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For September, we couldn’t decide between the Épices de Cru exceptional Paprika 210 and their Andalouses spice blend, so we decided to do both as spice(s) of the month. Enjoy each! Salut!

SPECIAL SELECTION PAPRIKA 210 FROM EASTERN SPAINIt’s hard to believe that something as seemingly passé as paprika could have such a big impact on your everyday eating. But sure enough, this stuff has been appearing—either as a main feature, or as an elegant add-on—at almost every meal I’ve made over the last month or so. It truly is terrific, and takes paprika to a whole new level.

For context, you should probably know that paprika (pimenton in Spanish) is to Murcia in eastern Spain what saffron is to La Mancha in the center; the core spice around which almost everyone’s cooking is based. In Murcia people use pimenton like people in Parma use Parmigiano—every day and at almost every meal.

If you aren’t familiar with it (and many Americans aren’t), Murcia is a rarely visited corner of Spain. To find it, you drive straight south down the country’s east coast from Barcelona and Valencia. It’s also known for its exceptional Calasparra rice district in the Murcian highlands and for its great vegetables. But in Spain, Murcia, is without question, best-known for pimenton.

While paprika is often dismissed in North America as something to use merely for color, properly produced pimenton adds enor-mous amounts of flavor and aroma. Unlike some of the spicier paprikas from Hungary or Western Spain, Murcia producers are adamant about the importance of the paprika having rich, mellow sweetness. Typically, Murcia pimenton is made from the Nyora pepper, the same chile that’s so essential to Catalan romesco sauce. It’s a round, dimpled pepper, not much bigger than a ping-pong ball. A couple of pimenton producers shared stories of peo-ple who have tried to grow it in other parts of Spain. Supposedly every attempt at this has ended up with spicier peppers than those that grow in the unique soil of Murcia.

The­best­Murcia­paprikas­are:­

A) Made from peppers which are sun-dried. Machine drying sig-nificantly speeds the process, but detracts from the delicate fla-vor. I’ve generally found this to be true of all dried fruits and ber-ries. (Try the sun-dried tomatoes, couscous, and harissa from the Mahjoub family in Tunisia).

B) Stone ground in order to protect the flavor. The cooler tem-perature protects the essential oils of the dried peppers.

C) The less seed left in the mix the better. Most commercial offer-ings have seeds and stems left in, as they reduce cost and aren’t easily apparent to the unknowing consumer.

D) Made from 100-percent Murcia Nyora peppers. This may seem obvious and easily recognized from labels, but in truth it’s not. You really have to know the producer to know what’s inside the package. Fortunately, we know the de Vienne family, and they know the people that produce this incredible stuff. As Philippe de Vienne says, “Murcia pimenton peppers produces the most color-ful and aromatic Spanish paprika.”

Philippe explains that, “Most Spanish paprika produced in Spain is made from a blend of whole peppers grown in Peru, Chile, or China, with some of the more expensive and delicious genuine Spanish peppers to achieve the grade desired.” The raw material from the respective sources is not the same. “The varieties grown outside of Spain are closer to red bell peppers,” he said. “They are not pimenton. The blended peppers are ground with stems and seeds to produce ‘paprika.’ That is legal under European food regulations which essentially state that the country where the greater value is added to a product can be named as the country of origin. If you think that is dishonest, think of a cookie made in France with American wheat and Brazilian sugar! You then see the logic of the thing. However, that is not the way the average consumer, or we, interpret it.” I’d never thought of it that way, but what he was saying made perfect sense.

As with all foods (and I suppose with all things), there are huge variations in quality from one brand of paprika to the next. “We have been buying our paprika now for four years or so from a small (by current European standards) company,” Philippe explained. “We love their products. Still family-owned, a mira-cle in the ‘consolidation’ frenzy that European food companies have gone through in the past decade. They have been produc-ing paprika for 75 years in Fortuna, Murcia, the prime terroir of Spain.“

And, as with all of their offerings, the de Vienne family has suc-cessfully found something so special that it exceeds pretty much all previously recognized standards. Literally, this stuff busted the scales. Here’s what Philippe said, “What the ASTA (American Spice Trade Association) grading refers to is the color of the paprika. Standard grades range from 60 to 160. The higher the number, the richer the color. This is not strictly an esthetic consideration, a

rich dark red color also indicates a high concentration of flavor compounds. ASTA 60 paprika is dull orange, ASTA 160 rich red and flavorful. Most paprika available on the market is between 60 and 120. The higher ASTA 140 to 160 grades are usually con-sidered to be too expensive to be used or sold by most buyers. Grades higher than 160 are only produced on request.”

I thought I’d experienced the gamut of Spanish paprika, but Philippe’s comment, of course, piques my interest. We’ve made a living here at Zingerman’s by finding, cooking with and offering for sale, the quality levels that are generally considered “too spe-cial” for consumers. We’ve always believed the opposite. That our customers—given a chance to learn about and product and taste the difference for themselves—will regularly opt for the out-standing offering. Is there anything higher than that on the mar-ket? I asked Philippe. Of course. I should have known because the folks at Épices de Cru—like us—don’t stop wherever everyone else does. “They make our paprika and smoked paprika to our specification using ASTA 210 (or higher) pimenton from Murcia.”

The raw material, the peppers, are in themselves very special. “They’re a fleshy pepper, intensely sweet with a deep rich color. Spain was after all the first place in the world to receive the chiles of Mexico; so it is not surprising to find that these older variet-ies have adapted and thrived in sunny southern Spain in the last 500 years. What we request from our supplier is the highest grade

Spice of the monthEach month now we’ve been featuring

one of the many totally wonderful and wildly delicious spices (or spice blends) from our friends at

Épices de Cru in Montreal. My hope is that we give you just a little bit of

extra encouragement to try some of these amazing offerings. They have,

without question, had a hugely posi-tive impact on my cooking at home, and also on the quality of our food across the Zingerman’s Community. In the same way that better olive oil has raised the flavor bar on so many

of our salads, pasta dishes, soups, etc. so too are better spices making

for much more flavorful food. If you haven’t yet experienced their incred-

ible Indian cloves, their wild Uzbek cumin, green cardamom, Ethiopian berbere blend, or

others, I’d make the leap. Your food, your life—and the lives of the people who grow the spices as

well—will be far better for it.

If you’re up in Montreal I’d really encourage you to visit the Épices de Cru shops and to meet the de Vienne family in person. If I don’t convince you to trade up to better spices here, I’m totally confident that twenty minutes in their shop—smelling, tasting and talking spices—will quickly do the trick. Like great chocolate, great bread, great tomatoes, once you’ve experi-enced really good spices, you’ll never willingly go back to the average offerings readily avail-able in the mass-market world.

Thirty years of traveling the globe, a passion for culture and cooking, a love of history and people, a deep devotion to study and to learning the way people cook in their homes (not in fancy restaurants) has led to their values-driven, quality-fixated, flavor-focused company. Their dedication to bringing great spices to food-loving folks like us is inspiring. With pretty much every product they purvey, they’ve been to visit the producer, know the background on how the product is made, and in many cases have coached growers into ever higher quality and fuller flavor so that they can earn more for what they grow. There are many stories of places where the de Vienne’s dedication to quality in the product, and their willingness to pay more for better product, have significantly improved the quality of life of the people who grow the spices. Thanks to the de Viennes, spice growers who had very little ten or fifteen years ago are now living in much nicer homes, with far more finan-cial stability than many ever imagined.

Given that our friends at Épices de Cru have over 400 spices in their shop, if we continue featuring one item a month we should be covered for the next thirty years or so. By which point, of course, the family will have discovered many other wonderful offerings to send to us Ann Arbor. My point is that the learning, experiencing, aromas, and flavors of these spices is really a life’s work. Each new spice we encounter is an experience, and my excitement grows the more I experiment with it. I can tell you right now that sim-ply from writing about their Spanish 210 Paprika, I can barely prepare a meal in which it isn’t present.

If I haven’t already communicated my feelings effectively, let me restate that it’s both an honor and a pleasure to work with the de Vienne’s. From the get-go it’s been a revelation to taste just how amazingly good their spices are. And to realize—once again—that you really can taste the difference between the “not bad, B-grade” product that generally makes up the bulk of the “high-end” market and the truly exceptional, A+ offerings we here at Zingerman’s, and de Vienne family in Montreal, seek out so determinedly.

SEPTEMBERspecial selection paprika 210 & épices andalouses

continued on page 2

Murcia

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Murcia Paprika Mashed PotatoesThese are an easy alternative to basic mashed potatoes and they add great color to a plate when served on the side with meat or fish.

2 pounds Yukon gold potatoes

4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

2 medium cloves garlic, peeled and bruised

3 teaspoons Épices de Cru Pimenton 210, plus additional for garnish

1 1/2 teaspoons coarse sea salt

1/2 cup whole milk

Steam the potatoes in their jackets 35-40 minutes until very tender. (Take note that the cooking time can vary signifi-cantly depending on the size of the potatoes.) While the potatoes are steaming, heat the olive oil in a small saucepan over moderate heat. Add the garlic and sauté one to two minutes, stirring a few times to avoid browning. Remove the pan from the heat and set it aside.

Warm a large mixing bowl (in which you’ll mash the potatoes) so it’s ready to use when the potatoes are tender. In a small saucepan warm the milk, pimenton and sea salt. Mix well to make sure there are no lumps.

When the potatoes are done, push them, along with the garlic, through a food mill or ricer into a large bowl. Add the olive oil and mix well. Slowly add the milk mixture and mix well. Add more salt if needed. Serve in small bowls with a generous sprinkling of additional pimenton. Serves 4-6

possible from a particular vintage. The 2014 vintage allowed a 210 grade. In some exceptional years, higher grades are possible. This can only be achieved by using exclusively Murcia pimenton pep-pers that have been deseeded and de-stemmed. This is expensive and time-consuming, but its the only way to create such a sweet and aromatic paprika, as seeds and stems are somewhat flavorless and often bitter.”

All that attention to small details makes a big difference! “Our sup-plier assures us that they have only two customers in the world that request such grades,” Philippe told me. It’s an unusual offer-ing for the De Viennes as well. “The paprika is practically the only spice we buy already ground. All other ground spices we offer are ground here on our premises.” It really is amazing. Velvety, won-derful, full-flavored, eye-opening and attention-getting without being “hot.” When I set it next to other Spanish paprikas, the color is definitely brighter and bolder, and the flavor follows suit.

Paprika, as I was saying above, is an everyday essential in Murcia. If you took it away I don’t know what people would do! The stan-dard Murcian breakfast is two pieces of toasted baguette drizzled with olive oil, and a pinch each of paprika and salt. Similarly, you’ll be served boiled potatoes dressed with, you guessed it, olive oil, salt and paprika. The same setting and combination also appear on eggs, fried first in olive oil, then sprinkled with salt and pimenton. The color of the paprika, in particular this 210 paprika from Épices de Cru, spreads across the fried egg like a stunning orange-red sun-set around the yolk.

Getting the idea? Beyond this basic trio (oil, salt and paprika), pimenton is used extensively in chorizo sausage, in rice dishes (including paella, where it’s often used alongside saffron), and with seafood. Strangely, the region of Galicia—in the far opposite cor-ner of Spain—is the largest purchaser of Murcia paprika because of its use in polpo gallego—octopus boiled and spiced with salt, paprika, and probably some olive oil as well. It’s delicious—one of my favorite dishes. You can pick up octopus already cleaned at Monahan’s excellent seafood market in Kerrytown. Simply cut it into chunks, bring to a boil and simmer it for a good hour or so till it’s tender. Toss with extra virgin olive oil, a good bit of this amaz-ing paprika, some sea salt. And if you like, a squeeze of lemon.

The full sensual flavor of the paprika is particularly good on fresh cheese. I love it on the City Goat cheese from Zingerman’s Creamery. I’ve taken to dusting one side of the cheese with paprika, the other with the ground black pepper from India (see below). It’s sort of my historically focused cook’s way to have some fun. Columbus set sail to the West to find a source for black pepper. What he found instead were the chiles that were the ancestors of the modern Nyora chiles that are grown in Murcia for this paprika. As a result of his error, paprika today dominates Spanish cooking while the black pepper he was seeking is a distant second. I like putting them together because a) they taste good, b) the black and the red look great together on the table and c) it’s a way to close Columbus’ culi-nary loop on the table today. All of which make me happy.

When I visited there ten or twelve years ago, I asked our guide while traveling through the region what else local people did with pimenton. A tall, strikingly beautiful woman who works with the Murcia Board of Trade, she stops and thinks for a minute. She started with all the usual suspects, those I’ve already cited above. “What else?” I asked. “I used to cook,” she says somewhat apolo-getically, unable to come up other options. Stumped, she suddenly smiles, pulls out her cell phone, and says, “Wait. I call my mother.” After a few seconds for the phone to ring, then an enthusiastic “Mama???” She launches into a quick discourse in Spanish that loses me after about thirty-five seconds. She listens, speaks, again, listens some more, then hangs up. “OK,” she says. “I remember. We mash potatoes with the paprika, with olive oil, some garlic, and salt. It’s called ‘Atasca Burras.’ “What’s that mean?” I ask. “The stuck burro,” she says with a smile in her Spanish accent. “What’s your mother’s name?” I remember to ask, as I want to give credit where credit is due. The recipe for Pilar’s Mashed Potatoes with Pimenton is at right.

She also tells me of another dish, a sort of a Murcian coleslaw. Coarsely chop some cabbage, then dress with olive oil, garlic, salt, pimientos, and pimenton. Another of her mother’s dishes sounds equally interesting: roast pork with paprika and cinnamon. To make it, mix extra virgin olive oil, garlic, oregano, salt, a touch of cinnamon and paprika till it forms a moderately thick paste. The paste is then rubbed onto pork, which is then left to marinate a bit, then roasted. The same, she assures me, can be done with chicken or fish.

NOTE: When you use any paprika in cooking, be sure to add it along with some liquid, or its natural sugars will quickly burn.

Paprika and Cumin Marinated OlivesThis is a marinade I first tried in Portugal. It’s tough to find Portuguese olives in the States, so I’ve used Farga Aragon (also known as Empeltre) olives from Spain or even Niçoise olives. These olives are a mess to eat—use plenty of napkins—but they’re delicious.

