Ahh, the fortune cookie! This crisp and slightly sugary cookie has been delighting Chinese restaurant goers for nearly a century. Several theories abound as where the fortune cookie originated — some say the Japanese, others California — but without a doubt, they were popularized in the US in the early 1900s, and from that time on, these amusing and clever treats took off. Today, they are ubiquitous in Chinese restaurants throughout the country.

If you ever find yourself wandering the streets of San Francisco, you can pop into the Golden Gate Fortune Cookie Company, where since 1962 they have been making custom fortune cookies by hand. While there, you can even try your hand at forming the cookies.

But, if you can’t make it to San Francisco, why not make your own fortune cookies right in your own kitchen with Helen Chen’s Fortune Cookie Maker. With our fun set, you can bake and create homemade fortune cookies with personalized fortunes, fun sentiments or quotes. The set includes everything you need to bake and form the cookies.

What’s included:

• Nonstick silicone baking mat for quick food release and even heat transfer. The mat features permanent guidelines to remove any guesswork when forming full size and mini cookies.
• Fortune cookie form 
• Cookie holder with 4 cooling cups 
• Complete instructions and a recipe
• Helen Chen’s Fortune Cookie Maker Kit is compact and easy to store. 
• Silicone baking mat is dishwasher safe for easy cleanup. Hand wash cookie holder in warm, soapy water.

To make the cookies:

• Spread the batter on the mat and bake. 
• Working quickly, add the fortune and fold the cookie in half.
• Drape the cookie’s folded edge over the forming bar and bend it into shape.
• Place the formed cookie, pointed ends down, into the cooling cup.

* Because the baked cookies set quickly as they cool, working in small batches is ideal.

The process is fun for the entire family, and is perfect for using as party favors, place cards at birthdays, graduations, engagements, weddings, or for everyday mealtime fun. Find out more about our Helen Chen’s Fortune Cookie Maker Set, here.

Berry season is peaking and there are so many ways to enjoy these nutritious and delicious fruits. Transform the naturally sweet and healthy berries into delicious snacks, desserts and even dinners, with HIC. Here are a few tools to make the most of berries this season.

HIC’s Collapsible Silicone Colander  has a 1.5-quart capacity and is ideal for draining, rinsing and washing produce. The footed base allows it to sit securely in the sink while rinsing.  The collapsible design makes for easy, space-saving storage.

HIC Kitchen’s Berry Fresh Produce Box is ideal for washing, draining, and storing berries to stay fresh longer in the fridge. It is available in two sizes, 1 liter in red, and half pint in blue. The boxes feature a perforated lid and vented box bottom, which drains washed produce and circulates fresh air. The textured insert elevates produce above liquids for longer freshness

Quickly and easily cut uniform slices of fruits using The World’s Greatest Handy Dandy Slicer.  The spring-loaded action allows for easy, repetitive slicing, and can be used for a variety of soft foods, including veggies and hard-boiled eggs.

HIC’s Strawberry Slicer is a cute and compact tool used to quickly cut uniform slices that look and taste great. Made with stainless steel and ABS plastic.

Mrs. Anderson’s Easy-As-Pie Pie Plate is a beautiful ceramic pie plate with wide, scalloped rim for secure handling in and out of the oven. The scratch-free glaze is durable and resists staining, odors and cracking, and the pie plate is sized perfectly to work with Mrs. Anderson’s 10-inch Pie Crust Shield.

For more great products to store, prepare and serve the bounty of the season, visit wwwHaroldImport.com.

There’s nothing like the summer and lobster combination, especially in New England!

Whether it’s grilled lobster, lobster pasta, lobster rolls, or a delicious salad, tie on a bib and get cracking with HIC. We’ve a collection of the tools you need to properly enjoy lobster on National Lobster Day, June 15^th, and throughout this summer. Here are a few essentials to get you through the season.

Please Pass the Butter!

The Maine Man Butter Warmer is perfect for dipping your lobster. Made of ceramic, the durable warmer is an essential for anyone who loves lobster!

Get Every Bit of Meat

Maine Man Seafood Shears are a great tool to access the meat in the tail as well as to extract the meat from the knuckle or legs. 

Easily reach every bit of meat with the Seafood Picks (#71000). The rounded scoop separates the meat from the shell, and the prongs easily remove it. Then, once it’s out, use for dipping the fresh cooked meat in butter.

Lobster Cracker

With its sawtooth edge, the Lobster Cracker (#71006) easily cracks open seafood shells of various sizes. The spring-action hinge makes for quick cracking, and the silicone soft-touch grip is slip free. 

From the Pot

Tongs are a helpful tool to help remove lobster from the pot. To do so, carefully clasp the lobster at the center of the body and lift out of pot. Hold over the pot to drain excess water. Use a kitchen towel, and using other hand, place under the lobster’s body and transport.

