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It all started with a brief conversation at the Fancy Food Show in New York City in July of 2007. The owner of a company was telling me about an idea for a new product.
“What’s it called?” I asked inquisitively.
“Sacha Inchi,” he said.
“Uh…I’ve never heard of it.” I replied. I asked him what it was.
“It’s the next cool thing.” he predicted.
I think he might be right. The “he” I am speaking of is Laurent Coulloumme-Labarthe. He along with his partner, Thierry Ollivier, are the proprietors of a unique product development company called Brandstorm. You may know them as the guys who brought goji berries and Himalanian pink salt to U.S. grocery retailers several years ago. They have a knack for finding interesting and unique food products from around the world, so I was immediately interested in this new food find.
Turns out that Sacha Inchi is a plant that grows in the highlands of Peru. Thierry had discovered it on a product exploration trip to South America. It produces a seed that is really like a nut if you roast it. One of the best attributes of the nut-like seeds is that they contain huge amounts of three varieties of omega fatty acids: 3, 6 and 9. Laurent said they were tasty when roasted and salted. Sounded like a healthy snack to me. I asked Laurent when he would have this product ready to show me. He said it could be a year or more as they needed to fine tune the operation. Great. Get me interested in the product, and then make me wait. I’m not known for being very patient.
Well, the wait paid off when we recently launched the Sacha Inchi nuts under the TerrAmazon brand name, available exclusively at Whole Foods Market. There are three varieties: plain, tamari and sweet, which is enrobed with a sugar coating. Those are my favorite. Though the taste does resemble a nut, it has some different textural and flavor qualities all its own. Add in those omegas and its truly a healthy snack. Just so the Sacha Inchi nuts don’t feel lonely, Laurent and Theirry also procured some other South American products to create an entire family under the TerrAmazon name. Cacao is widely grown in South America, so there are a few products that are based on that ingredient, including powder and nibs with dried fruits like pineapple, raisins and coconut. There are other unique products as well. More on those in my next blog, so…stay tuned!
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Fat dominant foods, except maybe coconut (which is a seed), should NEVER be heated or roasted. The fats become rancid. However, the pure “cold-pressed” oil is quite pleasing
October 21st, 2008 at 8:11 pm
Sounds like a good product. Didn’t know people still go on world tours for “product searching.” I’m pretty sure some truly break-through medicine remains to be hidden in some remote villages somewhere.
October 21st, 2008 at 10:42 pm
I have to agree with RawSoldier on this one. Roasting breaks down the essential fatty acids causing them to lose their healthy benefits. The cold pressed oil is fantastic and has been used for quite some time in Peru and within the last few years has become popular in North America.
It should catch on in the UK soon; the oil is a great natural product! Of course, I’m a little bias!
October 29th, 2008 at 5:54 am
Roasting seeds/heating fats is a ‘no’ that anyone interested in food or nutrition shouild know. But I’ve had some other problems with TerrAmazon’s lack of nutrition knowledge.
I picked up the terramazon yakon slices, and fell in love with them. So i went to the terramazon website. There I realized that the nutrition information they had listed on the website did not match up to the nutrition information printed on the package; a calorie difference of 75 as well as other vitamin and fat content differences. Thinking maybe it was a type-o, the next time i was in wholefoods i picked up another bag of yakon slices. Still the same misprint. I also picked up the TerrAmazon Sacha Inchi: sweet. I noticed that there was a re-printed sticker nutrition label on the back. I peeled off the sticker. The original nutrition label matches the website, but the re-print doesn’t match anything. I think the brand definetly needs a little bit more ‘fine tuning’ I will not be buying TerrAmazon products again for a while.
January 16th, 2009 at 6:13 am
Well, I’m a sucker for all things new…my curiosity got the best of me and I snagged one of the Sacha Inchi – Tamari flavored bags off the shelf. My Husband and son were not crazy about the taste..but, I’m one of those people that will give anything and everything a fair chance (think Vegas buffet…). Anyway, on first bite they tasted a bit like a dry, dusty soybean pod and then it hit me…like a blast of smooth oiliness it seemed to coat my tongue and then the feasting began. After consuming more then my 1 serving I can say that I believe the tamari covers some of the “fishy”, or as my husband thinks “chemically” taste, but, I kinda like ‘um! I may try the sweet version next time, I did not see them on the shelf when I purchased these or my sweet tooth might have gotten the best of my decision making on that one….I believe the other posters are correct about heating the oils possibly destroying all the goodness and I certainly wouldn’t consider them a superfood served this way, but as an occasional snack…toss me a bag!
February 8th, 2009 at 3:26 pm
Just stopped at Whole Foods and bought the sacha inchi nuts:roasted seeds instead of cookies. They are a crunchy tasty treat and not quite as heavy as a walnut. I read that the Omega 3 in these is a different form than fish, and I was disappointed to read about the rancid fat aspect, but I think it’s still better than the cookies I almost grabbed.
March 9th, 2009 at 7:05 pm