I recently attended a culinary conference in New York which was titled The Fashion of Food. There were some extremely interesting feature sessions, many about food and fashion being subjects of trends, fads or cycles. It is sometimes hard to discern what is the real deal and what is a flash in the pan trend that will not stand the duration of time. It occurred to me, as I listened to a wide variety of speakers discuss a diverse selection of food topics, that words fall into the same category.  They go through trends, sometimes going mainstream, as when a word once newly created had enough use to get added to the Webster Dictionary. Sometimes they are overused and abused to the point that they become outed, or even banned by editors. The website , Serious Eats recently put out its secret list of banned words.

Naturally, there is a level of subjectivity to such a list, some of these might be like nails on a chalkboard to you as well, while others you might not have even thought of as mildly annoying. Zing, Zip and Oomph were all on their list, I agree on these as they all mimic the cartoon bubbles on the old Batman show fights.  “To die for” is a silly expression, I always want to ask the user if he means that literally. Speaking of which, if that is a pet peeve of yours, you also know how many people misuse the word literally, when they should say figuratively.  Kick it up, take it to the next level, sinful, decadent, luscious, luxurious, yummy, all made the list. They also mention the word Artisanal, and note that while a few people can actually own this one, a guy making pickles in his garage probably should not. This one is tough for me, as it does actually describe what we do when we hand grind our spices and then combine them into seasonings, which we mix in small batches, fresh weekly.  At another convention recently, for Les Dames d’Escoffier, the keynote speaker, Kim Severson, made us all vow to STOP using the word artisanal, which we did. Thus I have begrudgingly removed it from my elevator speech about what we do.  I also wondered at what point have we have removed or banned the majority of wonderful food adjectives, and whether there are an adequate number of words left to use! I wish Serious Eats would also publish an equivalent list of words that are not overused and still have a little money in the meter before they run out of time.

The word I noticed running through many of the conference speakers’ lectures was CURATION.  Used in a way that went a little askew of my notion of what curators do, but still not out of the range of the word.  For example one of the keynote speakers said “chefs take seven ingredients and curate them into something wonderful.” Marcus Samuelssen said, if I recall correctly, “There is a lot of noise out there so a chef needs to cultivate and curate his own space.”  Another speaker said “Pinterest is a curation that takes only 15 minutes a day.” So I got to thinking, if I can not offer you my “artisanal products”, perhaps, instead,  I can curate a collection of spice ingredients into a seasoning blend. And further, curate many blends into a collection of flavors to reflect different ethnic types of cooking. You, as the curator of your own kitchen can then select the flavors of seasonings you would most like to use to curate your dining experiences to be a successful collection for your family dinner table.  Quick, we only have a short time before this trendy word ends up on the overused banned list! Curate away.

abc kitchen, New York

At the IACP conference in New York this spring, I had the opportunity to attend a panel discussion at the Bon Appetit test kitchen. This was held at their newly designed kitchen, which I believe served as more of a showpiece kitchen for hosting functions, than an actual test kitchen. The panel contained designer Adam Farmerie, David Rockwell, author of the book Spectacle, Matt Lightner of the newly opened Altera and restaurant consultant Clark Wolf. Perhaps restaurant design is not a subject I had given much thought to before, so their thoughts about design were quite enlightening to me. David Rockwell said “the value of being there is not about something happening to you, it is about participating.” Other things to give thought to include the following. Strangers become a community through space. Spaces are only complete when there are people in it. Design moves people from place to place. There should be a sense of arrival, with a little tension, it should be sexy. Once you arrive, you have three seconds to orient. At this point a space should say you are absolutely here, in New York, for example, OR it should transport you to another world.

That evening we went to abc kitchen for dinner, just by happenstance. This is a newer Jean-Georges Vongerichten restaurant “passionately committed to offering the freshest organic & local ingredients possible.” It awarded the Best New Restaurant of 2011 by the James Beard Foundation. As an example of culinary space design, we could not possibly have arbitrarily picked a better spot to demonstrate what our panel had advocated. The front sign was small, classy and sexy. Upon entering, it was like you were transported to a magical fairy garden. The ambience was absolutely perfect. The food was stunning as well, and the service was warm and extremely friendly, it was obvious that our server cared a great deal about the concepts in which the restaurant was engaged. If you should visit New York, put this on your “must dine here” list.