1 pound black olives (about 4 cups)

1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil

2 teaspoons Épices de Cru Pimenton 210

2 cloves garlic, peeled and bruised with the side of a knife

2 dried bay leaves, lightly crushed

2 teaspoons Épices de Cru wild Uzbek cumin seeds, toasted

Place the olives in a medium bowl. Add the olive oil, Pimentón, garlic, and bay leaves. Grind half the cumin seeds in a spice grinder or with a mortar and pestle. Add, along with the remaining whole seeds, to the olives. Stir.

Cover, refrigerate and marinate for 2 days, stirring occasionally. The olives will keep for 3 to 4 weeks in the refrigera-tor. Bring them to room temperature before serving.

Spice of the month

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Part of our work with Épices de Cru has been to discover the wonderful plethora of peppercorns that are out there in the world. Although Columbus failed to find any on his voyage across the Atlantic, the de Viennes have found plenty.

The better-known Telicherry peppercorns have been the staple of our cooking here at Zingerman’s for decades. But, of course, the de Viennes are opening a whole new world of black peppercorns to us. Black pepper, it turns out, is like wine or cheese or any other agricultural product in that there’s a huge range of sources, quality levels, crop years, and everything else. This new arrival is one of my fvavorites.

The Mlamala pepper is one of the first to arrive in Ann Arbor from the 2015 harvest. It comes from the Cardamom Hills, near the source of the great green cardamom we get from the de Viennes (try it in the Armenian coffee at Zingerman’s Coffee Company!). It’s harvested in the hills facing the areas near the Periyar river where the de Viennes semi-wild Tribal black pepper (also amazing!) comes from. “Unlike tribal, it is from a domesticated variety of pepper vines, hence the larger berries. Similar terroir, different varietal,” Philippe explained.

The pepper comes from a part of India that speaks Malayam, one of the 22 official languages of the country. In case you were wondering, it has the largest number of letters in its alphabet of any of the Indian languages. The de Viennes’ friend and pepper-sourcer extraordinaire, Sudheer, shared that, “Mlamala, if you translate from the local Malayalam language, it means ‘deer.’ ‘Mala’ means Hills. So ‘Mlamala’ is ‘deer hills.’ Many years back Mlamala is the place having lot of deers, though now you can see only a few of them.”

The district is very remote, situated on the bank of the Periyar River. It does not have a proper road, so jeep is the main mode of transportation. The remoteness has kept the area from being overly commercialized. Sudheer says that it “...has lots of small pepper farmers. Mlamala is surrounded by tea plantations. Many migrated from different parts of Kerala. 40 years back nobody wanted land over there due to bad weather. But it turns out the climate is good for quality peppers, now they made a good road.”

Part of the quality comes from the altitude—these Mlamala pepper vines grow at 2500 to 3000 feet above sea level. The area gets a lot of sunlight which, along with the good local soil that’s naturally fertilized by the farmers, yields large and full flavored berries. Careful, timely harvesting and process-ing complete the picture. It’s a delicious, full-flavored, spicy regional black pepper. There’s a freshness and liveliness to its flavor, and an aroma that comes from being new crop. It’s actually air-shipped to Montreal for Épices de Cru, then boxed and sent south over the border to us. It’s got a lot of deep, balanced, long-lasting pepper heat. Lots of low notes, less wininess than the Wynad, more of a loving heat that really stays with me for a marvelously long and very pleasant time. Use it any way you would use other black peppercorns, which, if you’re like me, means on almost everything. I barely eat a meal without freshly ground black pepper. Salads, pas-tas, meats, seafood, soup, tomatoes... Honestly it’s even good on vanilla ice cream. Exploring the different black pepper-corns we’re getting from Épices de Cru is going to bring you a set of whole new flavors and aromas. I hope you enjoy this special pepper as much as I have.

Paprika and all sorts of other wonderful additions make this traditional southern Spanish blend into something really special. To be clear, all the blends from Épices de Cru are based on spice combinations that are traditional in the regions in which the de Vienne’s encountered them. All the blends are made by mixing whole spices. When you open the tin, you’re pretty much assured of being impressed by the aromas and the look of what’s inside. It’s true that grinding to order takes a bit more time, but no more time (less, actually) than it takes to grind coffee beans. All you’ll need is a simple mortar and pestle and about sixty seconds of elbow work to grind them. By taking that extra minute you release the aromatics in the spices and maximize the flavors about fifteen-fold.

This particular blend is typical of Andalucia in the south of Spain. While we think of Morocco and North Africa as huge centers for the spice trade, remember that up until the late 15th century and the rise of Spanish Inquisition, the Iberian peninsula had a very large and very successful Arab, or Moorish, population. This blend is based on what would have made Moroccan food so special.

“The inspiration for this blend,” Philippe told me, “comes from the meat skewers that are common in Spain. The smaller versions are called pinchitos and are often served at tapas bars. Meat, usually pork or chicken, is cubed and marinated with spices, red wine vinegar, garlic, salt and olive oil for as long as time and patience allow, 12 to 24 hours being ideal.” I love it on swordfish or scallops as well. I haven’t tried it on tofu but . . . why not right?

Philippe explains that, “Its a great blend we created or more accurately, recreated. Ancient blends like this have gone through centuries of tinkering, mistakes and experi-mentation. They have reached a perfect balance that is difficult to improve upon. That’s what makes it pretty fool-proof and delicious in a lot of recipes. Follow the golden rule: close your eyes, smell the spices and let your emo-tions guide you. Such is the power of classic spice blends.”

“Pinchos,” Philippe pointed out, “are obviously of Moorish origin even though they are usually made with pork, one can imagine that they were made originally with lamb. The original recipe certainly did not contain paprika as that spice only reached Spain after the Moors were expelled from Andalusia in southern Spain 500 years ago. Saffron was very likely used to color and flavor the meat. Indeed today they are often described as ‘Pinchos Moruno,’

Moorish skewers. They’re great on the grill but you can do them indoors as well in a hot sauté pan.

“In Spain every tapas bar and grandmother has a ‘secret recipe.’ The spices each uses vary, but usually in this part of Spain they include paprika, cumin, black pepper, some herbs, or sometimes cinnamon and ginger. Saffron is (sadly) too often substituted by turmeric for the sake of economy. Our version is inspired from this tradition. It is assembled from Malabar black peppercorns, coriander seeds, cumin, fennel seeds, oregano, bay leaf, Spanish gar-lic, our exclusive smoked pimenton 210 and half a gram of top-grade Afghani saffron goes into every can.” This last is no small thing—the saffron adds a lot to the aroma and the flavor. Additionally working with the Afghani growers to find a livelihood in agriculture contributes positively to the country.

Honestly, my bias has been bringing me back to this blend regularly since I first tried it. It brings together cumin and paprika, two of my favorite spices. Add in the sensual aroma and complex flavor of the saffron and I’m totally sold.

Of course, it’s the way that all the ingredient spices come together so successfully that makes this blend so special. I love using it for marinating olives. Philippe adds that, “As with all classic, well-balanced spice blends it can be used for much more than the original recipes. At Épices de Cru we classify it in the ‘all purpose blends’ category. We have made rice dishes, vegetable dishes, fish and seafood dishes. It gives an great Southern Spain flavour to impro-vised dishes. We even made a coconut milk-based South India pork curry with it instead of a curry paste. We have added maple syrup to the marinade of Pinchos. We are from Québec after all!”

I’ve been adding it to rice dishes. Sauté some Spanish Calasparra rice in olive oil until golden, add some of the ground Épices Andalouses, a bit of sea salt and then broth or water and simmer ‘til the rice is almost tender (al dente). It’s excellent on almost any meat (as per Philippe’s com-ments above) or seafood. Very good in bean soups, or bet-ter still, in one of your last fresh tomato soups of the sea-son! And it’s a wonderful way to spice up (the Paprika 210 would work wonders, too!) your deviled eggs or egg salad.

OCTOBER new crop mlamala black pepper from india

This talk celebrates the release of Zingerman’s series of “Secret” pamphlets—indi-vidual essays excerpted from Ari’s nationally recognized series of business books, Zingerman’s Guides to Good Leading. The pamphlets con-tain cutting edge business insight from Zingerman’s progressive and positive approach to business, while at the same time honoring the work of anarchist publi-cations in centuries past, for whom pamphlets were one of the most typical vehicles to spread ideas in the world.

Bocadillo­Dinner­Plate­$14.99featuring­Andalusian­Spices­from­Épices­de­Cru!Available­5-10pm,­every­day.An Iberian feast of Michigan pork shoulder smothered in a blend of Andalusian­Spices­from­ Épices­ de­ Cru and slow roasted to tender perfection, piled high on a crusty baguette slathered in green garlic aioli. Our housemade Gazpacho, featuring local pro-duce at the height of its flavor and a healthy dose of Spanish sherry vinegar, and your choice of vegetable side from our salad case round out this delectable dish.

Spice of the monthÉPICES ANDALOUSES – The Classic Spice Blend Of Andalucia

September

Plate of the Month

The Secret Life of Pamphlets

A Look at How Anarchism and Creative Business Come Together A­Talk­with­Zingerman’s­co-founder­Ari­Weinzweig

September 16, 5:30-7:00Hatcher Library Gallery, 913 S. University Ave., Ann Arbor

ISSUE # 252 SEPT-OCT 2015 ISSUE # 252 SEPT-OCT 2015­4 ­5

A Trio of Terrific Spanish Egg DishesIf someone had told me twenty years ago some of my favorite foods from Spain were going be simple dishes of eggs with little more than potatoes and onions, I doubt I’ve have

believed them. In a land lush with stuff like saffron, amazing sausage, incredible traditional cheese, paella, olive oil, sherry vinegar, and spices, eggs sound so mundane. And yet,

it’s true. In my love for simple, traditional, great tasting dishes, I wanted to share three ways that I like to use eggs to bring Spanish cooking into my kitchen. All three are very

standard in Spain and can be easily prepared after a long day at work.

1. SPANISH TORTILLASFor clarity’s sake, let me say up front that in Spain, tortillas are made of eggs, not cornmeal or wheat flour. So, despite the common name, forget for the moment about the Mexican tortillas. The term for tortilla most often used in translation is “omelet,” but for me at least, omelets are a pretty differ-ent dish, both in the execution and in the eating. The closest thing I can use for visual comparison is probably an Italian frittata, but the process for making the two is totally differ-ent, as is the way that they’re eaten.

A well-made Spanish tortilla is one of my favorite foods in the world. It’s easy-to-make, carefully crafted comfort food that few Americans have ever had the chance to experience. Legend has it that it was invented by a peasant who sought to serve a particularly hungry king. They were a big part of Sephardic Jewish cooking, prominent in the communities of Tunisia and Algeria where they were known as “marcoude.” Similar styles of egg dishes are found in the Sephardic com-munities of Greece and Turkey, though they’re usually made with mashed, instead of whole-sliced, potatoes. In the early years of the 20th century, the tortilla was a practical way for people on the Iberian peninsula to eat, most of whom had little money. It used only onions, potatoes, olive oil, and eggs—probably the ingredients most commonly available all over the country—and allowed for the addition of most any other ingredient that people might have on hand.

In its simplicity, the tortilla really is one of the great—and most widely consumed—dishes of Spain. These days you’ll see some version of the tortilla in nearly every bar or café. Nearly everyone makes them at home as well. You can serve them warm as a main course, at room temperate as a pic-nic lunch, cut as a tapa before a main meal, or as a filling in a simple sandwich. Spaniards eat them less often in the morning but there’s no reason you and I couldn’t do that. Although the traditional potato version can take about 45 minutes to make, other tortillas with other ingredients can be ready in less time than that. And because tortillas keep well I always make more than I really need in the moment and save the rest for supper the next day. I actually like them better after they’ve been allowed to rest for a while.

Just to give you some visual to put in your head, a tortilla is a golden round “cake” (from the word “torta”) of eggs and the other ingredients. Usually they’re about ten inches or so across but I’ve seen smaller and larger versions, as well. For the most popular of Spanish tortillas, all you need is an onion, about six medium sized potatoes, six eggs, some salt and a lot of good olive oil. If that sounds like vegetable heavy ratio for an omelet, it is. That’s because a tortilla isn’t an omelet—it’s a tortilla.

So how do you make one of these things?

It’s really pretty darned easy. Peel the potatoes and slice them fairly thinly, maybe 1/8 of an inch thick. Do the same with the onion. As with all things culinary the better the ingredients the better the dish is going to be. Freshly dug onions and potatoes will have much more flavor. If you can get local eggs from chickens that actually run around—eggs that haven’t been refrigerated—that’s a great start. For the potatoes, the low-starch varieties seem to work best—I like Yukon Golds or any of the really great heirloom varieties.

The olive oil that you cook them in should be of better qual-ity—please don’t try to cut corners by not using extra virgin oil—it’s actually the main seasoning in the dish, not just as a medium in which to cook. Whatever other ingredients you use, make them good too. A simple dish like this isn’t ever going to be better than what you use to make it. In fact, the most amazingly delicious tortilla I ever ate was served to me for lunch at the home of Xandra Falco, who along with her brother, makes the amazing Marquess de Griñon olive oil in

the district of Toledo. When she served it up, accompanied by bit a bit of bread and a small salad, it tasted incredibly good, and for fifteen or twenty minutes I sat at the table, talking about olive oil, busi-ness and other interesting subjects, all the while savoring each bite. It was excellent.

Finally, trying to figure out why this torti-lla was so much more interesting than all the others I’d had, I asked Xandra (“Sandra” in Spanish) what was in it. Her answer was simple—eggs, potatoes, salt, olive oil. Exactly what was in every other tortilla I’d had. It took me ‘til the next day before the light finally came on. The tortilla was so amazing quite simply because it’d been made with the Griñon oil. Which, here in Ann Arbor, I don’t generally use (at $40 or so a bottle) to cook eggs in. But, cost aside, it helps me again make the point about how easy it is to cook great food when you use great ingredients. You may not make a tortilla using such special oil every day, but when you really want to treat yourself or those you love, you might just try it. It doesn’t have the prestige of truffles or foie gras but personally, I’d prefer eating it to either of the other two.

Start by heating about 8 ounces of oil in a heavy skillet. It will look like an awful lot of oil if you’re not used to cooking like this but don’t worry—the potatoes and onions basically need to almost “boil” in the oil. When the oil is hot, add the potatoes and onions. Stir gently, but well. Add a bit of salt. Move the vegetables lightly around the pan every few min-utes. You don’t want them to brown but it’s very important that they cook all the way through so that the potatoes are really nice and tender; this can take 15 to 20 minutes or so depending on how thinly you slice them.

