"When people know good ingredients and quality products, you can count on them to open a restaurant that showcases them in their best light. Mongers' Provisions is a high-end but super-friendly cheese and chocolate shop with locations in Berkley and Midtown. The former debuted a space called the Rind this fall that is being billed as a wine bar, but it is also a wonderful neighborhood restaurant. The meticulous and heavenly Caesar salad is served as a mound of supple romaine lettuce that is dusted with Parmesan and accented with perfectly placed Spanish anchovies. The vegan, crunchy radicchio salad smells and tastes of the holiday season with walnuts, apples, butternut squash and a persimmon vinaigrette. Among the few main dishes offered by chef Will BeDell and his team is a buttery and flaky Lake Superior whitefish in a beurre blanc sauce. You can also just sit at the Rind's bar or one of the low wooden tables and snack. The cheese and charcuterie selection, Marcona almonds, warm olives or tinned fish all go great with the wine selection, offered by bottle or glass. My only complaint is that the Rind is only open 12 hours a week. For a lunch fix, however, Monger's serves huge rusticlooking Italian subs and ham and butter sandwiches at the cheese counter. Reservations for large groups only. Open 5-9 p.m. Thurs.-Sat. 3125 12 Mile, Berkley. (248) 468-4487. rindbar.com."
Melody Baetens - The Detroit News
]]>The Wine bar and event space next to Mongers’ Provisions in Berkley is the latest endeavor for the culinary outfitters specializing in cut-to-order cheese, craft chocolate, charcuterie and specialty goods
DETROIT – Zach Berg and William Werner, founders of Mongers’ Provisions, today announced the upcoming opening of their expansion in Berkley. The expansion adds a full bar, and approximately 50 seats connected to their existing storefront on 12 Mile Rd in Downtown Berkley. The space will operate as seating for Mongers Lunch business during the day and in the evening will become “The Rind '' a neighborhood wine bar. This new endeavor will allow the brand to offer in-person experiences focused on wine, expanded lunch seating and offerings, and host larger events.
According to the owners: “Naturally, the space will evolve but the initial concept is to have a Mongers’ lunch place by day and The Rind, a neighborhood wine bar in the evening. The daytime space will be a place to have a casual lunch right in downtown Berkley, just a mile from Woodward. In the coming months, our lunch menu will expand beyond grilled cheese to include new sandwich offerings, salads, and rotating specials.”
“It feels incredible to make good on our very first customer request - being able to have a glass of wine with some cheese,” said Berg. “We pride ourselves on the services and experiences we are able to offer and look forward to bringing new ones to life.”
The Rind will feature an evening menu that is naturally anchored by cheese, charcuterie, and conservas, while also offering an assortment of small plates. The wine list will be focused on bottles that pair well with the menu via rotating and seasonal selections of domestic and imported wines. Plus, with over 100 retail bottles, patrons will be able to open any of them for a small corkage fee. The expanded location will allow patrons to bring their Grilled Cheese and sandwiches to The Rind for additional lunch seating. The new space occupies 1,200-square-feet with 50 seats, bringing Mongers’ total space to nearly 4000-square-feet.
“The Rind can be a beginning or an end. Like with a piece of Brie, you start at the rind and get to the center, or you might end with just the rind after working through a Clothbound Cheddar. The idea is that you can use this space as a bookend to your evening, or as a destination for a light dinner,” said Werner.
Mongers’ plans on holding public events in the space, like their signature How to Build a Cheeseboard class, and educational experiences diving deep into various regions to talk about cheese and wine or other beverages. Additionally, the space will be available for private events and can host up to 80 people.
The Rind is currently soft opening on Fridays and Saturdays from 5pm to 9 pm. The full opening and an expanded Mongers’ Provisions lunch menu is slated for late-August.
“We are so thankful to take this culinary journey with our customers even further. Just as Mongers’ has grown and evolved since 2017, we expect this space to evolve over time. We look forward to the new journey and are excited to raise a glass with everyone,” Berg and Werner
About Mongers’ Provisions:
Founded in 2017 by Zach Berg and Will Werner, Mongers’ Provisions originally began as pop-ups before transitioning to a location in Ferndale, Michigan. The duo launched their flagship store in November 2018 in Midtown Detroit at 4240 Cass Avenue and opened the Berkley, Michigan location in November 2021. This business came to be out of a life-long love of good eating and countless discussions about how to translate that love into a business.
About Zach Berg, co-owner and Head Cheesemonger:
Prior to opening Mongers' Provisions, Zach managed the cheese department at Bi-Rite Market in San Francisco. He placed 2nd at the 2014 Winter Cheesemonger Invitational. He began his food career working in kosher catering at the age of 13 and eventually moved on to restaurants and Zingerman’s Deli before attending culinary school at the Culinary Institute of America in Napa Valley. Zach is a graduate of Michigan State University with a B.A. in Hospitality Business. Zach is also a graduate of the Techtown Detroit, Retail Boot Camp program. Zach loves cheese and he wants to share that love with you!
About Will Werner, co-owner and Chief Chocolate Officer:
Will loves sharing experiences built around food with others. After seven years working as a geologist, he decided to take a plunge and get into the food industry. He moved back to Michigan and took a job managing Gayle's Chocolates in Royal Oak. During this time he became fascinated by the "bean-to-bar" chocolate movement. Will has visited chocolate manufacturers from Utah to Vietnam and loves the interaction between the farmers, the land (terroir) and the chocolate makers. When he and Zach decided to open Mongers’ Provisions, they knew they wanted to make craft chocolate a focal point of the business. Will is a graduate of the University of Michigan with a B.A. in Earth Sciences. He is also a graduate of the Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses program.
CONTACT: media@mongersprovisions.com
I think we can all agree that the ancient cheesemakers of yore were innovators and heroes. I don’t know who first had the insight to turn leftover whey into something like ricotta, but if I did, I think a poster of that particular lactic celebrity would have gone nicely on my bedroom wall in high school. And today’s brightest cheesemakers are no different. Not only do they produce foods that we celebrate with, and which connect us to one another, but they are some of the pioneers in finding practical solutions to agricultural emissions and climate change.
By volume, cows produce a little bit of milk (about 9000 liters), and whole lot more methane (127,000 L). You may be less enticed by the latter, which is understandable; methane emissions are generally considered to be the biggest agricultural contributor to climate change, and as far as I know, methane is not widely considered to be delicious.
Point Reyes, for example, extracts the methane produced by manure and leftover whey to power 50% of their total energy needs. This process is called methane digestion, and it requires water, so the creamery recycles some that has been used in the cheesemaking process. Once the process is complete and the gas is siphoned off, the resulting liquid is a great fertilizer, so it goes back to the pasture to provide nutrients to the grasses. These aren’t the only sustainable practices on the creamery, but they’re certainly important when talking about ecological impact.
Jasper Hill Farms, likewise, uses methane digestion and a whole range of other processes that work together to utilize the nutrients and energy already available on the property. They worked with several companies over a few years to develop the incredibly efficient and high-tech system they named “The Green Machine.” If you’re interested, head over to jasperhillfarm.com and look at a clear and fairly detailed explanation of how all the moving parts fit together. If you’re an engineering or permaculture nerd—you’re welcome.
