Minnesota food entrepeneurs using Leatherwood Vinegar

     Now in our 12^th 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.

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!

    

Why I like email marketing

     Marketing is a lot like fishing. You put out a tasty lure and hope to get a bite now and then. A lot of the time it’s like ice fishing; a cold and lonely proposition. But once in a while, it’s like sitting in a quaint little row boat on a sunny day, with a good book, a good beverage and water so clear you can see the fish swimming near the lure. Once in a while, the fishing is even better than the catching.

     A recent email from a past metaphorical fishing trip with an old friend:

Hi,

I see on your website you are out of black currant vinegar. Whenever you get it in I would like 12 bottles of black currant and 12 bottles of cherry vinegar. I think my sister-in-law wants me to pick up a case of vinegar for her as well and I believe that she'll be wanting 4 bottles of strawberry and 20 bottles of cherry but I will confirm this with her and let you know. 

I have purchased vinegar from you the past two summers.

Sincerely,

Marlene

Austin, Texas

     I didn’t have to do any fishing with Marlene. She suggested the trip, 48 bottles worth, and that’s even better.

     Then there’s the recent exchange with a well-known Chicago chef. I don’t know how he heard about Leatherwood Vinegary but chances are he was out fishing (letting his fingers do the walking on the computer keyboard) for some authentic ingredients for his new restaurant. He initiated a conversation at 4:29 p.m. and it extended into the evening.

Hello,
 My name is John [famous chef from Chicago] and I will be the chef at the forthcoming [soon to be famous eatery] opening in Lincoln Park (Chicago) later this summer. I would love to know if you have any wholesale distribution in the Chicago area. I would love to try some of your vinegars.
 Thanks,
 John [famous chef from Chicago]
 [Soon to be famous] Tavern & Inn

     We haven’t expanded our distribution into the Chicago area though it is decidedly a marvelous idea. I’m sure there are dozens of gourmet shops and delis that would do a bang-up job of selling authentic artisan vinegar. But, not yet. When we sell wholesale, we normally require purchase of a case (24 bottles) to make a eye-catching display in a new venue. At this point, I didn’t know if John [famous Chicago chef] wanted to use the vinegar in his cuisine or sell it from a shelf.

Hi John,
Sorry, no distribution to the Chicago area but if you'd like to order vinegar in quantity, I'm sure we could figure something out.
Nancy
Leatherwood Vinegary

     A mere dozen minutes passed between his first “send” and the following message.

Hi Nancy,
Thanks for the speedy reply!  What would be sufficient quantity and how could I go about sampling your vinegars?
 Thanks,
 John [Famous-Chicago-Chef]

     We’ve found that we sell much more vinegar when people have a chance to taste it. In the past we have sent small tasting lures to potentially large fish but…well…actually…I thought this would just be a flash in the pan so why not enjoy the dance and offer a taste of Minnesota instead of trying to cash in on a big fish.

Hi John,
 It would be so nice to be able to do some kind of virtual tasting experience for you. But...well...let me just assure you that in ten years of having people taste our vinegars, the only ones that weren't impressed were vinegar haters...er...ya...it wasn't that they didn't like our vinegar, they just didn't like vinegar. But, our youngest taster was about 8 months old and the oldest in the 90s and most love it. The fruit flavors hold the flavor of the fruits from which they are made. The herbals speak loudly of their herbal infusions.

 Normally we require a wholesale purchase of a case (24 bottles) which are priced at 65 % of retail. Since you're considering using the vinegar in your menu (is that right or is your query for retail sales?), and I assume emphasizing the local (domestic) nature of the product, we would be willing to reduce the requirement to six bottles. We ship via [a fast and dependable delivery service] in the five-state area and Chicago is included in this area. We can ship 6 bottles for about $14 though we would need your zip code to determine an exact amount.

 If you'd like to look at our current inventory on our website (www.leatherwoodvinegary.com) and choose six, send a check and we'll ship them. If you'd like recommendations, let me know.

 Nancy

     It was 11:08 p.m. and John was still on the line.

