportsman. I’m a very sportsman. Yes. I’ve surfed all my life, I dive but that for the last 10 years. I’m very deep into marathons, Ironmans, and now I have this Ironman on Sunday. I’ve run Chicago marathon. This year, I’m running a New York marathon, besides from marathon here in Peru, and what I usually do eat 1 a half hour before my run is oatmeal with goldenberries, ref dried goldenberries, blueberries, bananas, and mango. I mix everything and I soak very, very well, and, and I even do posts. I don’t know. I don’t know if you follow me on LinkedIn or LinkedIn or any social media, but I always keep posting what I did. I and my friends I mean, what are you doing? Are you running a business, or you are explaining what you do now?
Is it that I want to share a little bit of my lifestyle? Yeah, and my lifestyle is this. I mean, with my wife, my kids, we are constantly thinking in trying to eat the healthiest, well, actually my wife and me because my kids always go for the chocolate. I work that are very good, but we always go for other stuff that we try to infuse in our family, in our lifestyle, a really healthy lifestyle, you know, and for sure, I will do a post this Sunday before or perhaps on Saturday or Sunday before the Ironman of what I’m going to breakfast. I’m for sure there will be some next bites there for sure. One more thing. Now that you say this, and this is new, not even calling those, but I I’m working with a guy here who do bars, bars, power bars, and he’s doing me special power bars for the Ironman. And it’s based upon our tropical that are pineapple, mango, and bananas. So, our little fragments will be infused on power bars that I will eat And then, with some girls, we are working on the on the smoothie that I really hope that they can be released before Sunday. So that will be my menu.
Elisa Louis: Well, that’s amazing. You’re I mean, you’re living it in so many ways. You’re helping produce this amazing product, but, hey, you’re a big-time consumer. So very cool and good luck to you and your iron man. That’s amazing.
Jaime Modonese: That’s the thing. That after many years of being in the Agri export or the food industry, I am for the last 4 years than with NXTDRIED and finally in a place where my lifestyle, my lifestyle with what I do when I am not working is very similar to what I do when I am working. So that’s kind when I am in places like this or when I am in meetings, I somehow, I’m very raw, when I speak, I feel very comfortable. I feel that you are speaking here with me drinking a glass of water. I found very natural everything here. You know, so and I think that that can be part of our value proposition as well. You know that we are very raw in what we’re what we’re saying. You know?
Elisa Louis: Jaime, thank you so much. That’s awesome. You had a lot to say there, but it was all worth it. And it was so interesting. And Colin, I don’t wanna leave you out here. I wanna get you involved Colin, I’d love to hear more about kind of some of the customer experiences that you have had so far in, you know, helping customers get this product line into their, different applications. Can you give us any examples of some kind of success stories?
Colin Garner: And that’s for sure I can. I’m just began to pick up on, something that Jaime was saying at the end of, his, session there. And he mentioned the raw to the real. I mean, I were talking this morning, and I’ve never heard that expression before. Raw to the real, and I really liked it because I think it says quite a lot about what we’re trying to do. Now before I get into some of the customer stuff, at least now. I mean, basically, one of the things that we didn’t really say very clearly is the REV dried right, the radiant, the energy, the vacuum. It’s all about, protecting the fruit. And so that’s the raw. And then keeping it real is all part of that process. So, when you actually start to look at the different technologies, there are several out there. All manner of things can dry, the sun can dry, and people lay things out in the outside. There are the spray dryers. They’re the tray vacuum tray dry. There are freeze dryers and different types of freezes drying in some respects. Some can be continuous. Some can be very batch orientated in the tray. And we talked about let’s say miles because that’s how in Europe they refer to this. If product is moving a long way, then it really disrupts the provenance story. Now the provenance story on a on a product, even an industrial product versus a retail product, is very, very important. And kindly use the cow and the milk scenario. Well, if you look at provenance stores in the UK, you’ll find that it is a farm and the cow is eating the grass and they’ll pinpoint farm and then right next door to that is the daring right next door to that is the cheese manufacturer and it can be very, very precious in the way they do it because it’s fresh to process. And the word process is not an ugly word. Process just means