"artisanal" news and stories

The ecstatic effects of hazelnut pur�e and dark honey

by Max Shrem, Posted Aug 8th 2008 @ 1:03PM

I first experienced the combination of hazelnut purée and dark honey at Slow Foods' cheese festival in Italy. The Piedmont region of Italy is known for its hazelnuts. You can find the most succulent rich hazelnut cakes and cookies. My favorite hazelnut concoction was hazelnut purée and dark honey. My first taste on toast brought about a dionysian state of gastronomical enchantment. The sweet nutty flavors and intensely smooth creamy buttery texture were all so overwhelmingly perfect!

When I returned from my trip, I looked all over NY for another hazelnut and honey mixture. And, I was surprised by the many shops that carried this delicious treat. Recently, Time Out New York had an article about one in particular from southern France called Avelline. This was probably my favorite one that I tried.

How does one enjoy hazelnut purée and dark honey?
Besides eating it plain on toast, you can use it as a condiment with cheese. I suggest you pair it with Montgomery's farmhouse cheddar or Stilton Colston Bassett. You can even pair it with a variety of nutty pecorinos.

Filed under: Food Politics, Ingredients

Diary of a Distiller: Chapter Eight - Coastal Meaderings and Munchies

COMMENTS 2

by Jonathan M. Forester, Posted Jul 11th 2008 @ 9:01AM

Since I last updated my journal I have supposedly been on vacation. Different groups of friends came to visit and so at first it was work, as I gave them in-depth tours and tastings at the winery and brerwery. I helped out a bit at the same time by doing some tastings for visitors, because everyone else was busy as can be. Mike, Joan, Jody, and Fred were making deliveries, bottling wine, disassembling and cleaning the new brewery equipment, researching what other odds and ends of stuff we need to replace, locating manuals and technical info on the brewing system, etc.

A few mornings I let my guests sleep in and helped tidy up the brewery/distillery. Mundane things like sorting through garbage for nuts and bolts, valves, gaskets, and anything else that might conceivably be of use. The previous owners of the equipment had to move everything out fast from the old location and some important odds and ends had somehow made it into garbage bags topped with refuse. I'm glad that we ended up with a few of the garbage bags, even if it it wasn't pleasant to dive into them, because solid stainless steel valves, tubes, etc. are quite pricey and it was worth it to save every one we can.

On Independence day my buddies Joe and Rob joined me for a weeks vacation, and we went in to Bangor to for the parade during the morning and the fireworks at night. I've been to quite a few great, small town parades since I moved to Maine a little over a year ago. This wasn't one of them. It was a bit mellower than I expected but still interesting. I always like to take some great photos of characters in the crowds dressed in weird outfits, or some candid shots of overwhelmed kids, harried parents, and calm seniors enjoying the sights.

Filed under: Diary of a Distiller

Three days at the Fancy Food Show

COMMENTS 3

by Marisa McClellan, Posted Jul 3rd 2008 @ 1:00PM

image of my coffee table with Fancy Food Show samples

For years now, I've been hearing about the Fancy Food Show. I'd see clips of it on the Food Network, or read about it in the New York Times, until this week, it had never been something I got to experience personally. And now that I've lived through my first one, I'm struggling to find a way to write about it.

You see, it's a big event. Thousands of people are there, selling, buying, tasting and sipping. I only sampled a fraction of the available goods and by the end of each day all I wanted was a crunchy green salad to serve as a simple foil to all the chocolate, cheese, cookies, crackers, salsas, jams and gourmet popcorn I had munched.

I discovered that herbal flavors are the New! Big! Thing! in sweets, beverages and vinaigrettes, so expect to see lots rosemary, lavender and mint in both sweet and savory items going forward. Another popular flavor combination I encountered was Pear-Ginger. It is a lovely marriage and I'm looking forward to seeing more of it on the store shelves. My gluten-free friends will be happy to hear that lots of companies are working on producing the best in gluten-free cookies, crackers and breads (I'll have more specifics in another post). And lastly, everyone is looking for a way to make their products more natural, organic and artisanal.

I'll have more on the show soon, including specific products that I loved. I'm still working my way through a lot of the samples I brought home with me (the image above is my coffee table after I unpacked my suitcase). Don't forget to check out Kat's Day One Favorites!

Filed under: Food News, New Products

Jeni's Fresh Ice Creams

COMMENTS 6

by Nicole Weston, Posted Dec 12th 2006 @ 10:02AM

Personally, I can't get enough of the salty-sweet pleasure that comes from eating Sea Salt Caramels and, with the exception of a handful of people who don't seem to like caramel in any form, they're popular with everyone who tries them. So, when Faith, a commenter, mentioned that there was a shop that sold salty caramel ice cream, it sounded like a tip that was worth checking out. Jeni's Fresh Ice Creams does indeed carry Salty Caramel Ice Cream as one of their signature flavors, but their other flavors sound equally as impressive. They include:

Gravel Road - salty caramel with chopped smoked almonds added
Honey Vanilla Bean - simple and delicate, with Ohio honey and Madagascar vanilla
Queen City Cayenne - milk chocolate "Cincinnati style" ice cream with cayenne and cinnamon
Thai Chili - Krema peanut butter with toasted coconut, cayenne and coconut milk
Black Coffee - cream steeped with just-roasted coffee (no water). "It tastes like coffee smells."

There are also a number of limited-time seasonal creations at Jeni's, including Lemon Yogurt and Fresh Cranberry Sauce, Farmer's Market Apple Cider Sorbet, Butternut Squash with Pecan Pralines, Goat's Cheese with Figs and Port and Toasted Brioche with Butter and Jam (yes, they're all ice creams). Jeni's has two locations in Columbus, Ohio and you can order all of their flavors online.

Source

Filed under: Stores & Shopping, Ingredients

Pizza, Cookbook of the Day

COMMENTS 2

by Nicole Weston, Posted Oct 30th 2006 @ 8:03AM

Finding a restaurant that serves great pizza is great, but there is a certain satisfaction to making you own pizza at home, even if it turns out to be slightly less than the masterpieces that food writers wax poetic about. Besides, if you're creating it from scratch, you have the right to term your creation "artisanal," no matter how it turns out. Pizza: More than 60 Recipes for Delicious Homemade Pizza is a cookbook that will provide you with the basics to making your own pies at home, so you'll be able to make your own masterpieces in your own kitchen. It was co-authored by five-time world pizza-throwing champion Tony Gemignani and cookbook author Diane Morgan. The instructions guide you through the process of making, kneading and shaping dough, then provide you with plenty of ideas of what to do with it. Pizza styles from all over the world are covered, from Chicago and New York to Italy's pizza margherita. Some of the recipes use familiar, classic combinations, while others take advantage of some "California-style" combinations that use Asian flavors, seafood and other somewhat less-common pizza toppings. There is even a dessert pizza recipe with a sweet crust! The best thing about the book is that the instructions are detailed, so you'll have a good grounding in pizza making, and the recipes for the crusts are ones that you can use over and over again.