Our Cutlery Pro Tongs, 16”, feature a silicone handle for securely gripping, lifting, turning, and draining cooking liquids from foods. Made from stainless steel, the tong’s scalloped grips ensures safe transfer.

Stay Clean

Maine Man Seafood’s Lobster Bibs keep clothes clean while eating messy foods like lobster.

Check out our Maine Man Seafood essentials for enjoying all kinds of seafood this summer from lobster to crab and beyond.

HaroldImport.com

Kids and the kitchen go hand in hand. Not only does it create interest in food and cooking, but it cultivates a habit that will last a lifetime. The benefits of bringing your children into the kitchen are far reaching, including boosting their confidence and self-esteem, improving their comprehension and reading skills, all the while building math skills. AND, you also get to spend quality time together!

See all that Mrs. Anderson’s Baking has to offer, and starting cultivating that habit with your children.

The Mrs. Anderson’s Kids Baking Set (22048) includes all the perfectly sized essentials needed for budding chefs to bake at home. The 14-piece set is made from high-quality professional materials, including LFGB and FDA-approved silicone, BPA-free polypropylene, and stainless steel. This colorful set includes rolling pin, 6 muffin cups, fluted pan, 2 spatulas, 3 cookie cutters and a stainless steel mini whisk. All tools are dishwasher safe.

Mrs. Anderson’s Baking Animal Cookie Cutter Set (93273) features four animals, a bear, unicorn, dinosaur, and llama, for a fun new twist on traditional animal cookie shapes. The spring-action handle easily embosses the design onto the dough then releases the cutouts.

For a traditional animal cracker/cookie, try the Mrs. Anderson’s Baking Animal Cracker Cookie Set (#93249). Enjoy making giraffes, lions, zebras and elephants with your little one, for a fun trip to the zoo. The set of four cutters comes packaged with a shortbread recipe.

You may have seen the recent social media post from Chrissy Teigen, as her son enjoys making cookies with this set. She is heard saying ” Honestly, this is one of the coolest cookie cutter sets I’ve ever seen.”

Bite-sized brownies are easily baked in the Mrs. Anderson’s Baking Brownie Pan (43877). The European-grade silicone is strong, flexible and durable, maintaining its original shape and nonstick qualities through more uses. Use it to make 24 bite-sized brownies, cupcakes, gelatins, candies and more. Safe for use in the freezer, microwave and oven (to 500 degrees Fahrenheit). Dishwasher safe for easy cleanup.

When you introduce your children to the kitchen, you’ll quickly build their interest in food and cooking. Spend time together in the kitchen with Mrs. Anderson’s Baking. 

Visit HIC, Harold Import Co. for more inspiration.

The official start of grilling season is upon us. To ensure you are ready to prepare one of the top grilling favorites, the burger, HIC, Harold Import Co. has just the right tools.

Break out the grills and learn how best to prepare your patties, and your fries, for a perfect meal.

Here are a few tips for great tasting burgers.

Check out these essential tools to create a

delicious burger feast with HIC. 

Our quarter pound burger press helps you quickly form burger patties that are uniform in thickness so they cook evenly throughout, AND they’re perfectly sized for your buns. So versatile, the HIC Burger Press can be used for any type of patties – beef, turkey, chicken, sausage or veggie. They are also great to use when preparing quinoa cakes and even individual hash browns!

For the perfect French fries, the HIC French Fry Potato Cutter cuts uniformly sized pieces so they cook evenly.  The cutter is designed to give you the ability to make thick cut or shoestring fried potatoes (or julienned veggies).

You can then serve them up in HIC’s French Fry Basket. They’re just the right size for individual portions, served up as if you’re in a restaurant.

Round out your barbecue with delicious corn on the cob. HIC’s Corn Dishes are perfect for serving buttery sweet corn on the cob. The deeply curved shape cradles the cob, keeping them from rolling away, while containing butter. Perfect for effortless indoor and outdoor entertaining.

For more grilling inspiration this barbecue season, visit HIC, Harold Import Co.

For more than a decade, the Chicago Culinary Futures Event has brought together countless housewares industry professionals in Chicago for the annual Inspired Home show, to support the cause of providing underserved youth the opportunity to prepare for college and careers in culinary arts, and beyond. From 2008 – 2019, the housewares industry support has ensured Chicago-area students were awarded more than $500,000 in scholarships.

With the unfortunate cancellation of this year’s Chicago Culinary Futures Event, which was to benefit the Hospitality Scholars Foundation, Inc. of Chicago (HSF), we are asking for your continued support.