When the potatoes and onions are tender, remove them with a slotted spoon and let them drain for a minute or two in a colander. Pour off all but a couple spoonfuls of the oil (don’t discard—you can still use it for other cooking). Beat the eggs gently in a large bowl. When smooth, add the still-warm (but not too hot, cooked-potato-and-onion mixture to the eggs. Mix gently and let stand, as is, for about 15 to 20 minutes so that the vegetables soak up some of the egg.

Heat the skillet with the couple spoonfuls of reserved olive oil still in it. Non-stick skillets work well but whatever you cook in make sure it’s pretty hot. Add the egg-potato-onion mixture. Spread it evenly across the pan then cook for about 3 to 4 minutes ‘till the bottom of the tortilla is lightly brown. Then put a plate over the top of the tortilla and quickly flip the entire tortilla over onto it. Immediately slide it (uncooked side down) back into the hot skillet. Cook until lightly brown on the surface. The tortilla should be soft, but not totally runny on the inside. Of course, everyone can cook to the doneness that they like, but I personally prefer a softer and moister texture. Let the tortilla sit on a plate for at least a few minutes to set up before you serve. I find that they’re best when they’re not really super-hot. In fact, in Spain you’re more likely to get a wedge of tortilla served at something close to room temperature.

2. REVUELTOSHardly anyone over here in the U.S. will know what revueltos are, but we ought to. It’s another of those seem-ingly simple, but I think, significant dishes from Spain that are really good, yet have gone pretty much unno-ticed over here. Part of the problem I think is that most Americans miss out on revueltos because recipe writers translate the name of the dish as “scrambled eggs” which isn’t real likely to get much attention. Granted, it’s true that you do scramble eggs to make revueltos but they are not scrambled eggs the way we know them over here.

The biggest difference is the proportions of any ingre-dients added to the eggs. If you’re making revueltos, the

1. Warm, just-cooked, along with a nice salad for lunch or dinner.

2. Cut into small squares and served at room tempera-ture as an appetizer or “tapa” with glasses of wine, sherry, or beer.

3. Stored for a day or so (I just lay a dry cloth over the tortilla and keep it on the counter), then cut into wedges and eaten as is (or with a bit of mayonnaise).

4. Put into a split crusty roll (the Bakehouse’s hoagie roll would be great) and eaten as a sandwich.

Aside from being really good to eat, tortillas are incredibly versatile. Once you master the basic ver-sion you might try one other ingredients like Serrano ham, most any good vegetables, braised greens, good seafood, Spanish chorizo, or cheese. I’ve also made marvelously rich tortillas with duck eggs from the Farmer’s Market.

4 Fine Ways to Serve Spanish

Tortillas

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& Zingerman’s Food Tour Guides

For over 30 years, Zingerman’s has brought the best and most flavorful foods of the world home to America. Now, we can take you to the source! Join us and savor Spain’s amazing artisanal food and wine to the fullest. We’ll go behind the scenes and learn from producers about their fantastic olive oils, cheeses, wines, chocolates, pimenton, and more. And we’ll do full honors to the king of cured pork – jamón Ibérico de bellota, created from the famed black-footed pigs who dine on the acorns that fall from the plentiful Spanish oak trees. We’ll enjoy the beauty of the countryside and taste our way through

some of the best food Spain has to offer.

www.zingermansfoodtours.com 888-316-2736

foodtours@zingermans.com

WOOD FIRE ROASTED PIQUILLO PEPPERS

THE FEEDThe Secret Life of Amazing Food at Zingerman’s

April­16-26,­2016

Travel to Spain with Zingerman’s

ratios are pretty much reversed from what we would usually do to make an omelet. So, for instance, if you add some wild mushrooms to your scrambled eggs, your dish is still likely 2/3 egg to 1/3 mushrooms, or at most half and half. But if you make revueltos with mushrooms, what you’ll have is a good quantity of sautéed wild mush-rooms coated with lightly cooked scrambled eggs. To put things into context, I found recipes that call for as much a pound of wild mushrooms to just six eggs!

You can make revueltos with almost any filling—sautéed zucchini, asparagus, chorizo, seafood, or just about any-thing else. In northern Spain I once had a great version with morcilla, the Spanish blood sausage. The flavor of the sausage blended beautifully into the eggs. I’ve made revueltos with squash blossoms, Piquillo peppers, fresh sautéed spinach, and chorizo. Like the morcilla, the fat in the chorizo blends well with the eggs.

One key, of course, to great tasting revueltos is getting good eggs, which I’m happy to say what we have in abundance around here. Zingerman’s Deli is buying very nice organic eggs that come from cage-free chickens at Grazing Fields in Charlotte, MI. Without question, you really can taste the dif-ference between great eggs and the mass-market stuff. I also encourage you to cook the eggs quite lightly so you can really taste them and enjoy the softness of their texture. You have to keep the pan from getting too hot when you add the eggs or they’ll be overcooked before you can do anything to stop the process (that’s the voice of painful experience).

The bottom line is that revueltos are an easy way to make traditional, full-flavored food without having to do a lot of work. It’s a great summer dish since it’s fairly quick cooking, and not too heavy. A little salad or some new potatoes on the side along with some toasted Zingerman’s Bakehouse bread and you’re all set.

3. SPANISH FRIED EGG “SANDWICHES”This is a really easy and really good way to eat breakfast, lunch or dinner when you’re in a hurry and want something comfort-ing and really tasty. I’m going to tell you that Spanish-style eggs, fried in a boldly-flavored oil (you could use the Castilla de Canena) from the south of Spain are a seriously good meal.

You can cook the eggs to any degree of doneness you like, then serve them on toasted Farm bread that’s been brushed with—what else?—great olive oil. For the formal recipe see Zingerman’s Guide to Good Eating page 34.

In the last two decades, piquillo peppers have taken the culinary world by storm. From nowhere they became the darling ingredient of chefs across the world, includ-ing Michelin-starred gastronomic titans Alain Ducasse and Ferran Adria. What’s different about piquillos from nearly every other vegetable making it big time (I’m talk-ing to you, kale) is that none of the piquillo peppers are fresh. They’re all canned.

Piquillos­are­native­to­Spanish­Basque­country.

They’ve been there for hundreds of years. Columbus brought the first chile peppers to Spain, and unlike other new world crops like potatoes and tomatoes that took centuries to really catch on, peppers took off right away. Over time, each region developed their own par-ticular varieties. Piquillos were originally grown only around the Navarre town of Lodosa. They are small and tapered, about a couple inches wide at the stem, three to four inches long, ruby red, with an incredible com-plex, just barely spicy flavor.

In the 1930s, as civil war raged in Spain, families in Lodosa started jarring their fresh produce, includ-ing piquillos, to have enough food to support the troops and put up in their own pantries. The Basque are nothing if not industrious, and after the war ended the canning continued. For a few years they remained a local pantry staple, unknown anywhere else in Spain, let alone in fancy restau-rants. In the 1960s, Lodosa became a hip summer vacation getaway. Tourists tried the piquillos, fell in love with them, and brought home jars as sou-venirs. The peppers started to get famous.

With­great­fame­comes­great­imitators.

Like so many products, as piquillos became popular, so too did the idea that you could

probably make a profit by making them slightly less delicious—but considerably less expensive. Traditionally, the peppers were roasted until black and blistered over a beechwood fire. The wood fire roasting gives the peppers a deep, smoky flavor, but it also allows them to be peeled relatively easily. Raw piquillos have a thick, tough peel—too tough to chew. Once roasted, the peels are removed by hand. It’s actually pretty incredible to watch: equipped with just a pair of gloves and a paring knife, workers strip off the peels lightning fast. That might sound easy, but though the peel is tough the flesh is delicate, so keeping the pep-pers intact while removing the skin takes a fair

amount of skill and finesse. The final step is to put the peppers in the jar by hand with a smidge of citric acid. That’s it. There’s no water, no vinegar, no oil, not even any salt. Just the peppers and their juices.

Today, most piquillo peppers on the market aren’t made this way. For starters, many weren’t even grown in Spain. (Even most of the piquillo peppers sold in Spain weren’t grown there!) The biggest crime is in the roasting: most is done over gas fires these days, which lacks the aromatic wood smoke of the beechwood fires. It’s like the difference in flavor between grilling over gas and charcoal. If the producer doesn’t say that the pep-pers were roasted over wood, they probably weren’t. After roasting, most producers peel the peppers with jets of water, which removes both the skin and a fair bit of the flavor. You can tell if they were peeled by hand because you’ll see little black flecks left on the outside of the peppers—the water cleans these all off. Finally, the bogus peppers are often packed with other ingredients, like water, sugar, salt, or additional preservatives.

It’s­worth­hunting­out­real­deal­traditional­piquillos.

Made the traditional way, piquillos have incredible fla-vor. The aroma is sweet and fresh, like a pepper that was just picked, warm from the sun. The flavor is a balance of bright, rich fruit with the darker, smoky notes from the wood fire. They have a velvety texture with just a teensy prickle of heat across the tongue. Eating them is a real treat.

The most popular way to eat them in Spain is to stuff them: with tuna, or chorizo, or anchovies, or fresh cheese, or whatever you have on hand. Stuffed piquil-los make for tremendous appetizers or hors d’oeuvres, offering up huge flavor for very little time and effort to assemble them. You can chop them up and throw them into soups or paella or an omelet. Spread them out to include in a sandwich, maybe with some Manchego and arugula on farm bread. Better yet, fry up that sandwich for a killer piquillo grilled cheese. The peppers are packed in tight in the jar, but you only need a few to add incredible flavor to any dish. Once it’s open, top off the jar with a bit of good olive oil and it’ll keep for months in the fridge.

Val­Neff-Rasmussen­writes­­The­Feed­blog­at­zingermans.com

We start with a fried egg that is rubbed in smoked Hungarian paprika that’s spicy in a deliciously eye-opening way. Then we balance the spice with some fresh pea shoots and Vermont cheddar cheese. All this then comes together nicely within two thick slices of toasted country wheat bread from Zingerman’s Bakehouse.

TO THE DELI BREAKFAST MENU:

A Spicy Start $8.99

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MARIANO’S OIL FROM THE SIERRA DE GATAThis oil is really a prototype for what we like to sell here at Zingerman’s—great fla-vor, fantastic people, and a great story, packed into one very limited and tasty product. Since it’s the gentlest and most elegant of this bunch of Spanish oils I opted

to use it lead off this essay.

I should share up front that this oil is made in such small quantities that I’m slightly reluctant

to talk about it here. While there’s more now than there was when we started buying it ten years or so ago,

there’s still very little to be had. What had started with a 100 liter per year operation has grown to just 250. But the man who makes it—Mariano Sanz Pech—is such a wonderful person, such

a staunch champion of traditional foods, his oil so distinctive, and his entire food- and tradition-loving family so fantastic, that I

want to give credit where credit is due. Even if supplies are short.

I’ve known Mariano for probably nearly twenty years now—we first met over a table of traditional Spanish cheeses, then, and now, one of his big causes. Standing about 5-foot-9 with a well-trimmed salt and pepper beard, wire-rimmed glasses and a collec-tion of colorful bow ties, Mariano’s energy really does seem to fill any room I’ve ever seen him in.

Mariano has done so much caring, community-based work over the course of his life, that it’s impossible to detail it all here. He’s served as chairman of ICONA, the national Spanish environmental agency, in which capacity he worked to save the medieval sea-sonal migratory sheep routes. I wasn’t there to see it for myself, but the story is that when the construction crews were bringing in the bulldozer to break ground for a new highway that would cut off the old migration routes, Mariano threw himself in front of its path. He refused to get off the ground until an alternate plan was devised to save these historic routes. He won and the highway plan was altered.

To find Mariano’s farm on the map, start at Madrid, in the middle of the Iberian Peninsula. then move your finger due west ‘till you spot ridges of the Sierra De Gata Mountains. If your map is detailed enough, just east of the Portuguese border you may spot the village of Villamiel. Mariano’s small, 40-acre farm lies just outside of town. The area—whose name literally means “Mountains of the Cat” is typically sparsely populated and quite poor. Its stark landscape can be stunning, and in the winter the rocky hillsides are pep-pered with blossoms of purple heather and yellow broom. Like so many of the lesser-known parts of Spain, this one is historically very intriguing. “Back in the 15th century, when the Catholics took Extremadura back from the Moors,” Mariano explained, “there were hardly any people living here. So they brought immigrants in from areas of Spain that had similar climates. A lot came from Galicia (to the northwest) and Asturias (to the northeast), so people in this area speak a dialect that’s a very strange, a completely unique blend of the old languages from those two areas.”

As far as I know, the Manzanilla Cacereña olive trees grown by the Sans family are found only in this area. There are about 1200 trees on the farm, nearly all of which are of this variety. This contributes to the unique flavor of the oil. Most of the trees are quite old—50, 75 years, and some over 100. For the most part, they’re pretty spaced out (I’m talking location, not mental acuity), an old style of planting and a contrast to what you’ll see most other places. When the family first found the farm, the land and layout were far from in great shape. Twelve years later it’s a pleasure to walk around and appreciate all its natural, but practical, beauty. This has been from the beginning a very personal project. Mariano, his wife, Teresa, and daughters, Mar and Xoana (the “X” is pronounced much like a “Ch” as in “Joanna”), have been slowly, steadily cleaning up the land, prun-ing, planting and perfecting the landscape. The family’s house is up on a small hill, and looking out from the balcony by one of the bedrooms, the view was pretty impressive: a soft blending of browns and greens, with yellow-speckled mountains the background.

Mixed amongst the olive trees are lemon trees, apple trees, oranges, acorns, chest-nuts, figs, pears, and cherries. As we walked, Mariano took great pride in pointing

out a 400-year-old cork oak tree growing near the house, as well as wild mint, lavender, and wild mushrooms.

This diverse ecosystem is very old-school, the way farms were 100 years ago. I think most everyone would agree that while Mariano’s model may make less money, the bio-diversity does make for a more holistic setting, one in which the land can be managed organically and successfully. Mariano is quite adamant that this is the only way he will work. He’s convinced that organic practices contribute not only to the well being of the environment, but also directly to the quality of the oil.