A lot of planning, infrastructure, and money went into the implementation of the systems at Point Reyes and Jasper Hill, and it wasn’t just for the good of the earth. One of the realities of a creamery using naturally available resources effectively is that it helps make incredible cheeses that showcase the nuance unique to that location. Our friends at Idyll Farms put a lot of effort into feeding the soil by adding in their goat-made compost, beneficial worms and leftover whey, as well as using rotational grazing practices. This careful attention to soil leads to healthy, vibrant grasses, which in turn makes healthy goats who produce flavorful milk, and eventually, to the delectable cheeses Idyll is famous for. As Idyll says, it results in “the flavor of Leelanau terroir in the cheese”, and it makes sense. Terroir is taste of place, and I’d rather eat someplace delicious.
The cheesemaking heroes of today are masters of blending traditional and modern farming practices, working to strengthen the land they steward, care for the animals they raise, and show us all what taste of place can be. And yes, I do have some of their posters on my wall.
By Kim Steeh
]]>For years now we have only had one version of this cheese. Currently we have begun an experiment, can we sell two varieties of a cheese that people think of as a single cheese? These two cheeses have nothing to do with green shaker cans! They represent a special place on earth, specifically two different sights within the region but I am getting carried away with myself. Let's begin by talking about Parmigiano Reggiano on a PDO (Protected Designation of Origin) level.
Less than 3000 milk producers give their milk to around 300 dairies who are responsible for making roughly 4 million wheels of cheese a year. True Parmigiano Reggiano is produced only in the provinces of Parma, Reggio Emilia, Modena, Bologna west of the Reno river, and Mantua south of the Po river. Whether you believe this cheese to be an Italian original, or an homage to the Swiss Sbrinz, its roots of this cheese go back to the 1200’s. In 1934, representatives from the various dairies in the area agreed to the need to create a mark indicating the authenticity of their cheese. It was not until 1954 that the Consortium that we know now was formed.
It takes 520 liters or 137.6 gallons of raw milk to produce one wheel of cheese. The cows for this cheese must be fed a natural diet of local forage, grass, and hay. These cheeses are hand-made and then aged for at least 12 months. Each wheel of Parmigiano Reggiano is 80 - 100 lbs.
Now let's talk about our two wheels! The wheels we get are always at least 24 months and sometimes as old as 30 months. The one we have been carrying since we were able to afford our first wheel, is Cravero’s Parmigiano Reggiano from Essex Cheese. I have had the privilege of being in this facility and meeting Giorgio Cravero personally. The passion they have for their craft is as apparent as the pride they have in their family’s heritage in the Parmigiano Reggiano world. The Cravero family ages all of their cheese in Bra since 1855. The wheels Giorgio and his team age for us come from Caseificio Sociale San Pietro, where Massimo, the cheese maker, is able to make approx seven wheels a day. San Pietro is at a high enough elevation that after 24 months of aging it gets a special designation as a Prodotto di Montagna (a product of the mountains). There are only a few dozen makers that get to enjoy the lusher higher elevation pastures for their cheese. These wheels rest on pine boards and are flipped regularly. These factors along with countless others that have been shared over the six generations result in a Parmigiano that is like no other we have ever had. It is more of a table cheese than something you want to grate over pasta. It's soft, buttery, and very special!
With a cheese like the one I described above, why bring in another? Well most people like grating their Parmigiano Reggiano. We want to offer you a cheese at a lower price, and one that carries more savory notes. Something that provides great contrast with a red sauce. Enter farm #700 and the Colla family. In the province of Piacenza, what began in 1921 continues to grow and be refined. Producing approximately 12 wheels of Parmigiano a day, these cheeses are still considered a small family-operation, especially when you look at some of the larger players in the region. These cheeses also carry a special designation, known as “Export” quality Parmigiano Reggiano, meaning they were checked at 18 months of aging and classified as “first grade”.
While we know you have heard of Parmigiano Reggiano, we would love to invite you to try these two cheeses. Even better, try them side by side. Both of these creameries represent a fraction of a percentage of the total Parmigiano made. We are really eating the top 1%, the best of the best of what this prestigious PDO has to offer.
We at Mongers are incredibly proud of both of these cheeses. They both represent relationships that I’ve had in the industry for over a decade. I believe that Parmigiano epitomizes our mission statement “We seek to strengthen connections between friends, and build connections to places and people near and far”. So please bring family or friends together. Eat some chunks of Cravero Parmigiano Reggiano. Grate some of the Colla family’s Parmigiano Reggiano on some pasta. We hope you will see, while it is one region there are many expressions of the “King of Cheese”!
]]>At the end of a long day, when the city pollution and commute is wearing me down, nothing calms both my mind and body like a cup of good tea. In traditional Chinese medicine, hot water is used to expel excess cold and humidity from the body. It increases blood circulation, which helps detoxify the body and relax the muscles.
When you add to this simple remedy the lovely aroma and taste of a well grown tea, it becomes a healing journey for all of the senses. At night I love brewing a small pot of blueberry rooibos, since it's caffeine free. Each step in the brewing process reminds me of the time and space I am taking for myself. I set up my teapot next to the stove, letting the water boil on a low flame so that the process isn't rushed. I put three teaspoons of tea into my 20 oz pot, one for the pot and one for each cup of tea I plan to drink, and pull down my favorite large mug.
Even before adding the hot water, the smell of the blueberry tickles my nose and the color of the hibiscus shines in the teapot.
When the water is at a rumbling boil, but before the kettle is at a full whistle, I pull it off the flame and pour it into the teapot. If your teapot is clear, you can watch the hibiscus and blueberries create a lovely deep color as soon as you start to pour. Either way your nose will thank you as the light fruity flavor grows into full bloom. I set the lid on the kettle and set a timer on my phone for 3 minutes.
I always take these three minutes while the tea brews to release the day. I let the good and the bad flood my mind and then slowly fall away, focusing on the condensation around the pot, the lightest stream of smoke that starts to flow from the spout. If you are very very quiet, you can sometimes hear the leaves unfurling as they drink up the hot water. When the timer goes off, my mind and vision are clear, with a focus only on warm blueberries and sharp hibiscus. I sit in the softest chair in my house with my hot cup and blow lightly at the surface, watching the warm liquid move and the smallest bit of tea settle at the bottom.
In A Nice Cup Of Tea, George Orwell outlines 11 strict rules about tea drinking, many of which are controversial, all of which are Very English. The last rule is that one should never add sugar to tea. While I disagree with that sentiment wholeheartedly, when I drink a cup of rooibos, I never add sugar, especially to one with fruit. This way, when that first sip hits, nothing destroys the layers of flavor as they hit the tongue. The Hibiscus brings its loud floral strength, the elderberry trying its best to quiet the blueberry and cranberry notes as they hit tartly at the sides of the tongue. And the rooibos sits beneath it all, like a calm grandfather watching his grandchildren play in the backyard.
In the morning I will start the day with a cup of Yunnan Black. It will be brewed directly in a togo cup, its strong depth of flavor a sharp kick in the mouth that always jolts me awake. But for now I rest with tea, feeling the warmth in my chest grow and the chill in my fingers dissipate. This is the power of a good cup of tea; the ability to remind you where your body is, by taste and by storm. It is a cup of liquid grounding that has the audacity to also taste good.
-Lena
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As we look at the Holiday season just coming around the corner, of course the holidays may not look the same. But there are things that you can count on! We have our holiday favorites already scheduled to come in. We are equally excited about eating and enjoying these cheeses as we are about supporting these amazing cheese makers and companies we have built strong relationships and traditions with such as Essex Cheese, Uplands Dairy, and, of course, the internationally acclaimed Rogue Creamery.
