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Sylvia Schur, Food Editor and Developer of Cran-Apple and Metrecal, Dies at 92

Sylvia Schur, a food editor who through her pioneering consulting company developed products like Clamato and Cran-Apple juice and Metrecal, wrote recipes for the fictional home chefs Ann Page and Betty Crocker and helped conceive the menus for restaurants like the Four Seasons in Manhattan, died Wednesday in Chicago. She was 92.

The cause was respiratory failure, said her daughter, Jane S. Smith.

In an era when calorie counting and a dawning awareness of nutrition coexisted uneasily with new food technologies, Mrs. Schur helped food corporations develop new products and told food editors at newspapers and magazines how to use them.

Her test kitchen in Manhattan generated consumer products like Clamato and Cran-Apple juice cocktails, the diet drink Metrecal and cookbooks for companies like Campbell Soup and Tappan, an early maker of home microwave ovens. Some of the recipes became instant mass-market classics, like chuck roast wrapped in aluminum foil with cream of mushroom soup and a sprinkling of dried onion soup mix.

“She was a pioneer of modern food usage,” said Heidi Kost-Gross, who worked for her consulting company, Creative Food Services, in its early days. “Her company was at the cutting edge of how food should look and taste, and above all, how it should be used.” ...
Read entire article at NYT