when we cook at home, we are processing something where when we put a piece of meat in an oven, we’re putting it through the reaction. You know, so there’s all manner of scientific things related to food technology that can be taken out of context, and it all sounds terrible. It’s not terrible. When we put something raw into our oven, we better cook it properly otherwise, it’ll make us ill. When we grow something in Peru, and it is organic, it’s local, it’s truly Peruvian, most likely could well be tropical, that’s when you start to have a provenance store that’s real. So, when you listen to somebody like Jaime Modenese, and his background is very, orientated from an agricultural perspective. Have a great deal of respect for Jaime because his agronomy knowledge is second to none and that is what drives NXTDRIED. And what I mean by that is if we are going to get bananas, whether they be conventional or organic, we’re not gonna go further than a day away. If we’re gonna go to pineapple or the golden berries or other wonderful tropical fruits, we can find them, and we can source them, and we can bring them into our facility. One thing before I get into the customer, I am going to answer your question. I haven’t forgotten it because it’s all related. So, when you look at what customers do with these things. It’s a matter of, identity. Right? So that is another statement from the raw to the real because it has to look real. It has to taste real. It has to have the same color. So, when you’re talking about organoleptic qualities, you better protect root at the utmost degree. Now, when you talk about REV technology versus freeze dry technology, you’re quite right, you know, it can be 1 5th or 1 6th of the time. And yes, of course, you’ve already taken the fruit and frozen it solid because when you’re talking about how to freeze dry something, you have to take it from the solid to the gas to the liquid to the dry. And then that is the process. Now in some examples, that process could take anywhere between 16 and maybe even 22 hours. I’d be said very clearly, we can process fruit and vegetables in maybe a few hours. Maybe 3. Maybe it’s 4. But, yes, we have a process that will do and protect the fruit. Right? We don’t wanna bruise our bananas. We don’t wanna drop our oranges, and we don’t wanna kick our apples around the floor like some sort of soccer ball. Simple. So, we protect it. So, once it’s protected, then we put it into the REV technology, and then we treat it very gently. Why do we do this? Because when you compare the technologies, yes, it’s a very low boiling point because of the vacuum technology. Yes, it can move through the facility or the equipment very, very carefully. We have a vacuum, so there’s no oxidation taking place. We’re not really cooking anything, and that means that whatever fruit goes through the facility, when it gets to the finished state and it’s dry, all we have done is remove the water. So, some fruits can be 85%, 90, 95% water, and even more and what the process is all about is taking that organic, conventional, locally grown, nurtured by Jaime’s team into a facility, into a machine that is gentle, and at the end of it, what happens? All of the nutrients are condensed. Almost to the point of 90-10. So, if you eat something like this, it’s got 90% water and 10% nutrient. If you take the 90% water away, you now have a 100% of the nutrient. So, therefore, when we say very clearly from a sales perspective and from a technical perspective, from an organic perspective that we have something that looks like it should look smells, which is different to freeze drying. The aroma for freeze drying is removed in the process. REV drying technology maintains some of the aroma. Also, it will taste the way it is expected. The color will behave as you expect it to behave. So, if it’s a blueberry, guess what? You put it into milk, the milk will turn blue. If it’s a golden berry, the milk will turn gold. So those color areas then protect things like carotenoids and other nutrients that are very, very vital to the human diet. And so, when you start to look at all manner of colors from a green or a red or a blue, green from vegetables, red from tomatoes, and so on blue from blueberries, red from strawberries, these colors are absolutely vital in terms of maintaining the nutrients as they go through the food chain. We can process, berries. We can cut berries. We can cut pineapples. We can cut bananas. So, we’re actually nurturing it no different to your kitchen at home. We’re creating the shape that we want, whether it be the berry to an inclusion for bar work or powder or inclusion into a bed. So let me give you an example. I haven’t forgotten your question.
Elisa Louis: Oh, you actually you’ve been amazing. Colin, you’ve been truly amazing because I think you already answered my question about why the products are beyond freeze dried. You nailed it right there. But go ahead. Now you could answer my other question.