Essex Street Cheese has helped define my calendar year since 2008 when I first started working at Zingerman’s. As we learned in our Essex Deep Dive Tasting, Essex brings us some of our most beloved staples of the shop like Parmigiano, Comte, L’Amuse, and Brabander.. This time of year, we get two really special cheeses from Essex . In addition to our everyday Comte from Fort St Antoine, we get one wheel of the highly allocated Comte Sangess (meaning wisdom in French). This is a Comte that tends to be over 2 years old and sometimes even tips the scale at 36 months (considered somewhat of a unicorn cheese).
In our Dutch line of goudas from the legendary Betty Koster, we get a special treat hand selected by Betty herself. Black Betty (cue the music) an extra aged wheel of her Brabander Goat Gouda. If you have not tried this, you owe it to yourself to add this to your holiday traditions. It is only available once a year, from November through February. These cheeses will both be available to us on November 6th.
For our domestic line up, Uplands Dairy is considered one of the most well respected dairies in the country, let alone Wisconsin. Andy Hatch and his team have won Best in Show awards 3 times (2001, 2005 and 2010). This puts Pleasant Ridge Reserve in a category all its own, the only 3 time winner of this award in history. Andy makes a raw milk mountain cheese only when the cows are on pasture. Each cheese that Andy and his team makes is a true expression of Terrior,hat was the condition of the pasture, which cows were in rotation that day, what was the weather like and so on. Sean Hartwig of Zingerman’s and I were due to visit Andy and select our batches for the year before the world stopped us. Instead of making my first pilgrimage to Wisconsin’s Driftless region, Andy sent us 4 different batches for us to choose from. We are going to be selling Pleasant Ridge that was made on August 7, 2019. It has depth that I have come to love with enough youthful quality that I am excited to find out how it ages over the rest of the year. Come taste this cheese now, and then see how it changes by the time you make your New Year’s Eve Tray!
We will not miss this season’s Rush Creek Reserve either. We should get our first batch around October 26th. Andy and his team make this cheese for a few months of the year starting around September. As the cows start transitioning to grain, the team makes one of the few soft raw milk cheeses enjoyed in the United States. Based on a Vacheron M'dore this cheese is a spruce wrapped, washed rind cheese. It has been aged 60 days and when they are on the younger side they still maintain the slice a bit. When they get on the older side you can cut the top off and dive right into the creamy and gooey cheese.
In our opinion Holiday boards should have blue cheese. It just works with all the flavors of the season. There is no more special of a choice than Rogue River Blue. This opinion was shared by a panel of judges at The World Cheese Awards last year in Bergamo, Italy. This was the first time an American cheese had won this contest in its over 30 year history. Rogue River is a blue cheese made with the same mold as the famed Roquefort. The cheese is lovingly wrapped in grape leaves that have been soaked in pear brandy. It is only released after the Autumnal Equinox and it ages throughout the year. The cheese is always amazing and starts more bright and cheesy in the fall. Then mellows out expressing more of the booze flavors in the cheese by New Years Eve, if there is still any around. Each year you have to fight for your wheels of this cheese. There is never enough to go around and you can only imagine what this year is like after this international award.
Although this year has certainly been unrivaled, our holiday cheese selection will celebrate the traditions we have been building over the last 4 years. We cannot wait to connect with you! Whether it’s an online order, part of a virtual tasting, in the store, or you call and email us with a question, we are excited to help you make your holiday picks. We have some great products in the store and more coming as we build up to the end of the year!
]]>Canned fish is most widely known in the US in the form of tuna, bomb shelter sardines and bland canned pink salmon. Yes, you may have had smoked oysters from a can but in general, this country treats canned seafood as an afterthought, a food to take camping or use during an apocalypse. To paint a broad stroke, Americans do not equate canned fish with quality, artisan production or great flavor. Yet in much of Europe (and many other places), canned fish or Conservas as they are called in Spain, are not only popular, but they are considered a delicacy.
If you doubt this, just look at some of the variety and prices of canned fish coming from Spain. Sure you can find some stellar sardines for a few bucks a tin, but the spectrum ranges from there to canned baby eels costing north of $40! These prices are not a gimmick, people buy these things and for good reason. Much of the Spanish, French and Portuguese tinned seafood is hand-packed and sourced from some of the best catches available. The products are canned within a day or two of harvest to preserve their flavor at its peak. We can taste the difference and so can you. As a comparison, try a can of sardines from trader joes, costco or kroger that is a couple dollars and compare it to some hand packed Spanish or Portuguese sardines, especially the extra small ones that come 20-30 to a can rather than 3-4. Everything is different, from the quality of the oil to the taste of the fish. The flavor is better, more engaging and less reminiscent of food related to the Cold War. So let’s dive in and explore this subject in a bit more depth!
Many of the foods we sell at Mongers’ provisions were originally an outgrowth of the need for preservation. Cheese is a way to cure milk, wine a way to wax grapes, charcuterie a means to maintain meat, and jam, a journey to fortify fruit. Conservas are no exception to this. Canned fish was first and foremost a way to provide for troops and sailors. War is hell, but sometimes it leads to things like radar, air travel, and from the razor wire, rises brined razor clams.
The first conservas were developed during the Napoleonic Wars. The French government needed to feed soldiers and was happy to find that by 1806, Nicolas Appert, a confectioner by trade, had figured out that cooking glass jars of fish in boiling water seemed to prevent the food from spoiling and would not make people sick. At the time, they did not know that the boiling water was killing microbes because this was happening well before the acceptance of germ theory and Louis Pasteur’s development of pasteurization. Yet it took a Brit to develop the can. Glass as many of us (especially my breakage-prone wife) is fragile. Soon after the canning process was developed by Appert using glass vessels, Peter Durand actually patented the idea of preserving food in metal cans.
So how do we get from war-time staple to bourgeois delicacy? In the 1840’s a French boat shipwrecked and the Spanish plundered the canned fish stored aboard. Shortly after, they had built their first canning factories. The Spanish came to value conservas as a related but altogether different product from fresh seafood. While fresh seafood is highly valued in Spain, the conservas are akin to a preserved ham. The product has been, aged, transformed in a manner that creates a very different end result. This is part of the reason why canned products are often significantly more expensive than their fresh counterparts. It is in many ways the difference between buying fish from the market and getting it prepared at a restaurant. High end conservas are ready to eat and have been “cooked” by expert chefs. Thus we might pay way more for a 4 oz tin of mussels than a pound bag of fresh ones.
Let’s dive into a few of the different types of Conservas and their origins.
Fish
The most popular types of fish to can are:
Mollusks
Many varieties of these products are canned throughout Spain, Portugal, France and Italy. Among the different varieties of fish, there are numerous seasoning styles and mediums. Razor clams are often canned in a simple brine, while sardines might be seasoned with peppers or canned in high-quality olive oil. Spanish flavors often revolve around escabeche, a sauce punctuated by vinegar, paprika and bay leaves though simple unadorned products are quite common as well.
The French often dress-up their conservas with other flavors. A good example of this are the Les Mouettes D’arvour tins of mackerel or sardines. They make mackerel in mustard and creme fraiche, a delightful mackerel in muscadet with herbs, and sardines in parsley and butter. The latter being one of my favorite secret ingredients recently.
Take a can of those sardines in garlic, parsley and butter then throw them into any sauteed vegetables for the last couple minutes of cooking. Sauteed asparagus or green beans work especially well. If you don’t have the chance to use them in a recipe, a few chunks of these deens will make a superb topping for any salad.
Want to learn even more? Join us for our upcoming Conservas events in September!
Here are some of the brands we are working with currently and a run-down of their stories.
Conservas De Cambados (Spain) - Conservas De Cambados or CDC has a great lineup of products. They have had their own cannery in Galicia since 1985. We love their octopus and mussels!