Hi Nancy,
Thanks for the helpful info.  I love your excitement about the vinegars…makes me more excited to taste and use them!  We would be utilizing them for foodservice, not retail as well.  My zip  code is 60605, although the restaurant's is different and I'm honestly not exactly sure what it is at the moment.  Here are my six to choose from…and please steer me in a different direction if you suggest something I haven't picked since you know these much better than I do).
 Apple
Chokecherry (mainly because I have no idea what that is and I'm intrigued)
 Plum
 Anise Hyssop in Rhubarb
French Tarragon in Grape
 Thyme in Peach

Can you send me a total and I will send you a check?  Thank you!
 John [Chicago’s finest]

     I, however, had gone to bed and didn’t get his message til the next morning. I checked with Ron and though John’s selections looked good, we only had one bottle of Anise Hyssop left and if he wanted it in any quantity, we wouldn’t be able to accommodate him until we’d made more.

Hi John,
 Your choices look like good ones. Chokecherry is a tall shrub that grows wild in this area. It has clusters of small dark cherries that are very tart. They're most often used in jelly or syrup (if the jelly maker isn't successful in getting it to gel, which happens often enough). Of course wine makers like to use them, too.

 I'd like to swap out the Anise Hyssop in Rhubarb for Basil in either Rhubarb or Tomato. As a chef you know how wonderful basil is in anything with tomatoes. Basil in Rhubarb is a very "local" thing while Basil in Tomato is a delightful twist on using basil with tomatoes. The tomato wine isn't much to write home about but when it's been converted to vinegar and infused with basil, well, it's pretty special. What do you think? (Oh, and Ron says there's only one Anise Hyssop left and if you decided to use it regularly, you'd soon be out and we may not have any more for a while. The Anise Hyssop herb is off to a slow start in this rainy spring/summer we're having.)

 So, your total for three fruit vinegars at 65% of retail ($7.80 each) and three herbal vinegars ($9.75 each) plus $12.47 for shipping equals $65.12. Be sure to include the address to which you would like it shipped.

 Thank you!
 Nancy

     Though up late the night before, John was awake early and thinking about vinegar again by 8:59 a.m.

Hi Nancy,
Thank you for the guidance.. I'm actually curious about both of those vinegars you suggested.. Should I swap out something else for one of them? Either way, I'll defer to you.

The address of the restaurant is [on a lovely avenue in Chicago].  Is there any way to pay online or do I have to send a check?

 Thanks,
 John [Famous and ambitious Chicago chef]

     I’d already led poor John down a winding path so what did I have to lose?

Ooohhh...I would think you'd want to try the French Tarragon and the Thyme. For only the cost of the vinegar and 40 cents additional for shipping, you could get 7 bottles. Oh, and then there's the Scarborough Fair that has a great story. The lyrics of Simon and Garfunkel's song is from an old old poem of impossible love.

Are you going to Scarborough Fair?
 Parsley, sage, rosemary, and thyme;
Remember me to the one who lives there,
For once she was a true love of mine.

Tell her to make me a cambric shirt,
Parsley, sage, rosemary, and thyme;
Sewn without seams or fine needlework,
If she would be a true love of mine.

Tell her to wash it in yonder well,
Parsley, sage, rosemary, and thyme;
Where never spring water or rain ever fell,
And she shall be a true lover of mine.
 

And on it goes for several more verses in which she responds with impossible tasks for him to do if he wants to be her lover again. Our Scarborough Fair vinegar is in mixed fruit, which in this case is a blend of apple and rhubarb. The four herbs combined with these two fruit flavors create a totally new party on the taste buds with no impossible tasks whatsoever.

But now I'm just making your job of choosing vinegar more difficult! Sorry. Eight bottles, perhaps?
Nancy

      Five minutes after my discretionary digression, John had made a decision.

You sang to me via email.. Sold.  Eight it is!

 Is there any online payment available or no?
Thanks,
 John

Yay!
 Sorry, no, no online payment option. I keep meaning to arrange something. But checks and cash still work for us.
 Nancy

Ok, no problem.. Can you send me an updated total and I will put a check in the mail today?
Thanks,
John

A few days later, John’s check arrived and the eight bottles were on their way. I sent him an email so he’d know they were coming.

Hi John,
No song today. How about a movie: "You've got mail!" Well, at any rate, your vinegar is on its way  : )
Nancy

Dressing for Success-ful Salads

Why a salad dressing book? Because dressing a salad is the most obvious use for Leatherwood vinegars. So many people have asked how to use the various flavors of vinegar. They often mention oil and vinegar but in a far off sort of way as if they’ve never actually dressed a salad with this most simple of dressings.

