Taura Natural Ingredients has signed up leading French pastry chef Michel Willaume as ambassador for its new Gourmet Series range of concentrated fruit pieces for artisan confectioners and bakers.
Willaume, who is a Master of French Pastry, will work with Taura to create recipes containing Gourmet Series fruit pieces, which will be available to view in exclusive videos online at a new dedicated website, www.tauragourmet.com. Willaume will also use Gourmet Series in his own products on sale through his recently opened EMOTION patisserie in Turin, Italy.
Hailing from Nantes in France, Willaume has had a glittering career as a pastry chef, winning numerous awards. He was named Pastry Chef of the Year in New York in 1999 and triumphed at the prestigious Pastry World Cup in Lyon, France, in 2001. He has held several distinguished positions all over the world, having worked at the Hotel Matignon in Paris, the Hotel Arts Barcelona and the Ritz Carlton San Francisco.
Taura’s new range comprises six varieties of fruit pieces made using the company’s Ultra Rapid Concentration (URC) technology. All are designed to be easily used ‘off-the-peg’ by smaller-scale craft bakeries, chocolate producers and innovative chefs.
Gourmet Series URC fruit pieces are said to be suitable for use in a wide range of artisanal products, including chocolates, cakes, biscuits, cookies, muffins, breads and brioches, as well as dishes and desserts served in restaurants. With their high fruit content, these ingredients are claimed to offer a convenient and functional alternative to fresh, candied and dried fruit ingredients.
Included in the Gourmet Series range are strawberry, blueberry, raspberry, orchard fruit, orange and honey. All six varieties offer the benefits that are now synonymous with Taura’s industrial-scale ingredients but in a format and pack-size that has been specially created for artisan producers.