Of course the quality of the oil isn’t just a question of the land—there’s sound technique and technology at work as well. The olives are picked carefully by hand. Mariano makes sure to press the fruit early in the season, quite a radical departure from the way it’s been in the area for many decades. Most farmers moved their picking later and later in the year in order to increase yields and decrease the difficulty of picking (riper olives either fall on their own or come off the branch more easily). “People in the area used to pick at the end of December even January,” he explained shaking his head. “In ‘95 when we arrived in the area, we went to work in the town, and when the women were cooking lunch, the smell from the low quality oil was terrible.”

Mariano has worked hard to reverse that suboptimal trend. “We pick the olives at the end of November now or even earlier.” The early pressing makes for a more complex and interesting oil, but the yields are far smaller—about a third of what would be expected by typical commercial standards. Also critical is the quick movement of the olives from tree to press. Mariano has his olive there within a matter of hours, but most farmers in the area long ago lost that sense of urgency, meaning their olives often sat for days wait-ing to be pressed, losing quality all the while. Once pressed, Mariano opts to not to filter the oil—more natural, a bit more complexity to the flavor—leaving it looking lusciously cloudy in its square-sided glass bottle.

I think that because it comes from the rather rugged, “wild” west of Spain, the connota-tion is that the oil from the area will be big, bold and rather outlandish, but it’s really quite the opposite. Tasting the oil is, actually, much like meeting Mariano. It starts out softly, down to earth but still surprisingly suave, almost sweet. As you spend more time with it you realize that its well grounded, complex, anything but one-dimensional. And then, a surprisingly peppery and rather opinionated finish that comes up gradually in the background and doesn’t back away quickly. I’ve used it on salads, with grilled veg-etables, on cooked beans (a favorite of the region), or soups. Pour it onto a thick slice of toasted country bread, sprinkle on a pinch of sea salt, and add a couple of roasted red Piquillo peppers from the Spanish Basque country. It’s very good on the Roadhouse bread—the sweet, subtle pepperiness blends beautifully with the cornmeal and molas-ses. It pairs particularly well with fruit—drizzle some onto slices of ripe apples, pears or plums this fall. Better yet, toss the fruit with the oil and roast it at high temperature. Serve the roasted fruit with cheese, a glass of dessert wine, or even gelato.

MARQUÉS DE VALDUEZA FROM MERIDAYou’d be hard pressed to find any product that’s more rooted in family and national history than this oil. The family—formally known as the House of Alvarez de Toledo—has been a fixture in Spanish history for centuries. Best I can tell, quality and care have been a part of most everything they have done for hundreds years now, and this oil is no exception.

If I have my notes straight, the earliest records of the Alvarez de Toledo family seem to start at the end of the 11th century, pointing first to one Pedro, Count of Carrión. By the time that Ferdinand and Isabella were finding their way to a full retaking of the Iberian Peninsula from the Moors in the 15th century, Fadrique Álvarez de Toledo (the second Duke of Alba) had advanced to become one of the King and Queen’s key advisors. Talk about the chance to make history, de Toledo took part in the decision-making process that culminated in support for Columbus’ voyages, among other rather interesting politi-cal events. I got the sense that were I to really look into it, I’d probably find that pretty much most every meaningful moment of Spanish political history seems to have had an Alvarez de Toledo appearing in it.

The current Fadrique Álvarez de Toledo, my compatriot in the culinary world and the man who’s pushed so hard to get this excellent olive oil going, is the 9th generation to formally carry the family crest forward. Fadrique has clearly found a passion for food

and for making special things happen, a vocation that’s manifested in all the work that he’s put into making the Marqués

de Valdueza oil as good as it is.

Back when we first started selling good olive oils in the mid-‘80s, Spain’s offerings hardly had a great reputation in the food world. Most every book I’d look at would list them, but always with some caveat about how they were “strong.” It wasn’t that Spanish oil was unus-

able, just that was being sent out for the American market just wasn’t exactly best in class.

That belief has long since been changed, at least around here. Spain has some truly superb olive oils to choose from. Single farms, small productions, exceptional flavors. Spanish producers are sending us some of THE best olive oils we get. This year, their value is being com-pounded big time, as most of central Italy had almost NO olive oil crop last fall. Which means that there is very little new crop Tuscan oil on

the market. Fortunately for us, the Spanish oils have continued to come in just fine.

Listed below are a few of the most special oils. All are on the cutting edge of the oil world. All are excellent. Try any one of them, or go wild and taste them all. Better still come into the Deli and try out some of the other great Spanish oils we have on hand. I happily stand by—and serve—all of them.

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While I’m sure he doesn’t really need to work, he clearly works very hard and very long hours—it’s no passing fancy,

certainly not just some sideline hobby; the man is very clearly committed to crafting a great oil. He’s well-versed in the technical

end of things and has been travelling all over the world to food shows to sell it. I guess, now that I really think about it, Fadrique is very much

like his oil. Long history and heritage behind them both, but neither rests passively on reputation.

Of course, all that nice history is really of little value other than fodder for fancy pictures in history books unless the olive oil itself is very good. In

our world, it’s ultimately all about flavor, not stories of 15th century poli-tics. It all comes down to good agriculture, good pressing technique and good taste. The farm on which the olives are grown has been in the family

since 1624; given what I’ve already shared about their history, you won’t be shocked to learn that they have records of oil being produced on the same farm as

far back as the days of the Romans. If you’re looking for it on the map, it’s way out west. West of the historic stone-walled town of Merida, and something like 25 miles or so east of the Portuguese border.

Looking at the agriculture end of things, the trees are grown with great care, and with wider row spacing than most of the huge commercial farms that have been planted in the southern part of the country. The olives for the Valdueza oil (they make others, but that’s the top of the line), are all picked by hand, taken from the tree quite early in the autumn (especially by old line Spanish standards) when yields are significantly lower, but the flavor of the oil is much more interesting. Because the milling is done right on the farm, the fruit is harvested and then taken in for pressing and centrifuging within an hour of leaving the tree. The oil is carefully stored (as one would great wine) in nitrogen flush stainless tanks.

The Valdueza oil is very well-made and it shows. No defects, long finish, good complexity. It’s made from a unique blend of four different varietals that grow on the farm—last year I got to taste each of the varietals on its own, as well as the finished Valdueza coupage. Hojiblanca and Picual are standard varietals from southern Spain, and are not uncommon out west as well. The former brings a soft, warm, nutty butteriness; the latter offers hints of artichoke, green asparagus, a bit of earthiness and a touch of black pepper in the fin-ish. Arbequina arrived in the region only recently, planted for its good yields and round soft flavor. Here in Extremadura, at least on the Toledo de Alvarez family farm, it tastes a bit different than what I’ve experienced in Catalonia where it typically comes from—less appley, more olivey. Most interesting to me, however, is the oil from the Morisca olives, which are unique to the area. They offer a fair bit of pepper, an interesting fruit (almost apricot in a way) with a touch of green grass and green tomato in there, too.

For those of you who follow these things (and there are many of you!), I’d put the flavor profile of the finished oil in about the middle of the range—less green than the Tuscans, less earthy than most southern Spanish Picuals, a bit bolder flavor than very gentle Mariano’s oil. All told they produce about 30,000 bottles a year—huge by the standards of our artisan friend Mariano Sanz, but relatively modest by comparison to any large-scale commercial producer. This past autumn the weather was very dry—not great for yields, but generally very good for the flavor of the oil. As is true of all these high-end, well-made, oils, there’s a complexity and an elegance (and a commensurate higher cost) that will mean that you’ll want to use it for finishing—drizzle on some great greens from the market, or on top of a bit of roasted meat or vegetables. At lunch at the family hunt-ing house, they served an entire meal in which it was featured in every dish. The highlight I think for me though were the potatoes, tossed with a lot of the oil and a bit of salt, then roasted at high heat ‘till they had a bit of a golden brown crust and a whole lot of flavor.

PS: Not that it changes the way the oil tastes, but it’s also a nice-looking bottle—a great light blue label that I like in part because I love the color, but also because I’ve never seen it on any other olive oil. As you know, I like nice things done well that don’t follow along with the pack. In an example of just how much Fadrique cares about how the quality of the entire project, he chose to spend significantly more per label in order to buy them with foil backing—it doesn’t change the way the oil tastes but it means that when a bit of the oil drips onto the label it keeps its looks intact instead of looking like a paper napkin after you’ve eaten a big salad at a family picnic.

CASTILLO DE CANENA OIL FROM ANDALUCIAThis last one is the biggest, boldest and newest arrival of this trio of top-quality, cutting-edge Spanish oils. The Canena oil comes here from Jaen, in the southwestern region of Andalucia, an area of Spain that produces more oil than any other by far. While there are oodles of oils from that area, most, to my taste, are way less than compelling. The Canena oil is the opposite of that—I liked it so much the first time I tried it two year ago, I couldn’t let go if the idea of getting it over here to Ann Arbor. Given that we have access to literally hundreds of good oils, and that we receive samples of ten or twelve more every month, knowing that we hardly need to have another oil on hand, I guess my determination to get this one here speaks well for the oil. It really is pretty excellent.

Like the Valdueza and Griñon oils, the Castillo comes with a good bit of history. Written documentation of the family’s ownership of the land dates to 1780. While by Washtenaw County standards that’s about as old and solid as you can get, by the standards of the previous two oil producers, the Canena actually comes across as a latecomer. Heck, the castle—after which the oil is named—is practically modern architecture, built in the first half of the 16th century (before the farm was granted to the family), and designed by Francisco de Los Cobos, who was the secretary of emperor Charles V.

Once again, everything is right about this oil. The land lies between two natural parks and along the Guadiana River, which gives it both natural beauty and also access to more water than most estates in the area. Growing is done using “integrated pest manage-ment”—only one step away from full organic certification. Drip irrigation is solar pow-ered. The harvest starts very, very early by typical Spanish standards, meaning, high-flavor, low-yield. The fruit is taken from the tree by hand and the olives are at the press in less than three hours after they leave the trees, minimizing the risk of oxidation, and protecting the flavor of the oil. Once pressed, the oil goes into nitrogen-filled stainless steel tanks in cooled cellars, all of which acts to protect the quality of the oil. Bottling is done to order, always with a quick flush of nitrogen to keep the oil intact after its left the estate.

Thinking more in the moment, the Canena oil is made from Picual olives, the variety that’s unique to this region of the world (though, of course, others have now planted it elsewhere). The Picual variety produces distinctive oil, generally very earthy and big of flavor. Unfortunately, in too many cases that earthiness can take over, yielding oil that sounds like it should be good but, in honesty, I’ve just never loved. I’ve probably tasted hundreds of Picual oils from Andalucia over the last twenty years, but the Canena oil is not only likable, it’s one that got me as passionate as I’ve been on this region’s offerings What grabbed my attention with the Canena oil is that it’s got all the things I like about this sort of oil—it’s earthy, it’s well-rounded, it’s big but still really balanced, its aroma is pretty amazing, and the finish is really very fine. But, it avoids those off-flavors and out-of-balance earthiness that are present in so many Picual oils from the area. Ask for a taste next time you’re at the Deli.

PUTTING THE OIL TO THE TEST:PA AMB TOMAQUET/CATALAN “TOMATO TOAST”Olive oil cookery sure has come a long way in this country. Where we all used to buy gar-lic bread in those foil sealed bags, most everyone knows about bruschetta—the simple Italian recipe for toasting country bread, rubbing it with a clove of garlic, putting on lots of good olive oil and a sprinkling of sea salt to seal the deal. By contrast, hardly anyone’s heard of Pa amb Tomaquet. Which is too bad, because this is the dish I—and you, too, if you love bread, oil and tomatoes—want to be making most every single day.

Seriously, I really love this stuff. It’s so simple and so good and so... September. I say the latter because every year for the past twenty years or so, we’ve featured Spanish food in September, so I have it on my mind. Also because it’s when we’re getting all those really great tomatoes. There’s something very rewarding about rubbing good, local, fresh garlic into the bread, then, while it’s still hot, softly smashing half of a good tomato into the hot bread, pouring olive oil and a little sea salt on top. I seriously love the smell of the bread on the grill, and the perfume of the oil in the autumn air when it hits the hot bread.

If you go to most any restaurant in Barcelona, this is one of the first things you’re going to be served. To make it, just cut thick slices of good country bread (say, our Bakehouse Farm, Rustic Italian or Pain de Montagne) and toast or grill them ‘till they’re lightly brown. Rub a cut clove of garlic along the surface of the bread. Then cut a tomato in half and rub it right into the bread—the bread should absorb much of the tomato’s juice. In their lust for the delicious flavor of this dish, some Spaniards dress both sides of the bread, so don’t hold back. Pour on plenty of extra virgin olive oil, add a pinch of sea salt, and eat it while it’s hot.

Pa amb Tomaquet can be topped with slices of Iberia ham or really good ancho-vies. Or just toss on the outer flesh of the tomato that hasn’t been rubbed into the

SeptEmberMatiz SardinesWe’re featuring the plumb and juicy sardines from our friends at Matiz, who specialize in getting only the very best seafood from Galicia in North-Western Spain. Choose from their regular sardines or try them with a bit of lemon added. Both of them are as exciting and delicious as they are versatile. They are great in almost any dish you can think of.

$3.95 (reg. $5.99)

OctoBerConnétable SardinesFounded in 1853, the Connétable factory has been producing some of the world’s best sardines for over a century-and-a-half. These simple, no-nonsense classics from Brittany, France are cleaned by hand, fried and then packed in velvety extra virgin olive oil. Good enough for the fanciest of hors d’oeuvres or enjoyed right out of the tin.

$6.69 (reg. $9.99)

ISSUE # 252 SEPT-OCT 2015 ISSUE # 252 SEPT-OCT 2015­8 ­9

3723­Plaza­Drive­•­734.761.7255bakewithzing.com

CHOCOLATE FIXWednesday, September 30 • 5:30-9:30pm • $125Calling all chocoholics! In this hands-on class you’ll learn great new recipes for your daily chocolate fix: cream-filled chocolate whoopie pies, rugelach filled with chocolate ganache, and heavenly choco-late cheesecake brownies. It’s gonna be chocolate-covered fun. You’ll leave BAKE! with our recipes, the knowledge to recreate them at home, all the food you made in class, and great coupons.

