Lisa Averbuch and Sabrina Moreno-Dolan are the ladies behind LOFT liqueurs, the producers behind the first certified organic liqueur in the United States. Their story is interesting and inspirational, particularly for those of you who have tinkered with the idea of turning a passion into a small business.

When and why did you start making LOFT Liqueurs?

Lisa: I started making liqueurs for fun about 2 years ago. I came across a recipe for limoncello and at the time I didn't even know you could make it at home! After trying that recipe, using lemons from my boyfriend's backyard lemon tree, I was hooked! I tried to make cello everything: apple cello, banana cello, tangerine cello- you get the idea. After about six months of experimenting I let my friends try it and they were really excited! They said it tasted a lot better than much of what was available in the marketplace and wanted to buy it for themselves and their friends. So I thought, "well you are my friends� I'll make this for you." So many flavored vodkas and other liqueurs have a synthesized taste and obvious artificial color (don't even get me started on the traditional neon-green apple-tini). I wanted to give people the opportunity to go to a bar or restaurant and order a drink that they can feel good about - something that tastes like the real thing and isn't filled with chemicals. And once I learned that alcoholic beverages could be certified organic, it was a no-brainer. Whenever possible I buy biodynamically grown ingredients as well.

Sabrina: The first time I tried LOFT I went into fiendish plan mode. I thought "this is so amazing. There must be a way to share it with people (and save the planet through good-will established with flavor)."

What is your favorite way to serve LOFT Liqueurs? Do you like to pair anything with them?

L: They can be chilled and sipped on their own or mixed with a variety of other spirits, such as vodka or rum. They're great in Champagne, lemonade or even just a splash of sparkling water. We have about thirty cocktail recipes on our website too. My favorite drink is the Lavender Daiquiri. It's a basic daiquiri recipe substituting the usual sugar with LOFT Lavender Cello. I also really like to pair them with dark chocolate or pour over ice cream. One person I know had great results using the Spicy Ginger Cello to marinade a pork chop!

S: With friends. I love people and I love when they are happy. It's cool when people are able to honestly say "I love it" and be happy and proud of you and really want your product. I've brought it to parties for friends and had more than one person approach me and say, "are you the liqueur lady? I really want to taste it. I've heard amazing things." I suggest you try it any and every way.

What makes LOFT Liqueurs great?

L: First and foremost, they taste incredible. We are the first certified organic liqueur in the U.S. We sweeten them with low-glycemic agave nectar. We use only fresh fruit or botanicals from small independent farms. We handcraft in small batches. The flavors are unique (and delicious): lemongrass, spicy ginger and lavender. We use no additives, preservatives, artificial flavors or colors. And we use tree-free bamboo paper labels, biodegradable inks and boxes made from recycled materials.

What would most surprise people about LOFT Liqueurs?

L: I posed this question to a couple of friends and they said they were surprised as to how smooth our drink is compared to, say, most limoncellos. There are a couple of reasons for that. One, we brought the alcohol down a few points to let the flavor of the fruit or botanical shine through. Second, we're the first in the U.S. to use a new technology called Evolution. It's been used for a few years in Japan with sake and shochu but we've had it approved for use here. Basically it rearranges the water molecules to smooth the bite of the alcohol and enhance the flavor.

S: The mouth-watering good taste. No, really, it tastes so good. Up until now I thought organic and that translated into "healthy" but that didn't conjure up images of farm fresh produce or just picked botanicals. In my old way of thinking an organic orange tasted the same as a regular orange but it didn't have the chemicals that hurt the earth and it cost more. So my reason to buy the organic orange (even though it was more expensive) wasn't taste-motivated but planet-motivated. With LOFT you get great tasting, earth-friendly, exotic flavors and you support one of the only female-owned spirit businesses in the U.S. We're a small company, we caringly handcraft every batch, we're fun.

What other natural food producer(s) do you really admire?

L: I love Cowgirl Creamery. If I could make a cheese liqueur I would - I know it sounds weird and crazy, but just maybe� I've seen squid ink used in cocktails, so you never know. Also in my liqueur quest I discovered Equator Coffees in San Rafael, California. They do incredible organic and fair trade coffees and teas.

