Looking back fondly on last year (2011) we had tremendous growth partnering with nearly thirty new specialty stores surrounding Toronto and a new account in Nova Scotia and we were contacted by a specialty distributor in New Jersey who supplies New York City. As great as that sounds (say in unison: NEW YORK CITY!) we are going to focus the beginning of this year developing the relationships we have, be present advocating for local food and supporting farmers markets and hopefully inspire others to do the same. A new market like Ottawa, or NYC is something we are strongly considering for 2012. But, as small batch producers who bake our crackers to order, slow and steady growth has been the best way to expand and offer a quality artisan cracker.

2011 also brought us a new cracker and shortbread flavors. Inspired by one of our original crackers the “Salty Oats” the “Oat Cakes” have been very well received at the farmers markets and are starting to be available in a few stores starting this week. A “Rose Cardamom Shortbread,” turned to be the perfect partner in crime with the “Lavender Shortbread” to bring out your inner cookie monster. We look forward to other ideas and opportunities to bring local heritage grains to market. Muesli, granola, a hot cereal and a couple pancake mixes have been our newest inspirations.

We are a chef and baker rooted in the local, organic and good food movements; Evelyn’s Crackers has been a product of that. We also look forward to acting beyond advocators, but also as educators and offer insight to foods, how to prepared them and offer ways for you to participate in your own local community.

As always, we are grateful to our Ontario farmers who share in our commitment to offer wholesome food:

CIPM Farm;
Stoddards Farm;
Franz Seeberger;
Dancing Bees;
Hoovers Maple Syrup.

Cooked cereal grains have been a staple throughout civilization and “provide more food energy worldwide than any other crop.” As whole grains, they provide more vitamins, minerals and protein than their refined counterparts. (After removal of the bran and germ where mostly carbohydrates are left behind.) Ancient farming communities from areas in and around Egypt and Iraq first domesticated emmeri wheat, einkorn wheat and barley.

Beyond west Asia there are several important staple cereal grains grown worldwide: maize (Americas, Africa), rice (tropical, temperate regions), sorghum (Asia, Africa), millet (Asia, Africa), oats (worldwide), rye (colder climates), fonio (Africa), buckwheat Europe, Asia), quinoa (Andes).

Closer to home, our three favorite cereals are congee, museli (hot or cold) and polenta.

Congee is eaten all over eastern Asia, mostly for breakfast, or a late supper. A little rice and a lot if water (about 1:10 ratio) are cooked together to a porridge consistency. It’s personality is in the accompaniments: grilled pork, egg, chili, scallions, cilantro, you name it! It’s a blank canvas of any flavor inspiration.

Birchemuesli, or muesli, is a popular Swiss German breakfast cereal and late night snack. Renouned for being healthy it originally was prepared for recoverying hospital patients. Full of oat flakes (sometimes wheat, or rye), seeds, nuts and fruit it is often soaked ahead of time in water, cream or yogurt. We have been making our own version of “muse-li” and eat it as a hot cereal. A great way to start the day as the chill of winter is upon us. (About 1:4 cereal to water; cooked until thickens and grains are tender; serve with sheep’s yogurt, cinnamon (copious amounts), our granola and maple syrup).

Polenta: one of the three holy “P’s” behind pizza and pasta is not always considered a cereal. More often, this creamy, starchy, once Roman staple is cooked with seasoned stock, cream, milk, or water and paired with sauces, meats and vegetables. You can add less liquid and slice and grill the polenta after it cools and becomes firm. We use organic stone ground corn from Stoddarts Farm that has both coarse and fine grain mixed in (and it actually smells like corn!). The liquid base is 1/2 stock and 1/2 milk with bay leaf, salt and touch of cayenne pepper, plenty of garlic cooked in butter and a lot of grated cheese stirred in at the end. (I mentioned stir.) The best polenta is stirred constantly throughout cooking to prevent scorching and splatter as it thickens. (1:5 ratio cornmeal to liquid for creamy; 1:4 for firm; cook until thickens and the grains are tender; Buckwheat can be substituted or added with the cornmeal.)

Many whole cereal grains are available to us can easily be added to our diet. Freshly milled ones have a obvious benefits of more flavor and can be healthier for you. Try and buy from the source. A local farming community (or farmers market) is a great place to look. Although often more variety, keep in mind store bought ones will have gone through a distributor and may have been warehoused for some time.