BAKE!-CATION®: BREAD 2.0 WEEKENDSaturday & Sunday, October 3 & 4 • $500Like fantasy camp for home bakers! Experience the process behind a wide range of breads, including making your own sourdough starter, poolish and rye sour. In two action packed days you’ll bake Parker House rolls, bagels, English muffins, fougasse, bread made with Michigan Westwind Mill flour, pumpernickel raisin bread, whole wheat sourdough and our all time best seller Rustic Italian. Your weekend also includes breakfast and lunch each day! You’ll leave BAKE! with our recipes, the knowledge to recreate them at home, a full tummy, bags of bread you made in class and great coupons.

AUTUMN FAVORITESWednesday, October 21 • 6-8pm • $45Relax and observe as we make apple butter spice cake and dulce de leche buttercream and Michigan honey cake, a bundt cake made with applesauce and fall pie spices like cinnamon, nutmeg and clove. Together we’ll enjoy plenty of tasting, along with some hot coffee and spiced cider. This class will make your weeknight 113% better. You’ll leave BAKE! with our recipes, happy taste buds and great coupons. This­class­is­a­demonstration­only.

Hands-on­Baking­ClassesBAKE!­is­our­hands-on­teaching­bakery­in­Ann­Arbor,­tucked­between­Zingerman’s­Bakehouse­and­Creamery.­At­BAKE!­we­share­our­knowledge­and­love­of­baking­with­the­home­baker­community,­seeking­to­preserve­baking­traditions­and­inspire­new­ones.­We­offer­dozens­of­different­bread,­pastry­and­cake­

classes­in­our­very­own­teaching­kitchens.­All­of­us­at­the­Bakehouse­know­the­joy­and­excitement­

of­baking­something­really­good­and­sharing­it­with­friends­when­it’s­hot­out­of­the­oven.­You’ll­leave­BAKE!­with­the­food­you­made­in­class­and­the­inspiration­and­skills­to­bake­at­home!

Cheese­Classes,­Tastings­&­Tours!Our­events­are­intimate­affairs­where­our­cheesemakers­and­cheesemongers­share­their­passion­for­great­cheese­and­great­cheesemaking.­We­hold­these­classes­right­next­to­where­we­make­our­cheese­and­gelato,­and­sometimes­bring­in­our­favorite­food­makers­from­around­the­area­to­share­their­stories­with­you.­To­get­the­inside­scoop­on­all­of­our­events,­sign­up­for­our­e-news­at­zingermanscommunity.com/e-news.

Whether­we’re­pulling­a­shot­for­you­in­our­café­on­Plaza­Drive­or­sending­you­off­with­a­bag­of­freshly­roasted­beans,­our­passion­is­to­source,­roast­and­brew­great­coffee.­Our­classes­are­designed­for­the­coffee­novice­and­nerd­alike­and­aim­to­help­everyone­learn­about­everything­it­takes­to­turn­a­great­bean­into­a­great­cup­of­coffee.­

BOOK A SPOT AT ANY ZINGERMAN’S EVENT AT EVENTS.ZINGERMANSCOMMUNITY.COM

Find more classes & register at bakewithzing.com or events.zingermanscommunity.com.

Sign up for our e-news to get the early word about our classes.

3723­Plaza­Drive­734.929.6060

zingermanscoffee.com

CELEBRATING BEEF WITH NICOLETTE HAHN NIMANSunday, September 13 • 6-9pm $100 per person • $190 for 2 people (prices include one copy of Defending Beef)

We’re very excited to welcome author Nicolette Hahn Niman to Zingerman’s Deli for an exciting night of dinner, drinks, and a discussion of sustainable agricultural practices. A portion of the proceeds will benefit Slow Food Huron Valley.

In her book Defending Beef, Nicolette Hahn Niman, an environmental lawyer-turned-rancher, does exactly as the title suggests by proclaiming everything that can be great about beef if it’s managed properly. Her book discusses sustainability (with a focus on soil health, carbon sequestration, and water conservation), as well as the nutritional benefits of beef, and the positive impacts of biodiversity, managed grazing techniques, and animal health.

For this event, Chef Rodger Bowser and his team have created a unique menu that celebrates American beef and dairy cattle. The evening will begin with a cocktail hour that includes a diverse selection of cheese pairings from a small number of U.S. pasture-based dairies. We’ve hand-picked some of the best, including a soft, luscious spreadable young cheese, a fine blue cheese, and some well-matured aged hard cheese.

Courses will be served with tasting-sized beverage pairings (alcoholic and non-alcoholic) as well as water. Additional beverages will be available for purchase.

30TH ANNUAL PAELLA PARTYSunday, October 4 • 11am-2pm • On the Deli PatioPaella­Presentation­at­noon:­The­show­is­free­—­the­Paella­is­sold­by­the­pound.Our 30th annual September celebration of the fabulous foods of Spain culminateswith a two-grill Paella throwdown on Zingerman’s Patio. There will be a special presentation on Paella at noon, then Chef Rodger and his crew deal the goods: Three kinds of traditional Paella — Chicken/Chorizo, Seafood, and Vegetarian grilled over mesquite. Those in the know will be lined up for the padron peppers. New to the occasion this year, a kids’ table featuring Pa amb Tomaquat, jamon serrano, quince membrillo and Manchego.

9TH ANNUAL HALLOWEEN HOOTENANNY Tuesday, October 27 • 4-7pm • On the Deli PatioTickets $5 in advance/$8 at the doorThe Hootenanny is a fall-themed, Zingerman’s style celebration for kids. A fun evening of Halloween treats and activities! There will be Pumpkin Drawing, Kooky Cookie Decorating and more! Whether you’re meeting to share costumes and a play date or just stopping by on your way home from school, we welcome you to stop by and play for a while! You’ll enjoy music and complimentary snacks as you participate at your own pace. Costumes are not required, but they are encouraged!

COMPARATIVE CUPPINGSunday, September 6 OR Sunday, October 4 • 1-3pm • $30Sample coffees from Africa, Central and South America, and the Asia-Pacific. We will taste and evaluate these coffees with the techniques and tools used by professional tasters. This class is an eye-opening introduction to the world of coffee.

BREWING METHODSSunday, September 20 OR Sunday, October 18 • 1-3pm • $30Learn the keys to successful coffee brewing using a wide variety of brewing methods from filter drip to syphon pot. We will take a single coffee and brew it 6 to 8 different ways, each producing a unique taste. We’ll learn the proper proportions and technique for each and discuss the merits and differences of each style.

3723­Plaza­Drive­•­734­929­0500zingermanscreamery.com

FIRST SUNDAY TOURSunday, Sept. 6 & Oct. 4 • 2pm • $10Join our cheese and gelato makers for an hour-long adventure of how we transform local milk into delicious cheese and gelato. Observe Mozzarella stretching and experience truly fresh gelato, as well as taste some of our cow’s milk and goat’s milk cheeses while learning directly from the makers. After the tour, make time for tasting our selection of American cheeses and provisions, as well as house made gelatos and sorbets in our cheese shop.

CHEESE 101Thursday, September 17 • 6pm • $30We are joining the back-to-school spirit with the basics of cheese! We will taste cheeses that represent each of the seven major styles of cheese—hand-selected by our shop cheese-monger—and talk about what makes each style unique. This tasting will also include a behind-the-scenes tour of our production facility as we explain the basics of cheese making. One of our expert cheese-makers will join our tasting to help answer any questions you have as we explore the variety of cheeses!

RAVISHING REDSThursday, September 24 • 6pm • $35Red wine has always been a complement to the hearty, flavorful cheeses that start to appear with the cooler days of fall. Guests attend-ing this tasting session will learn to pair red wines with artisan domestic cheeses that lend themselves to the robust flavors of vin rouge. We’ll have crusty bread, some seasonal pickled veggies, and other palate cleansers to comple-ment the wines and cheeses as well! *Must be 21 or older to attend this tasting.

AN EVENING WITH BREWERY VIVANTThursday, October 8 • 6pm • $35Founded in part by a former bar manager at Zingerman’s Roadhouse, Brewery Vivant in Grand Rapids brews with a passion for sour beers and other unique styles. Ben Darcie from Brewery Vivant will be on hand to introduce us to their beers as one of our cheesemongers presents cheese pairings from the shop for each beer! We’ll have crusty breads, seasonal pickled veggies, and other palate cleansers on hand to enjoy with the pairings. *Must be 21 or older to attend this tasting

­

422­Detroit­Street­•­734.663.3400­­www.zingermansdeli.com

Zingerman’s­Deli­tastings­are­designed­to­give­you­an­insider’s­view­of­the­foods­that­we’ve­searched­the­world­for.­You’ll­often­meet­the­folks­who­make­it­and­leave­with­a­mouthful­of­flavor­and­a­new­understanding­of­everything­from­olive­oil­to­sardines,­cheese­to­chocolate.­

ISSUE # 252 SEPT-OCT 2015 ISSUE # 252 SEPT-OCT 2015­8 ­9

8540­Island­Lake­Road,­Dexter­734.619.8100­•­cornmanfarms.com

BOOK A SPOT AT ANY ZINGERMAN’S EVENT AT EVENTS.ZINGERMANSCOMMUNITY.COM

COCKTAIL CLASS: BETTER WITH BRANDYThursday, September 17 • 7-9:30pm • $65Guests will savor light fare prepared on-site in the farmhouse kitchen and leave with recipes for all the cocktails made during the class.Sweet and subtle, this distilled liquor made from fruit (most often grapes) has been around for over 500 years. Join us as we celebrate both American brandy and its French counter-part, cognac. We’ll be mixing up three classic cocktails to showcase brandy’s broad cocktail appeal: The Sidecar, the Metropolitan, and the 1940’s version of a Brandy Daisy. We’ll discuss brandy and the regional differences that define the spirit, as well as the stories behind the cocktails themselves.

THE BRIDES PROJECT FARM DINNERA Fundraising Event for the Cancer Support Community of Greater Ann Arbor Thursday, September 24 • 6-9pm • $150The Brides Project, an initiative of the Cancer Support Community, invites you to enjoy a seasonally inspired menu featuring sustainably home-grown produce from the gardens right outside the Farmhouse, served family-style with views of the grounds. We’ll also include two hand-picked drinks, an hour of games on Cornman Farms’ lawn, and a tour with man-aging partner, Kieron Hales. Part of the proceeds will benefit The Brides Project.

PEAS TURN UP THE BEET LOUDER!A Fundraiser for Community Farm of Ann ArborThursday, October 1 • 5-11pm • $35A benefit for Chrysalis, the educational arm of Community Farm of Ann Arbor, this event will feature delicious food from the farm gardens (and from Zingerman’s!), live music from two renowned bands—blues from Shari Kane & Dave Steele and progressive folk from Seth & May. Community Farm of Ann Arbor is an organization that grows fruits and vegetables for 100 member families. Chrysalis sponsors area school field trips, cutting edge workshops, and future farmer training for young adults. Paul Bantle and Annie Elder and their appren-tices will be in attendance to meet and greet you for a lovely evening celebrating Chrysalis and education in agriculture! Eat well, learn a little, laugh a lot and support one of the causes that makes Ann Arbor such a special place.

COCKTAIL CLASS: BOURBON BASICS Wednesday, October 7 • 7-9:30pm • $70Guests will savor light fare prepared on-site in the farmhouse kitchen and leave with recipes for all the cocktails made during the class.The story of bourbon is the story of America itself. Smoky, sweet, spicy and complex, this corn-based spirit has been a part of our culture for centuries. Recognized by Congress in 1964 as a “distinctive product of the United States,” bourbon is our national liquor. Join us as we mix three Bourbon-based cocktails and discuss what it is that makes bourbon so tasty and so special to the United States. We’ll be featuring spirits from both bourbon’s ancestral home in Kentucky and our local craft distillers in Michigan. Settle in at our lovingly restored barn, partake in appetizers crafted by the farm’s own chefs, and feel like a patriot as you imbibe our native spirit!

2501­Jackson­Road­•­734.663.3663­­www.zingermansroadhouse.com

Zingerman’s­Roadhouse­hosts­regular­special­dinners­that­highlight­old­favorites,­new­finds,­celebrated­chefs­and­

traditional­American­foodways.­Our­dinners­are­­family-style­affairs­that­deliver­really­good­food­with­a­

little­history­on­the­side.­

THE TOMATO DINNERTuesday, September 1 • 7 pm • $75 Easily the highlight of the harvesting season, our second harvest dinner showcases the best of Cornman Farms tomato season. Featuring the always popular Heirloom Tomato Bar—with numerous different tomato varietals, handmade fresh mozzarella, really good olive oil & Genovese basil—you can fill up your plate as many times as you like!

MADE IN ITALY, AN ITALIAN AMERICAN DINNER Tuesday, October 6 • 7pm • $70With special guest Edoardo Dal Santo from Gustiamo, importer of Italy’s best foods.

WESTSIDE FARMERS’ MARKET FUNDRAISER DINNERTuesday, October 20 • 7pm • $95 ($60 tax deductible) A fundraiser to help fund local community outreach pro-grams including The Agrarian Adventure (a Farm-to-School program) and a senior-to-market transportation project.

Map of Zingerman’s Community of Businesses

www.zingermans.com

Nes

wAnn Arbor, MI

N. M

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Fourth Ave.

Fuller St.

Depot St.

Beakes St.

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it St

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Fuller St.

Kingsley St.

Catherine St.

Ann St.

E. Huron St.

Liberty St.

W. Huron St.

Scio Church Rd.

E. Stadium Blvd.

Eisenhower Pkwy.

Ellsworth Ellsworth

Plaza Dr.

Airport

Blvd.

E. Stadium Blvd.

Packard St.

Washtenaw

Ave.

Jackson Ave.

N. M

aple Rd

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aple Rd

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Seventh St.

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servatory Dr.

Dexter Ave.

Miller Ave.

W. Stadium Blvd.

I-94

I-94

E. Huron St.

Geddes Ave.

Washington St.

W. Lib

erty St.

Ann Arbor-S

aline Road

William St.

Maiden Lane

Plymouth Rd.Pontiac Trail

King

sley

Fifth Ave.

N. State St.

Glen

Ave.

