Bringing Something Savory to Step One Foods - The Right Way

It’s FINALLY here! 

Over the years we have received many MANY requests for additional products.  Common themes have been incredibly consistent: something savory, and something nut free. A cracker, a chip, a puff. Something FUN.

You would think it would be easy to come up with products like these! And when we started down this road, we thought so too. Turns out, staying true to our ingredient purity ethos while delivering great taste and clinically meaningful levels of whole food fiber, omega-3 fatty acids, antioxidants and plant sterols in a product that is savory, nut free, and fun - AND can be manufactured at scale is… REALLY HARD!

We have been SO close so many times, with the product working in small batches, but failing the scaling test.  Or scaling OK but tasting terrible.  

Today, I’m proud to announce that we finally SUCCEEDED!  On all fronts.

I present to you the next addition to our Step One Foods product family: The Barbecue Puff.  

Made with chickpeas, yellow peas, brown rice, and flax, the puff provides you with the 5 grams of whole food fiber you expect from each of our products. Flax seeds and flax oil supply the omega-3s, which means we were able to make this product nut-free. Plant sterols and those amazing Saskatoon berries are in there, ensuring at least 1 gram of plant sterols per serving and (between all the ingredients) loads of antioxidants.  

The barbecue spice blend is unique to Step One Foods. We pushed our spice supplier to the limit in terms of keeping out items that might be counterproductive to health. No high fructose corn syrup. No weird preservatives. Sodium levels a cardiologist could stand behind. Real honey and real sugar – but in the tiniest possible amounts to get to a barbecue flavor that still tasted great. No artificial sweeteners - because we would NEVER try to fool you by playing with the “added sugars” section of the NFP.

And because we believe in radical transparency, we want you to know why organic rice maltodextrin is present on our ingredient panel. This gluten-free, non-GMO, allergen-free ingredient is not "functional" - meaning it is present in such miniscule amounts that it does not contribute any specific nutritional properties and, therefore, is not expected to have any metabolic effects. It is there only as a “carrying agent”, acting as the delivery vehicle for the vinegar. Turns out, if you dehydrate vinegar it dehydrates into nothing. Attached to maltodextrin, it becomes a physical powder that can be incorporated into a spice mix. 

I’m truly proud of this product and what we have achieved. In fact, I’m pretty sure I can claim that our Puff qualifies as the healthiest snack food on the planet!  

Cheetos – watch out!

So when can you finally taste it?

Demand for a new product offering - in a completely different category - is not easy to predict.  And we are not only true to our products and our mission, we are also true to our loyal supporters. So, to ensure that all of our subscribers have an opportunity to try these, we are offering the Puffs to subscribers first.  If you're already a subscriber, add the Barbecue Puff to your next delivery - it's a great new addition to your rotation and brings a savory option we've never been able to offer until now.

If you're not yet a subscriber, now's a wonderful time to join us. Start your subscription here and make the Barbecue Puff part of your very first subscription box.  

The Barbecue Puff will start shipping on Tuesday, April 21st.  And I bet you can't eat just one!