Three Ways to Support Culinary Futures

1. Donate To Culinary Futures in Support of HSF

In 2020, HIC continues to support the Culinary Futures program through a new partnership with Chicago-based the Hospitality Scholars Foundation (HSF), a 501(c) (3) not-for-profit that empowers Chicagoland Youth to reach their fullest potential in education and career success, focusing on the areas of Culinary Arts & Hospitality Management.
With the cancellation of our major 2020 fundraiser, we ask the industry to continue it’s legacy of giving.

Donate directly to the Culinary Futures Benefit HERE.

Or, you can text to donate. Simply, Text 44-321 with the following message CFHSF20

2. Participate in the Culinary Futures Online Auction

The event may have been cancelled, but our Chicagoland HSF youth still need your support! We hope we can count on you.
That’s why our amazing Culinary Futures Silent Auction is now online! Bidders will have the opportunity to bid on all items that were available for our event’s Silent Auction from March 30, 2020 to April 13, 2020. Items are local, and can be shipped.

Start Bidding today, and support the youth of Chicagoland! Bid HERE.

3. Support Millie’s Camp Summer Program

Not only does HIC help raise money at the popular Culinary Futures events, HIC’s support for these students continues throughout the year. In the summer of 2019, HIC joined together with HSF for the first annual Millie’s Camp, a camp created to inspire underserved youth to learn about culinary arts and hospitality management. Twenty-five students from throughout the Chicagoland public school system participated. You can support our 2020 efforts below.Not only does HIC help raise money at the popular Culinary Futures events, HIC’s support for these students continues throughout the year. In the summer of 2019, HIC joined together with HSF for the first annual Millie’s Camp, a camp created to inspire underserved youth to learn about culinary arts and hospitality management. Twenty-five students from throughout the Chicagoland public school system participated. You can support our 2020 efforts HERE.

Cinco de Mayo is almost here! It’s time to start planning a delicious Mexican-inspired meal that will impress your family and friends.

HIC’s Tortilla Press is specially designed for creating 6.25-inch homemade tortillas and other artisan flat breads of the perfect thickness every time.  Made from heavyweight aluminum for durability, the sturdy handle provides for effortless leverage when making     tortillas.

If you’ve never made your own tortillas, you don’t know how easy it is to do. (Five simple steps!)

1. Prepare your dough recipe or use ready-made dough.
2. For best results, line both sides of the press with plastic wrap, wax paper, or parchment paper to prevent dough from sticking to the press.
3. Roll a small amount of dough into a ball and place it in the center of the press. Flatten the dough slightly by hand then close the press.
4. Fold the handle over the press and apply a firm pressure to create griddle-ready rounds.
5. Gently remove the plastic wrap from the flattened dough and cook according to recipe.

The press is handy for making a variety of flatbreads, including Caribbean roti, focaccia, moo shoo pancakes, mini pie or tart shells, and more.

You can purchase the HIC Tortilla Press here.

Here in the U.S. it is estimated that we use nearly 500 million plastic strays each day. That is enough plastic straws to wrap around the earth almost 9 times every year!

Plastic straws and stirrers are listed as one of the top 10 marine plastic debris, contaminating our water and our marine life as well as so much more as it is carried up the food chain.

Change the tide of pollution and look for ways to cut back on plastic pollution this Earth Day. Using stainless steel reusable straws are one of the many ways you can make an impact.

HIC’s 18/8 Stainless Steel Drinking Straws add a splash of style to everyday beverages, smoothies, shakes, party drinks and cocktails. More economical and environmentally friendly than using traditional disposable straws, these straws are ideal for use at home or on the go.

They have a polished finish for a great look and are angled to make drinking from them easier. The reusable straws won’t rust, corrode, break, stain, absorb or transfer food flavors or odors.

The set includes four 18/8 stainless steel straws and a nylon-bristle cleaning brush, perfectly sized to fit inside the straws.

Wash in warm, soapy water and scrub the interior with the cleaning brush, then rinse well. They are also dishwasher safe.

You can purchase them here.

Robert Laub, president, HIC, Harold Import Co. Nicola Copeland, C-CAP Chicago, Program Coordinator David Blackmon, Culinary Arts Program Director

The 10^th annual Culinary Futures Chicago Dinner Reception and Silent Auction to support the Chicago Careers Through Culinary Arts Program (C-CAP), was once again a huge success.

Held March 11, 2018, the C-CAP Chicago students enthusiastically showcased their culinary talents by serving up delicious recipes to the more than 200 industry professionals in attendance. The event raised more than $64,000!

