Good Clean Food Chefs Launch New Citrus Ginger Flavor

Maine company's all-natural sauces complement national trend toward healthier home-cooked meals

Good Clean Food has released its newest all-natural simmer sauce flavor, Citrus Ginger, announced Kurt Shisler, President and Founder of the Maine company. The Citrus Ginger sauce adds to Good Clean Food's line of original simmer sauces for seafood (Creole, Scandinavian Dill and Mediterranean), and recently released simmer sauces for chicken (Cacciatore, French Tarragon and Maine Cider).

The company is seeing quick expansion of its flavorful, low-sodium and low-fat simmer sauces, particularly after having earned recent enthusiastic reviews in outlets ranging from Real Simple magazine and Parenting.com to The Portland Press Herald and The Frugal Yankee Radio Hour. All seven flavors of Good Clean Food sauces now are available nationally through the company's Web site (www.goodcleanfood.com), as well as in Hannaford Bros. stores and Whole Foods Markets from Maine down to Virginia.

Good Clean Food's growth comes at a time when national trends are indicating a growing shift among Americans toward healthier ingredients and home-cooked meals. According to The New York Times, "with an aging population...and a growing appreciation of bolder flavors and artisanal ingredients, American consumers increasingly want products that are perceived as natural, authentic and healthy." In a recent USA Today/Gallup poll, 64 percent of respondents said they "actively avoid products with trans fats," while "51 percent actively avoid products with added sugar" (up eight percentage points since 2002). And, a March 2008 feature in PRWeek found that "the combination of widespread obesity concerns and rising 'green' consciousness is driving a surge of interest in various types of health foods."

Staying true to form since Shisler and his team produced their first jar of sauce, Good Clean Food is using only premium, all-natural ingredients in its new Citrus Ginger simmer sauce, just as with its other six authentic simmer sauce flavors for fresh seafood and poultry. The base of the Japanese-style, fat-free Citrus Ginger sauce is dashi stock, made in the traditional manner with bonito (dried fish) and kombu (seaweed). The sauce features such quality ingredients as fresh ginger, cloud ear mushrooms and lily flowers, as well as sake, orange juice and tamari.

"Citrus Ginger is our first Asian-inspired flavor," Shisler said. "Customers are really responding to the smoky taste of our dashi stock - it's a perfect match with salmon, Chilean sea bass or scallops."

Good Clean Food's hand-crafted simmer sauces for chicken and seafood - available in the refrigerated fresh seafood and poultry sections of markets - offer a new way to prepare quick and healthy dinners.

By simply adding fresh seafood or chicken to Good Clean Food sauces, then simmering for 10-20 minutes, the entire, flavor-filled meal is ready. Meals made with Good Clean Food are attracting everyone from busy working couples and weight-conscious diners, to households with sometimes "finicky" children and older customers who like to cook at home with little fuss.

In an impressive vote of confidence for Good Clean Food, the company's Cacciatore Sauce was featured on the Best Cooking Sauces list in the March 2008 issue of Real Simple magazine, where it was hailed for its flavor and ease of use: "Tasters gushed that this classic, chock-full of onions, yellow peppers, herbs, and chunky mushrooms, had 'the perfect balance of spiciness and sweetness.'"

Additionally, Parenting magazine's Parenting.com recently selected the company's Maine Cider sauce as its Daily Fave: "Turn that boring