22 October 2011 by pat.

I had to highlight them. They’re another place I usually go to at the Saint Lawrence Market — I’ve got green peppercorns I bought fresh from them on the stem. Hmm, I should check on those: they’ve been in brandy for about a year now.

Selsi combines spices with the lovely containers I’m used to seeing at Lee Valley Tools, and put them together as spice kits that are visually appealing, and I’m sure would help get a novice using spices. They have two sizes:

And a smaller sampler:

Support your local purveyors!

Posted in Food - farmers' market, Food | No Comments »

22 October 2011 by pat.

They’re at the Delicious Food Show. I hope more people try Kozlik’s mustards and horseradish. They are my absolute favorite purveyor of those items.

I usually buy their products at the Saint Lawrence Market. I’m a huge fan of their horseradish: it’s got heat and flavour. Totally clears out the sinuses. Has taste and works well in a Bloody Caesar as well as being served alongside a hunk of prime rib, or mixed in with some applesauce to go with pork (think I got that trick from the Joy of Cooking).

One of my favorite mustards is the triple crunch: it’s the caviar of mustards. Three different types of seed — makes a beautiful visual. Has an awesome flavour. Your teeth bear down on a seed that’s been softened and expanded with vinegar, and it explodes in your mouth with pure flavour, the way a fish egg does. It’s awesome. Put some on a slice of aged cheddar and eat it. Your toes will curl with pleasure.

One of the big reasons I love Kozlik’s is their customer service. My father can’t eat sulphites, and for years, this has meant the only mustard he could eat was the Keen’s powdered mustard, which my mother would add water to and make a paste.

I called to find out if any of their mustards or horseradishes were sulphite-free, and got a phone call back (I think it was Jeremy who called), and had a superb conversation. I couldn’t get my Dad a pure horseradish (it requires sulphites to keep it) but I could get him a horseradish mustard (wow, was it tasty). I was also given the names of two other mustards I could get him that were sulphite-free.

You treat a customer well, it’s remembered forever.

Posted in Food - farmers' market, Food, processed, Food, SOLE food | No Comments »

22 October 2011 by pat.

Major Craig should be proud of his great-great-grandson, who is selling his chutneys at the show.

Sir, your great-great-grandson told me that you started as an employee of the East India Company, then became part of the private army, then a Major in Queen Victoria’s army, and continued provisioning. And he’s using your recipes (plus some new ones).

The chutneys are delicious — I bought the Northern India Chutney. Heck, it will work on ice-cream, with cheese, beside a hot curry. It’s a go-to chutney.

Posted in Food | No Comments »

22 October 2011 by pat.

Tracy knows what she’s doing.

Her booth attracted me because it was clean, well-laid out, organized. Her food was all there for sampling.  She reeled me in with a taste of her *no sugar added* bumbleberry spread, which was absolutely delicious.

She makes beautiful food. Look at this trio of drizzles.

And she recommends what to do with them. Sometimes it’s things I wouldn’t expect. Like… use the drizzles on meatballs. Genius. And the picture makes them look mouth-watering.

Then I had to sample more things.

So many choices.

Even more choices.

Delicious, jewel-like jellies. She uses Niagara wines, adds fruit, and reduces them.

I left with a Vidal icewine jelly and port jelly for myself, and a gift pack for my sister-in-law’s parents at Christmas (shhhh! don’t tell them!)

Posted in City life, Food, processed, Food | No Comments »

22 October 2011 by pat.

Or looking for an interesting hostess gift?

How about a set of concoctions to add to bubbly? I’m not going to suggest you put these in a $200 bottle of Champagne, but a $15-20 bottle of prosecco, why not?

Posted in City life, Food, processed, Food | No Comments »

22 October 2011 by pat.

Larger and smaller operations are both at the show.

In the larger category, think Rodney’s, truly the eminence gris of Toronto fresh seafood. Once in the basement on Richmond Street by Jarvis (old time, I know) they’re now on King West just west of Spadina.

In the smaller category, think Oyster Boy, on Queen West near Trinity Bellwoods park.

Good prices for fresh seafood. Now that they’ve had the chance to scope each other out, they may have the same price. Yesterday, Oyster Boy was definitely the price winner!

Posted in Food, dining out, Food | No Comments »

22 October 2011 by pat.

One item I bought in Florence that I’ve wished I could get in Toronto is goat butter — it has more flavour to it than cow butter. It isn’t as strong as the barnyard flavour in a goat cheese, but there’s a hint of that same taste. At the Delicious Food Show, Stirling Creamery was there — and I had the opportunity to sample the goat butter. Delicious!

The list of retailers included Chris the Cheesemonger at the Saint Lawrence Market in Toronto. You can bet (if they’re not already carrying that product) that I’ll be asking them for it!

Posted in Food of a place, Food | 1 Comment »

22 October 2011 by pat.

Chef Challet is demonstrating the use and versatility of cocoa butter that has been reduced to a particle size. He recommends using it instead of the standard fats we use to cook foods in the kitchen. It has a high flash point: 200C. What’s different about it?

You don’t put it in the frying pan to melt, come up to temperature, and then add the food to be cooked. You  sprinkle it on the raw food (or coat the food, like you would with bread crumbs) and then put the food directly in the frying pan. It sears, it preserves flavour, it reduces cooking time, and is cholesterol free.

Sounds interesting, and these mushrooms tasted very good.

Chef Challet is coming to Leslieville in the very near future — the old Leonidas chocolate store (gone, alas) is his new venue. He’ll be selling bread items (pain au chocolat, croissants, bread) and prepared food items (boeuf bourguignon, lobster bisque, for example). He expects to be open in about a month — I’ll hit the store when it’s open and post about it!

Posted in Kitchen and table, Food, recipes, Food | 2 Comments »

22 October 2011 by pat.

Get both!