In my first vinegar-themed book Leatherwood Vinegary, a Winery Gone Sour, there is a whole chapter of recipes using vinegar. From salads to dessert, vinegar enhances and brightens the flavors of food as well as providing its own tangy acidic touch. The herbal vinegars take a step up by adding the distinctive flavor of each herb or herbal blend.

Dressing for Success-ful Salads, is a great way to start your exploration into the world of exciting salads and the sauces that dress them. We explore the world of vinegar, oil, salt, sweeteners and other ingredients for the making of dressings from classic to nouveau. Every ingredient is there for the purpose of creating flavor. Nothing is included to extend shelf life, artificially enhance otherwise inferior flavors, add thickness or create overly sweet syrupy concoctions.

Someone said recently that she wished she could taste salad dressings in the store before buying them because she was often disappointed when she tried them on her salads. How often does a bottle of dressing languish in the back of the refrigerator? How many other bottles join it as each one fails to satisfy? By learning to make your own, you will find the dressings that suit your taste profile and vanquish the banal bottles forever.

Each recipe is for a single serving. With the proper ingredients on hand, you will create a fresh dressing for each salad you make. Simply double, triple or quadruple as necessary to make the right amount for the number of people you are serving. Don’t double or triple it for your single salad; maybe you can’t eat too much salad but you can certainly overdo the dressing, calorie wise. A chart in the back of the book helps with multiplication just in case you’re cooking for a crowd or know that you like a particular recipe well enough to fill a decorative bottle that won’t languish.

The book also suggests combinations of vegetables, fruits, seeds, nuts, meat, cheese, as well as the greens that form the backdrop of your scenic salads. Enjoy the book and enjoy the exploration of eating well.

To order, please send a check for $5.95 (per book) plus $4 for shipping to: Leatherwood Vinegary, 20395 County Road 86, Long Prairie, MN 56347.

Foraging for Catnip

     Catnip grows wild here in central Minnesota as I’m sure it does in many places. We make a popular catnip vinegar so one of my duties this morning was to forage for some. As I weed and prune around the garden and orchard, I mentally map where I can find it when I need it. This time of year, most has already gone to flowers, with the leaves less than prime. But catnip continues to come up through the summer so I knew I’d find some young enough, maybe at the teenage stage.

     I collected a bucket and my new long-nose clippers. As I roamed, I clipped spent day lilies and hosta flowers as well as the occasional thistle. I checked the milkweeds for caterpillars but didn’t see many chewed leaves. I was pleased to see a monarch butterfly flit across the ponds. I hope it was planning to lay eggs on some of the milkweed we’ve saved for that purpose.

     Monarch eggs have suffered (if an egg can suffer) the predation by a variety of insects and protozoan parasites, seemingly reducing their numbers in recent years. About 20 years ago, we were concerned whether the monarchs would reproduce well in this area. We hadn’t seen many through that July but by the end of August we found many chrysalides hanging from the siding, statuary and lawn furniture.

     This year, and it’s already the end of August, I haven’t seen a single chrysalis, not even one caterpillar. We have plenty of milkweeds but few butterflies.

     My wandering across the yard in search of catnip led me to the best find near the chicken coop. The poor hens have been cooped up since they took a liking to strawberries and tomatoes. They even nibbled the leaves off the pepper plants when we set them out in the straw bale garden. We tried to fence them in with a makeshift fence. Though chickens aren’t high on the intelligence scale, they quickly found a way through. So, I bring them tasty morsels like melon rinds and the remnants of our meals of corn on the cob.

     The catnip was growing at the base of a huge basswood tree next to the coop. Scattered along with it was a healthy stand of deadly nightshade. That emphasizes the importance of knowing not only the plants that are useful but also those that grow alongside them.

     As I was clipping the catnip, I saw a flash of light. I thought I was seeing things until I heard a distant roll of thunder. We desperately need rain and it is in the forecast for today. The thunder was separated from the flash by long enough that I knew the lightning wasn’t close. But, flashes continued to come and each time the thunder was more immediate. I suddenly felt extremely vulnerable when several flashes were closely followed by ear-splitting thunder. There I stood, under a huge tree with a metal clipper with rubber handles and a ten-inch blade.

     What to do? I waited until the next flash and boom and then high-tailed it for the house, holding the clipper blade downward as if it would deflect the electrical charge if struck. Ron saw me coming and thought it was funny, I guess, though he hasn’t seen me run in quite a while. I didn’t linger out in the open but headed through the vinegary door while Ron stood outside looking upward. Well, he didn’t get struck, we got some rain, and now it’s moved on. 

