Page 10, The Heraki, Tuesday, October 24, 1976 Spices provoke interest TORONTO (CP) — Times have changed from those days before refrigeration when spices were judged necessary to make rancid food.palatable. But Canadian spice firms such as Club House Foods (McCormick's), and French's (Reckitt and Coleman) are banking on the new interest among Canadian consumers in gourmet and foreign cooking. Sales of seasoning have boomed in recent years, even with the current devalued Canad an dollar, Tom Horton, president of 10% All Stock In The Store From 12PM 8PM - $1.50 in the U.K., and $30 in Horton Spice Mills in Unionville, Ont., estimates his sales are up 28 to 30 per cent from five years ago. William Schwartz, whose Halifax family business dates back to 164: as the oldest spice company in Schwarte- North America, reports a similar increase. He adds- that sales by Canadian seasoning firms to the restaurant industry heve doubled since 1975. “The average Canadian family now buys about $10 worth of seasonings a year compared with between $10 and $15 in the U.S. from $1 to Germany,” Schwartz said in an interview. Spice people trace the sales boom te the late 1960s, starting with the fashion for cooking European dishes. Next came the craze for criental cuisine. Now Mexican cooking is pushing sales up further, Lately, said Horton, smart cooks have been learning how to season pasta and cheaper cuts of meat to keep their food budgets under control. “Canadians used to - be strictly meat-and-potato people, but not any more,’ he said. MANTIQUE FASHIONS LTD MIDNIGHT MADNESS off All Gringo Cords Reg, 24.00 Wrangler Clean Front Jeans 15 95 281 26,00 bcity. NTE _ ia THURSDAY OCTOBER 26 - Many Many More In Store Specials 7. *80% % off ay ee t } ic ik Solar heating business has good prospects OTTAWA (CP) “We're notin the business of making sular panels, we're in the business of making money,” says the president of a company gambling that svlar heating will grow inte a tiulli-million-dellar Canadian industry by 1988! This month Nortec Air Conditioning Industries Lid. vf Ottawa began manufacturing 19.2- meire-square panels, says president Mike Leicester, who an- ; Ucipates selling 4,000 in the first year al $240 each for use wilh heat pump and water heater syslems as well as swimaming ae He said in an interview shat the cumpany's leap intu the solar age is a clear indication that the initiative in the svlar panel revolution is muving from the bright- eyed visionaries to the hard-headed businessmen. Norie’s move into sular panel production comes after six years af ‘specialization in heating, ventilating and air condi- tioning products. [tl has 15 “emplayees and projected A | sales of $2 million this ; it “year. Il expects tu hire 10 _ more workers and will h ‘sell'its panels through a netyork uf 36 sales uutlets ii Ganada and the United ates The new sular products division is the offspring uf a business marriage between Leicester, a mechanical engineer, and Jim Ramsden, 30, a t chemical engineer and former assistant lu the federal public works min- ister. Ramsden, whe heads the divnsion, says most -panels suld in Canada are manufactured in suuthern California where the almust endless summer weather reduces the need fur the maximum heat- collecting efficiency needed here. Aller he ¢ failed last year _ per engineered after boun- to ersuade targer Canadian companies lhat sular panels specifically designed fur northern cli- mates could sell profitably, he decided to appruach ai smaller company. Smaller companies, he said, can pruduce them just as econumically as large ones as long as they succeed in gaining larger orders. He says Nortec will have a considerable cust - advantage wver panels imported frum the U.S. Imports, which are saddled with 17-per-cent tariffs, distributors markup and the exchange differential, cust $18-$30 .8-metres-squared while Norlec's pruducl, cing design ideas off National Research ; Cuuncil scientists, wil] sell for $10-12. Although Ramsden says Sular energy is nut the ultimate sulution tu puiential energy shurt- ages it dues have a place in the national power grid. At sume puint solar heat will pruvide enuugh jobs and cunserve envugh energy that it will be impurlant (o Canadians he Said. Ramsden says the industry is mistaken in ils emphasis on sular space heating when 23 to 30 per cent of hume energy cuss and 50 per cenl of apari- menl energy cusis are incurred through electric hol-waler heaters. Although solar panels can help ease the dumestic electric bill he says Nortec has decided the slrungesl markel nuw lies with commercial laundries and foud processurs where large quantities of’ hut water are needed. Both men say that despite mass-production, panels are unlikely to drup in price. The cupper, glass fibre and aluminum used to make them won't always be as cheap as at present, they said, p.m. to. Mini ight