Colin Garner: Well, well, you know, when Jaime was talking about, you know, biodiversity and fair trade and total traceability and things like organic and low carbon. All of these are so important to the food industry in today’s society. The European markets are so much further than the North American and the Latin American market in terms of the providence story. So, when you talk about putting nutrients, which is the back of back, saying things like vitamin C or vitamin B or B1 versus B12. That’s a great story. However, the story on the front of the pack is what people want to read, and it’s what people want to choose when they shop. Now, so here’s an example of, a success story kind of catching all of these things together. So, I was dealing with, in China, I was dealing with 1 of the largest candy manufacturers in the world. I won’t mention the name, but it was, actually a chewing gum. So, they wanted to do the natural during the course. It had the the natural sweet of the stevia type sweeteners and the gums were going to be wonderful and healthy and never going to give you distressed because you’re chewing and they’re gonna clean your teeth and they’re gonna flush your teeth. And of course, they’re gonna do everything known to man. So, to do this, they wanted to use a natural product. So, this product went, and it was actually, raspberries and blueberries, and a few other different things that we chose for the development. Don’t forget when you’re developing something from an R and D perspective, you’re talking to technologists. They have the brief from the marketing people, but maybe we’re not listening to that brief yet. The technologist took the product and of course, they disperse these dry particulates throughout gum. Well, it’s not easy to disperse anything in the gum. Right? If it’s in solution and water, it it’ll dissolve and solubilize. Gum won’t allow anything to do that. So, these dry particulates in gum were being moved around by machinery and then laid into a typical gum stick that we would recognize as chewing gum. So, the technologist came back and said, wow. We can smell the fruit. We can taste the fruit. The fruit even leech is a little tiny bit of color, so it looks like there’s more fruit, hallelujah. That’s a great marketing point. However, it doesn’t disperse even. And I went, that’s your problem, not mine. Right? But they that was just me being facetious. So, I said, okay. So, we will try and do things and make the particulates and make the molecular structures, so it all sits in the bag and all these wonderful discussions took place. When you looked at the gum, there was some flavor over here, some, not flavor. Some fruit over here, some fruit over here in different particulars and different sizes. And the technologist when it’s just too irregular. So anyway, I decided to ignore the technologist, and I decided to hound the poor marketing people death. So, I flew back to China. I found the marketing people, and I got the marketing people in the room. And now I put my sales hat back on, and I said very clearly, let me just be sure, you want natural. Right? Okay. So naturally, fruit grows at different sizes. Right? When we go to the supermarket, we can have an apple, or we can have an apple. You can do that with orange. It could be a different color orange. So, you want it to be natural. Yeah. I said, well, look at the photographs of the gum. It looks like blueberry. It looks like pineapple. It looks like strawberry, etcetera. And marketing people went, “You’re absolutely right”. So, they went with the regularity. They went with a product that was not dispersed the way the technologist expected it to be. Because when the consumer paneled it, the consumers recognize the fruit. They recognize the color, the aroma, and, of course, the taste. And the taste had some longevity to it because it was enrobed in a gum matrix. And not only did they realize that they had 90% real fruit, well, actually almost a 98% real fruit in the gum because there’s no water in there. Then they realized that they had the nutrients to go with. And so when you’re talking about nutrients and good for you, that’s something that REV dry technology is something that we’re proud to, you know, profess, and that’s the way it is. And at the end of the day, sometimes we can monitor the way the fruit behaves. So, if we want it, it’s and we can I’m comparing it to freeze dried. With freeze dry, it’s frozen, and it has to go through sublimation. So, it has to turn into the gas, the solid to the gas into the liquid and the liquid disperse. With REV dry technology, we have much more control. So we’ve been working with pineapple and some pineapple shapes, and we’ve been dipping these into chocolate. Then making wonderful, ready to eat, consumer ready snacks. We’re able to make it very crunchy, where the chocolate just breaks away and disperses, or we can make the fruit with a different moisture content. Be a little bit more chewy. So, it has a chewy character to it in time in in similar to like a some sort of gummy approach. But at the end of the day, it’s a different organoleptic mouth feel. Mouth feel when you’re talking about products such as REV dry products from NXTDRIED is something that we can control from a cutting perspective, a drying perspective, and we can then take that and make that a consumer ready, certainly a technology ready product that we can sell in bulk, in full containers, or we can sell in small packs to packers that want to put it into pharmacies where they just create ready to eat. So that’s my example for you.