     I washed the catnip and bagged it for the freezer. Our calico cat, Pandora, was enchanted by the bag. I gave her a stray leaf and she loved it, batting, tossing and nibbling on it. Javiar, the Maine Coon cat that belongs to our son, showed no interest at all. Our big orange tomcat, Jed, came late to the scene and ate the last bits. Catnip is a stimulant for cats so I suppose we’ll have them chasing each other through the house. It has a calming effect on humans so if you decide to try some of our catnip vinegar on your salad, you’ll enjoy the flavor and then calmly go about the rest of your day.

Blue ribbon wine

Ron has always said that it takes good wine to make good vinegar. He entered six Leatherwood wines in the Todd County Fair and was awarded six first-place ribbons.

April at Leatherwood

We’d like to think that the growing season is on its way. Ron optimistically pruned the apple trees yesterday. Today we have 6 inches of new snow. We know it can’t last, but everyone in the area feels the pain of one more day of winter’s blast.

The vinegary has been bustling with wine-making students. Have I mentioned that Ron gives classes for individuals and small groups? Working with wine kits, home grown or purchased fruit, participants learn the science of wine-making and set up their own batch in the first class. They come back to rack-off the wine from the primary fermenters into carboys and to monitor the fermentation process. Then a few weeks later, they come back again to bottle their wine and take it home. We have everything needed for making wine: all the equipment, materials and ingredients; even the bottles, corks and corkers. Some groups come back again and again for a fun time out and a good product to take home. Email Ron for more information.

I’ve mentioned in a couple of previous posts about the new labels for our vinegar bottles. I’ve painted 11 fruit images to identify the fruit flavors of the vinegars. You can see all of them at Whimsy Home Designs. Those same images also help identify the kind of vinegar used in some of our new products: Rhubarb Vinegar Soap, Raspberry Vinegar Soap, Cranberry Vinegar Lip Whip and Raspberry Vinegar Skin Cream. For now, you can see these products on the Whimsy Home Designs website. Soon, they’ll be added to a new Leatherwood Vinegary web store.

Another recent development: the folks at Smude’s Sunflower Oil have put together a catalog of locally produced items for school fundraisers. The catalog looks great and it’s an absolutely terrific idea to offer high quality local products when the kids need to generate funds for their activities. Learn more on their website.

Tomato wine vinegar

      Tomato wine vinegar was a successful experiment.
      Ron hand selected the tomatoes and in the usual process, which lasts at least a couple of months, turned them into tomato wine. I wouldn't say it was gourmet quality, though like many wines, it maybe would have become an acquired taste. But Ron didn't leave it at the wine stage. He put the vinegar starter in and set it up for a slow wait to see how tomato wine tasted as vinegar.
      Tomato wine vinegar is pretty good. It was ready (has to be at least 5% acidity) about the time we had a good supply of basil in the herb garden. Of course basil and tomatoes are classic pairings, like dill and pickles, like Ozzie and Harriet, like Ben and Jerry. Well, something like that anyway. With the thick row of prime-for-picking basil, Ron immediately infused the tomato vinegar with lots of fresh basil. I say "immediately" but that part of the process takes another two weeks.
     When the basil/tomato vinegar was ready, we tasted and were blown away by the intense flavors. We immediately (not after two weeks) knew this would be special on anything with tomatoes: fresh tomato salsa, on salads, sprinkled on pizza, simmered into spaghetti sauce.
      The Leatherwood Basil in Tomato Wine Vinegar has been a hit and now, in 2013, it deserves a new label: a fresh beautiful watercolor tomato.
      Some have asked if we sell just the tomato wine vinegar. We haven't yet since all of it has been infused with basil. We need a lot to meet the demand. But, maybe, if the tomato crop is good this year...we'll see.

The second new label

     Leatherwood Apple Wine Vinegar was one of the first varieties we made and is still a popular choice.
     The new label design shows a generic apple. Many different kinds of apples go into the Leatherwood wine that becomes Leatherwood Vinegar. The early harvest MacIntosh apples are pressed in August making an early wine and a resultant vinegar that may be more true to one variety than later apples that are mixed together. But, we don't make any distinction on different apple varieties once they have become vinegar.
     Leatherwood Apple Wine Vinegar is a little different from apple cider vinegar. Cider is apple juice that has fermented to a low level alcohol. It is then converted to vinegar. We make wine from the juice rather than cider. It is then converted to vinegar in a slow natural process. Some of the Leatherwood Apple Wine Vinegar is infused with dill to make our very popular Dill in Apple Wine Vinegar. This is wonderful to use whenever you like to add the flavor of dill. Try it in potato salad, cole slaw and marinades. We like it on baked or broiled fish.