Butter is an important staple in many cultures and is a huge industry around the world. In the past 10 years India is the leader in production followed by the US, Germany and New Zealand where France is the leader in consumption

Cow milk is most commonly used, but other animals, such as goats and yaks are known to be great providers in other countries. In Tibet, a mixture of barley flour and yak butter is staple food. Fermented, or “rancid” yak butter is consumed as a hot tea in the Himalayas. Moroccans bury clarified butter in the ground and age it for several months. Salting butter is a great preservative.

There are several varieties of butter:salted/unsalted, clarified (butter that has had almost all of it’s water and butter solids removed by heating/separating), cultured butter (butter that is made from sour or fermented milk giving the butter a stronger flavor), and whey butter (whey–a liquid by-product of cheese that is added).

Whey butter, our new favorite, has a slightly salted flavor, but not as “cheesy” as cultured butter. It is great for sweet and savory applications. We use butter from Stirling Creamery and is one of our secret ingredients in our shortbreads. It adds depth and flavor to our baking both sweet and savory. Due to the fermentation in the whey there may be some health benefits, too.

I recently made butter using a wooden butter mold acquired at an antique market. A simple design, four sides and a rectangular plunger with a small wooden handle. Now, if you have ever walked away from a mixer and over whipped heaving cream by mistake, you know the butter sticks to the whip and the liquid splashes about making a mess. (I was carefully applying the same technique.) With some success, and the butter still soft, I placed it in the mold, pressed down on the handle and waited for a few minutes. I had a perfectly rectangular shape about an inch thick. It didn’t have much flavor and wasn’t very rich or buttery. There obviously is a bit more to making a tasty butter. The fat content of the cream needs to be higher and maybe a slower churning vs whipping is the key.

I am leaving the butter-making to the professionals for now, but it was fun being curious and playing with my food. I have great butter mold as a book-end to prove it.

Rebecca is a nutritionist and also a foodie, so I felt in good hands asking her some questions about gluten. She explained how some people would have issues eating a slice of white bread, for example, and less so with a whole grain cracker. Even though they both have gluten, there is no fiber in the white bread (devoid of anything really) so there is a chance for it to stay in the bowel longer (possibly fermenting), which can cause bloating, which is one of the symptoms. Where as the Slightly Seedy cracker that has the Red Fife whole wheat grain, oats, flax, sesame seeds an pumpkin seeds all of which promote better, and quicker digestion . So it really isn’t a gluten thing for certain people, but rather the quality of the flour that includes the whole grain.

Then look closely at the color and texture. Are there seeds, or whole spices. Turn the cracker over. Is it the same on both sides. Hold it close to your nose and take a nice long smell to the point of being able to taste the cracker.

Now take a bite. Hear the crunch on your teeth then listen to the crunching in your head. Is it loud enough to catch someone else’s attention.

Now you have a mouthful of cracker. What does it taste like? Do you sense some acidity in your cheeks? Or spice on your tongue?

Repeat.

Now add cheese, and different types preserves, cured meats and smoked fish. Or not. Some are great on their own.

Most of all: Enjoy!

The next day Rebecca called me sounding a little stressed. She was looking for soy milk (as avoiding dairy), garbanzo beans, oil and chicken. I sent her to St Lawrence Market to Ying Ying Soy Foods who processes organic soy beans grown by Marcus and Jessie in Dashwood Ontario and may have soy milk, but definitely have tofu. (They also participate in the Wychwood and Brickworks Farmers Markets.)

Potts of 4 Life in Kensington Market is a great place to look for local foods and may have a varieties of beans for her. Although, garbanzos may be hard to find. Natures Way Organics (also at Wychwood and Brickworks) has sunflower oil this year and it’s great. they also grow beans and will have them later in the year.

Again, the markets are best place to start and most have meat and chicken vendors. But, due to a provincial standard they are only allowed to sell frozen. (Something to do with transporting perishables.) Not the smartest move. A lot if frozen meat is brought to the market in coolers and put back in the freezer several hours later. This back and forth, partial thaw and freeze, may happen several times. I bet more meat would sell being fresh without this rule to protect us.

Not to taint the meat vendors but I sent her to Sanagan’s Butcher, also in Kensington. In his second year, this young butcher is developing quite a following. Dealing directly with Ontario farmers, oftentimes you can get meat hours old from the abattoirs. Being quite small, he orders a couple times a week and sells out by the weekend.

I look forward to learning more about Rebecca’s new diet. Her roll up your sleeves determination will come in handy. I wonder if she will influence others to join in her adventure, creating a ripple effect of location conscience eaters? Or maybe the opposite may occur and she develops an extra appreciation for the well mechanized and fully-stocked chain grocery store?

I guess her blog will tell.

She has a point.