S: Yummy - Ben and Jerry's Organic Ice Creams. Dreamy - Cowgirl Creamery cheese. Yeah to anyone who makes products thinking about great taste, the consumer, the environment and a good time.

What's your favorite natural food product other than your own?

L: It's really hard to pick one product. I'll just say that I have a renewed respect for any company willing to go through the difficulty and expense of the organic certification process. We only use four ingredients and our application was over 100 pages. So my hat's off to anyone who's done it! It really shows a commitment to wanting to make a good natural product.

What's next on the horizon for you and LOFT Liqueurs?

L: Our first three flavors available are Lavender, Lemongrass and Spicy Ginger. However to date I have tried making liqueurs with over 40 different fruits and botanicals including some herbs such as basil and lemon verbena. I have 15 or so viable flavors and would love to produce them all, but in the meantime we hope to do some seasonal flavors such as tangerine later in the winter and perhaps blueberry in the summer.

S: An endorsement from George Clooney (or at least drinks). No, really- I do want to have drinks with Clooney with my husband- and I believe, more importantly, that people (including George) will love LOFT because it really tastes great and it's chemical free. I hope that LOFT will be a big hit and we can launch exciting seasonal flavors like tangerine. I look forward to people being excited that I am sharing LOFT (the truth) and not fearing that I am trying to sell them anything.

Where can people find LOFT Liqueurs?

L: Full bottles can be purchased online at from Mondo Liquor or at Ledger's Liquors in Berkeley, California. We just launched so we're still working on getting wider distribution, but for the moment any bar, restaurant or liquor store in California or New York can buy from me directly. Consumers can find us in a few restaurants in San Francisco including Jardiniere, Americano, and Kuleto's (who, by the way, has a separate all-organic drink menu). A list of where to buy can be found on our website and will be updated often.

www.loftliquors.com

Comments (4) | May 25 - 6:16 PM

category: Gift Ideas, Interviews/Profiles, New Products, Organic Wine / Beer

We’ve tasted our share of energy bars around here and for the most part, we’re still partial to making our own or assembling a bag of our favorite dried fruit and nuts. So you can imagine our surprise when we found ourselves ordering yet another case of Jake’s Unbaked bars to replenish our personal stash. Yes, they’re raw. Gluten-free, organic, and agave sweetened too. But, at the end of the day, no matter how “healthy” something is, if it doesn’t taste good, it’s a no-go for us. Simply put, these bars are out-of-this-world.

Jake’s Unbaked bars come in three tasty flavors: the Goji Bar is studded with antioxidant rich goji berries, the chai-spiced Yogi bar, and our favorite, the Rawnola bar which we'll happily crumble into a bowl of plain or frozen yogurt. We’d even go so far as to say these babies satisfy a cookie-craving…think crunchy, sweet, coconut macaroon and you’ll have some idea of what they taste like.

We love to get to know the great people who bring us our favorite natural food products and because these bars are a borderline addiction around here, we headed straight to the source to uncover just who Jake of Jake’s Unbaked is...we ended up choosing him as our latest Tastemaker:

When and why did you start making Jake’s Unbaked products?
In 2001 I began to discover the benefits of a raw-live food diet. During this health transition I found myself unsuccessfully looking for substitutes to the common baked snacks I was used to eating. One day my pursuit lead me to a curious red berry called Goji. After discovering the many nutritional benefits the Goji Berry bestowed and how great they tasted, I began to purchase them regularly. One day, by mistake, I left some sitting in my car in the hot sun with a few nuts. When I returned later that day they had become warm and were stuck together. As soon as I tasted these clusters, a light went on in my head and the idea for the “Goji Bar” emerged.

Once I started to make Goji Bars, my raw-live foods friends kept asking me for more. Where ever I took them, they were gone in an instant. But, it wasn’t until I started to get positive comments from people who were eating a more standard American diet, that I figured I might be on to something. Plus, there was nothing similar to them already on grocery store shelves.