See more of Nancy Leasman's artwork, in the same style as the Leatherwood Vinegary labels, at www.whimsyhomedesigns.homestead.com.

January 2013, New label designs

     The beginning of the calendar year is always a good time for planning, setting goals, and even achieving some of those goals. Here at Leatherwood, we set a winter goal of designing new labels for the vinegar bottles. Each fruit flavor will have its own design. At just a glance, shoppers will see the difference and know what a bottle holds.
     We'd like to introduce each new design here. Here's the first: CHERRY.

     Our CHERRY vinegar has proven so popular that it deserves the distinction of being the first one to be introduced with the new label. As you may have read in a previous post or perhaps learned on a tour here at the vinegary, folks have experienced pain relief from arthritis and gout by taking daily sips of this delightful vinegar. We like it for our daily sips, too. It's also great on salads, in marinades and stir fries.
     Leatherwood CHERRY vinegar is a beautiful ruby red vinegar. It looks pretty in its slender glass bottle with a cork and beeswax seal and its fancy new label. We also bottle some in the smaller 50 ml bottles to be packaged in our Sampler Packs.

Wow! We wait and wait for nice days to get the outside world back in order, the garden world, and our poor unconditioned bodies are so laid back and weak that we have to take repeated breaks to get the work done. Yesterday, I was doing some heavy-duty shoveling and at 9:00 last night my heart rate was still putt-putting along at 92 bpm. My blood pressure was great and my cholesterol level must be dissolving by the minute. Just see if one workout at the fitness center can accomplish that?! Unlike working out on treadmills and weight machines, I’ll have a beautiful garden to show for it; and with any luck, a svelte profile.


The herb garden made it through the winter and is coming back in full force. With one exception: the lemon balm. I had such a nice patch last year but apparently made a big mistake a month ago. There was so much foliage lingering from last year that I opted to burn off the brown herbal vegetation. The tarragon didn’t care. The mint didn’t mine. The oregano was optimistic. But the lemon balm is just not coming back. The thyme is a little iffy, too, and I didn’t burn that area. Maybe I’m not to be blamed. Maybe it was this goofy winter we had, the warm March and the cold April. The lemon balm vinegar we have in stock right now might be a very rare vintage.

The straw bale garden of last summer was a success so we’ll do another one this year. We have 20 bales lined up in four rows. They’re in the process of being conditioned right now and we’ll plant in another week. I’ve also plotted two special areas for giant pumpkin growing.

We’ve already had fresh rhubarb crisp and will have fresh asparagus tonight. We’ve had ramps from the woods, multiplier onions and chives, and the garlic is up and looking great.

I pruned the grape vines last week. They’re just beginning to bud. Blossoms are a long way off on them but the plums have finished blooming while the cherries and apples are humming with bees.

Ron has had several days of harvesting and bottling vinegar. We’ve had trouble keeping up with demand for the sampler packs so he’s bottled more in the 50 ml size. Frequent visitors have kept him busy both in requests for vinegar as well as wine-making supplies. He has several wine classes underway. Folks come here to start their wines, return for racking off and a few weeks down the road, again, for bottling. That’s working really well and with the fruit season starting, there will be abundant material to work with.

A visitor this morning, noting our dandelion dotted lawn, asked if we make dandelion wine. No, still haven’t though it wouldn’t take too long to gather enough for a small batch.

Time to get back outside. A storm rolled through this morning leaving the soil nice for working. It’s clouding up again so should be cooler to work in.

Olive Oil Tasting

Over the last few years our family has taken a formal approach to tasting food. Of course we offer vinegar tasting to all tour groups but our private tastings have been pretty interesting. Pickles, mustard, chocolate, blue cheese, and Scotch have been among the themes. This last Saturday, we compared nine olive oils from seven countries.


Our daily olive oil has been one we buy by the gallon. It comes from the Middle East and has only a small amount of English on the label. It does say, “Pure Olive Oil.” Other olive oils in our tasting included: Cat Cora’s Kitchen Greek, Italian Colavita, Baja Precious from Mexico, Zatoun from Palestine, Spanish Carozzi, Mt Kofinas from Crete, Columela also from Spain, and Italian Affiorato. Son-in-law Jim had a great time with online shopping for the oils. They came in a lovely variety of sizes and shapes of bottles.