Specifically, the annual Chicago Culinary Futures Benefit brings together industry professionals and friends in Chicago for the International Home + Housewares Show to benefit C-CAP Chicago students. All proceeds from this special event will benefit C-CAP Chicago. Careers Through Culinary Arts Program is a national non-profit organization that works with public schools to prepare at-risk students for college and careers in the restaurant and hospitality industry.
Through the years, with HIC’s help and support, C-CAP Chicago students were awarded more than $500,000 in scholarships. Learn more.
A huge “Thank You” goes out to all the evening’s sponsors, which included, Allstate; Conimar Group, LLC; HIC, Harold Import Co.; Primula; R.S.V.P. International, Inc.; Southern Wine & Spirits of Illinois; Tito’s Handmade Vodka, and US Foods, with HFN serving as the official media sponsor.

“C-CAP Chicago is so grateful for the ongoing support of the entire team at Harold Import Company and the Housewares Industry,” expressed Nicola Copeland, C-CAP Chicago, Program Coordinator. “With your help, we have supported the dreams of more than 30 students to attend college. This year, we’ll get the opportunity to support 13 more so they may achieve their goals.”

C-CAP/Denzel Thornton Memorial Scholarship

In addition to the C-CAP Chicago Scholarship Winners, HIC presented the C-CAP/Denzel Thornton Memorial Scholarship. This scholarship, which was created in remembrance of Thornton, an alum who was tragically killed outside his workplace, honors his spirit and determination.
“Those who knew Denzel, knew that he loved his C-CAP family, and was determined to give back to the community that supported him,” explains Robert Laub, president of HIC, Harold Import Co. “We are honored to present both Jefferson Martinez-Rodriguez and Aliyah Taylor with this award, which honors all that Denzel embodied.”

Jefferson Martinez-Rodriguez (center), co-recipient of Denzel Thornton Memorial Scholarship is on hand to receive his award and celebrate with the C-CAP Chicago family.

“Being awarded with the Denzel Thornton Memorial Scholarship from Harold Import Company makes these dreams closer than ever,” explains Jefferson Martinez-Rodriguez. “Thus, I will give the next generations a taste of my passion for my career that will hopefully influence a chain reaction.”

Aliyah Taylor, David Blackmon- Program Coordinator of CTE Culinary Arts & Hospitality Management Programs, and Richard Grausman, C-CAP Founder. (from left)

Adds Aliyah Taylor, “The Denzel Thornton Memorial Alumni Scholarship from Harold Import Company will empower me by helping my academic and creative longevity in my community. The control over my education is all I ask for, and I believe with this scholarship I will get exactly that. My ability to obtain my education without financial struggle is exactly what I need to be able give back all that has been given to me.”

Not only does HIC help raise money at this popular industry event, HIC’s support for these students continues throughout the year. A portion of the proceeds from the HIC Essentials line of kitchen gadgets are donated to Careers through Culinary Arts Program (C-CAP).

For more information on C-CAP, visit www.ccapinc.org, or C-CAP Chicago.
For more information about HIC, Harold Import Co.’s participation in the Chicago event and the Denzel Thornton Memorial Alumni Scholarship, email media@haroldimport.com

Add the subtle and warm glow of copper to the bar with HIC’s eye-catching collection of bar tools. In line with bar and kitchen décor trends, the copper bar tools are the perfect choice for every home bar enthusiast as well as the professional.

Following contemporary style trends, copper elevates our barware collection with style and taste. With the HIC Copper Barware, you’ll enjoy the benefits of copper, which is known to enhance the drinking experience. The copper-plated 18/8 stainless steel barware insulates the beverage to maintain drink temperature.

From Margaritas to Moscow Mules, the HIC Copper Barware is poised to add a creative style to a perfectly prepared drink.

The complete collection includes a Copper Cocktail Shaker, Double Jigger, Hip Flask, and on-trend hammered copper Moscow Mule Drinking Mug. For more information, visit HIC, Harold Import Co.
 

Rich, creamy and smooth!

Thanksgiving is almost here, and that means mashed potatoes are on the menu. The World’s Greatest Dual-Action Potato Masher and Ricer from HIC, Harold Import Co. is specially designed with a spring-loaded action to mash and rice potatoes ensuring lumps are eliminated in a single action! More efficient than using a typical masher with open-wire design, the Dual-Action Potato Masher and Ricer breaks food down with the wires and extrudes it through the holes in the built-in ricer disc to eliminate lumps for a smoother, creamier texture.

A versatile addition to your holiday cooking tools collection, the Potato Masher Ricer is great for mashing softer cooked foods, like potatoes, yams, pumpkin, squash, rutabagas, turnips, parsnips, carrots, apples, bananas, and more.

Made from 18/8 stainless steel, The World’s Greatest Dual-Action Potato Masher Ricer is sturdy, durable, and will never rust or transfer flavors or odors between uses.

Easy to use and clean. Rinse immediately before starches harden. Dishwasher safe for a thorough cleaning.