Broadway Bridge

citY HalL

U of M Student

Union

U of M stadIum

briarwood malL

PioneerHigh School

uNiverSity of MichiganCentraL CamPus

FulLerPark

AmtrAkStation

Univerity ofMicHigaN HospItal

Exit 175

Exit 177

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2501 Jackson Ave. • 734.663.FOOD

Map not To scalE

3711 Plaza Dr.734.277.1922

3728 Plaza Dr.734.277.1922

3723 Plaza Dr.734.929.6060

3723 Plaza Dr.734.761.7255

422 Detroit St. • 734.663.DELI

3711 Plaza Dr.734.277.1922

Zingerman’s Southside

3723 Plaza Dr.734.929.0500

&

8540 Island Lake Road Dexter, MI

734-619-8100

Varsity Dr.

Phoenix Dr.610 Phoenix Dr.

888.636.8162

Farm­Tours,­Special­Dinners­and­ClassesYou­don’t­have­to­be­part­of­a­big­corporate­event­or­lavish­wedding­to­enjoy­Cornman­Farms­(although­we­certainly­host­those,­too!)­Throughout­the­year­we­host­numerous­tours,­dinners,­classes­and­more­that­allow­people­to­experience­our­unique­event­space­in­Dexter,­MI.­

EDUCATIONAL TOUR:WELCOME TO CORNMAN FARMS Tuesday, September 29 • 6-7:30pm • $20Our Welcome to Cornman Farms Tour is an idyllic and dynamic 90 minute introduction to the rich history, agricultural projects and humane raising of animals. Join us for a look at our vegetable and herb gardens, goat milking operation and historic restored farmhouse and barn—and enjoy a meet-and-greet with our managing partner, Kieron Hales. We’ll even throw in a taste of one of our seasonal vegetables!

ISSUE # 252 SEPT-OCT 2015 ISSUE # 252 SEPT-OCT 2015­10 ­11

I was out at Cornman Farms last week—as I have been so many times over the years. But for whatever reason, this time, as I looked around, the place really took my breath away. Not that I hadn’t looked at it all a few hundreds time before. It’s just that this day was so beautiful, the gardens looked so amazing, the sun so high in the sky, the sky itself so blue . . . that it made me appreciate anew all that goes on out there at an even high-er level than I ever had. I still shake my head and smile when I think about how incredible it is that we have about 12 acres of active organic agriculture being farmed by people who get paid to do the farming, bringing really delicious, heirloom va-rieties of produce in to our restaurant pretty much every day during the season.

While many of you visit the Deli, the Bakehouse, the Road-house, etc. quite regularly, very few of will have had an up close look at what goes on out at the farm. To help make that happen we’ve set up a series of tours to get you up close and personal with our crop work, to see the gardens, the barn, and the house in person. See page 9 for details on how to reserve your spot.

If you go, I hope you’ll pause to consider the wonder of the place. Wendell Berry writes about we calls the “eyes-to-acres ratio”—the importance of the farmer being able to really get to know his or her soil, to taste what they’re growing, to know the wildlife, the livestock, the new buds and blossoms. “We can suppose,” he says, “that the eyes-to-acres ratio is approxi-mately correct within a place that is thriving in human use and care. The sign of its thriving would be the evident good health and diversity, not just of it crops and livestock but also of its population of native and noncommercial creatures, including the community of creatures living in the soil. Equally indica-tive and necessary would be the signs of a thriving local and locally-adapted human economy.”

It’s amazing how far things have come in the ten years since Roadhouse chef and managing partner Alex Young first started to grow a couple of heirloom tomato plants in his backyard. Today the produce from that “backyard” goes directly from the farm to the kitchen at the Roadhouse, and from there, not long after arriving, out to your table when you come in to eat. In includes a bit less than an acre of heirloom tomatoes (near-ly twenty different varieties), another of incredible peppers, potatoes, radishes, celery, lettuce, herbs and more. And lest I forget, the livestock—steers for beef, goats for milk (for the Creamery), Tunis sheep and hogs. That a sustainable farm of this sort can be feeding our restaurant is, to me, a very special thing. I feel honored to have had some small part in it. The real work has been done by Alex and the folks who work the land every day; Mark Baerwolf has been there from the beginning; Amanda Maurmann joined us this year.

Here’s a little conversation I cobbled together with them to help fill you in the happenings out at the farm.

Ari: How’s the summer farming work going so far?

Mark: So far so good. Same start as last year, cool and rainy, but we made the right adjustments earlier than we did last year. The heat has been coming on strong here at the end of July—it’s good tomato and pepper ripening weather.

Ari: What are some of this year’s highlights?

Mark: Getting our cut flowers started and developed has been a big thing. Growing an insane amount of sunflowers has al-ways been a dream of mine from the beginning. You can see them from Island Lake Road now through September.

Also collard greens. They’re not ‘new’ for us, but this year we are growing a lot more of them. We’re planning on supplying the Roadhouse with collards for the bacon-braised greens there as long as we can. We started harvesting them the last weeks of June and we’re on a streak that could go into early December. I think it’s a big deal, greens growing as a sport!

Alex: For me, Amanda joining the team has been a highlight. And Mark’s attention to the things that we can do to keep the farm healthy with the cool and wet start to the season.

Mark: Also, learning about the amazing effect of compost and cover crops, really seeing an improvement over by the barn and the house. We’re growing our entire sauerkraut cabbage crop over there (2000 pounds!), wouldn’t have done this on unknown soil last year, looking great, first batches from my great-grandparent’s crock at the Roadhouse early October.

Ari: What are some of the new things this year?

Amanda: We now have 3,000 feet of over 75 varieties of flow-ers! As I sat in on farm planning meetings last winter, it just felt right to add flowers. I’m forever grateful that Mark and Alex agreed to grow them. I’ve been growing cut flowers for a few years in my previous farm work, and so I had some ex-perience under my belt. And now I’m learning just how much potential there really is. Between the beautiful fields that Mark and Alex have spent so much time and energy cultivat-ing, and the landscaping around the gorgeous grounds of the events house and barns, there is a beautiful palette waiting to be painted!

Kieron (Hales, managing partner at Events at Cornman Farms) has given me his confidence and space to practice my arrang-ing flowers for weddings and other events. And the reception from the ZIngerman’s Community has been incredible. Our flowers are popping up all over Zingerman’s!

Alex: For me, it’s the field crops! We have a beautiful field of Robust Barley poised (as of early August) and almost ready to harvest, and we have our entire first cutting of hay “in the barn” so to speak. We’ve bailed approximately 200 bails this year, and we’re anxiously awaiting our second cutting, which is the rich stuff that we will need for the goats over the winter and next spring. Exciting milestones for Cornman Farms!

Mark: We’ll be eating a small handful of figs and blueberries this summer, more to come in the coming years. Reading up on special care for figs in Michigan, couple different ways to protect them. It all goes back to growing tricks from Italian-American immigrants.

Also I’m excited about growing some Principe Borghese toma-toes. It’s supposed to be one of the classic sun-dried tomato varieties. I’m thinking that our greenhouse in August might ap-proximate a southern Italian piazza—we can use it as a solar drier for these tomatoes and some cherry tomatoes.

Alex: “Fertigating” with compost tea, lightly spraying oxidate on the tomatoes to help keep the early blights at bay (which also helps keep down potential late season terminal blights).

Ari: Fertigating?

Mark: Fertigating is the process of running compost tea and organic fish fertilizer through our drip line irrigation system. Its a very efficient and thrifty way to water and fertilize plants right at the root zone.

Ari: Can you tell us more about why we’ve focused on growing heirloom seed varieties?

Mark: Yes, we prefer heirloom varieties, but the main drive for us is always flavor. That’s what comes first. There are some hybrid (that aren’t heirloom) varieties that we grow too—Sun Gold cherry tomatoes, Red Ace beets, etc.—that consistently have outstanding flavor.

I think the other more important idea for us is our focus on “open pollinated.” This is what the heirlooms are—seed saved from season to season, without big seed companies control-ling the genetics. A lot of our seed suppliers are being very transparent about seed sources. Fedco out of Maine, for exam-ple, has a complete source list for every seed they sell. I guess along with this we are actively seed-saving some tomatoes and winter squash seeds, possibly selling seeds after a few more grow out seasons.

Ari: I know that a lot of work goes into enriching the soil in natural ways. Can you say more about that?

Mark: The garden writer Elliot Coleman says “feed the soil, not the plant.” Have your soil in good health with compost and cover crops and the soil will return amazing flavor. We’ve no-ticed this comparing all sorts of veggies, especially the root crops. Also it’s a sustainable model. How we care for the soil will keep it productive forever. Yes, forever. Really.

Ari: People will be reading this early in the autumn. What’s the outlook for September and October?

Mark: I keep on reminding people summer doesn’t end until September 21. We can get favorable summer weather into mid October some years if we’re lucky and there’s an active hur-ricane season pushing warm air up from the Gulf. I’m always kind of conflicted wishing for that, but it plays into any Indian summer we might get in October. Peak tom season for us is mid-August to mid-September. We’ll probably harvest close to 75-percent of our tomatoes in that 5-week span. All of Septem-

ber, our peppers come on. They’re like sweet red candy. We’ll also be getting King Richard leeks and Boston Marrow squash in early October. And those collard greens all summer long until the snow flies. Let me think. There’ll also be beets and carrots, celery and celery root. We might have the prettiest celery bed ever this year. And De Cicco broccoli and Lacinato kale, potatoes and shelly beans.

Ari: What else is coming up?

Mark: Your initial remarks make me infer that you think after October the farm shuts down. Part of what we’ve been work-ing towards is a four-season farm. Amanda and I are already wondering if we can get everything done over the fall and winter by ourselves. We will continue what we’ve done the last 2 years and grow cold hardy plants through the winter and harvest produce every month of the year. In January and February spinach out of the hoop house is the best possible spinach anywhere.

There’s a lot to talk about beyond October. . . . garlic planting, remay hoops, overwintering sweet onions, winter dug carrots, dried culinary- and flower-wreaths, putting up a ton of kraut (literally), rutabagas and Gilfeather turnips, popcorn for the Roadhouse. We’ve also got some extremely rare dried beans, Beaver Dam smoked paprika peppers, seed saving, cover crops, winter rye or wheat.

Amanda: My winter will be spent studying and attending class-es, as well as researching what I can do even better next year. As you know, the season is short, and much planning goes into every single decision. You really only get one chance, maybe two, to get it right for an entire year. But, hey, that’s why we love it.

TOP 8 REASONS to

HAVE LUNCH at

ZINGERMAN’S ROADHOUSE

1. 5.

2. 6.

3.7.

8.

Daily lunch specials from James Beard Award Winning Chef Alex Young

Reservations available—no wait on your lunch hour!

Great coffee and espresso drinks for a midday pick me up

Free Wi-Fi and comfortable seating for business meetings

Drive through to-go orders available for pick up—you don’t have to get out of your car!

Roadhouse maca-roni and cheese was named Food Net-work’s “Top Comfort Food in America”

Construction is over! Easy traveling and quick parking.

Buttermilk Fried Chicken—need we say more?

2501 Jackson AveAnn Arbor, MI 48103 734.663.FOOD (3663)

zingermansroadhouse.com

4.

An Inside Look into

THE CROPS AT CORNMAN FARMSa chat with alex young, mark baerwolf and amanda maurmann

ISSUE # 252 SEPT-OCT 2015 ISSUE # 252 SEPT-OCT 2015­10 ­11

RugelachRugelach (“rugel” means royal in Yiddish) is the royalty of traditional Jewish pastries. We make a butter and cream cheese dough and wrap it around very special fillings. Our handsome gift box is filled with a pound of these royally good cookies. Choose from half dark chocolate ganache & half red raspberry preserve, or half apricot & half currant walnut.

Marvelous MandelbreadBiscotti’s Eastern European cousin! “Mandel” means almonds in Yiddish, and these are loaded—not laced but literally loaded—with toasted almonds. Made with sweet butter, fresh eggs, lots of fresh orange and lemon zest, and scented with real vanilla. Just the aroma alone is enough to make us excited about these tradi-tional cookies.

Almond KifliAn irresistible Hungarian treat. The name kifli originally referred to the crescent shape and to savory breads in this shape (it was the pre-cursor to the croissant!). It is available in many parts of Europe by different names. This particular cookie is very popular in Hungary and Austria today. Ours are made with ground almonds and real vanilla bean. They’re addictive, so watch out!

Traditional JewishPastries Gift-Boxed

for the Holidays!(available all month long)

Lemon Herb Roasted Whole ChickensTasty whole-roasted birds rubbed with fresh herbs and lemon. (no hormones, no antibiotics and no funny stuff)

Roast Beef BrisketLongtime staple of the Deli. Marinated and braised for hours with herbs and garlic. Served thick-sliced with a side of beef gravy.

Lamb and Honey StewStraight from the Zingerman’s Guide to Good Eating (pg. 378), lamb slow-cooked with rosemary honey, Spanish saffron and organic potatoes.

Jewish Chicken BrothTraditional Jewish chicken broth made daily with free-range chickens, celery, onion, and parsley, slowly simmered, then strained for a clear broth.

Handmade Gefilte FishMade in our kitchen from freshwater fish, matzo meal, fresh eggs, sea salt & white pepper, then poached in fish broth. Also available in a gluten-free version.

Sweet Carrot TzimmesSpecial Rosh Hashanah edition of tzimmes made with sweet organic carrots and slow-cooked with dried fruit and spices. We are making a big tzimmes!

Matzo BallsHomemade from matzo meal and chicken schmaltz

Fresh HorseradishGround fresh in our kitchen and made with Gingras organic apple cider vinegar.

Chopped LiverChicken livers with caramelized onions and hard-boiled eggs. Ari’s grandmother’s recipe and the one we’ve been making at the Deli since we first started.

Potato KugelOne of our all-time favorites; a smooth batter of potatoes & onions, with just a little matzo meal, eggs & schmaltz.

Noodle KugelTraditional noodle “pudding” of Al Dente egg noodles, fresh farmer’s cheese from Zingerman’s Creamery, plump raisins and a hint of vanilla.

Tupelo HoneyWhite Tupelo Honey from Moonshine Trading Co. in Florida. The honey is amazingly smooth & pourable. It has a balanced sweetness that hints of green apple. It is the perfect honey for dipping.

Handmade KnishesA modern version of a classic Jewish pastry. 3 flavors to choose from:

This is just a small sample of the feast we’re preparing. Go to www.zingermansdeli.com to see the complete menu and call 734.663.3400 to order!