Jim also planned the menu and wines to accompany the courses:

• Antipasto with Lustau Sherry

Prosciutto, roasted red peppers, sun dried tomatoes, olives, sweet & sour onions, marinated mushrooms, Asiago, Parmagiano Regiano

• Intermezzo

Vanilla gelato

• Tasting experience 9 olive oils from 7 countries

Fresh marble-sized mozzarella balls, baguette chunks, cold shrimp, small steak bits, warm boiled potatoes, crucible of sea salt

• Intermezzo

Raspberry sorbet

• Closing

Late harvest Zinfandel

Dark chocolate

The antipasto set the atmosphere. We started before noon and allowed plenty of time to taste and savor. Following the intermezzo, we took a little break while Jim set up the formal tasting offerings on the dining room table. He provided special spoons in which to pour the different olive oils to allow tasting of the singular characteristics of each. While it might seem off-putting to sip pure oil from a spoon, we soon forgot our American reluctance for such a straight forward approach to olive oil. Jim had thoughtfully provided comment sheets which we did our best to use. Comments appeared: nice, fruity, nutty, grassy, peppery, nice olive flavor, light, heavy, musty. Several of us chose the Palestinian Zatoun as our favorite.

We’ve long heard that Americans prefer mild olive oils. I expected that one or more of these would be strong flavored but found all of them to be mild to my taste. We’ve used olive oil in cooking and for dipping for many years. Maybe we have developed more worldly taste buds.

Vinegar has long been touted as beneficial to the human body. Olive oil is tasty and a great carrier for the fat soluble vitamins. I learned that I prefer my olive oil mixed with some sea salt and one of our Leatherwood Vinegars. The oil provides a bass note while the salt and vinegar sing the melodies. Whether for salads, marinades, or condiments, oil and vinegar mix well.

We will continue to use our Middle Eastern variety while it lasts (our source has gone out of business) and experiment more with the Zatoun and Carozzi which Ron found to his liking.

We highly recommend this kind of event for a family gathering. It’s a real conversation stimulator and fun activity for the whole family.

Winter weekend in Grand Marais

     One terrific way to keep the creative juices flowing is to take a cooking class. Whether novice or experienced cook, you’ll come away with new ideas and greater understanding of what constitutes good eating.

     We did just that this weekend, traveling up to Grand Marais for a French cooking class (see photos below) with second generation French chef Judi Barsness of Chez Jude. We stayed at the MacArthur House B&B, took in some of the north shore night life and spent five delight-filled hours with Judi.
     Judi planned the menu and prepped ingredients for our private class, a Christmas gift from our daughter and her husband who shared the weekend with us. We arrived at 9:00 in the Chez Jude dining room which is right across the road from Lake Superior, the fish market and the North House Folk School. Judi invited us into her kitchen with an immediate tempting treat of fresh scones with lemon curd, cranberry confit and whipped butter. While we indulged in this “second breakfast” (we’d enjoyed poppy seed muffins, vegetable frittata, fresh fruit and juice at the MacArthur) we reviewed the day’s menu and cooking instructions with Judi:
• Roasted butternut squash salad with cider vinaigrette

• Braised short ribs of beef (Bouef Bourguinonne)