Espinaler (Spain) - Originally started as a tavern in Barcelona, Espinaler has been around since 1896. They eventually began making their own sauce and soon after, began canning seafood. The tavern had featured conservas for many years but as they expanded into carrying specialty goods, they contracted their own production. Today, Espinaler is one of the premier specialty shops in Spain and their conservas are second to none.
Jose Gourmet (Portugal) - based in Portugal, Jose Gourmet has been a game changer for the conservas offerings in the USA. Dedicated to preserving “memory and tradition” they feature classic Portuguese products along with a few Spanish options. Their packaging is all conceived by Luís Mendonça, a Poruguese artist. Their lineup of cephalopods, mollusks, and more is truly unique.
Les Mouettes d’Arvour (France) - These guys have been in business since 1959, not as long as some of the folks on the list, but trust us, they are old school. So old school, that I cannot find their website. Yet, despite the lack of internet info, they put out superb canned fish. Their sardines and mackerel are top notch and their anchovies are not to be missed. They use excellent fish canned fresh, sometimes on its own and sometimes with added elements.
Ortiz (Spain) - Hand packed tuna, sardines and anchovies are the specialty of Ortiz. You may have seen their products in the past as they are the most popular producer we carry. That said, their quality is excellent and you can't go wrong with cracking an Ortiz tin.
Olasagasti (Spain) - A story of how two cultures combined can become something special. Olasagasti was founded by a Sicilia immigrant to Basque country in Spain. Today, Matteo, the grandson of the founders, is running the factory of Olasagasti continuing the tradition started over 100 years ago by his ancestors.
Ramón Peña (Spain) - Hand-packed seafood is what this company is all about. From their sardines to shellfish, we are always impressed by the quality Ramón Peña offers. One of our favorite items from them is their sardines in Padron peppers. Their squid in ink is also a must try!
Want to learn even more? Join us for our upcoming Conservas events in September!
Below are a few recipes that work well with conservas, or as an addition to them.
A great way to serve conservas! Put this on top of them or serve on the side, and go to town with some bread!
Ingredients
Recipe Preparation: Whisk cornichons, oil, vinegar, capers, and mustard in a small bowl to emulsify; season with salt and pepper. Gently mix eggs and herbs into dressing. Taste and adjust seasoning if needed. Do Ahead: Dressing can be made 2 days ahead. Cover and chill. Bring to room temperature before using.
Nutritional Content Calories (kcal) 230 Fat (g) 22 Saturated Fat (g) 3.5 Cholesterol (mg) 140 Carbohydrates (g) 3 Dietary Fiber (g) 0 Total Sugars (g) 2 Protein (g) 5 Sodium (mg)
Ingredients
Recipe Preparation: Open sardines and break up gently with a fork. Saute vegetables in a couple tablespoons of olive oil over high heat for 2-5 minutes or until tender but not soft. Just before finishing, add in sardines and mix until vegetables are coated well. Remove from heat and add lemon juice and salt to taste. Serve immediately or cold for a simple side.
I made this the other day and it was a nice change from bagels with lox. The sardines are surprisingly less assertive than salmon and give a fresh taste to a breakfast classic. My wife at first was hesitant to try them, (though she loves sardines, she wasn’t keen on them for breakfast), but after a bite, she was hooked!
Ingredients
Recipe Preparation: Slice bagels and toast if desired. Spread a thin layer of cream cheese on the bagels. Add a few pieces of the sardines to each bagel and top with the chopped tomatoes. Sweet cherry tomatoes work well, but if you have some great heirlooms, they will work great too. Sprinkle with chopped herbs and drizzle with olive oil. Finish with salt and pepper to taste.
Well, it's been a minute since we have all had a chance to stand across the counter and chat. We are over the moon excited to invite you back into the store, while taking the proper safety precautions like limiting to 5 people at a time. It's even more exciting that we now have a larger space in the Rust Belt Market. This space is large enough that in good times it could hold more than 5 people. As we find ourselves leaving the house (for some of us the first time in a while) and having social distance hangouts, we want to say hello and let you know what we are excited about with summer coming and some of the delicious foods we have brought in for the season.
As it warms up outside and our socializing goes from around the kitchen table to the back deck and patio, the food changes. While we think you can eat many cheeses year round we understand not everyone is into watching their brie turn to a puddle during a BBQ or a day around the pool. So we brought in a handful of products to help you enjoy your days on the boat, by the pool, in the backyard, or just trying to pretend you’re in any other place than listening to the kids running around.
If you have participated in one of our Zoom Tastings, then you know it’s no secret I have been enjoying being a wine buyer lately... The whole country has been enjoying wine as sales are up nationwide during the pandemic. We have been selling wine for over a year now. We have a smallish selection that like all of our products is curated. We try to find food-friendly wines with a distinct character. We certainly have a bias towards things like: natural wine, organic or biodynamic wines, or traditionally made wines (I love when I ask a winemaker about natural wine and they say, “I make wine like my grandfather made wine” how can you argue with that?). We also like changing our selections fairly often so we can all continue on our wine education journey.
So what are we drinking during summer? We have a few White Wines, Red Wines, and of course we have Rose!
Summer Wine Guide
Rosé’ Wine
Domaine de Fontsainte - Gris de Gris Most of the time this is the only Rose we have. It is so delicious and has a unique softness to it. One of my favorite wine people (Will Meinberg of Kermit Lynch) said it was like drinking a cloud! This year’s vintage is slightly more extracted in flavor giving off a little more acid and a beautiful color. Don’t let the summer go by without trying this beautiful wine.
White Wines
Christina - Gruner Veltliner This is a natural unfiltered Gruner. Christina Netzl has grown up in wine. Her family produced wine and after pursuing her education in the subject she returned to the family business and started to shake things up. Since 2013 she has been working on converting the land to organic farming. She practices whole cluster fermentation and pressing. This gives her Gruner something really special and adds some depth and structure. I think this wine goes so well will flavors of summer from salads to grilled flavors!
Bonny Doon - Piquepoul Another famous natural wine producer. This one from the West Coast of America, Bonny Doon has always helped blaze a path in American wine scene. With this refreshing light wine they are using Piquepoul, a grape that doesn’t get as much play as it should. It is a playfully acidic wine, the name translates to “sting the lip” because of its sharp notes. But the acid is accompanied by a lovely aroma of green and sunshine. This is what I will be sipping by the pool (in my mind)
Red Wines
Paltrinieri - Solco Lambrusco We know not everyone likes white wine or rose. Red wine drinkers do not despair, we have fun warm weather options for you as well. This Lambrusco has just a hint of sweetness making it perfect for bold things like BBQ and heavily grilled meats. With a little bit of bubbles to help keep things light and refreshing. Put this red in the fridge to give it just a hint of chill, pop the cork and enjoy!
Virgil’s Vineyard - Smuggler’s Son Sometimes it takes me a while to really hear what you are all saying when it comes to missing parts of our selection. For any of you who were requesting “Sharp Cheddar” when we first opened, you know it took me almost 6 months to finally bring in the 8 year Hook’s. This was no different. We have known we needed a bolder ‘steak’ wine for a while... When you are looking to celebrate the arrival of summer, or your new grill, it is time to splurge on one of these incredibly small production Red Blends. Virgil’s is made in California by Michigan local Matthew Kipper.