But, as a result we live in a disposable society. There are incentives to buy new cell phones only after a year. We are forced to retire capable computers that can’t run the latest software. A very successful Swedish company sells furniture we assemble and after a few years we’ll see on the curb waiting for trash day.

It wasn’t always this way. I have a couple of 100 year old pocket watches that are still keeping time and cameras from the ’40′s that are clicking away to prove it. These garage-sale-gems were built in a era where things were made to last, often for a lifetime.

When did we suddenly move away from owning objects for decades? Are we better now for it? Or does it make these things inferior?

These are some questions I asked myself after speaking to Sarra in her studio at the Distillary. (I found a recent video (click here) on Toronto Standard showing the behind the scenes of her unique textile business). I was blown away by her dedication and passion to her craft.

Let’s throw out the debate for now, as we won’t solve it here. But rather focus on the benefit by connecting with these driven artists and the items they choose to make whether it be a handbag, a piece of cheese, or even crackers. And to be reminded we are creative creatures who were driven to take chisel to stone to make a tool, or piece of art, just may inspire others to do the same and support those who do.

I received a phone call from our soon-to-be surrogate family farmer. The chicks were do to arrive at the airport (This particular breed, found on the Slow Food Arc of Taste had to be flown in from Alberta.) and I was asked if I could pick them up? It just so happened I was picking up my mother-in-law at the airport at the same time the birds were expected to arrive. So, Evelyn and I jumped into the car and off we went.

Arriving on time, we hurried to get Grammy. “Great to see you!” “Where are your bags?” “We have to pick up some chicks!” She took the news in stride knowing quite well of our efforts with local food and farmers. In fact, she grew up on a farm in South Carolina and tells great stories of grudgingly gathering eggs and her failed attempt to wring a neck. With more experiences on a farm than one can imagine, we were in very good company if things got out of hand.

We drove to another part of the airport and quickly entered a large industrial building to pick up our package. A little unsure of our qualifications, we approached the busy counter. Soon we heard the unmistakable cacophony of high pitched cheeps. I had a huge grin on my face as I carried them back to the car. Evelyn held the day olds and squealed several times after the tiny beaks touched her fingers through the holes in the white box. (I think everyone but Grammy were dying to take the lid off.)

Living in an apartment, our bath tub was where we did the unveiling. Two dozen golden puff balls with tiny legs and black eyes were climbing onto each another, scratching and pecking. Luckily, I found a heat lamp at a local hardware store along with some chick-feed. We put in some fresh newspaper into the box and gave them tiny cups of water. The cheeping was non-stop, beautiful and life affirming. They became louder each time we checked on them, which was often. What a wonderful responsibility to have one afternoon.

A few months later we visited the chicks on the farm. The birds were much larger now and had beautiful copper-colored plumage. Once inside the pen we tried to get closer. Right away, they ran to the other side from where we stood as quick as a breeze through tall grass.

Now, Evelyn is a bit of pigeon chaser. I was trying to photograph the chicken experience and she was in full pigeon mode chasing them from one side of the pen to the other. Watching her running in circles, laughing hysterically and getting out of breath was priceless. I know where the expression “scared as a chicken” comes from as they did everything short of jumping over the fence to get away.

Looking for reassurance, all we heard was, “There’s no meat on the birds. They’re too skinny!”

Starting to have doubts ourselves, we replied, “Just wait, you’ll see.”

Come September, the inaugural chicken was cooked slowly in a cast-iron pan on a bed of potatoes, carrots and onions. After an hour and half, or so, it was removed from the pan and allowed to cool. The kale, which we relish this time of year, was added with garlic and cooked in the juices.

The chicken had a lean earthy flavor, quite pleasant, but a little tough. I didn’t mind the chewiness at first. If we had a guest to dinner would they be as tolerant? Probably not, since it was getting to the point of almost making your jaw tired. Not a lot of breast meat and not a lot on the legs either, but we ate well nonetheless.

This chicken dinner had been planned for months and  I felt a kinship to the chicken and to the farmer who raised them. Just as many people during the turn of the last century grew their own food and were self-reliant. They ate for survival and not so much for comfort. I don’t think we are that far away that we can’t think about our food in the same vein, now and again.

We are poaching the whole birds, now and are making wonderful stews and soups. We eat more meals with one chicken by slow cooking them in a broth that makes the meat quite tender and the clean earthy flavors are hard to come by with most store bought birds. Overall, it has been a very rewarding experience and something for us to look forward to, not only during the summer, but all year round. So great to be closer to the source of our food and participate in the process.

Mmmm, what shall we try next?

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