April 17, 2012
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

“California Homemade Food Act” Passes Assembly Health Committee
Contacts: Christina Oatfield, SELC Food Policy Director, (415) 828-5627; Mark Stambler, Los Angeles Bread Bakers, (323) 913-1667; Irene Pena, Executive Director, Proyecto Jardin, (323) 774-7824; Taylor
Giroux, Assemblyman Mike Gatto, (916) 319-2043

The California Homemade Food Act, AB 1616, passed the Assembly Committee on Health this afternoon.Supporters of the bill are rejoicing about the strong support the bill received in this first committee vote.vAll 14 votes cast were in support of the bill.* Assemblyman Mike Gatto (D—Los Angeles) introduced the bill in February and has been joined by the following co-authors: Assemblymembers Jared Huffman, Bob Wieckowski, V. Manuel Pérez, Brian Nestande and Senator Mark DeSaulnier.

The following 60 organizations and businesses have written to the California Legislature to express their support for the bill, with many more expected to follow suit as momentum for the bill continues to
build.

Ecology Center of San
Francisco
Episcopal Diocese of California
Feel the Earth
ForageSF
Friends of Alemany Farm
From the Ground Up
Future Action Reclamation Mob
Garden for the Environment
Global Exchange
Green Earth Gardens
GrowCity
Grubly
Hayes Valley Farm
Heartbeets
How to Homestead
Ideation Incubator
Itty Bitty Farm in the City
La Cocina
Little City Gardens
Los Angeles Bread Bakers
Master Gardeners
Mission Community Market
Mission Vertical Farming
Oakland Food Policy Council
People Organized to Win
Employment Rights
Pesticide Watch
Produce to the People
Proyecto Jardin
Rainbow Grocery
Recology
Saint Vincent de Paul Society
San Francisco Bee-Cause
San Francisco Green
Schoolyard Alliance
San Francisco Landscapes
San Francisco Urban
Agriculture Alliance
San Francisco Permaculture Guild
Slide Ranch
Slow Food Santa Cruz
Sustainable Economies Law Center
Tenderloin People’s Garden
The Free Farm
The Garden Community
Whole Foods Northern
California

An online petition that Sustainable Economies Law Center set up at change.org called “California State Legislature: Enact a Cottage Food Law in California” has gathered over 4,300 signatures.

Mark Stambler, who identifies himself as a serious home bread baker and co-founder of the Los Angeles Bread Bakers, one of the leading organizations supporting the bill, testified at the Assembly Health Committee meeting this afternoon. “In Southern California, we’re surprised at just how widespread support for the bill is. We look forward to working with all the groups, including the health departments and the legislature, to make sure that California has the best possible cottage food law, one that will serve as a model for such laws across the country” he said.

Buzz Chernoff, a member of the California State Grange, another supporting organization of the bill, which has over 10,000 members and 206 chapters around the state—mostly in rural areas—also spoke at the Health Committee meeting. Chernoff explained his support this way

At our last Annual Meeting, the Grange adopted a Resolution that called for local food sovereignty, in which local farmers could directly sell their products off the farm for home consumption, a concept embraced by AB 1616.

Like thousands of small farmers throughout the state, my wife and I have gardens, orchards and berry patches. At the height of the season we give some of the excess away, sell some at the local farmers markets and food exchanges, and we preserve some for longer-term storage. Since these preserved products are prepared in our home kitchens rather than a certified kitchen, we cannot sell them to our friends, neighbors, and community members. AB1616 would allow us to do that, thereby providing our communities with healthy home-grown
food products, and the small farmer with a supplemental source of income to boost our local economies. It’s a win-win situation.

The bill is set to be voted on by the Assembly Appropriations Committee on May 2 before making its way to the full Assembly for a vote, and then onto a similar process in the Senate.

Please also see:
www.cottagefood.org (main campaign website with more information, updates, etc.)
www.theSELC.org
www.meetup.com/Los-Angeles-Bread-Bakers/
www.asm.ca.gov/gatto
Join the Facebook group

He loves baking and is making extra money on the side…of his job at a bakery. The cost of getting licensed didn’t deter him. So if he decides to expand, he’s all set.

Sweet. Simple. The new-ish Arbor Cafe that’s lucky enough to carry his scones is also lucky enough to have an attraction to draw in customers…aside from their great local Bicycle coffee.

Although not widely advertised by Santa Claus, the colorful foil wrapped hollow chocolate eggs and bunnies many of us have devoured, head first, originate not on Easter Island or the North Pole but from a place that also brings life to hollow chocolate Santas: In Germany, Rubezahl Schokoladen lays claim to bringing these seasonal delights to the chocolate craving public.

