Archive for ‘Food Tours’

Built to Last: 135 Marzipan Makers and Niederegger

By Susie, 2 January, 2012,

German Candy Industry Report: Part 1

Making candy is a centuries old profession, easy to start yet difficult to master and develop a cult following. If you think the environment for candy is competitive today, hearken back to the early 1800s, when the medieval town of Lubeck, Germany was home to 135 marzipan “companies.” Back then companies were likely a small storefrontwith the basics found in an old fashioned candy store–a kettle, marble slabs, some molds.

I recently learned about the region’s delicious history–a place where the museum features figures carved in marzipan rather than wax–on a tour of mid-sized candy and chocolate factories with the German Sweets association. Since 1996, “Lübecker Marzipan,” from Lübeck in northern Germany, has been protected by an EU Council Directive as a “Protected Geographical Indication” (PGI) much like Champagne.

Niederegger Museum Marzipan History Map

Who needs a wax museum when you can have a marzipan museum? (Niederegger Museum Marzipan)

“That’s the marzipan I get at Cost Plus!” a friend exclaimed. Sold in 40 countries and on all continents, Niederegger‘s 500 dedicated* employees churn out about 30 tons of marzipan paste per day. If Lubeck could solve its debt problems with marzipan, everyone would be happy. Despite tough times the company’s sales have done quite well. Much like the “sin” products, they’ve found a little marzipan makes life rosier.

*One just retired after 45 years!

niederegger marzipan

Our Factory Tour

It was an almond lover’s dream. After a steam blanching, winnowing to remove the skins, six women sit, pulling out any odd or unskinned almonds.

Overhead conveyors filled with almond paste dumped the mixtures into the vats. After roasting, the mixture cools in a 500-kilo capacity vat. Steaming dry ice does the job. We tasted chunks of freshly ground paste scooped out of the copper kettles, as well as the marzipan after roasting–which happens after the sugar is mixed with the almond paste. “Eat a lot,” our guide urged us.” We need to finish it all.” Sigh.

Through an extruder in which about 10 inch square logs of sugared almond paste squeeze through, chopped into 18 inch blocks, weighing about 15 kg, which are then wrapped to be aged in plastic cartons. There the flavor develops.

After aging, the special flavors such as a European rose water are added. Then it’s off to the enrobing lines where stamped out hearts take shape.

The seasonal-shaped marzipans are what’s really special. In December, Easter production begins. An army of standing bunnies emerged on a conveyor belt, destined to be torched–with a creme brulee style-and eyes added by bespectacled women holding tiny paint brushes. Dot. Dot.

Nearby, workers laboriously press molds with marzipan, just as in old times, for custom orders or as cake toppers. Consumers and businesses can order molds in any shape or saying, such as for corporate gifts. The company keeps the molds on hand for any future orders.

Some Business Best Practices

Niederegger handles export in-house to allow for quick decision making and personal relationships. They diversified with a series of German “nougat” products (which is similar to Italian gianduja), to reach non-marzipan loving candy lovers. The company does not private label and they would never entertain it due to their strong brand recognition and demand for their 300 products.

As with other factories we visited on this candy industry tour, employees at Niederegger are welcome to air any issues to management. Even broadcast news teams have visited the factory to see workers stretching and engaging in mini-workouts for ergonomic and overall health. Now a smoke-free company, it’s verboten to smoke during the workday. And production workers rotate roles for variety.

My Take

While it is a mystery as to how Niederegger charged ahead despite their 135 competitors two centuries ago, I can tell you today what impresses me:

Product: Less sugar means a more subtle refined flavor. It’s made simply with 70 percent Mediterranean origin almonds–the minimum percentage to be labeled “Lubeker marzipan”–along with sugar, a touch of rose water, and another secret ingredient. On the contrary many lower-priced marzipans have up to 50 percent sugar.
Packaging: A variety of packaging for personal consumption and gift giving (tins, souvenir boxes, adorable seasonal packs). Delicate sparkly vibrant foil wrapping and informational paper wrapped around each of the rectangular pieces. Old fashioned elegance. The thin foil just feels good on your fingers.
Price: All of the above allows the company to charge a sustainable price.

What’s your take?

Learn more and get your hands on some Niederegger.

What do Telltale Preserves, Poco Dolce, & Au Coeur de Chocolats have in common?

By Susie, 10 January, 2011,

You can visit them all January 22nd, in San Francisco!

