Expo Manger Santé et Vivre Vert

The Expo Manger Santé et Vivre Vert is this weekend.

On March 15, 16 and 17, at Palais des Congrès de Montréal, and March 23 and 24 at Centre des Congrès of Quebec City, hundreds of exhibitors are presenting green products ans services.  Stuff that's good for us and our planet.

I had the chance to test a few products before the expo and wow! I can't wait to discover and try the rest!

The first product I tried is a coconut vinegar, made by Organika, plain and with raw honey.  The taste reminds me of apple or rice vinegar, smooth with a hint of sweetness, but with a subtle coconut finally that sets it appart.  It tastes wonderful on a cucumber and tomato salad.  I used the honey one to deglazed a sauce that was used to cook chicken.  I still need to tweak it a little, but it's promising!  My next experiment will be a salad dressing on a spinach, almonds, bean sprouts and raisins salad.

The second product I tried is a Spice Tasting Kit by d'Origina Être Boréal.  The Girardville Forestry Cooperative produces about twenty different spices, all harvested in Quebec's boreal forest. The kit contains samples of: Lovage Root, Labrador Tea Spice, Powdered Wintergreen, Peppery Green Alder, Pine Forest Spikenard, Subtlety of Wild Currant Wonder and Honey Flowers.  It's a great way to test all those new flavours without breaking the bank.

It's always a bit intimidating to cook with new spices, especially when they are so different than what we're used to, so the kit also offers four recipes to use all of the spices provided.  I tried the Honey Flowers brownies and it was a success. The floral and honey taste of the spice shines clearly through the strong chocolate flavour. 

I also tried some of the recipes found on the d'Origina web site. I made the Labrador Tea Marinade for fish, on trout, and the pavé de saumon grillé à la délicatesse de gadelle sauvage (in the oven, since my BBQ was still under a foot of snow).  I'm not done experimenting and, Saturday, I'll go buy more of their spices available at the Expo.

If you need more convincing to go to the expo this weekend, note that Zorah biocosmétiques will be there to launch the first ever line of eco-friendly makeup made in Quebec!

You'll find the list of exhibitors here.

Palais des Congrès de Montréal

March 15-16-17, 2013

Friday 11am to 8pm
Saturday 10am to 6pm
Sunday 10am to 5pm

Main entrance:
1001, place Jean-Paul-Riopelle

Montréal

Centre des Congrès de Québec
March 23-24, 2013

Saturday 10am to 6pm
Sunday 10am to 5pm

Main entrance:
1000, boul. René-Lévesque Est

Québec