What makes Jake’s Unbaked products great?
For starters, all of our sweeteners are low-glycemic and unlike most other raw bars on the market that use dates, we use figs and agave nectar. Plus our bars have a wonderful crunchy texture that many people, whether they are transitioning to raw and live foods, or not, simply love.

What is your favorite Jake’s Unbaked product? What is your favorite way to enjoy it?
These days I’m enjoying our Yogi Bars the most. The chai spices we blend into these bars promote optimal digestion. One way that I love to eat them is in the Fall, when persimmons are in season and ripe enough to spread like jam. I simply top one of my bars with a thick layer of these wonderful sweet fruits. To take it to another level, I place them in the freezer before using them to make ice cream sandwiches.

What would most surprise people about Jake’s Unbaked products?
Despite the name of our company, I am constantly reminding people that our products involve no baking. Folks seem to find it hard to believe that we can create such a crunchy texture and remain true to the principles of what the raw-live food movement is about — not cooking.

What other natural food producer(s) do you really admire? Why?
I admire honeybees the most. They are the humblest and sweetest natural food producers I know of. Plus they seem to have more reverence for the land than humans. Locally gathered honey is the most ecological sweetener in terms of energy consumption and sustainable farming practices. Not to mention they assist us with pollination of our food and create beautiful flowers for us to enjoy.

What's your favorite natural food product other than your own?
Although I eat a plant-based, raw-live food diet, I do enjoy warming up with herbal teas. Right now I’m big on Rooibos by African Red Tea Imports. I enjoy the mellow flavor and earthy aroma and it’s relaxing properties. I am told that Rooibos plants have a complex root system that travels very deep. I like to think this the reason this tea has such a high mineral content and imparts a grounding sensation. African Red Tea Imports also makes a Rooibos Extract powder that I like to keep this handy while traveling because all I need is a tiny dash into a glass of warm water and I can enjoy instant Rooibos tea.

What's next on the horizon for you and Jake’s Unbaked?
More delicious treasures! We are working on developing a dehydrated pro-biotic biscuit that is cultured with live lactobacillus organisms. I am interested in ways that food can be both medicine and delicious to eat. We are working on more varieties of our Rawnola Bars as well. Our next addition will be a carob inspired bar, for our customers who want an alternative to the raw cacao products on the market.

Where can people find Jake’s Unbaked products?
You can find our products at a handful of select natural food stores throughout the country, such as Erewhon Natural Foods in Los Angeles, California, Essene Market in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, New Frontiers in Flagstaff, Arizona, Westerly Natural Foods in New York. Visit our website for a list of locations or wholesale inquires. Also check out Zebra Organics for retail sales. For wholesale, or your personal enjoyment, you can order them by the case from our website.

Related Links:

- Jake's Unbaked (www.jakesunbaked.com)
- Tastemaker: Neal Gottlieb of Three Twins Ice Cream
- Tastemaker: Minh Tsai founder of Hodo Soy Beanery
- Real Food Energy Bar Review

Comments (1) | March 9 - 5:19 PM

category: Interviews/Profiles, New Products, Vegan / Veg

Soybeans are magical beans. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if Jack used them to climb his beanstalk. Studies have shown these little legumes to have a host of health benefits in part because they are rich in cancer-fighting isoflavines and heart-healthy polyunsaturated fats. From one simple bean you can get a range of delicious foods, including creamy soymilk, snacking edammame, miso for soup, and of course - tofu. Sadly, many people consider tofu and soymilk to be anything from plain and bland to out right bad tasting. If this is your impression then you must not have had the soy goodies from Hodo Soy Beanery. Minh Tsai and his partner John Notz take bean curd back to it's rightful place, as a delicious, super-fresh, clean-tasting artisinal treat that vegetarians and meat eaters enjoy with gusto.

When and why did you start making Hodo Soy products?
We started testing the market in 2003 while still holding "day jobs" and then I quit my job to do Hodo full time in 2004. As mentioned on our website, Hodo started because we were very surprised that we couldn't find the high quality of tofu/soy that we enjoyed in Asia, made to be consumed fresh.