Available for pick up starting September 13 at noon Call 734.663.3400 to order

Erev Rosh Hashanah is Sunday, September 13

Bring Home A Limited Edition Rosh Hashanah

Super Zzang! Bar

Peanut Brittle And Chocolate Covered

Peanut Brittle

Sesame Halvah

ROSH HASHANAH SPECIALS

Buckwheat Honeycake- Sept. 9-23Made from a long list of luscious ingredients including a healthy

helping of buckwheat honey from a beekeeper in the Pacific

Northwest. With a big, bold, fruity flavor, the buckwheat honey adds extra zip. Add in freshly cracked eggs, golden raisins, toasted almonds, fresh orange and lemon zest, cinnamon, cloves, ginger, nutmeg and a few secret ingredients and you’ll get the New Year off to a good start.

Moroccan Challah- Sept. 9-23 A sensually spicy North African way to ring in the New Year, this is the challah of the Moroccan Jewish community. Rich, egg-based dough sweetened with honey, woven into a beautiful five-braid loaf ,and then rolled in generous amounts of anise, poppy, and sesame seeds.

Challah Turbans- Sept. 9-23 These challah “turbans” come in small and large sizes and two varieties! With or without Myer’s Rum-soaked raisins.

Get the New Year Off to a Sweet Start with Handmade

Candy from Zingerman’s!

Limited Time Rosh Hashanah Breads

and Pastries!

Try the treat Oprah called “Chewy, crunchy, sweet, salty, and highly addictive—this luscious handmade candy bar puts the vending machine stuff to shame.” Big enough for the whole family to share!

Choose your pleasure—jumbo runner peanuts cooked perfectly in our deep amber, butterscotch-rich, shatteringly delicious brittle, or all of that cov-ered in amazing dark chocolate. On second thought, why not some of each?

We’re taking candy, and halvah, back to the days before industrial food production. We toast and grind the fresh sesame seeds our-selves and mix it by hand in small batches. Ours is the only hand-made halvah that we know of in the U.S. There are no shortcuts to flavor! Toasted fresh sesame seeds, dense and dark muscovado brown sugar, pure Michigan honey, and naturally harvested coarse sea salt all combine to make our halvah radically more flavorful!

HapPy New Year from everyone at Zingerman’s!Let The Deli Do The Cooking This Holiday!

Smoked Whitefish SaladMade with whitefish from the Great Lakes of Michi-gan and loads of Calder Dairy sour cream, fresh dill, and fresh lemon juice. A Deli classic for years.

PotatoYukon Gold potatoes, onions, fresh eggs and herbs.

KashaThe original starch on starch toasted buck-wheat flavored with onions.

Chicken Roasted chicken, onions and potatoes cooked in schmaltz and herbs.

ISSUE # 252 SEPT-OCT 2015 ISSUE # 252 SEPT-OCT 2015­12 ­13

SHARING ZINGERMAN’SUNIQUE APPROACH TO BUSINESS

Back in bleak January, five guys from Atlanta, GA came to Ann Arbor, MI to attend ZingTrain’s Creating a Vision of Greatness seminar. They came from King of Pops, a happy company that sells excellent and eclectic popsicles out of street carts with rainbow umbrellas. Even for guys who work with ice all the time, we weren’t offering much by way of the weather. The content of the seminar more than made up for it. Or so Matt Tanner and Steven Carse (2 of the leadership 5 that came to the seminar) told us when we caught up with them for this interview.

Gauri: What do you want us to know about King of Pops that we won’t find on your websites About Us page?

KOP: We want to be more than just a popsicle company. Most of us came from large corporations where it felt impossible to make a real impact. We want to use our popularity and success to enact real change in the communities that we operate in. It sounds cheesy, but we truly believe we can change the world through popsicles.

Gauri: When you first connected with us, you knew that King of Pops needed something. How did you know that? What was it that you needed?

KOP: We had grown from 2 employees to more than 100. When it is just two (who happen to be brothers) it’s not that difficult to know what the plan is. But as we grew, different people had different ideas for where the company was headed. The number one question we get (from fans, from press, from customers) was, and still is, “What’s next?” We found ourselves answering that differently and wanted to see what we could do about that.

Gauri: When you came to the Creating A Vision of Greatness seminar and first heard all about Zingerman’s approach to Visioning, did you immediately know that this is what King of Pops needed or was it something that sank in over time?

KOP: We were familiar with Zingerman’s and many of the approaches to business that Ari champions though reading books like Small Giants, so we were cautiously optimistic that this type of trip (to Ann Arbor, in the middle of winter) was just what we needed. We knew it was exactly what we needed when we left a full day of being in the seminar and, instead of crashing or going out to din-ner, we stayed up in an abandoned hotel conference room until well past midnight working on our vision. The hotel staff actually brought us room service so we didn’t have to stop working. We were just hooked on the Zingerman’s energy.

Gauri: What was your overall reaction to Zingerman’s style of Visioning? What surprised you about the way we do it? What did you love? What resonated?

KOP: The most surprising thing was how everyone at Zingerman’s truly bought into the process. The fact that some people vision prior to EVERY shift blew us away. It made us understand that visioning was not a management tool, nor was it a one-time fix. It gave us the confidence to expect more from everyone in our company.

Gauri: How do you think the practice of Visioning will change the future of King of Pops?

KOP: Visioning has put us on a real course toward success and happiness. Lewis Carrol once said, “If you don’t know where you are going, any road will get you there.” Most of us have always had a good sense of where we wanted to go, but sometimes had trouble articu-lating it or sharing it. Visioning will help us do this.

Gauri: How do you think the practice of Visioning will change the lives of the folks on the front lines of King of Pops? How do you plan to bring Visioning into their lives?

KOP: We have tried to include as many people as possible, every step of the way, so that they feel they are a part of the vision. It is our hope that the folks on the front line will have the vision to refer to on the days when they are selling pops for hours in the hot sun or chopping up fruit for a full day and begin to wonder why they are here. We don’t expect them to memorize it, but on some level we hope they will understand it and know that it represents a plan for the future—for their future.

popsicle dreams

Our neighbors smile when they see us.

Every year we’ve started and ended the season with some type of thank you to our community. Typically it includes free pops and a handful of other ideas that seem fun, silly or strange in the moment. The simple gesture goes a long way in explaining how and why we operate.

If we can consistently sweeten the lives of our neighbors and enjoy doing it we all win.

This year is special. Our 20th year has come to a close, and the similarities to the early days outnumber the dif-ferences. We still host a party, the informal nature is still endearing and we are still giving away pops to anyone that will have one.

What started as a King of Pops celebration now incor-porates bits and pieces from each brand under the Rainbow Umbrella. Attendance is optional, but employ-ees both current and past rarely miss the occasion. A group that has never met has an immediate bond, laughing and comparing stories about what has changed and what is still the same. Most importantly, they talk excitedly about what is to come.

The same enthusiasm permeates throughout our orga-nization day -to -day. Significant others and friends have gotten used to hearing work talk hours after we’ve offi-cially “clocked out” for the day. It’s not always our fault, if you’re within a couple blocks of HQ and you happen to be wearing a company t shirt it’s pretty common for a stranger to walk up and start a conversation about the latest project.

It’s nice to be loved, and our response is to love back. We like to have fun, and for us it’s more fun when we invite our neighbors. We’re active in the community far beyond our business. Whether it’s a huge event like

Field Day (which is essentially just a staff party that we decided to invite the city to), the annual field trip that dozens of inner city schools take to a King of Crops outpost, the latest community service project that was conceived by our Do Gooder committee, or any of the hundreds of new half baked ideas we try each year that make just enough sense to work.

Our­Front­Porch

Our umbrella covers the South. From Richmond to Orlando and New Orleans to Charleston. We have nearly a dozen Hubs in the largest markets and outposts scat-tered in between. Each city is unique, but the positive vibe is consistent.

If you leave work for the day as others are winding down, you’ll probably see a group of employees hang-ing out together. Perhaps just having a beer or maybe playing a new game with ever evolving rules. On out of town trips, an informal visit to other Rainbow Umbrella spots is an activity that nearly always makes it on the schedule.

There is a natural tension between our desire to grow and our belief that our impact is diminished if we spread too far geographically. Focusing on the South allows us to remain an important influencer in the local food scene. It puts us in a position to have authentic relation-ships with our neighbors. It’s why half of our customers have been to one of our farms at some point to pull a weed, attend a wedding ceremony or just enjoy the scenery.

That’s something global brands cannot compete with.

The South is not a geographic area that we’ve identified as an ideal place to operate a business, but our home and the place where we want to see and affect change.

The­guys­from­King­of­Pops­generously­and­open-heartedly­allowed­us­to­share­their­Vision­for­the­year­2030.­

Co-founder Steven Carse’s opening statement for the Vision :

To those who refuse to just exist,

In 2010 we didn’t start with a formal business plan. There wasn’t a focus group that selected the rainbow umbrella that now casts shade over hundreds of push-carts throughout the South. Our professional culinary experience was non existent.

So how did we get here? The reality is that I was 25 and the idea of selling pops for the summer seemed like fun. We chose the first rainbow umbrella because it was in stock and we could afford it. As for making pops well, we just hoped we could figure that out.

The idea of what exists today was not imaginable. Yet years later the stories of our success are retold like folklore. Looking back it’s easy to gloss over the details that propelled us to where we are today. I wouldn’t trade that journey for anything.

The founding story of Nick and I putting ourselves out there, working through the night to make pops, and waking up every morning to take on any opportunity that came our way, is well documented. However, it’s only a small fraction of our story.

The “secret,” our single greatest achieve-ment, has been inspiring a group of employees who connect with what is going on. What started as a job for so many, is now much more. Our constant sacrifice is draining and exhilarating at the same time.

If you choose to work here I hope that you feel that you are a part of something great, a project more important and worthwhile than something any one of us could accomplish on our own. That your time, the most precious thing we have, is being spent wisely.

Important change is happening here right now. Don’t let it get lost in the day -to -day I’m 100% confident that it is happening. Let’s never stop pushing each other.

Here is a glance at what we all have to look forward to in 2030.

A sincere thank you to everyone who helped this become a reality.

Steven Carse

Rainbow Umbrella 2030 Vision This vision verbalizes our core values and begins to establish why we operate.

S mart • F earless • T houghtful • E nthusiastic • Fun

zingtrain helps five guys from Atlanta

figure out “what’s next?”

ISSUE # 252 SEPT-OCT 2015 ISSUE # 252 SEPT-OCT 2015­12 ­13

SeptEmbERTHE LITTLE NAPOLEONThe Little Cheese with the Big Complex! On sale at Zingerman’s Creamery and Zingerman’s Deli $6.99ea

Zingerman’s Creamery Wholesale Manager

If you’re not familiar with it—and most people aren’t—Liptauer cheese (pronounced “lip-tower”) is a long-standing Hungarian tradi-tion. In Hungary it’s more frequently known by the name Körözött, but we’ve been calling it Liptauer for so long we’ve decided to leave the name alone. Like most homestyle food traditions you’ll come across, there seem to be about six thousand recipes for this spicy cheese spread, and most of them very good in their own different ways. We don’t know that the one we’ve been making is the perfect version, but we’ve been selling it for a long time, and it has a lot of loyal fans so we’ll keep on keepin’ on. Call it Körözött, or call it Liptauer, this stuff is pretty darned, slightly spicily, good!

A while back we had the great fortune of meeting some folks from the Hodi family paprika farm in Hungary. The ingredient that gives Liptauer its signature zip is really good paprika, and all paprikas (as is the case with pretty much everything else in the food world) are not created equal. The Hodi family has been planting, harvesting, and drying paprika in small batches for generations, and the complexity of flavor in both their hot and sweet versions of this quintessentially Hungarian spice is down-right astounding. The moment we tasted it we knew we had to start using it, and the improvement in our resulting Liptauer has been phenomenal.

To make it, we start with our very fresh Farm Cheese, spice it up with fresh garlic, both hot & sweet paprika from Hodi, salt-packed capers, toasted caraway and just a touch of anchovy. It’s moderately spicy and exceptionally flavorful—there’s a huge burst of flavor in every bite! We’ve been told that in Hungary it was often served in casinos and bars which makes sense—it’s definitely the sort of stuff that goes great with good salami and good beer. Liptauer is great on rye bread from the Bakehouse, on bagels, used as hors d’oeuvres, or as the base for spicy finger sandwiches. It’s an excellent picnic food, great on a roast beef sandwich, and it makes the most incredible deviled eggs.

The Little Napoleon gets it start with some pretty incredible locally sourced goat’s milk. We cherish the goat farmers who have chosen to work with us, and over the years we’ve established some pretty great relationships that have resulted in extraordinarily high-quality, tasty goat’s milk. Our farmers deliver this milk to us the old fashioned way—in milk cans. While you might be scratching your head, wondering why we’d spend the extra time to transport their milk this way, the difference it makes in the resulting cheese is astounding. By handling the milk as gently as possible, we assure that every-thing that makes it unique and delicious remains in the finished cheese.

After a little gentle pasteurization, we allow that lovely goat’s milk to set for several hours while the curd slowly separates from whey, retaining as much flavor as possible in the process. This diminutive-though-robust goat round is made by very gently hand-ladling the resulting delicate curd into precisely perforated molds to allow for proper drainage and the fullest flavor development. By allowing this gentle draining as opposed to pressing the curd, we get a much more interesting texture and a more intense flavor, two things we absolutely love in a cheese!

This small, mold-ripened goat cheese has a butter colored mold rind, which develops very slight blue mottling with age. When very young (two weeks) this cheese has a soft creamy texture and a gently acidic flavor. As it ages, the Little Napoleon becomes softer and softer until finally achieving a consummately creamy texture with a delicate, wrin-kly mold rind that’s just dynamite with a crusty baguette and a drizzling of your favorite olive oil. One of our favorite ways to enjoy this one is with some almonds, a glass of Austrian Rosé, and a little Rustic Italian bread from Zingerman’s Bakehouse.

oCtOberLIPTAUEROur Take on a Hungarian ClassicOn sale at Zingerman’s Creamery & Zingerman’s Deli $6.50ea for a 6-ounce container

Call 734.663.3400 or go to zingermanscatering.com to order!

septembER The Out of Your League ClubWe raise this sandwich as a literal toast to Pete and Taylor! They both started work-ing at the Deli ten years ago, and are getting married this month! Corned beef, bacon, and cream cheese loaded up with scallions join together with crisp lettuce and tomato slices on toasted sourdough—a combination of their favorite ingredients that make a scrumptious sandwich! Cheers to great food, and our great friends!