In celebration of Good Food Month, please join culinary consultant Laiko Bahrs and yours truly on an insider Chocolatiers of San Francisco tour. We’ll experience three wonderful local makers of artisan chocolate confections, pastry, and preserves in the Dogpatch neighborhood of San Francisco:

Shawn Williams, chocolatier and co-founder of Au Coeur Des Chocolats creates unforgettable European-style chocolates filled with delectable combinations like banana caramel and candied orange and hazelnut crunch.

A master of patisserie as well as confection, Shawn will demonstrate

how to mold a chocolate bar,
make decadent hot chocolate with cream, and
assemble and torch s’mores.

We’ll taste all of these as well as his assorted chocolates.

Pastry chef and chocolatier William Werner is the owner of Tell Tale Preserves, the soon-to-open pâtisserie, delicatessen and café on Maiden Lane and the Tell Tale Society, a monthly subscription bag filled with seasonally influenced preserves, confections, cookies and cakes, both sweet and savory. William will walk us through his production facility, share his vision, and we’ll taste his chocolate and coffee confiture.

Kathy Wiley, founder and chocolatier of Poco Dolce is the visionary behind the hugely popular handmade chocolate tiles that are on the savory side of sweet. Kathy will take us on a tour of her chocolate factory and we’ll taste her addictive chocolate confections and her new chocolate bar.

$10 of each ticket will be donated to La Cocina to enable aspiring food entrepreneurs.

Attendance is limited and pre-purchased tickets are required–> Buy tickets

Visit to Krugerrand Farms – Farmstead Goat Cheese Maker

By Susie, 23 June, 2010,

me the goat cheese maker Have you ever wondered why hand made artisan farmstead cheese is so costly?

A visit to Krugerrand Farms, a daughter and father goat cheese operation in upstate New York, gave me all the answers. Here’s a short list:

The high cost of goating: feed, hay, and general caretaking
The time to individually milk 60-odd goats
The 1.5 gallons of fresh goat milk (about 10 pounds) it takes to make each pound of cheese. (After it gets finished aging it comes out to about 12 lbs of milk to a pound of cheese.)
Many hours to make each wheel of cheese (check out all the steps below; I left all the time cleaning up out, but this place is clean!)
Then many hours to wash the natural rind off the cheese before delivering it to customers

goat milk latte However it’s all worth it. Here I’d like to share my delightful visit and give you a taste of the story, love and labor that goes into Krugerrand Cheese. As well as the visual here of my latte made with milk straight from the goat. (Instant foam!)

Making Cheese – From Goat to Grate

Morning begins with the “running of the goats” – into the barn that is. There they await their milking and munching. The farm has a variety of goats, some prize winners. Lisa is a co-owner of the cheese company and also recently graduated with a civil engineering degree from a Michigan college.

Lisa and James Andela love their goats, which they milk each day. The goats – each who they know by name – eat natural feed during the milking.
Lisa milking the goats

Goats after milking Karla and baby goat

Every other day, Lisa and Jim make cheese. This one vat makes about 30 pounds of cheese. Each pound of cheese takes 9-10 gallons of goat milk. During the aging process, due to the natural rind, the cheese evaporates which is important to factor in when calculating the cheese making costs.
Pouring raw goat milk into the cheese making vat

This was the most fun part! There’s a horizontal and a vertical slicer and running it through the vat breaks up the soft curd into chunks.
Slicing cheese curd up during cheese making - Krugerrand Farms

Working the curds by hand lets the cheese maker more closely monitor the progress of heating and texture of the curds. Lisa gathers the curds to mold into wheels.

The pressed curds go through several stages before they’re ready to be aged. First it’s put in the brine (salt) solution for a couple of days. The brine creates the protective layer.

Then the cheese drains and dries for a couple of weeks on racks, before getting ready to hibernate to its glorious state of aged-ness.

The raw milk cheeses are aged for about 6 months (2 months is the minimum raw milk cheese needs to be aged in the U.S.)

All of the cheeses have natural rinds, and it takes a lot of scrubbing to “clean them” before the team ships them out to cheese shops, restaurants, and cheese lovers.

Learn more about Krugerrand Farm and the qualities of their cheeses.

You can also find them on Foodzie.

Want to visit Krugerrand Farms?
They’re looking into agri-tourism stays and WWOOFing so you too might be able to make a goat milk latte!

the cheese

Perfect Berkeley Food Tour

By Susie, 28 March, 2009,

I can’t count how many times I’ve followed this itinerary to give people a taste of Susie’s Berkeley. There are lots of great nooks and crannies we didn’t touch on this trip and if you want any other Berkeley tips let me know. This “tour guide” has the bare essentials of what I consider a 2 hour must-do tour of Berkeley.