On our tour of German candy factories, we had a chance to see how chocolate eggs and bunnies transform from cacao mass to chocolate to chicky under their Gubor brand. Here’s what we saw:

Filling chocolate Easter eggs with colorful candy. Surprise!

Rubezahl has a photo tour on their site — alas in German — for those who want to demystify your chocolate bunny yet as you munch on its feet. Or if you want to get your hands on them for your candy store, try contacting Germany’s Best.

As it was Christmas time we munched on hollow chocolate Santas. Hi Santa! Bye Santa.

• Zella Hazelnuts out of Bend, OR was sampling delicious dry roasted hazelnuts made by generations of hazelnut growers. An interesting tidbit: The farmers switched from calling the nuts filberts to hazelnuts when they realized that no one knew what filberts were. (Here’s what the Oregon Hazelnut Marketing Board has to say about that.)
• Zorba’s Chocolates out of Ashland, OR uses raw, unroasted cacao beans in their chocolate making to be as close to “fresh off the tree” as possible. Their chocolate was intense dark, and the espresso and plain ganache  truffles struck me as delicious.
• Aside from local favorite Rogue Creamery, some interesting “new to me” cheese makers I look forward to exploring more in the future included Tumalo Farms from Bend; La Mariposa cows milk cheese made by an Argentinian transplant in Albany, OR; Portland Creamery; Briar Rose Creamery from Dundee, OR.
• I also had a wonderful locally made lavender jelly from L’Islandoux made by a delightful French woman.
• And to top it all of, fantastically fluffy marshmallows from Marshmallow Heaven from Rogue River.

See who else was there — a long list of fabulous food worth pursuing next year!

~Robin

German Candy Industry Report: Part 2

Did you ever wonder who makes those European cookies you see at the drugstore with cute patterns printed on or a tablet of chocolate…and how they get to our store shelves at some insanely low price like $1.99?

I have. So it was no minor thrill to visit one such bakery, in Northern Germany. In my second report from an epic mid-sized confections tour with German Sweets , learn about Coppenrath Fein Bakerei, a several generation old, family bakery whose intention is to produce natural, excellent baked goods at a price accessible to any consumer.

The answer to that first question came from Andreas Coppenrath: volume. Coppenrath sells in about 100 countries, with 15,000 tons of cookies annually emerging from a relatively small factory where, in the high season, 250 people work. While this may sound like a lot, their reach in the U.S. is limited by their capacity to serve our nationwide chains…as we found with many of Germany’s old family owned sweets businesses. (As someone who enjoys discovering products abroad we can’t get at home, it’s not necessarily a bad thing!)

On our factory tour, Andreas particularly impressed me with his leadership skills, openness about the operations, and innovation. For example, 6-packs of Sponge Cakes for tart bases get sold alongside strawberries. We loved their cookies (especially one reminiscent of a Milano but with coconut).

Andreas left no question unanswered — with something to illuminate bakers and food manufacturers of all sizes:

Some Background – “Honor the past and go for the future.”

This sixth-generation family business started in 1825. World War II might have felled the company, but Andreas’ grandmother, suddenly a single mom in 1942 after her husband died, managed to keep it going with eight kids, all the while harboring Jewish locals in her cellar. The town memorialized her with a street in her name.

Today Coppenrath is the leading producer of speculaas (or speculoos, in Wikipedia and the Netherlands), a seasonal spice cookie pressed by brass rollers into shapes like windmills, kids, and animals. “Speculaas” may ring a bell. It is also the magic ingredient used in “cookie spread” as well as a filled chocolate currently sold at Trader Joe’s.

Secrets to Sweet Success

Employees are trained in bakery — rather than only in a rote production method — so they can understand if the smell, texture, and result work or how small changes might affect the recipe.

Keep employees very happy. Production workers get a daily 3-4% of salary bonus based on meeting production goals. Andreas has an open door policy. No wonder some employees have been there 40 years.

One line, many cookies. They can switch heavy brass rollers to imprint patterns. At a high enough volume Coppenrath can produce various designs and co-pack for others who want custom designed cookies.

The company prototypes products not in small batches but on the production machines to see what the real result would be.

Much equipment has wheels so it can move around as needed. In one shift they can produce 40,000 packages. In 24 hours, 100,000 600-gram packs.

They source flour from several mills. Flour quality and flavor varies by wheat growing region. They blend to their specification and choose the flours that fit the best. They visit their suppliers to check the facilities.

Challenges

Ingredients prices have skyrocketed (worldwide, really), with sugar increasing from 500 to 900 Euros per ton in one fell swoop. 2011 was the worst year.

Every market has different taste. English market likes colored cookies. Netherland fatty cookies. The more north you go in Germany the more popular dark chocolate. Milk chocolate and sweeter taste, more so in the south. The solution? Pick your market and develop products accordingly.