$14.99

OctobErR&E’s Masterly Match-up A fusion of Ric & Enna’s favored flavors, and the winner of the auction in support of March of Dimes. They paired their individual long standing favorite ingredients to create a mouthwatering masterpiece. Two meats: roast beef and turkey! Two spreads: creamy roasted red pepper sauce and avocado! Classic veggie trio of red onion, lettuce and tomato. Capped with provolone cheese, this sandwich forms a mouthwatering pyramid atop grilled country wheat bread.

$15.99

SHARING ZINGERMAN’SUNIQUE APPROACH TO BUSINESS

Zingerman’s Events on Fourth is our intimate, charming, exposed-brick meeting and dining space nestled in the Kerrytown Market & Shops just west of Zingerman’s Deli, perfect for your next gathering of 10 to 80 guests.

Right now, we’re busy booking holiday parties for November & December, and we’re excited to help plan your party as well! Zingerman’s Catering has planned baby showers, wedding receptions, cor-porate team building exercises and seminars, birthday parties, anniversary parties and business meetings with the really great food and service that keep our guests coming back year after year.

Whether you’d like a strolling appetizer and cocktail mixer as a thank you to your best clients, or a plated five-course dinner as a reward for your staff, we’re looking forward to hearing from you and making your vision a reality. You’ll be able to plan from possibilities as varied as clas-sic Zingerman’s Deli sandwiches to the Fennel Pollen Porchetta we make from the hogs of Ernst Farm right here in Washtenaw County! Zingerman’s Catering will custom tailor a menu to suit the tenor of your event.

Just give Zingerman’s Catering a call at (734) 663-3400 or visit www.zingermanscatering.com. One of our friendly Catering staffers will help walk you through the initial planning steps, and assist in turning your vision into an event your guests will remember!

Holiday Party Planning at Zingerman’s Events on Fourth

June 1st-5th, 2016

Save the date!!

and fundraiser for the Southern Foodways Allianceand the Washtenaw County 4-H

A 5-day celebration of great pork

ISSUE # 252 SEPT-OCT 2015 ISSUE # 252 SEPT-OCT 2015­14 ­15

The Cerrado region of Brazil is an enormous, sprawling savanna that occupies the central part of the country. It comprises about 500 million acres of land (an area roughly three times the size of the State of Texas) and is the most biologically diverse savanna on the planet. The region is home to over 800 species of birds, nearly 200 types of mammals, and over a hundred kinds of reptiles. Plant biodiversity includes more than 10,000 species of plants, of which hundreds are found nowhere else. The Cerrado climate is humid and subtropical, covers about 23% of Brazil’s total area, and the region feeds three major water basins in the continent of South America: the Paraguay, the São Francisco, and the Amazon rivers.

The savanna itself is comprised of a series of high sedimentary plateaus, ranging from 500 to 1700 meters above sea level, and interspersed with depressions varying from 100 to 500 meters. This rising and falling landscape is laid out in a gently rolling mosaic pattern; Cerrado translates as “hilly.” The soil of the area was once considered too acidic to grow much, but beginning in the 1980s Brazilian agronomists began large-scale application of lime to improve the land. Today, the region is responsible for the majority of the country’s farm produce.

It is deep within this vast biome and up on a high plateau that the beautiful Daterra Farm is located. Daterra is owned by Luis Paschoal, a descendent of Italian immigrant and family patri-arch, Miguel Paschoal. Miguel arrived in Brazil in 1902 when he was just 11 years old. In 1908, he embarked on his first entrepreneurial adventure when he began selling coffee by the cup in the Campinas City Market. These humble beginnings led first to a grocery store, then a gas station, and finally a chain of car service centers. In 1980, Miguel’s descendants began to invest in agri-culture just as the Brazilian government was implementing the soil improvement programs that would change the face of farming in the country for the better. Luis Paschoal originally raised cattle and grew fruit, but soon became enchanted with the beverage that started the family busi-ness all those decades earlier. In 1984, the company began to focus on the cultivation of sustain-able and specialty coffees, and Daterra was born.

The word Daterra means, appropriately, “of the earth,” and the farm is the source of some of the world’s best Arabica coffee. The Daterra farm itself covers 5800 hectares (approximately 14,000 acres), and is actually three distinct farms within a larger estate; the main farm, and two small satellites. Luis and his staff are dedicated to sustainable practices and, aside from occasional mechanical or equipment needs, the farm is entirely self-contained. Recently, a brand new har-vesting machine was completely designed and produced on the farm, utilizing state of the art techniques. The farm has a large composting area where the byproducts of coffee growing, har-vesting, and processing are used to reinvest in the soil fertility, and the water used in the coffee bean-washing process is recycled. In addition, a large portion of Daterra has been set aside as permanent wetlands to hep sustain local wildlife and agriculture.

The relationship between Daterra and the Zingerman’s Coffee Company goes back more than a decade, and Daterra was one of the first coffee estates the Coffee Company worked with. Managing partner Steve Mangigian says he treasures his time on the verdant and lush plantation, and he nurtures a collaborative relationship with the farm to ensure consistent standards for the coffee he buys. A lot of time is spent evaluating the farm’s coffee varietals simply by tasting (“cupping” to coffee enthusiasts) the brew with an eye to such criteria as flavor, aroma, acidity or “brightness,” and the overall experience. This is an ongoing process, and Steve’s challenge is not simply to maintain as much consistency as possible in an agricultural product that’s subject to all manner of environmental influences on the beans, but also look for ways to make the coffee better in the cup.

Many of the benefits for developing long-term relationships with coffee growers are obvious. Steve can work with a grower over time to produce a bean tailored to the Coffee Company’s specific flavor profile. He’s able to have a first-hand understanding of the grower’s practices and their commitment to standards of quality. And Zingerman’s is able to trace the provenance of a particular coffee bean directly back to a specific plantation, along with all of the attendant “biog-raphy” information about how the crop was cultivated, harvested, and processed. Steve’s hope is that all of this care and attention to detail comes through in the flavor of our coffee. Because there’s no fooling a discriminating fan of the bean.

The long-lasting friendship between the Zingerman’s Coffee Company and Daterra has borne more ambitious fruit recently in a pilot program that will ultimately redefine the current defini-tion of knowing where your coffee comes from. Daterra is implementing a plan to set aside a spe-cific plot of land dedicated to a multi-year experimental project aimed at producing a coffee only for Zingerman’s. What this means is that it will now be possible to plant a specific varietal, process it in a certain way, and trace a brew from the bean directly back to the very field in which it was grown. This takes the notion of farm-to-cup to an entirely new level; where we used to know the coffee’s home village, we’ll now know its address!

The program represents a chance to take a more direct role in the specifics of bean cultiva-tion. With his own dedicated field, Steve will be able to shape and hone the flavor profile of Zingerman’s coffee beans from the very beginning. We may just be witnessing the birth of our very own Zingerman’s varietal. But, the project will take some time. Young coffee trees generally need 3-4 seasons before they start producing good quality beans. And Steve will no doubt want to tinker a bit with the beans to make sure they’re just right... Regardless, we’re very excited by this prospect, and we encourage everyone to stay tuned for more details.

Steve made another trip to Daterra this past July, but the focus of this visit was a bit different than previous trip. Steve and his fiancé Katherine were married at Daterra Estate, in the beautiful and lush savanna of the Cerrado. When I asked why he chose to hold his nuptials in the heart of Brazil, he talked about what Daterra, and his relationship with them has meant to him. Daterra owner Luis Paschoal exemplifies many of the ideals that Zingerman’s espouses; he treats his land and his people well, the farm has good energy, and they continually look toward innovation and improvement. Steve likes the farm’s transparency and openness, their commitment to sustain-able, renewable practices, and their responsible stewardship of the delicate environment of the Cerrado.

Steve tells me that three years ago, when his relationship with Katherine had moved to a new level, he brought her to visit Daterra Farm. The experience, he says, was foundational to their relationship and it became clear that their paths would ultimately merge into one. “It was a touch-stone moment,” he says. So when the time came to choose a place to formally acknowledge the love already present, Steve really wanted to evoke a connection to what the original trip had rep-resented for the couple. Daterra, for its part, was very enthusiastic about the idea, and insisted

on handling all the wedding details themselves.

About this time, Linda Smithers, Daterra’s long-time US representative, also announced her inten-tion to wed her fiancé, Howard, and overnight the event became a double wedding. This being the farm’s first wedding, Luis and Daterra went all out, arranging everything while the couples relaxed at the farm’s very comfortable guest house. The ceremony was officiated by Luis, and attended by 75 guests, mostly friends from the farm as well as a few inter-national guests. A feast of traditional Brazilian dishes were served, and after din-ner there was music and dancing into the night.

Before he flew to Brazil, Steve told me that he was looking forward to getting married and taking the next step in his life. He also shared another detail; three years earlier, Daterra had planted a tree on the farm in the couple’s honor. It was apparent to everyone even then that the couple had something special, something moving toward an inevitable convergence. Their tree at Daterra is a wonderfully romantic expression of the time, patience, and love necessary to grow and strengthen something beautiful. On this most recent visit both Steve and Katherine along with other witnesses observed that this planted tree had grown faster and bigger than most that had been planted in the past. A person has to wonder if the farming life doesn’t perhaps inspire a lovely poetic gesture now and then.

Available at Zingerman’s Coffee Co., Delicatessen and Roadhouse

SeptembERCOSTA RICA HACIENDA MIRAMONTEIn February, we visited Hacienda Miramonte and spent time with farm owner Don Ricardo and his daughter Viviana. We got a first-hand look at how their operation promotes quality while contributing to the health of the land and local community. We are excited to feature three micro-lots we selected during the visit—Ambar, Roble Sabana, and Cedro—named for the trees that grow in the area where each lot was produced. We are very pleased with the development of this relationship as it supports our desire for very high quality coffees, sustainable business and growing practices. We are working very closely with Don Ricardo and Viviana to grow a unique coffee varietal we can call our own.

oCtOberBALI FULLY WASHED KINTAMANIKintamani refers to the highland plateau in Northeastern Bali where coffee produc-tion thrives. Kintamani is situated between Mount Batukara and the active Mount Agung, the highest point on the island.

This lot comes from one of several producer groups in the area who farm in the Subak Abian tradition. Subak Abian is based on the Hindu philosophy of Tri Hita Ka-rana, which holds that prosperity comes from harmony among people, nature, and God. The Subak Abian were among the stakeholders who established Indonesia’s first Geographical Indication protection for coffee—similar to Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese in Italy or Champagne in France.

Bali has a reputation for producing carefully processed coffees with more delicate flavors than typically found in beans from Indonesia. We liked this coffee for its rich, nutty aroma and flavors of lemon and brown sugar.

Love in the time of coffee

EJ Olsen covers Zingerman’s for our newsletter and on zingermanscommunity.com and on Twitter

ISSUE # 252 SEPT-OCT 2015 ISSUE # 252 SEPT-OCT 2015­14 ­15

Bakeshop—3711 Plaza Dr. • 761.2095 Deli—422 Detroit St. • 663.3354 (DELI)

Roadshow—2501 Jackson Rd. • 663.3663 (FOOD)

Call Ahead To Order

Blueberry­Buckle­September 3-6

SeptEmberPaesano­Bread­$4.50/ea. (reg. $6.29)

The traditional bread of the Puglia region of Italy. Pass it around the table for ripping and dipping in great olive oil, soup or pasta. Every-one likes this bread. We’ll put money on it.

OctoberFarm­Loaf$4.50/ea. (reg. $6.29)

Imagine sitting around a French farmhouse table waiting for dinner to be served—this would be the bread they’d bring out. It has thick crust and soft white chewy interior with a flavor that tastes of toasted wheat. When baked to a nice dark crust, this is Frank’s favorite loaf.

SEptemBer24-Carrot­CakeWe peel and grate forty pounds of carrots to make one batch of this cake. All those carrots add an incredible moistness and a fresh sweetness to the cake. Combine them with toasted walnuts and aromatic spices and you get a great cake that’s totally delicious on its own. Cover it with a generous amount of cream cheese frosting and it becomes irresistible. Available in 6” and 9” rounds and sheet cakes.

20% OFFwhole cakes and slices at Zingerman’s Bakehouse and Deli

Available at Zingerman’s Bakehouse, Delicatessen and Roadhouse

September October

We­have­made­some­great­specialty­breads­over­the­years­that­

developed­their­own­small­followings,­so­we­bring­them­back­

for­a­weekend­here­and­there­just­for­fun.­If­you’re­looking­for­

a­little­adventure­check­out­this­calendar.

Black­Olive­Farm­Bread­­September 4-5

Buckwheat­Honeycake­September 9-23

Challah­Turbans­September 9-23

Moroccan­Challah­September 9-23

Margaret’s­Sweet­­Wheat­Bread­

September 25-26

Maple­Leaf­Cookies­September 25

Green­Olive­Paesano­Bread

October 9-10

Craquelin­October 2-4

Chernushka­Rye­BreadOctober 23-24

Somodi­Kálacs­October 16-18

Lemon­Poppyseed­­Coffeecake

October 29-November 1

Rosemary­Baguettes­October 31-November 1

20% OfFwhole cakes and slices

OctoBerDobos­Torta­Pronounced [doh-bosh], this traditional Hungarian cof-feehouse torte was created in 1887 by well known chef and confectioner József C. Dobos (1847–1924). It’s five thin layers of vanilla sponge cake and dark chocolate espresso butter cream, all topped with pieces of crispy dark caramel. Taste one of Hungary’s most famous tortas!

Available at Zingerman’s Bakehouse & Delicatessen

We learned a lot. My daughter saysnow I can’t say pies are

too hard. No excuses! Also, it was really fun to bake with my

daughter. - Carol and Lily

I will no longer fear homemade bread making.

- Chandra

I was a non cook/baker but now, I am seriously

considering a career change. This class was

definitely inspiring.

- Shari

After baking for 40 years, I still learned

new techniques.

- Nancy

After taking the baguettes class,

I made baguettes for a British

friend - she said they were the closest thing to Parisian

baguettes she’s had since coming to North America!

- Meghan

You learn so much about the science of baking and get to take

home what you make! Plus the student-teacher ratio is low, so you

get tons of help.

- Stephanie