Secondly, we guessed that if we could show customers that fresh tofu could be significantly tastier, whether ready-to-cook, or in ready-to-eat dishes, rather than packaged (and preserved) tofu found in stores, more people would eat Hodo's tofu. Hence in addition to making organic fresh tofu daily to show customers what "tofu" should really taste like, we also decided to make a line of ready-to-eat dishes to highlight various flavors and textures of tofu, which won us many customers.

What makes Hodo Soy products great?
In our humble opinion, our freshly made tofu and ready-to-eat dishes speak for themselves. Where else can you find tofu made and sold to you on the same day?

What is your favorite Hodo Soy product? What is your favorite way to enjoy it?
When we first started out, we were very excited to develop ready-to-eat dishes that customers loved. One of my favorites is the "spicy braised tofu salad" because you can eat it cold, throw it on top of a salad, or toss in a vege stir-fry - always delicious. These days, I'm more of a purist, I tend to eat more of our organic tofu blocks; I love how little I need to do to prepareit. I simply pan-fry or grill cubes of it and dip it in a variety of sauces.

What would most surprise people about Hodo Soy products?
Regardless of whether they are seasoned tofu eaters or first timers, most folks are surprised that tofu could taste so good. I think chefs are also surprised that our freshly made tofu has such amazing flavors and that is why so many are using more of our tofu in their kitchens. We are pleased to be on the menus of such notable restaurants as Greens, Slanted Door, and Coi for example.

What other natural food producer(s) do you really admire? Why?
Wow, I am exposed to so many at the farmers markets! I admire all the small farmers who work so hard to bring us the amazing seasonal produce and fruit. In particular, I really like Full Belly Farm. Also, one of the folks I really admired is June Taylor of June Taylor Preserves. She has been making handmade preserves for years! They are amazing, you should check out her kitchen on 4th St. in Berkeley.

What's your favorite natural food product other than your own?
Putting me in a tough spot here! I have to go for June Taylor's preserves! I don't have a sweet tooth, but I can use her stuff on lots of things.

What's next on the horizon for you and Hodo Soy?
For the past two years, we have been looking for a space to grow into. Well, we are taking a big step this year to build a new production space in Oakland. If everything goes according to plan, at the end of this year we will be opening a production space that will allow people to come and view how we make our products. We hope that our new production space will allow us to continue to educate customers about high quality tofu and also develop new recipes for everyone.

Where can people find Hodo Soy products?
Customers can find our soy products at Bay Area farmers' markets (see website for locations). In addition, the following Bay Area restaurants use our tofu: Coi, Greens, Slanted Door, Medicine Eatstation, and Saul's. Our bulk tofu is sold at Rainbow Cooperative in SF, and used at Green Gulch farms and the Berkeley Student Coop. We only ship large quantity out of state to minimize shipping costs and maximize freshness.

Hodo Soy Beanery
www.hodosoy.com

Comments (2) | February 11 - 8:20 PM

category: Interviews/Profiles, New Products, Superfoods, Vegan / Veg

Welcome to the launch of an exciting new series called Tastemaker, where we're getting to know the great people behind some of our favorite mighty foods. If you have a favorite natural food product or producer that you want to know more about, email us your suggestions (subject: Tastemakers) to staff AT mightyfoods.com - and make sure to include what you love about it or why they interest you. Looking forward to hearing what your mighty eats are!

My sister claims there is no bad ice cream. Call me a snob if you must, but I disagree - in fact, in my opinion, there are really only a few commercial ice creams worth eating. When I go in for a frosty spoonful, I want it to be fantastically delicious and made with the purest ingredients - otherwise it's just not worth it. My first lick of Three Twins Ice Cream set the bar for which all other frozen confections must meet. This is ice cream I can depend on to wow me with flavor every time, even if I’m just eating the same vanilla (made with organic Nielsen-Massey vanilla) I've had many times before. Three Twins is certified organic, often made from local ingredients, and without stabilizers and gums - which you’ll find in most of the ice creams in your grocer’s freezer, even the organic ones. My favorite way to enjoy Three Twins Ice Cream is nestled inside their handmade, organic waffle cones made fresh at their stores.