Other Happenings
So now we know what we are drinking but what should we all be eating during this time? Well, we at Mongers’ are hard at work coming up with two Tasting boxes for you to have at home. We will be debuting our Detroit Pizza Box: Full of everything you need to make a delicious Detroit Pizza at home except for the pan. This box features classic Wisconsin Brick cheese and the new Zingerman’s Low Moisture Mozzarella. This Mozzarella is full flavored while low in moisture, ensuring you a delicious pizza without ever giving you soggy crust. We will also be featuring the Grilling Box: featuring some treats from our favorite charcuterie and sausage producers and of course a little bit of Halloumi!
We have also brought in a few new cheeses such as Marisa for a fun Sheep Milk Cheese and some classic favorites such as Comte. In this time where we crave comfort food, few things work better than our old friend Comte, for grilled cheeses, mac and cheese, or just on its own it's like wrapping yourself in a warm butter fat blanket!
]]>Well, what is there to say in such wild times about cheese, chocolate, charcuterie, wine, beer, jam, etc.? Plenty! We have been keeping our spirits high and learning how to get better at shipping and curb side pick-up so you can get all the treats you need in these times. There are now over 300 items on our website! Of course, let us know if you don’t see something you are looking for. I know the idea defining “essential business” can be difficult, and trust me when I say Will and I recognize the privilege, in calling your cheesemonger an essential member of society. But we are going to continue to bring you all the great foods you have come to expect from Mongers’ because after all, food is love and food is comfort.
When we first started the business we called it Berg’s Provisions and the tagline for the business was, “food is love.” It is a principle in which we built the company. In tough times people can come together over food. Perhaps it is my Jewish heritage, but my reflex for almost anything is, feed people. In times of tragedy or of great difficulty I look for the comfort of food. Now I know my doctor friends and mental health professionals would chime in to say “everything in moderation.” Now that we got that out of the way, what is more comforting than your favorite food or that memory of better times in the past, the people, and the memories that are also connecting to these dishes and treats? Now is the perfect time for a stringy, melty, grilled cheese just like you used to have after school. It is the time to make the cheesiest mac n’ cheese you have ever made. For many of those with kids, it is time to find anything you can teach them at home and keep them occupied with. What better project than to teach them to feed themselves?
We at Mongers’ want to take this opportunity to learn how to continue to get you what you need (and want) to get through this. We have added some staples to our selection like some great eggs and are looking into sourcing premium milk as we have heard it can be hard to come by. We also have been bringing in some of our more special treats. Alp Blossom is back in bloom and we will be opening the wheel this week. But we also brought out a new kid on the Alpine block, Ur-Eiche. Ur-Eiche is made by a mostly female team in the Girenbad creamery. They are using raw milk, homemade rennet, and a special brine solution that is aged in oak barrels. Christa, the master cheesemaker behind Ur-Eiche, has produced a cheese that is meaty and brothy. All of this cheeses' deep umami flavors are enrobed in a luscious creamy texture that you come to expect from mountain cheeses. Its nutty cooked cream flavors are accented by the oak aged wash. This is a cheese you want to get lost in for a minute. Great for snacking or adding to the above mentioned mac n’ cheese.
Now is the time to also indulge in amazing chocolate such as the new bars from Ritual Chocolate in Park CIty, UT. We have always loved Ritual and recently brought in a few fun new flavors from them. We have a S’Mores 70% (made with caramelized sugar and sprinkled with graham crackers), Honeycomb Toffee 75% (Belize chocolate with Utah honey toffee), or my favorite the Pine Nut 55% (A chocolate with freshly ground pine nuts added right in giving it an ultra creamy texture such as Gianduja). Find comfort in these chocolates that have been made of beans that were ethically sourced and lovingly crafted.
I wanted to take a quick minute to also mention another product set we recently brought in. It is a category that gets very little spotlight, the lowly cracker. We have started to sell 3 different amazing crackers from a company that truly elevates this item that is often thought of as ‘just a vehicle.’ Potter’s is a family owned and operated company that makes small batches of crackers in Wisconsin. They are using mostly whole grain wheat that is locally sourced in the midwest and milled in Wisconsin. We are carrying their Winter Wheat, Caramelized Onion, and Wisconsin Rye. They are all amazing and we are so happy to have found them. Try the Rye cracker with some stinky cheese, it will have you remembering your Oma.
We invite you to order whatever you want to munch on right now and find comforting. Grab a loved one or sign online with them. Take a moment of pause and appreciate all the people who work so hard to get us our delicious treats. Then enjoy those treats because after all isn’t that what life is all about?
We are dipping our toe into chocolatiering just for next week. We will be doing chocolate dipped long-stem strawberries available on pre-order. You can get a half-dozen or dozen and dark, milk or a mix of both. We are using high quality single-origin chocolate for these and the dark option will feature two different chocolates used to compare to one another. Click here to order Pre orders are due by Monday Feb 10.
Caviar, Cava and Champagne
For those of you who stopped in over the holidays, our ever expanding product assortment now includes caviar from Calvisius in Italy. These are premium sturgeon caviar available at a variety of price points. Very buttery and not too salty.
For Valentine's day we are offering some packages of a bottle of cava or champagne, an ounce of caviar, creme fraiche and a mother of pearl spoon.
You can see the options here to order your package.
Chocolate
We also will have few special holiday items coming from Omnom (see pic below) and some fun chocolates from Mayana.
Fruition Bourbon Caramels have been a Valentine's day (and all year) hit with us for us a couple years now. We finally got them on the website so you can order them online! These are just so tasty, the bourbon isn't overpowering but it certainly comes through. Come taste one!
We also have Crow and Moss, a new chocolate maker from Michigan on the shelves. Mike Davies is the chocolate maker and he does great single origin stuff and some really good flavored bars. We only have a couple types now but we will add more of their bars throughout the year.
Marou has a great new bar that is has vietnamese kumquat from Tien Giang Province in a 68% dark chocolate with beans also from Tien Giang.
If this doesn't strike your fancy, you can always sample your way through the other 130+ bars we have!
Don't Be Bitter!
We have been growing our cocktail bitters selection and will continue to in the coming year. We have expanded beyond just cacao centric bitters and are carrying several different brands. Look for some bitters and cocktail events in the future!
Wine and beer
There is a great new Syrah from Washington State we just brought in and we have a decent supply of Vietti Langhe Freisa a really fun wine from a highly regarded barolo producer. The new Cava we have is a serious bang for the buck at $19. We have a 2014 vintage of that in now.
Cheese
We just got some Bleu Mont Cheddar in from Wisconsin. While we have had this in the past, it has been a while and we wanted to have it return. For those of you who love the clothbound cheddars this is a good one! Come in and compare it to Flory's Truckle.
Spring Cleaning
There will be an update soon on some discounts on product we have a bit too much of. Stay tuned for a sale announcement and help us clear out a little inventory!
]]>I quit my dairy buyer job at Plum Market in December 2017 with no plans besides a bar mitzvah to go to. I spent the weekend pretending I hadn’t quit and talking about my job in the present tense with relatives I didn’t feel like telling the whole sordid story. After considering any number of non-cheese-related things to do with myself I got a hot tip. My favorite local small-batch, artisan herbalist (or “dealer” if you prefer) told me that just down the street from him things were happening in the old industrial buildings and he had seen an article in the local paper about a cheese shop joining them. When I read more; all signs were pointing to this being a potential dream job, and I excitedly fired off an application. After trying not to freak out when I didn’t hear back within hours, I got a call from a gentleman with a not-very expressive voice (Will) asking me about my favorite cheese, some other related questions, and, finally, when could I come in for an interview.
