MONTEREY, Calif. — The foodservice division for Taylor Farms displayed menu applications for its zucchini, yellow squash and carrot noodles at the recent PMA Foodservice Conference & Expo.
Outside sales director Evan Giuliani said the company has been offering those products and cauliflower pearls for about six months.
Taylor Farms offered samples of the vegetables in several dishes throughout the tradeshow.
Similar products have gained prominence as carb substitutes, but Taylor Farms wanted to highlight higher uses for them.
“Some of our national accounts started (buying them) as a way to offer vegans and vegetarians and millennials (and) make fresh produce really the main feature on the plate ... (but) it’s not a dish that is really just designed to replace pasta,” Giuliani said.
He noted there are many other applications, from cauliflower cakes seared and garnished for a presentation that resembles scallops, to vegetable noodles pickled and topped with braised short rib for a 3-to-1 plant-meat ratio, to a chopped salad that included cauliflower.
“It’s really on-trend,” Giuliani said. “It’s the right thing to do for our bodies, for the environment, for health ...”
Taylor Farms has a machine from Europe that automates the slicing of the zucchini, yellow squash and carrots into noodles.
“When you try to do these type of products in the back of the house, you have a tremendous amount of labor,” Giuliani said. “We’re able to do these for an operator, lower their labor cost and increase their food safety at the same time.”