The Culinary Scoop

The Ruby Anniversary Edition is a Luxurious Blend of 5 Exceptionally Rare Jamaica Rums Honoring Master Blender Spence’s 40 Years at Appleton Estate

Appleton Estate, a global leader in premium aged rums, is proud to announce the launch of Ruby Anniversary Edition, a limited-edition release celebrating Master Blender Joy Spence’s 40 years of craftsmanship with the distillery. 

Ruby Anniversary  Edition is an exclusive release unlike any before it in the brand’s 270-year history: it is a blend of 5 exceptionally rare Jamaica rums, aged for a minimum of 35 tropical years, and including rums as old as 45 years, resulting in a complex sipping rum like no other. With only 500 bottles available, this offer is a luxurious gem for rum lovers, a commemorative release for the first female Master Blender in the spirits industry, and a taste of decades of craftsmanship and dedication.

Smithfield welcomes two new HBCUs, South Dakota’s largest state schools to its four-year scholarship program serving employee dependents.

 Smithfield Foods, Inc. is pleased to welcome South Dakota State University (SDSU), the University of South Dakota (USD), Hampton University (HU) and Virginia State University (VSU) to its Smithfield Foods Scholarship Program.

The company’s scholarship program provides eligible dependents of full-time and retired Smithfield employees with up to $7,500 a year in educational scholarships to participating colleges and universities for four years. The need-based program has awarded over 1,300 scholarships totaling $7.6 million since 2002, more than half of which the company has contributed since 2017.

USAID / Prosper Africa award co-investment grant to Yolélé and Mali Shi SA, boosting fonio export from Mali and creating 13,700 jobs

The ancient grain fonio has been grown as a subsistence crop in West Africa for over 5000 years. A new venture in Mali called West African Ancient Grains (WAAG) plans to turn fonio into a cash crop to provide a source of income for farmers in the Sahel region, one of the world’s most vulnerable areas.

WAAG is an agro-processing operation being built by two companies:  Yolélé, Chef Pierre Thiam’s US-based West African food brand, and Mali Shi SA, Mali’s leading shea butter manufacturer with a network of over 23,000 West African smallholder farmers, most of them women. The co-investment grant of $1.98 million is funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) West Africa Trade & Investment Hub (Trade Hub) through Prosper Africa.