Zach and Will weren’t just looking for someone who knew cheese, they were looking for someone who wouldn’t expect too much from them right away. The parts of the interview that weren’t about food or past jobs were about how it wouldn’t be many hours and they had no idea what would come of all this, just to be flexible and ready. None of that scared me off, it was worth even getting an extra part time gig to fill in the gaps. Dream jobs and fancy cheese shops don’t just come around every day.
After a number of weekends squeezing around those two I finally got used to the unconventional space. I was used to working in grocery stores before that; with a lot of room to stretch out. Places with procedures, hierarchies and uniforms. It was downright exciting to be in a store where the focus was on caring for the cheese, and giving an experience to the person in front of you. No drama, no bs, just the food.
I’m not going to miss how hot that room got in the summer and how cold it was in the winter. I’m not going to miss the slippery floors. What I will miss is that feeling of doing things by the seat of our pants, of being a part of something exciting and new where there was no set checklist or procedure to follow. Where success was about making people happy with food like grandma Eva taught me, and not about following the rules.
I’m writing this inside the Detroit store; it’s air-conditioned, and the floor doesn’t turn into an ice rink when a drop of water hits it. Things are different now; we have a team instead of just ZWZ. We ended up with a few checklists, procedures, and even an employee handbook. It’s still a dream job, with even more perks than before, and where I can even have a little time to write my little blog uninterrupted while our fine team handles customers. By every objective measure things are better now, and I can’t say it doesn’t feel like it. Still, when I think of our first location I won’t remember the wild temperature fluctuations or the floors. I’ll remember the sense of community that grew from our guests and fans. And, I’ll remember that feeling of excitement, of being a part of something new, undefined, and poised to grow. That’s what is worth remembering, and what I will never forget about our little spot on Woodward Heights.
- Socks
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As far as goat goes, we have just received our first shipment of the year from Idyll Farms. Our chevreing friends from up north are bringing back their Idyll Gris and Mont Idyll ash-ripened goat cheeses to our store, and we’ve even added some of their Idyll Pastures spreadable chevre.
Flowers have been springing up in several of our different departments as well. On the chocolate side is the perennial favorite: Rózsavölgyi Csokoládé’s Caramelized Lavender bar is consistently one of our best-selling and best-loved milk chocolates; bringing a beautiful sweet floral note to some exceptional Csokoládé.
If you want to add something a little floral to your spring grilling sessions too, we have a bright and lovely Ras el Hanout with lavender and rose petals mixing to form a complex and delicious taste of North Africa.
Then for the cheese side, an old favorite has returned. The Alp Blossom is a rich and luscious alpine cheese from Austria that has been coated with a potently floral wildflower blend. It’s as delicious as it is instagrammable, and we will be featuring it all spring.
Still, we’re not at summer break yet. Though the weather is improving, we’re still going to want to see a lot of you in class. That’s right, cheese class. In addition to our tasting events, Mongers’ provisions is starting to present some teaching events to pass on our passion and knowledge to the eating public.
Our first class was all about tips and tricks for building a charcuterie board worthy of the #cheeseboard tag on Instagram. Twenty four Mongers’ devotees packed into our Detroit location to hear about how to select, cut, and present cheese and charcuterie for maximum visual and flavor impact. Every participant even built their own mini board to take home; whether as dinner or for an exceptionally classy midnight snack. It was such a success that we have another slated for May 19! Order tickets here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/how-to-build-a-cheeseboard-2-tickets-60542268555
By the way, the best way to hear about all the classes (in addition to joining the email list, or checking our Facebook/Instagram) is our new text club. Just text “MONGERS” to 55222 and you’ll be signed up for all our text updates on new products and events. If that’s not enough incentive, you’ll even get 10% off your next Mongers’ purchase.
-Socks]]>
Politeness and social norms do tend to move people through our store somewhat quickly. This is especially true in Ferndale where every new person squeezing in on a busy day physically squeezes someone out. Still, now that we have so much real estate down in Cass Corridor it can be more of a browser’s paradise, and now that we have stools for our counter why not pull one up and chill/warm for a bit.
What, you need a reason to sit around Mongers’ for a while? Are we not good enough for you? Are my socks not interesting enough? Well how’s this for a reason snooty: in addition to being able to dine in with the grilled cheeses and hot chocolate, or even your own custom charcuterie selection, we are now having themed monthly tasting events and more!
That’s right; after the rousing success of our Valentine’s day chocolate tasting (and the resulting engagements) and our Spanish night (I still haven’t stopped lisping) we will be doing a monthly tasting engagement at the beginning of each month so we can better share some of our favorite provisions with a captive audience. The theme for April is going to be (Easter) Island Chocolates and Alpine Cheeses, so bring some gum or something for when your ears pop, and remember your fondues and fondon’ts.
We're also going to offer up an opportunity for you to learn how to make a cheeseboard, just like the Mongers'!
We’ve been doing more in the way of private tastings, if you’re not into our themes, or you just prefer to not let strangers see you eat cheese, we can do something for just you and yours that’s a little more in depth and can reach across the whole case.
Basically, we’re like your Mother, we love you and want to see you more. We give you cheese, and we love your lovin'.
-Socks
]]>To that idea, we have made some wonderfully sharable additions to our chocolate department starting with what’s been making our glasses fog up: our own hot chocolate! Will has been in the lab on this one; blending lovely single-origin chocolate from Solstice with some secret spices and a dash of Fee Brothers Aztec chocolate bitters. It all adds up to a hot cup of goodness you’ll have trouble keeping to yourself. Just remember; there’s no more socially acceptable way to swap spit than on the lid of a cup of delicious cocoa.
If you need something a little more giftable for your sweetheart, we also recently received some beautiful boxes of bourbon-infused, chocolate-covered caramels from our sugar daddies at Fruition. That’s in addition to the lovely gift sets of bars that we have from Marou and Perennial or, if you’re going all out (or apologizing for something), the Pump Street library of bars is either a very nice box of chocolates or a cheap trip around the world.
If you’re looking to skip the restaurant experience on V-day (highly recommended) we have some provisions for the perfect date night in too. We are thrilled to have just gotten a beer and wine license here in our Detroit store, and we already have a fascinating selection of beer, wine, and cider. Add a Farm Field Table chuck-eye roast and that slow cooker you got for Christmas and have been meaning to use more, and you have a perfect Valentine’s without the crowds and stressed waiters.
Of course, we can’t just leave the cheese out completely. We have grilledcheeses going in midtown so you can try and get a Lady and the Tramp photo with you, your hunny, and a string of mozzarella. There’s also a lovely fondue set for more alpine romantic experiences, or just a chunk of Parmigiano to delight your S.O. and also acknowledge the Italian origins of the historical Saint Valentine himself.
What I’m ultimately trying to say is; if we can’t find something to get your juices flowing, you could always try taking a Monger home. Lord knows I was just gonna spend the 14th with my cat.
-Socks-
]]>Having more space to ourselves in Detroit means we get to mong even more categories of provisions, and we’ve been bringing in all sorts of condiments, beverages, and expanding our offering of apparel, and meaty goodness.
We can’t stand to hear ourselves think, so what better solution than the reassuring hum of a beverage cooler! We now have some lovely organic soft drinks from the fine folks at Wisco Pop in lemon and strawberry; in addition to San Pellegrino waters both flavored and unflavored, and Sant Aniol mineral water both gassed and ungassed. There’s even a bit of Cultivo cold brew coffee that the Mongers have been using as a wakeup.
Since we’re separated from our buddies at Farm Field Table in the Cass Corridor location, we couldn’t bear to be without their meat (heads out of the gutter) for long so we put in a whole meat case here. We’ve been keeping it stocked with FFT steaks and pork, in addition to some wonderful Nueskie’s bacon, and a couple enticing Spanish sausages. We even took our first dip into the sea of fine Spanish canned fish if that’s your bolso.