I liked Three Twins Ice Cream so much that I eventually ended up working with them occasionally between my regular day job and graduate school. I don’t work for them anymore, but the ice cream is still just as tasty. Neal is a friend that I suspect can dish up a sundae-sized scoop of inspiration to many Mighty Foods readers, whether he is talking about his ice cream or how he ended up running a green business. He was nice enough to answer some of our questions:

When and why did you start making Three Twins Ice Cream?

I was going to go to business school to study entrepreneurship with a focus on green businesses. However, in looking at the $110,000+ that business school would cost and the two years that I would spend on the sidelines talking about starting a green business, I felt that getting out there and starting a green business would be the next best step. I chose ice cream because you don't have to be a hardcore environmentalist to enjoy earth-friendly ice cream. Plus I thought that it would be good fun. And it has been. I’ve been making it since late August of 2005.

What makes Three Twins Ice Cream great?

Three Twins is made with great local organic ingredients. It's fun. Three Twins cares about operating in an environmentally responsible manner. But more importantly than anything else, it is inconceivably delicious and priced to be accessible.

What is your favorite way to eat the ice cream?

I think that ice cream is best enjoyed with friends. My two favorite ways to have ice cream are with a warm fruit sauce on top or with frosted cake!

What would most surprise people about Three Twins Ice Cream?

That there's really only one twin involved in the business.

What other natural food producer do you really admire? Why?

I really like Straus Family Creamery, because they make great products and are absolutely committed to taking good care of their herd and their land. On a large scale, I think that Clif Bar is admirable because they've incorporated huge amounts of organic ingredients into their products, which was a big financial risk at the time. I also admire other young entrepreneurs like myself who have gone into their businesses full steam ahead, despite the risks and challenges, to improve upon the natural food offerings in the market. Jill Litwin of Peas of Mind and Taponia Miller and Taylor Boetticher of Fatted Calf come to mind. The kids from Bear Naked Granola make you proud since they started from scratch and made it big, while seemingly enjoying themselves.

What's your favorite natural food product other than your own?

I can't ever seem to get enough of the numerous varieties of sausage from The Fatted Calf.

What's next on the horizon for you and Three Twins Ice Cream?

With the second store up and running, I'm dusting off a business plan that I wrote a few months ago to raise money in order to ramp up our pint production and enter the organic ice cream novelty business.

Where can people find Three Twins Ice Cream?

The best place to enjoy it is at our new store in Napa's Oxbow Public Market. In the Bay Area, you can find us at the Tuesday and Saturday Berkeley Farmers' Market, and in a couple dozen restaurants and groceries. Our website, has a complete listing of where Three Twins Ice Cream is offered.

www.threetwinsicecream.com

photo credit: bart nagel

Comments (0) | January 25 - 10:18 AM

category: Interviews/Profiles

Some of the best meals in life are those enjoyed between soil and sky. Such is the case at an Outstanding in the Field dinner. Just under ten years ago chef Jim Denevan began producing dinners at organic farms near Santa Cruz, California. The idea: dine at the source of amazing ingredients, in the presence of the farmers who nourished the crops.

The OITF team has since taken the show on the road and staged dinners from coast to coast. If you are lucky enough to have a dinner scheduled near you, don't miss out. The price of the dinners range from $150 to $200 per person, which includes a five course meal with wine pairings, all gratuities, producer discussions, and a tour of the farm. Prices are determined based on location remoteness, the chef’s menu, producers’ needs, necessary staffing, and total size of the event.

What about vegetarians? Good news. Each dinner features a range of local food artisan as well as ingredients. Everything is served family-style and vegetarians can be easily accommodated.