• Potato Root Vegetable Gratin

• Molten bittersweet chocolate cake with Tawny Port and raspberries

     Judi grew up in her mother’s French restaurant (Frenchy’s and later Fleur de Lies) in Milwaukee. She learned her mother’s techniques and then sailed off to expand her cooking repertoire as sous chef in a 16th century manor house in England, studied at the Culinary Institute of America and the National Baking Center, interned with Alice Waters at Chez Panisse (California), and became the chef at Bluefin Bay resort on Minnesota’s North Shore. Eight years ago, Judi struck out on her own, purchased the building that had been a bakery and opened her own restaurant and cooking school. Judi’s husband Peter, who was instrumental in establishing North House Folk School helps out in the kitchen and delights guests with tales of his sailing adventures on the lake.
     After introductions, we jumped right into chopping, slicing and dicing. We coated the short ribs with herbs de Provence rub, browned diced bacon in a Dutch oven and then seared the meat on both sides. Adding a host of delicious ingredients to the pot, the meat went into the oven as did the cubed butternut squash which was destined for the salad.
     We combined apple cider, cider vinegar, and shallots, cooking them until the liquid was reduced by half. Then we whisked olive oil, Dijon mustard, salt and pepper into the liquid to finish the vinaigrette. Of course, we were thinking how Leatherwood Vinegars could be used in place of the cider vinegar and how they would influence the final flavor.
     Potatoes, rutabagas and parsnips were diced, cooked in water, lightly mashed with milk and butter and then spread in a baking pan. Topped with cheese and additional butter, this gratin baked in the oven until golden brown.
     The chocolate dessert of bittersweet chocolate, butter, sugar, tawny port, vanilla and a small amount of flour was baked in generously buttered ramekins placed in a pan half-filled with water.
     We began eating our four course dinner, each paired with wine, at about 12:30. We savored both food and conversation (Peter joined us) while Judi continued to flit in and out of the kitchen, attending to the final details of our meal while prepping and taking reservations for later in the day.
     Judi is excited about trying some of our vinegars in her menu. As her website says, “Chez Jude's menus reflect her commitment to the freshest offerings of the Minnesota seasons, organic, locally grown, harvested, wild caught, handcrafted ingredients.” That philosophy fits right in with ours. We also discussed how we might pair our cooking skills with hers in class offerings at the North House School.

     Friday night, our B&B host Max Bichel joined Pete Kavanaugh down at the Gunflint Tavern. With Max on the violin and Pete on guitar, they played a sampler of country music featuring the music of Willie Nelson, Johnny Cash and others. Max coaxed a great variety of delightful sounds out of his violin, pleasing his audience and one little dog snuggled on his master’s lap.
     We returned to the Tavern Saturday night and joined a table of diners only later to learn they were members of the Bluegrass band The Moss Piglets who then played from 9:00 to midnight. We were back in our cozy beds at the B&B long before midnight.
     Saturday evening we also sampled the food at the Crooked Spoon. We were so full from the good food at the MacArthur House and Chez Jude that we simply nipped into the appetizers, salads and the puff pastry topped onion soup. They were all delectable and judging by the full tables, it’s top of the list for the locals and visitors alike.

     We’re back into the work week, now, refreshed, rejuvenated, and excited about trying new cooking techniques in our kitchen. We’ve had a call from Bon Appetite Management ordering a good amount of vinegar for their catering service and one from a community planning their summer festival and inviting us to bring vinegar. We’ve also had a call from daughter number five saying a semi’s actions put her in a spinout on the snowy freeway causing a three car pile-up. She was on her way to interview for a summer internship at an organic farm. The front of her car has taken on a new shape and her right front signal light is dangling. She’s OK and will still try to make it to the interview.

Chez Jude: www.chezjude.com

MacArthur House: www.macarthurhouse.net

Gunflint Tavern: www.gunflinttavern.com

The Crooked Spoon: www.crookedspooncafe.com



Ron expertly slices and dices at his work station in the kitchen of Chez Jude.



Nancy and Judi add the short ribs to the Dutch oven.



Photos courtesy of Dawn Tanner.

January 2, 2012

     Ron has been so busily bottling vinegar that he broke the corker. Our vinegars are all made in small batches and we haven’t gone the route of using a huge mechanized process for bottling. Each cork is inserted into a bottle by the use of a corker that holds the bottle and positions the cork correctly. Then it’s Ron’s muscles and the leverage of a handle that squeezes the cork into the bottle. He’s just bottled strawberry, cherry, and Serrano pepper.
     Strawberry was one of our first vinegars back eight years ago. It’s nice to have a good supply again. Cherry is always in demand. Serrano pepper, while not our hottest vinegar, is a zippy one and a good seller.
     This afternoon, I handled the waxing duties on seven (twenty-four bottle) cases. While it might be good for a wine to breathe through a natural cork, air can stimulate continuing mother formation in the bottles. It’s perfectly harmless, even desirable as a sign of natural vinegar. That's fine but we'd rather not have too much develop between the time we bottle and someone uses it. A layer of beeswax fully seals the bottles, deterring any additional “mothering.” Each bottle is hand dipped in melted beeswax. It’s a pleasant job with the sweet honey scent of the beeswax and the satisfaction that comes with producing our distinctive Leatherwood Vinegars.
     I’ve updated our products page with a current inventory of flavors. For those of you waiting for raspberry: Ron checked the acidity this morning. It’s up to 4.7% so we’ll give it a couple more weeks to reach full potency.