Now in our 12th year of making
fine wine vinegar, we have both followed and ridden the crest of the local
foods movement. We appreciate that food grown locally is coming to be appreciated
and consumed as it was several decades ago.
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| My grandpa's vinegar jug in Leatherwood Vinegary. |
I grew up on a small central Minnesota
farm. During the 1950s, 60s and 70s, Mom had a large garden and canned, pickled
and froze so much of our food. I remember going with Dad to the “locker plant”
to pick up meat that came from animals pastured on our land. Grass fed beef
wasn’t a common term then. But it’s what cattle were. We didn’t use pesticides
or herbicides until Dad’s farm classes (that all area farmers were encouraged
to take to learn how to do it right) insisted he should use Round-up and
commercial fertilizers though he always put natural fertilizers (manure) back
on the land. One year Mom, who always subscribed to Rodale’s Organic Gardening
Magazine, agreed that Round-up might take care of the weeds at the end of the
garden. It certainly did. That area wouldn’t grow anything, for years.
During my years on the farm, pickles were
made with distilled white vinegar though apple cider vinegar made its
appearance a few times. My grandfather had a vinegar jug (and I have it now)
but I don’t think he ever attempted to make his own. It’s likely that when he
went to the grocery store he filled his jug from a vat of some kind that the
store made available to its customers. So, throughout the last century or more,
people not only didn’t make their own vinegar, they lost the knowledge of how
it was made. This is evident during the tours we host in the vinegary. Many
times the looks on peoples’ faces reveal the wonder of the process during which
bacteria converts alcohol to acetic acid—vinegar.
A more recent trend, that of locavores who
look for sources of all their food within a set distance from their homes, has
evolved into entrepreneurs who are making artisan food products and are looking
for local sources for the ingredients for their products. Several of these are
either already using our vinegar or are considering it for use in the near
future.
Our most enduring example is Bon Appetit
Management Company. They have been offering Leatherwood Vinegar in their
catering and buffet services for several years. Minnesota’s History Center is a
prime example as well as the catering they do for the University of Minnesota.
Isabel Street Heat, produced in St. Paul,
Minnesota, uses a salt crusted fermentation process to create their hot sauces.
Interested in creating a healthy probiotic version, Tony and Leslie Stoy
contacted us and have begun using Leatherwood Vinegar in some of their
products.
Last
month, Will Flanagan of “ brine+barrel pickle company” contacted us about using
our vinegars in the pickles made by this brand new Twin Cities company. While
the nearly year-long process of making our vinegars makes the price somewhat
prohibitive for pickle-making, Will and company are taking a careful look as to
how they might produce a special entirely local pickle product.
Just last week Molly and Maddy from the
Twin Cities Stock Exchange stopped in for a tour and
tasting. They went away with enough vinegar for a good start in enhancing their
gourmet soup stocks with Leatherwood Vinegar.
If you google “vinegar made in Minnesota,”
the top two search results take you to information about our vinegary. Does
that mean that there are no other vinegar makers in Minnesota? Maybe. At least
made from scratch the way we do it. We’re listed in Minnesota Grown. It’s
satisfying that Minnesota Grown has a list item of “vinegar.” They didn’t
before we got involved. There are six listings under the “vinegar” heading. Two
of them are farmer’s markets and only have vinegar if someone brings it to
sell. Another listed business admits their vinegars are imported. One is a
producer of apple products and though it’s under the listing, their website
doesn’t mention vinegar.
The
last one hired Ron as a consultant to teach them to make vinegar. They’ve opted
to send their fruit to a Wisconsin winery to convert it to wine and were quite
interested in having a California company convert “their” wine to vinegar in a
quick acetator process. Their website says they make their own though.
It’s a wonderful trend that Minnesota
products are becoming more complex and are trying hard to locally source the
ingredients for their products. Read their labels. Ask questions. Support them!