OUTSTANDING IN THE FIELD 2007 SCHEDULE

June 9th: Live Earth Farm, Santa Cruz CA -- SOLD OUT
June 24th: Devils Gulch Ranch, Marin, CA-- SOLD OUT
July 1st: Route 1 Farm Santa Cruz, CA
July 22nd: Coleman Farm, Santa Barbara, CA
August 5th: Secret Seacove, Half Moon Bay,CA
August 19th: U.B.C. Farm, Vancouver, British Columbia
August 25th: Kinnikinnick Farm, Chicago, Illinois
August 28th: Nantucket Island, Massachusetts
September 2nd: New York City Farm Country Dinner
Sept 9th: La Plaza Cultural Community Garden, NY, NY
Sept 16th: Louisville, KY
Sept 23rd: Hollywood Community Garden, Hollywood, CA
September 30th: Andante Dairy, Sonoma County, CA
October 13th: Everett Family Farm, Santa Cruz, CA
Dec 2nd: Santa Cruz Mountain Forage, Santa Cruz, CA

Outstanding in the Field schedule & reservations page

Comments (2) | June 7 - 11:19 PM

category: Eco-Kitchen, Interviews/Profiles

I recently had the pleasure of meeting Dennis vanEngelsdorp. No doubt in my mind - Dennis is the ultimate bee geek. Because of their pivotal role in our food chain (and also because they are cute), many people are highly concerned and fascinated with the recent bee colony collapses. I was lucky to be present at the Robert Mondavi Winery-sponsored Taste3 Conference two weeks ago when this Pennsylvania-based apiarist delivered his delightful Joy of Bees presentation. In a captivating 20-minutes he celebrates his enthusiasm about bees and examines the most up-to-date theories on Colony Collapse Disorder.

I'll highlight more videos from the conference in the coming week or two, as they are uploaded. Enjoy!

Dennis vanEngelsdorp: The Joy of Bees (link)

Comments (0) | May 22 - 9:59 PM

category: Interviews/Profiles, News, Studies + Trends

One of the great things about visiting New Zealand is discovering the many small artisan cheese, olive oil, and wine producers - and then, of course the honey. I spent the last three weeks driving around the North Island, along the way sampling the delicious and diverse range of native honeys available there. If you've never tasted New Zealand honey, it is time to track some down. On this trip I mainly tasted North Island varietals, but look forward to a future trip to the South to get up close and personal with those honeys as well. Some favorites:

Pohutukawa honey comes from a big showy, red-flowered coastal icon known as the New Zealand Christmas tree. A honey light in color, clean and bright in flavor with a kick of saltiness in some cases.

On the other end of the spectrum there is the big, bold, amber-colored Manuka honey. Some are deliciously thick and sandy textured with crystals playing against smoother pools of earthy honey. Manuka honeys are coveted for their exceptional anti-bacterial properties and you can find Manuka labeled with varying degrees of "active" anti-bacterial strength in many shops throughout New Zealand.

Then there are the red, smoky, malty, ginger-kissed Rewarewas, and the delicate, pretty Tawari honey with its buttery essence and aromatic notes of butterscotch and caramel - my favorite.

New Zealand-based honey expert Bill Floyd advocates enjoying honey chilled (the way we drink sweet wines) to avoid swamping our palette receptors. Even better, he recommends chilled honey served on ciabatta bread, with a smidgeon of melted butter calling it "an incredible ménage a trois of crunch and warm butter and chilling sweet intense floral wonderment."

Comments (3) | January 5 - 7:59 AM

category: Interviews/Profiles, Sweeteners

Shame on me for not posting this sooner. Don't miss David Leibovitz's 4,000 word interview with Frederick Schilling of Dagoba chocolates. They cover quite a lot of ground, and generally geek out on all things choc-organic. One highlight is when David asks about cacao being sprayed with agri-chemicals. You often hear that because cacao is grown on small family farms it isn't sprayed. To which Frederick replies,

"...the vast majority of cacao is grown on small family farms and yes, most of them are too poor to afford chemicals. It's on the larger plantations that spraying will occur and most often it's the "premium" brands that will buy plantation grown cacao because it's often of better quality. I believe the government of Ghana will do aerial sprayings from time to time, as cacao is such as important export to that countries economy.