Elisa Louis: Thank you. That means, that was an amazing example, Colin. I never would have thought that The REV dried products, the NXTDRIED line would be used in a gum. I mean, that’s a super cool story. So, thank you for sharing that.
Colin Garner: It’s when we target our markets, you know, we have many different markets to target. But one of the areas that well, you know, I’ll just stick with many different targets. I mean, there are so many from snacks to cereals, to ready-to-eat snacks. Inclusions in the bar market and so on. Baby food, chews. It just it’s an endless task that we have to be able to approach the market and supply exactly what they want. And of course, when you compare NXTDRIED to maybe other companies with similar technology. Then at the end of the day, it’s all about that providence story again where we can make sure that the fruit is fresh coming into the facility so that we have that wonderful story.
Elisa Louis: Awesome. Thank you so much. Thank you both, Colin and Jaime, really, for this conversation. And I just have to say I’m just super excited about the partnership between Smirks and NXTDRIED. And I just see this growing and we’re looking forward to having products available here in the coming months to be able to share with our customers. But it was just a pleasure to hear these stories about how NXTDRIED is supporting small farmers unique things we can do with the products and how NXTDRIED is really cutting down the carbon footprint. Appreciate it so much.
And to wrap up here, I just wanna tell our listeners. If you have any questions, if you wanna learn more about products. If you wanna get a sample, first off, go to smirks.com website. You can email us at whatsnew@smirks.com, that’s whatsnew@smirks.com, or you could click on the request a sample button on our smirks.com website. So don’t forget to reach out if you have any questions and appreciate your time so much Colin and Jaime.
NXTDRIED Products
Elisa Louis: Okay. In this next segment of the Smirks podcast, I’m excited to dive in a little deeper with NXTDRIED. I’ve got Colin and Jaime here, and I’m gonna let Colin kinda take the lead and tell us a little bit more in-depth. We have different specifications for the NXTDRIED products. We have the snack pieces. We have the inclusions and fractions and the powders. So, with those, Colin, can you drill down and tell us what are the different uses and applications? And let’s start with the snack pieces.
Colin Garner: Okay. Thanks very much, Elisa. You’re correct. Is we class snacks as very much the berries. So, if you’re thinking as a blueberry, for example, it could be a large blueberry. It could be a small blueberry it could be something in between. And at the end of the day, we would take the fresh blueberry. We would put it through our technology through the REV dry technology, and we would try it. It would maintain its shape. It would maintain its appearance, etcetera. So, there’s a range, and I’ll read the range to you. It’s, when we think of the tropical type things, and not all tropical, but pineapple, banana, mango, goldenberry, blueberries, and strawberries, and Mandarin would be the other areas that we would look at in terms of the snacks. And we are also now also focusing quiet, effectively on various vegetables. When you look at the markets, we are going right broad screen. So, basically, anywhere fruit is used in both the adult markets, the toddler markets, the baby markets. Obviously, we have to be conscious of choking hazards. So, therefore, in the baby market it would be something like buying powders that would be included into those types of formulas. In the bar market, it’s only the small flakes that would be needed because the bars are really quite small. But you still need to have the identity of the fruit self so that they can see the color and actually recognize the fruit. When it comes to breakfast cereals where the actual whole berry has to be evident in the serial pack. It then gets quite complicated because when you’re talking to the major cereal people, when they put their cereals into a bag, one moisture content is absolutely paramount so we cannot add moisture to those cereal flakes. Also, sometimes the actual molecular weight of the fruit itself has to be let’s say, monitored, and that way then, the product will sit evenly through the cereal box and all the barriers, etcetera, will not necessarily just form to the bottom. So, basically, if you think of a box of cereals, when you pour it into your bowl, enjoy it with maybe honey or sugar or milk, you have to see the product. So molecular weight, molecular structures and the way it performs inside the retail bag and the box and the way it behaves to get to the consumer which means it must not be crushed. It has to have the structural molecular benefits that then the industrial manufacturer, like the ones I just mentioned, will be able to use it and therefore, deliver it to the consumer in the way the consumer expects it to appear either in a beverage, in an iced tea, in a breakfast cereal, or maybe a bar, or maybe tablet. Hopefully, that covers it for you.