Yes, ladies, all of these shoes are made of chocolate: dark chocolate, milk chocolate, white chocolate. And they have a limited supply, so you need to get your tail over there if you want one.

Each of these shoes is $30.00; I asked what the weight was, and couldn’t get a complete answer… probably in the neighbourhood of 175 grams each.

They have non-shoe chocolates, too:

At the chocoStyle booth.

Posted in City life, Food | No Comments »

22 October 2011 by pat.

I went to Brassaii, shortly after it opened, with Sandy and a few other friends. They’ve been open quite a while now, and renovated last year, moving the long communal table and making it a chef’s table.

They are at the Delicious Food Show this weekend.

They made delicious meatballs of two meats yesterday (I knew I should have taken notes! lamb and beef?). They sat on a little tzaziki, and had a dab of mint sauce on top. Tender, juicy, flavourful.

One thing I should mention: I was really pleased by the amount of compostable and gentle-on-the-environment food service pieces I saw at the show yesterday.

Posted in City life, Food, dining out, Food | No Comments »

22 October 2011 by pat.

A small booth with a couple of products. That’s all you need, when you do a great job with the products. Such is the case with Little Shop of Lobsters at the show (if you miss this show, they’ll be back for One-of-a-Kind).

I had real difficulties deciding between the crab mousse and the lobster mousse. In the end, I bought the lobster mousse. In addition to being good on crackers, I imagine it would be great with some linguine as a sauce — they recommended warming it in a double boiler so the sauce doesn’t split. Originally from New Brunswick, the owners of Little Shop of Lobsters are now located in the Niagara region, providing mouses (and chowders) to those of us waaaay inland.

Posted in Food, processed, Food | No Comments »

22 October 2011 by pat.

Beautiful wares and some gorgeous looking tins of hot chocolate are among the things that caught my eye at Wildly Delicious Fine Foods‘ booth at the show.

These ceramic dishes caught my eye with their color:

And I meant to buy a few of these. I might have to go back to the show — or go to their warehouse sale, which is scheduled for Nov 2-Dec 22nd.

These boxes of peppermint hot chocolate mix look like great little gifts:

And if your favorite chocolate lover prefers dark chocolate, they’ve got dark hot chocolate, too.

This looks like it could have many uses

Posted in Kitchen and table, City life, Food, processed, Food | No Comments »

22 October 2011 by pat.

Sturgeon caviar is a product we associate with Russia. It’s a shame, but sturgeon has been driven to the brink of extinction there because of fishing practices. Sturgeon farming began in the US in the ’80’s, in California.

Sturgeon’s an incredibly old fish, dating back 200 million years. You can learn more about them on wikipedia.

Now we’ve got a Sturgeon farm based in New Brunswick, on the St. John River. Founded by Cornel Ceapa, who has a PhD in Fisheries Engineering, Acadian Sturgeon sells caviar and smoked sturgeon, and is selling sturgeon eggs and young sturgeon to European concerns to help replenish faltering European stocks.

It takes a long time to get a Sturgeon fishery going, and about 10 years for the fish to reach maturity. Dr. Ceapa is determined that a sustainable, environmentally correct fishery is the direction to be taking before the fish is annihilated, and has been developing the fishery since 2004.  The fish are raised in tanks with water taken from the St. John River. After use and cleaning through multiple filters, the water is returned to the river. It’s important to him that the water be clean both ways! Intake must be clean, or he’s risking his stock. Output must be clean, or he’s risking downstream destruction.

In the mean time, Acadian Sturgeon is selling sustainably harvested sturgeon, about 350 a year. The sale of wild sturgeon will wind down over time, but wild sturgeon will always be the standard against which Acadian measures its product.

The caviar is delicious: I tried some on a hard-boiled half of a quail egg.

Posted in Food of a place, Food, processed, Food, SOLE food | 1 Comment »

22 October 2011 by pat.

Products made of wood, when they’re well made, make you want to touch them, caress them, feel the warmth of the material. I certainly felt that way at the Planet Creations booth. The first thing I saw was this beautiful table with storage space.

Janet Howarth invited me to touch it.

It was beautiful, warm, smooth, rounded edges, couldn’t feel any of the wood joins. It felt like it was all of a piece.

They do a beautiful job creating furnishings and cutting boards (Janet’s daughter is in charge of sanding). All of the boards and cutting surfaces are made of end-grain wood, which lasts much longer than other cuts, and they have book-matched the cuts, creating beautiful patterns. The woods used are walnut and maple.

They’re finished with food-friendly oils, and should last for a long long time. Yep, I bought one!

They come for lots of shows in Toronto, so you’ll probably see them around. Their workshop is in Rigaud, Quebec.

Oh — and that beautiful table in the first picture? It had been sold when I went back to the booth 3 hours later!

Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »

22 October 2011 by pat.

It should come as no surprise that I’m a big fan of garlic! One of the booths at the show was The Garlic Box, which has some glorious cloves of Music garlic at $1.00 each:

 Music garlic doesn’t play an instrument — it’s called that because Music was the last name of the farmer who developed it. It grows very well in Ontario. The garlic used by The Garlic Box is Ontario product.

Now — not all garlic heads look perfect to sell as full heads. What do you do with the rest of them? How about pickles, sauces, and spreads? The Garlic Box has a wide variety. One I couldn’t resist is pickled scapes and cloves.

 I was curious about how they create this combination, since they are harvested at different times. They put the scapes in brine until the cloves are harvested, and then create a layered pickle — scapes on the bottom, cloves on the top.

They have an interesting idea for a Bloody Caesar:

And lots more products.

 Dressings, beans and such.

And dried garlic products, too.

Posted in Food of a place, Food, processed, Food, SOLE food | No Comments »