Methyl Bromide is the fumigant of choice for cacao, and this is where the pesticide gets applied. The cacao doesn't get sprayed on the farm level; it's at the ports where the cacao gets sprayed. When a container of cacao leaves a countries port, there's gonna be insects in that cacao, so they fumigate. When the container arrives into port, say in the US, and there is any sign of insects, they fumigate again. I've heard that cacao is actually one of the most heavily fumigated commodities in the world. I have a friend in the industry that used to work at a very large chocolate company and his job was to, every Thursday, fumigate the cacao warehouse with Methyl Bromide. He had to have a special handling license to carry out this task. I hear murmur in industry that methyl bromide may be getting phased out of use, which is a good thing, as it's nasty stuff."

Read the entire interview...

Comments (0) | October 3 - 5:52 PM

category: Interviews/Profiles

The September issue of Food & Wine is fantastic. In addition to a design feature highlighting Big Red Sun (they designed the outdoor space for Hotel San Jose), F&W also gives three pages to the adorable Erin McKenna of BabyCakes NYC. The article serves up three delicious recipes and the story of how an allergy diagnosis required Erin to shrug off all wheat, dairy, sugar, and caffeine from her life. Her recipes creatively use natural sweeteners and alternative whole grain flours. Can't wait to try them in my own kitchen and in person the next time I'm in New York City!

- Brownie Bites
- Raspberry Scones
- Cinnamon-Banana Bread

Comments (2) | August 10 - 6:08 PM

category: Interviews/Profiles, Recipes, Sweeteners, Whole Grains

Ever fantasized about dropping out and becoming a cheese maker? Meet Pat Morford and her goats - Flutterby, Mimosa, Bijou, Tutu, Dragonfly, and Minerva. This segment gives you a glimpse into what life might be like making cheese on a small farm.

Lots going on in the video archive archive as well: Cooking up a Story.

Comments (0) | July 6 - 1:35 PM

category: Interviews/Profiles

Now I know it isn't exactly prime citrus season with all the markets awash in stone fruits and all, but I wanted to point you to an article I wrote for Edible San Francisco earlier this year. It is a profile on Olsen Organic Farms and Ken and Kathy Olsen.

"Ken Olsen is a farmer - he is known for his clementines, navel oranges, and avocados. If the sun is warming the skins on his citrus, I promise you can smell them at ten feet. His wife, Kathy Olsen is a fourth-grade teacher - she is known for letting her students smell calming herbs during pop-quizzes. She is also known for her wonderful distillates - lime, navel orange, and orange blossom. You can imagine my surprise when she told me distilled orange blossoms were “definitely an aphrodisiac.” I guess you have to wait until you are thirty to get your fourth-grade teacher to tell you the good stuff..." (read more)

Comments (0) | June 15 - 12:49 PM

category: Interviews/Profiles, Recipes

Michael Wolf's series on food in China. Be sure to poke around his other series as well.

Comments (1) | May 30 - 5:08 PM

category: Interviews/Profiles

Michael Pollan on the "cornification" of America:

When we eat this highly cornified diet, we're eating a highly processed diet. By the time corn comes out as fast food, or snack food, or soda or whatever, all it is is carbon. People who eat that kind of diet are not getting enough phytonutrients, the trace things that you get from eating a great variety of plants. So there is a health implication and there's a huge environmental implication. ( read more )

Comments (0) | April 10 - 10:13 AM

category: Interviews/Profiles

Take a look at this fantastic collection of sixty images shot by Farah Ravon - they offer up a unique visual diary of her food experience while traveling in Iran. You'll see shaami, tea service, lots of different yogurt preparations, lavish spreads/banquets, faaloodeh, crispy rice, koofteh, corn over hot coals, noon panjereh-ee, pomegranates, and lavash. Notice the the different cooking techniques, family tables brimming with carefully prepared food, and colorful flatware.

Click on the large main photograph to move through the gallery.

Comments (1) | January 25 - 10:11 AM

category: Interviews/Profiles, Studies + Trends

There's lots of sweet tasting buzz surrounding the sweet herb, Stevia. Diabetics seek it out for its glycemic index of zero, and dieters like its no-calorie-yet-natural pedigree. The Arizona Republic writes a profile of family-run company behind 70 percent of the U.S. Stevia market.

Products, such as SweetLeaf Stevia Plus and the popular new flavored Stevia Clear liquids, have gone beyond health-food stores into mainstream groceries and are about to be tested in Wal-Mart stores.