Elisa Louis: Thank you so much. I really appreciate that recap, of all the different potential uses of the product and applications. And, again, thanks to you both for joining us today.
Colin Garner: My pleasure.
Jaime Modonese: Thank you very much, Elisa.
Smirk’s April 2023 Tree Nut Market Report
Nick Erker: So, without further ado, let’s dive into our Get the Scoop with Smirks Market Update.
Donny Edson: Here’s our Get the Scoop with Smirks April Tree Nut Market Report. Today, we’re gonna talk about almonds, cashews, macadamia nuts, walnuts, and pecans. So, let’s start with almonds. I would say right now with the almond market, we’re pretty much in the limbo. Going into the almond market, when the bloom started, everybody thought this would be another big crop that we’d have a big carryover. However, no one really first saw all these crazy weathers that happened in California. The unanswered question that we won’t know for probably another 5 or 6 weeks is what the real effect of the weather was on the bloom with the Almonds? No one really knows. On one hand, if everything’s normal, there’s still a big carryover with a big crop coming. On the other hand, if the trees were affected even a little bit, then that carryover could get sucked up really quick and the market could shoot up immediately. There’s no clear direction really from anybody in the almond industry what’s gonna happen right now. So that’s something that we’re really watching. There is still a carryover. There is still plenty of almonds available but we’ve already seen prices tick up from the lows that they hit. And, really, the market could use a little bit of firming anyways. For the sake of the growers there’s been such low prices that it’s not a sustainable market right now. We’ll just have to wait and see. Really, the first indicator is gonna be the end of May when we see this objective report come out and we get a good idea of what the what the nut sets look like on the trees. So that’s where things are with almonds. I would really advise you to just buy what you need right now watch and see, there’s really no way to predict what’s gonna happen next with the almond market.
Next, we’ll talk about cashews. There was not really any harvest issues or new crop issues that come to light from any of the main producing regions of the cashews. Usually, when stuff’s going on in Vietnam around harvest time, we really watch for rain that can have an effect on the quality. But was pretty dry season. So, really, the cashew market’s very, very stable right now. Some of the things that, have led to the stability in the cashew market as for the last 10 years, every year, there’s been about a 7% growth in the trees that are being planted around the world. If you if you do the math, I mean, there’s double what there was a few years ago. So, there’s plenty of cashews available. I would say also, another thing is the very low freight rates that are we’re seeing out of Vietnam to the US. Twenty-foot containers coming into the West Coast from, Ho Chi Minh right now are below $1000. During COVID they could have been as high as $15,000. Really, with the cashews, it’s very stable. I’d say one other thing that’s probably important to note is people aren’t gonna bring in cashews and sit on them for a long time. The cost of money is too expensive and the cost of warehousing’s too much right now. So, people are probably gonna be carrying a little bit less stock, so it might not be quite as easy to get spot purchases if you’re not planning out ahead of time on the cashew market right now.
Macadamia nuts. There have never been more macadamia nuts than there are today. The main thing that’s going on inside the macadamia in the market is that China started growing trees about 7 years ago. Their trees are coming into production. China was the biggest buyer of macadamias in the world. They sucked up the stuff from everywhere. Now they’re a producer of macadamias, and it’s quite possible in the next few years they could produce more than all the other origins combined. There’s so much macadamia being produced. So, really, it’s an amazing time for innovation with macadamia nuts or if you ever working on projects with macadamia nuts before, it’s a good time to re revisit those and maybe reintroduce them to the retailers or reintroduce them for your brands. Really, we see this as a great time to work with macadamias. One of the benefits of macadamias is, you know, the perceived value by the customer’s very high on macadamias. With these low prices that we’re seeing, very, very low prices. In a lot of cases, half of what they were a year ago. With these low prices, it’s a good time to try to add the macadamia into your product or do a standalone macadamia product because when consumers are shopping and they see a good price macadamia nut product, they’re very likely to pick it up because of the perceived value that they get when they buy that product. So other things that are happening in the macadamia nut market is Kenya forever has had an export ban on in show macadamia nuts. It always protected all the processors in Kenya. Meaning that all the macadamias that left Kenya had to be shelled. And really what has happened before is China, when they were an importer of macadamia, they were buying all the in-shell product and bringing it in for how they like to sell their macadamia nuts there. So by lifting that ban, it could have some issues for the Kenyan Processors means they’re not protected as much anymore. So, they might have a harder time finding macadamia nuts. So that’s something we’re keeping our eyes on right now. This just happened in the last few days. So, it’s too early to know what the effect is really gonna be with the macadamia nuts from Kenya, but that is an important thing to note because they are one of the major producing regions for macadamias.