The UE requires ingredients traceability. For example, eggs can be tracked down to the specific chicken.

International labeling is also tricky. Some countries allow a sticker with their language and others require it printed on.

Packaging Innovations and Challenges

Coppenrath’s resealable packaging for cookies in trays struck me as brilliant. You peel back the top, lined with sticky stuff on the edges, then peel it back closed when you’re done. This format is great for snacking, keeping the product fresh, and making it easier to open the package.

Andreas conducts in-store research himself, going to departments unrelated to his products, like toilet paper. He looks away then quickly turns to the product display to see what catches his eye.

After observing and learning that packaging where a person on the package looking directly at you (or the camera) is the most eye catching they developed a counter top display case with single serve cookies. (It’s true! Check store shelves and you’ll find a striking number of people gazing back into your eyes like the Brawny man.) Each pack includes a thought-provoking saying or quote.

They produce efficient, useful packaging. In a year they use one million meters of cookie packaging, all printed at once. Folding cardboard cookie tray gets assembled automatically without glue, making it perfectly recyclable.

Mixed cases in 1/4 pallet sizes allow an in-store standalone display simply by un-shrink wrapping. This is particularly popular in small stores. Six-packs of cookies in plastic carry packs with a handle are popular at warehouse stores. Cookie totes!

My favorite tidbit: Cookies with chocolate can ship packed below the water line in containers as refrigeration.

US Availability

Coppenrath sells through four importers in the U.S. Look them up at Coppenrath Fein Bakerei.

You can learn from the likes of Dafna Kory, who is taking her jam business – kicked off at the local forage sf underground markets – to the next level, thanks to Kickstarter. Chip in and get some of her popular preserves. Hope to see you at the FCI!

Or think really big about how you might start a unionized berry farm with an honor system farm stand like Swanton Berry Farm.

Success at the Winter Fancy Food Show in San Francisco

I’ve got plenty of fig glory shots (see Fig 2), fruit at markets, and growing on trees. How could my figophilia have failed me?

Well if you hare a chef or food entrepreneurs in need of figs, look to Valley Fig Growers which is a co-operative doing an excellent job promoting California growers. Better yet, win the contest and get to America’s Test Kitchen!

Fig 2: Fig in All Its Glory

CRUNCH: Interesting chips – Loved the Wailana cassava chips, Mediterranean Snack lentil chips, and Simply 7 chips, which often had that “pop chips” style of composition, similar to rice crackers. A soft kind of fluffy crunch.

Healthy crunch – Fresh Sonoma Brinery pickles with fun, new branding and a whopping fresh crunch. (Sold in refrigerated sections, mostly on the West coast.)

CHEW: Lots ‘o salt caramel – Soft, firm, dippable (from Amella), uncoated, coated, mixed into ice cream. Well I had to taste them all. I’m one who will not mind if this trend entrenches itself alongside traditional unsalty caramels.

Savory chew pick – Kwik’Pak Fisheries salmon. Superlative lox, strips, and salmon bites, supporting traceable, wild caught salmon fishing in Alaska.

SOFT BITES: Fell madly in love with Bacetti ice cream bites from San Francisco. How did they choose pine nut / vanilla as the third flavor after chocolate and vanilla? Inspiration from Tuscany.

Tasting Jeni’s Ice Cream for the first time inspired a little video after I learned about her from-scratch process. (Many of the best, small ice cream makers start with an ice cream “base” made by a dairy or company because of onerous USDA dairy regulations.)

Yogurt in liquid, solid, frozen, and dips scattered the show floor. You’ve known Stonemill Kitchens for their artichoke dips. They’re now making Greek style yogurt dips in Oregon, I learned at Jeff Davis’ Food Fete. (I need to hear the backstory on the S.K.  naming.) I could live on tzaziki and welcome any natural yogurt developments.

ZING: And salts – The Day After my eyes were puffy, not from crying or allergies, but the copious salt (and caramel) tasting. In the Real World you wouldn’t eat so much salt, but if you’re going to, naturally flavored salts like those from Eat Well farm and other favorites like Allstar Organics’ celery salt (found at Ferry Building Farmers Market) are where you should place your salt budgets (both consumption and monetary).

SIP: What more water? I continued to be surprised that the desire for new and different continues demand for new bottled waters. Let’s un-trend this!

 What the Trend Spotters Saw

Denise Purcell at NASFT and their team of trend spotters

New Hope 360

Food experts like Amy Sherman, Margo True, et al

Gourmet Retailer

Procure: You very well know that many of the brands you discovered at the show are available for wholesale orders in a one-stop-shop format through Buyer’s Best Friend, distributed and billed by the manufacturer. You communicate directly with the company so it’s similar to emailing or calling them, only more convenient.