Ironically, the products still can't be legally labeled or called what they are best known as: natural sweeteners. ( Read More )

Comments (1) | January 25 - 10:08 AM

category: Interviews/Profiles, Sweeteners

We are looking forward to getting the real dirt on Farmer John when this documentary comes through town.

"The epic tale of Farmer John, a maverick Midwestern farmer who—in spite of the condemnation from his community—bravely transforms his farm amidst a failing economy, vicious rumors and arson. In doing so, he creates a bastion of free expression and a revolutionary form of agriculture in rural America."

Select 2006 screening dates ( click here for more cities and more details )

Tempe, AZ 2/24 Valley Art
Berkeley, CA 1/27 Shattuck
Los Angeles, CA 3/10 Laemmle Sunset
San Francisco, CA 1/27 Presidio
Boulder 2/24 Village Theatre
Denver 2/24 Cherry Creek
Chicago 1/20 Pipers Alley
Minneapolis 1/20 Brooklyn Centre
Portland 2/1 Cinema 21
( More dates )

Comments (0) | January 20 - 4:47 PM

category: Events, Interviews/Profiles

Peter Scholey racks up brewer awards the way we rack up parking tickets. He is a top notch brewer and has won "Champion Organic Beer of Britain" more times than anyone else. Here's what Peter has to say about drinking organic beer in and interview with Organicfood.co.uk:

There is a lot of rubbish written about beer in general and an equally large amount about organic beer so be warned my opinion may not agree with conventional wisdom or hearsay... ( Read More )

Comments (0) | December 20 - 10:38 AM

category: Interviews/Profiles, Organic Wine / Beer

Health and science writer Rachale Moeller Gorman takes a look at what super-processing does to our food, starting with the all-American stand-by - white bread:

"My Stepford loaf was spawned on the bottom floor of a five-story factory by a 2,500-pound mother dough ball that contained more than 36 ingredients, from refined flour to dough conditioners for softness and cellulose gum for “mouthfeel.” (See “Enriched White Bread vs. Artisan Whole-Wheat Bread,” page 34.) A mechanized knife chopped the mound into 27-ounce balls and another machine rolled the balls into logs and deposited them into pans. The pans spiraled through an oven large enough to hold six full-size school buses and 16 minutes later the logs emerged baked. My loaf was one of 150,000 from the oven that day to be sliced, packaged and trucked to stores all over the region. Production people told me that it would take about 15 days for my loaf to begin to mold. My desktop experiment says it takes a lot longer than that." ( Read More )

Comments (0) | December 15 - 5:53 PM

category: Interviews/Profiles, News

The story of a globe-trotting backpacker turned tea mogul. Steve Wilhelm writes an overview of Choice Organic Tea founder, Blake Rankin.

After graduating, the natural thing seemed to be to open a natural foods store, which he and a bunch of friends did in Canada. But then he got restless, moved to Seattle and with a bunch of friends opened a food distributor they called Janus. But then he got restless, again, handed over his shares in the store, and took off for Japan, which was the origin of much of the macrobiotic brown-rice-and-miso food thinking of the time.

Actually he balked halfway through the flight across the Pacific -- and got off the plane during a stop on the Hawaiian island of Oahu. ( Read More )

Comments (0) | December 8 - 8:38 AM

category: Interviews/Profiles, Superfoods

In one of the best interviews we've seen relating to raw cuisine, Culiblog's Debra asks the burning questions about this cool approach to the kitchen.

Debra: "Poor people, and more importantly, the traditional kitchens of cultures that have known hunger, (that is to say, most comfort foods from any culture) are typically high starch, high glycaemic foods. How would you respond to the statement that a raw food diet is exclusively for the rich? I am referring to the high-protein, low glycaemic and fresh food rich content of the diet, plus the relatively (compared to picking up FastFood) labour intensive preparation. Can you imagine making a recommendation for a healthy diet for the less privileged?.." ( Read more... )

Comments (0) | December 7 - 12:35 PM

category: Classes, Interviews/Profiles, Vegan / Veg