Walnuts. Probably the only issue that’s going on with walnuts right now is that Right before harvest, there was a big heatwave that went through California, and it’s sunburned the walnuts while they’re on the trees. And when it sunburns the walnuts, when they’re in shell with leads to his darker colors inside the shells. So it’s starting to get a little tighter on the lighter colored products, particularly in organic. But that also means if you can use an amber colored product that you’re seeing really good values because they have to market that product and there’s quite a bit of it. There are so many walnuts available right now. It’s some of the lowest prices we’ve ever seen with walnuts at the moment in California. Reasons, China, again. China used to be one of the biggest buyers of walnuts, and they started producing walnuts, and they’re actually an exporter of walnuts now. So, they’ve gone from a consumer to a competitor. So that leads to there being plenty of walnuts. The weather that happened that could or could not affect the or may or may not affect the almond crop really isn’t gonna play into the walnuts. The time that it hit shouldn’t hurt the trees at all. So, they’re again anticipating there should be plenty of walnuts available with a big carryover. It’s, again, a great time to do innovation with walnuts. There’s so many different ways to use it. Some of the some of the innovations we’ve seen using it as a as a meat substitute as a crumble. It acts very well like that. It carries spice very well. If you can imagine making a chorizo sausage out of out of a walnut, for example, that’s a really good application to use with walnuts.
Pecans. Pecans came out softer and most people thought the market had a little bit more of a downside. However, China kinda woke up after COVID and after the Chinese New Year, and they’re a big buyer of pecans, and that’s led to the prices firming up right now. Another important thing to know with pecans is that couple years ago, the pieces were generally a couple dollars a pound less than the halves. So many people started to use the pieces in their applications that it drove the demand up for the pieces, which are a byproduct of making the halves. And that’s led to more demand for pieces and less demand for halves. And we’ve seen that price gap closed considerably. It gets harder and harder to find medium pieces. Large pieces are a little bit easier to find, but halves are always readily available. But that’s might explain why you might wonder why halves are where they are and why pieces are where they’re at. That price gap just keeps tightening as people are using the pieces much more than they used to.
In summary, for the tree nut market right now, probably with the exception of trying to figure out what’s going on inside the almond market and the fact that pecans have firmed up a little bit. We really view it as a great time to reopen up the R and D, reopen up the old projects, relook at things that use these tree nuts because the prices are very, very favorable. The supplies are very favorable. And, really, they’re great ingredients. They have great stories. They’re healthy. They’re readily available. A lot of a lot of stuff in the US that you can pick up and buy. Everything’s available in organic and conventional. And, again, when you think about macadamia nuts and how expensive they traditionally are and what how the consumer perceives a macadamia nut, there’s really no better time than now to try to reintroduce macadamia nuts or really push your projects with macadamia nuts if you’ve been working on them in the past.
Nick Erker: So, we appreciate you joining us on this episode of Get the Scoop with Smirks. Look forward to seeing you next time.
Nick Erker: So that’s it for this episode of Get the Scoop with Smirks podcast, where we bring you the latest market reports, insights into bulk ingredients, and their origins, as well as in-depth product information. So, if you have any questions, or feedback, or just want a sample to taste for yourself, visit the smirks.com website or email us at whatsnew@smirks.com. Never miss a future episode. Be sure to hit the subscribe button wherever you listen to your podcast. Thanks so much for tuning in.