1) The Berkeley Bowl: As someone who often visits several farmers’ markets in a weekend, I find it hard to clearly explain why visiting the Berkeley Bowl is a must. First I say that people move to Berkeley just to be near it. Then I use my pitch that it’s 3x the selection of a Whole Foods at half the price and twice the freshness. That still doesn’t do it.

Part of what I love is if I do need to go to a “supermarket” the fact that they buy so much direct from growers, and post the names of the growers. It’s not a marketing thing, they’ve always done this. So out of the many varieties of lemons they had to choose from I was able to pinpoint the ones grown by my friend!

The Famous Berkeley Bowl

2) Cheese Board and Cheese Board Pizza

The ultimate Berkeley food institution, across the street from Chez Panisse. Even if you don’t need cheese, go buy some just for the experience.

As for the pizza, the lines will tell you why you need to go. The short list is:

1. Amazing pizza – 1 kind per day, always vegetarian
2. Convivial communal seating
3. Wine or BYO (and byo glasses)
4. Jazz bands
5. Open windows and a Berkeley breeze

What else could one want?

Cheese Board Pizza - Berkeley

3) Next stop: Berkeley Rose Garden

The Rose Garden is also a great place to bring cheese and bread for a picnic, along with good friends or a good book. Optionally get married during your visit.

4) Phoenix Pastificio Bakery and Pastaria

The Cheese Board only had shortbread and as we were after chocolate-centric cookies, I came up with plan B: Phoenix Pastificio, whose cookies I’d seen at a few farmer’s markets. The founder of Semifreddi bakery started Phoenix Pastificio years ago. The last I’d seen them they had a cafe and bakery on Shattuck, often with a sign in the window saying they’d trade your meyer lemons for food (great idea!) It was a surprise to learn they’d moved down to the former Bread Workshop’s location, of which I was familiar, and delightful to know we could pop in for cookies…and listen to a little of the Led Zeppelin blasting, an unexpected perk. For me the highlight was flashing back to having met Eric at a Slow Food event years ago, at which he made pasta…not just any pasta but chestnut flour pasta, something I’d never had before. Imagine nutty pasta.

We loaded up on giant Callebaut chocolate chip and pecan cookies and flourless chocolate cookies to sustain us for the 10 minute drive back to San Francisco. There’s no storefront but you can stop by and buy stuff directly from the production area! Call first to check on hours.

Flourless Chocolate Nut Cookies - Phoenix Pastificio

Down University to Highway 80, everything was closed but we drove down Fourth St, for a preview of the little shops and restaurants awaiting their future visit.

Additionally heading down to 80 at your left is Vik’s Chaat Corner, an indian place that was formerly a tiny grocery type store with takeout that has blossomed into a constantly bustling sort of cafeteria-ish looking place with great food.

Bonus stop for clothing hounds: Jeremy’s on College and Ashby…Ashby is near the Berkeley Bowl. If you like the combo of high cool fashion and deals, do not miss this Jeremy’s. It is where the cheap clothes go to die that did not sell in their San Francisco store and where you can look like a fashion model sometimes for $20. Like the Berkeley Bowl: Don’t ask questions, just go!

Visit Harley Farms – Delicious Award-Winning Goat Cheese

By Susie, 8 September, 2008,

A bucolic country goat farm in the San Francisco Bay Area?

My quest to find Harley Farms led me to the back road of Pescadero, a small town which, as noted has a back “road,” not “roads.” It’s perhaps most famous for Duarte Tavern’s old time artichoke soup but Harley Farms is well on its way to becoming a main attraction. (Just Google it and you’ll see).

On my visit, Dee Harley and Ryan were still decompressing from Slow Food Nation weekend. Harley Farms’ cheese is in such demand, they’d work all day then spend nights trying to churn out enough for the anxious masses. It’s no wonder: Their delicately fresh cheeses have won numerous First Place awards from the American Cheese Society, among others.

Dee showed me the beautiful upstairs hall, overlooking the goats, with a long wooden table and chairs they’d made by hand themselves over the years. Definitely a place to get married or throw a “slow party.”

In the store you’ll find lots of playful signs and gifts along with a full spread of cheeses to taste. (The pepper coated log is my favorite. Somehow the pepper brings out the goat flavor.) Learn all about the varieties and ask Dee your questions.

When you visit: The beach at Pescadero is very accessible. I highly recommend bringing a cooler, planning a late morning at Harley Farms, picking up cheese, and heading to the beach for a picnic along with extra cheese for home. You’ll find great artichoke laden bread in town.

If you can’t visit: Enjoy this tour, in which Ryan gives me an overview of Harley Farms. (It’ll make you find a way to visit.)