We also recently rolled out our winter 18/19 mongers fashion collection, and now you too can look like you cut cheese for a living (beard and suspenders not included). In addition to a stunning new brick red “Zach Berg is My Cheesemonger” shirt, we have a handsome brown one that reads “More Cacao, Less Caca” so you can communicate to the world your love of both chocolate and toilet humor. Finally, for the wee-uns, we have “Cheesemonger in Training” as both a toddler shirt and a onesie. Because it’s never too early to start saddling your kids with expectations.
Last, but not least, we’ve had a massive boon to our condiment collection. A couple flavors from our friends at Gus and Grey jams, including their Apricot and Quince have been added to the repertoire, both beautiful in their own way. We also have some membrillo paste (a classic with Manchego) for the spanophiles. There’s even a good bit more nontraditional cheese accompaniments like Michigan-made maple syrup from Maple View Farm, and the world’s best and most decorated mustard from Boetje’s.
All this is not meant to push our Ferndale location out of focus. We still have the same great selection and mongers north of 8 mile. Still, as I had to learn at 2 when my parents brought home my little brother, sometimes you have to make room for more.
With all that, it’s no wonder we got some shopping baskets too to help corral your provisions. That’s not even everything new that we’ve been mongering in midtown; you’ll just have to come by, have a look, and get a taste. Happy new year to all, and to all a good snack.
-Zack "Socks" RovinskySorry about that, low blood sugar. Anyway, there’s more ways to keep warm with cheese this winter than just growing blubber. We have all sorts of cheeses that melt lovingly into your favorite fondue pot. Comte and Challerhocker are appropriate and traditional, while American melters like Toma or Ewereka offer a lovely meltability. Even a gouda fondue wouldn’t be kicked out of my pot for eating crackers (just don’t serve it to a Swiss person).
But when you talk of melted cheese, you can’t forget one of our favorites. It’s Raclette season, which for the uninitiated is a glorious waterfall of melted cheese. There are many different ways to raclette; from the scraping a wheel method you’ll find at a full-on raclette restaurant, to a foil tray on your cleanest radiator. There is no excuse not to get your raclette on.
Looking for alternatives? We also have more chocolate warming options than ever before. From the returning Dick Taylor drinking chocolate, to charming little hot chocolate Hungarians from Rozsavolgyi Csokolade, these will make you feel warm and toasty. Have your own drink in mind? We now offer a few different cacao bitters to chocolatize your favorite hot toddy, seasonal cocktail or whatever wassail you and yours prefer wassailing with.
Finally, we have a hot new location, officially open, to warm up and stock up in. Mongers’ Provisions Detroit passed inspection and opened just in time for Noel Night. Now, the same cheese, chocolate, and charcuterie experience, with a couple Detroit exclusives, is in full swing in the Cass corridor only steps from all sorts of hipness.
So stay warm and gooey, and if you make it through the freeze we’ll see you in for some provisions.
-Zack "Socks" Rovinsky
]]>We actually have a wealth of sweet cheese in our case, all of which is less guilt inducing than killing half a bag of mini Milky Ways. First, from the goat cheese whisperer at Andante dairy is their Tomme Dolce: a beautiful little goat tomme that’s been washed liberally with June Taylor’s delectable blackberry conserve and develops a lovely sweet, salty, and goaty character as a result.
We even have a remarkably sweet blue cheese from our friends at Point Reyes; their Bay Blue. It’s a drier blue with a lot of little salt crystals buried within that compliment the sweetness and cause it to burst a little in the taster’s mouth. Like the Gusher you found between the couch cushions from last Halloween and couldn’t just throw out. The cheese is intentionally moldy though.
We even have a case of the most candy-like cheese this monger has personally encountered. Brunost (brown cheese) is a Norwegian specialty made from carmelized whey (goat’s and cow’s in our case) with some cream added to give a more firm, cheesy, and sliceable texture. Norwegians will have it with sour apples to make their own cheesy caramel apple experience.
As for the chocolate, this is the perfect time to disregard percentages, origens, and other pretensions and just grab something sweet and tasty.
Nothing could be more perfect for this time of season than Omnom's Black 'n' Burnt Barley bar; a white chocolate that appears to be just the opposite. Once you get past the ravens "nevermore"-ing at you from the packaging, you will find this white chocolate has been turned jet black by activated charcoal. I can't think of anything scarier than a chocolate bar with an ingrediant that might give you cancer eventually maybe.
Also, a personal favorite of this monger is the Fruition Dark Milk with Flor de Sel; a beautifully salty dark milk chocolate. Fruition in upstate New York is generally unconcerned with bean-to-bar orthodoxy and does extra things to make chocolate tasty; like adding vanilla. It makes this one more candy-like than some of our more self-serious bars.
Finally, if you anticipate having a bunch of little vegan ghouls and goblins running around the neighborhood this Halloween, Vietnamese chocolate makers Marou have you covered with a lovely coconut milk chocolate. It's one of the few vegan things in the store.
That's our sweet stuff for October and, if you're a paleo or sugar-free person, you can come in, grab a %100 cacao bar, and hunker down for the month.
-Zack "Socks" Rovinsky
]]>Mother’s Day is coming up and you may be thinking about getting someone special a chocolate bar. Considering so many women receive chocolate on this holiday, We thought why not focus on a few women who do the chocolate-making?
At Provisions, we carry several companies that are women owned/operated. In the chocolate world, both historically and in the bean-to-bar sector, most of the companies are owned by men, which you may find surprising given the demographics on chocolate consumption. Nonetheless, either as a holdover from the male dominated culinary world, or as an outgrowth of the male dominated business world, there are relatively few woman-owned chocolate makers. (Interestingly there are numerous female cheesemakers -at least in the U.S.). So let’s dive into a few of our female favorites and take a journey from Ouanaminthe, Haiti to Bentonville, Arkansas and on to Washington D.C!
New to Provisions (and Michigan) this week, is Askanya Chocolate which is made in Haiti from Haitian cacao! Corinne Joachim Sanon Symietz, founded Askanya Chocolate in 2015. Born and raised in Haiti, she had accomplished many of her personal goals by obtaining a degree in Industrial Operations Engineering from the University of Michigan (GO BLUE!), and going on to a successful career in business, before earning an MBA from Wharton in 2011. Corinne made good money and had done well for herself, but she wanted to do more for others - especially her fellow Haitians. While many people in the craft-chocolate industry are driven by a passion for the products, Corinne is passionate about the people behind them. Someone with her education and resume could easily work in almost any field with great earning potential but she had three main goals for her next endeavor:
With these goals in mind, she began to research agricultural products that could achieve this mission. In this research, she found that Haitian cacao was a high quality product and had a number of advantages over other more traditional crops. Also, because cacao could be grown and then made into chocolate within Haiti, it was a crop that could benefit farmers while creating blue-collar jobs. Interestingly, Corinne doesn’t really eat much chocolate but her passion for the product itself does not suffer. From the labor and sourcing to the packaging, her chocolate speaks of a passion for the natural bounty of her homeland and the people who live there.
Just as many other makers are meticulous and dedicated to their craft, Corinne’s background in engineering shines through with a carefully conceived product made to exacting standards. She refines her chocolate for 72 hours in a rotary conche, also known as a melangeur. This is no small feat in a country that suffers from constant rolling blackouts; and as such, Askanya requires the use of a generator to make the chocolate. Because the refining is done on generator power, some may take issue with the carbon footprint of Askanya Chocolate. While not ideal, it seems that the trade-off is worth it. Corinne is intent on employing people in a country with a GDP per capita of less than $800 per year. In fact, she is now buying cacao direct from farmers. Currently, she is paying each farmer around $2000 a year which, at 2.5 times the per capita GDP, puts those families into the Haitian middle-class. So, if you get a chance, try some Askanya and support a person who is using her skills and education to truly impact the lives of others ...and making something sweet in the process! We are currently carrying four Askanya chocolate bars in the store:
Now, onto Bentonville Arkansas for a visit to Markham and Fitz! We recently brought Markham and Fitz chocolate into the shop after tasting some of their great work. They are headed up by Lauren Blanco, co-founder and CEO, who, with her partner Preston Stewart, began Markham and Fitz in 2014. She had worked for non-profits, traveling to Africa, and wanted to do something in the the private sector. Lauren’s ideal organization was one that had a positive impact on the environment, community and could also turn a profit - something called a “triple bottom line” company. One thing we at provisions love about Lauren’s company is how transparent they are with their cacao sourcing! Every bar not only lists a country of origin for the cacao, but also specifies the exact farm or co-op that they are buying from. They also use recyclable and compostable packaging for their bars! Right now, we have three options from Markham and Fitz in the store:
Finally, we wanted to highlight Harper Macaw. Right now, we only have one bar from this awesome woman-owned company but we certainly plan on carrying more in the future. Sarah and Colin Hartman opened Harper Macaw in 2015 and quickly made a mark on the craft chocolate industry with their unique approach and catchy branding. The two met at NYU for undergrad. Sarah is Brazilian and Colin was a former Marine. I had a chance to speak with Colin about the company since Sarah is on maternity leave after the birth of her second child.
Sarah had always had a passion for cooking and culinary pursuits and she realized no one in the craft chocolate industry was focusing on Brazilian cacao. Initially, she hoped to make the chocolate in Brazil but eventually realized there were numerous logistical and market barriers to doing so. Eventually, she and Colin settled on Washington D.C. Nonetheless, her commitment to the home country is strong with the use of Brazilian-built equipment for making chocolate and direct trade relationships with farmers. Like Markham and Fitz, Harper Macaw’s packaging is recyclable and compostable. They are also working on sourcing from a new origin in the Dominican Republic with the goal of getting great cacao from Zorzal Cacao - a company which is establishing a 1,000 acre bird sanctuary and cacao farm. We currently have the Bourbon Barrel aged 75% dark chocolate from Harper Macaw on the shelf, but expect more in the coming months. Happy Mother’s Day to Sarah!
-Will Werner
]]>As the sun begins to warm up a bit, it seems impossible not to let the mind think of the seasonal changes. With the echoing battle cry (or hashtag) of “Rosé All Day,” we will begin to put away the full bodied reds and stouts of winter. In exchange, we drink wheat beers with slices of citrus, Kolsch, Rosé, and bubbly. As it warms, we are more attracted to the fresh produce, lighter food and brighter flavors offered by what is in season during the spring months.
Cheese is no different than any other part of the culinary world; it has this seasonal shift. There are a handful of cheeses that in my mind, are an inseparable part of spring. They come in two main categories: fresh and aged.
Let’s start with the fresh. Sheep and goats only reproduce during a specific part of the year. Lambing and kidding season just finished up about a month ago. This means that the babies are healthy enough to start taking some milk from the mothers to make cheese. As this happens, we begin to see things like fresh ricotta from Bellwether farms and small cheeses wrapped in leaves such as the Manistique from Zingerman’s Creamery.
At farmstead dairies like Idyll Farms in Northport, Michigan, they begin their milking and cheese making season at this time of year.
Idyll Gris and Mont Idyll were some of our early favorites when we first opened in November, but we have not had them in stock since December. We are excited to kick off their 2018 season in the shop. They are creamy ash-ripened goat cheeses that are really an exceptional example of Michigan cheese. No Kidding!
In terms of aged cheeses, they require us to do a little bit of math. If a cheese is 6 – 10 months old right now, then what season is the milk from? These cheeses were made from milk from the peak of summer last year. It is a time capsule of the lush grasses of July and August when the milk is its richest. Cheeses like Alp Blossom, which is made in the Alps of Austria, are made with lush summer milk and aged around 6 months. These particular alpine cheeses are then covered with the very wildflowers that the cows graze on during the summer. The result is a cheese that you can’t help but photograph. It also sets the stage for the season to come. It is dense and creamy as you would expect from an Alpine cheese, with a specific bright grassy note. As we wait for spring colors to emerge, Alp Blossom is in full bloom.
We will be bringing in all of these cheeses throughout the spring. Stop by the shop as we begin to start celebrating spring cheeses and the change of ingredients around the table.
-Zach Berg
]]>We got our first shipment of cheese from Andante Dairy in Petaluma! The cheese made by Soyoung Scanlan is extremely hard to find and we are very honored to carry it. Soyoung is a former biochemist who uses her methodical approach to making some of the finest goat and blended milk cheeses this country has to offer. If Robert Pirsig had written Zen and the Art of Cheesemaking instead of motorcycle maintenance, Soyoung would be the protagonist!
We are one of two stores in the state and probably three in the midwest that carry Andante cheese and it certainly helps that our cheesemonger Zach Berg used to deliver Andante cheese around Napa while he was attending culinary school. If you want to try cheese served at the French Laundry, come visit our store! Supplies are limited but, like everything else we carry, we are happy to let you taste these great cheeses before you take some home.
We currently have the following Andante Cheeses:
Nobody likes Mondays much right? We have decided to close on Mondays for the time being so we can catch up on orders, emails and sleep. However we are going to stay open an extra hour (til 6 pm) on Tuesday and Wednesday so you have more time to visit us! Our new hours are below.
Tuesday - Wednesday: 10 - 6
Thursday - Saturday: 10 - 7
Sunday: 11 - 5
Monday: Closed
We have some awesome bars in! First up is omNom from Reykjavík Iceland. We have been trying to get the Lakkris and Sea Salt bar for a couple weeks and finally got some in. This is flavored with real licorice and Icelandic Sea Salt not anise. The Nordics like their licorice and this bar has it in the right amount - such complex flavors. Also from omNom is the 50% Nicaraguan "dark milk" bar, a great example of how good high-cocoa content milk chocolate can be!
All the way on the other side of the world Marou from Saigon Vietnam. Marou only makes chocolate with Vietnamese ingredients! That means Vietnamese cacao, cane sugar and in the case of their milk chocolate, coconut milk. Dairy is not a big industry in Vietnam, but coconuts are. This 55% "dark milk" bar is something all chocolate lovers can enjoy.
We also have the mini bars pictured in the center above. These make awesome stocking stuffers or party favors. Mini bars from several different regions of Vietnam are available but two of our favorites are the Ba Ria 76% and the "Pod to Bar" Dong Nai 72%. Marou works very closely with their farmers on the Dong Nai Bar by selecting cacao from specific trees and directing the fermentation. Come experience the flavors of Vietnamese Cacao. As a bonus, all the Marou bars are vegan and nut free!
Provisions Co-Founder and Cheesemonger Zach Berg recently gave a TEDx talk at the Livonia Public Library. Watch the video to learn a bit about the history of cheese, cheesemongering and the American Cheese Revolution!
]]>Provisions Co-Founder and Cheesemonger Zach Berg recently gave a TEDx talk at the Livonia Public Library. Watch the video to learn a bit about the history of cheese, cheesemongering and the American Cheese Revolution!
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