We are so lucky to have wonderful customers. In addition to our mainstream of home cooks, we also number a huge amount of chefs, caterers, bakeries and other food related companies among our clientele. It is a really good feeling when we see chefs in their checked pants browsing the shop,  they often just really like to hang around, absorb and smell and taste. This tells us we are doing something right. Yesterday Paula Haney, owner of Hoosier Mama Pie Shop even brought us a pie! A very delicious Dutch apple pie. Paula’s story is a wonderful example of how hard work and a good product pay off. She learned about making desserts in the restaurant world,  working with the world-renowned Grant Achatz at Trio. We met back then, as Trio chefs would stop into our nearby Evanston shop to pick up spices. Eventually she took a leap of faith and ventured out on her own, making pies and selling them at farmer’s markets. Not too long ago, she and her husband took another chance and opened a little pie shop at 1618 West Chicago Ave. Trust me, I know how much sleep you lose when you have decided to spend your life savings on a venture where there is no guaranty of success. We have done it four times now, it is scary every time. She had one assistant to begin with, they figured the break even number was 20 pies sold. Now she has 20 employees and might make and sell 100 pies a day. And they are really, really good. She uses only the best ingredients, obviously! You can find her on Chicago avenue, but also another one of my favorite farmers markets, the Green City Market, in winter months this is at the Peggy Notebaret Museum. Why not make a trip there this Saturday, April 14th? Another equally wonderful chef customer, Bruce Sherman of North Pond Restaurant, will be doing the chef demo at 10:30. My money is on an asparagus dish.

Many wonderful things have happened to us over the years we have been in business, but very few have touched us as much as this event. On March 9th, we were particularly moved when a very special wedding took place. Elizabeth Theis married Landon Hall. What made this so heart warming to us, was that they met while working at The Spice House. Elizabeth had worked for us for a few years, we love her, she is a delight to her coworkers and our customers, and no one will take better care of you in the shop. Landon came to us more recently, from Kansas, via acting school in New York. I typically don’t mind hiring actors, because I figure even if they don’t like taking care of customers or their job, they have the ability to ACT like they do! Somewhere in between the work, they got to know each other, and fell in love. We have other married couples at work (my husband and myself a prime example) but none of these had The Spice House as their method of introduction. It always humbles me to think of how every little choice you make in life, minute by minute can have a profound effect on your life’s master plan. And while there are going to be times when we are in the wrong place at the wrong time, those of us with luck on our side will be in the right place at the right time. Or, as they say, there are no coincidences, everything happens for a reason.  If either of these two had not happened upon us, their lives would be very different. We wish them a long life together fulfilling both their own, and each others dreams. The Spice House will always be thankful to have shared a small part in the introduction of the life they now share together. Life is a beautiful thing.

Fall has always been my favorite season. There are so many wonderful things to appreciate about the fall. I love the colors of autumn, and the way falling leaves paint everything in a seasonal pallet. Fall is the season of corn mazes, hay rides, pumpkin patches and apple picking. My two favorite holidays, Halloween and Thanksgiving, are in the fall (three if you count my birthday!). I even enjoy the crisp fall weather, and coming inside to warm up with some hot cider! But perhaps my favorite thing about fall is the food.

Every fall, farmers’ markets explode with beautiful, delicious produce. In the Midwest, fall brings apples, pears, Brussels sprouts, kale, sunchokes, cranberries, mushrooms, potatoes, and a tremendous variety of winter squash. My wife and I especially enjoy visiting these markets in Autumn, when we are always overwhelmed by the sheer variety of produce available. Often, there are more than a dozen types of squash at just one stand, and even more apples at another!

The foods of autumn are often rich and indulgent, the kind of food that sticks to your ribs and warms your insides. When the weather starts to cool, it’s no longer unbearable to use the oven. Thus, fall brings sweet and savory pies, roast meats and veggies, braised meats, and all of the other satisfying foods I love so well. Fall is also the time of year for hot mulled wine or cider and (my favorite) dark beers.

Of course, Thanksgiving, perhaps the largest feast of the year for many Americans, is also celebrated in the fall. Thanksgiving brings its own slew of traditional recipes. There’s the turkey, of coarse, as well as potatoes, green beans, corn, stuffing, pumpkin and apple pie, and much more.

Here at The Spice House, we are gearing up for the fall cooking season. We have spices for apple and pumpkin pie, holiday roasts, mulled cider, and everything you need for your Thanksgiving feast! Don’t forget to visit our recipes page for plenty of delicious fall recipes!

An awareness of where food comes from is a vital part of a community’s ability to secure wholesome, nutritious foods.  Unfortunately, due to the increasing industrialization of farming over the last half-century, this sense of connection between the food we eat and the way in which it was produced has been severed for many American. Traditional, family-owned farms are being replaced by large, vertically-integrated food production corporations. This has created a food system that, many would argue, is unhealthy for the environment, unhealthy for the farms, and unhealthy for consumers. The process of food production has become largely hidden from the views of most consumers. Fortunately, organizations like FamilyFarmed.org are working hard to re-establish this lost connection between food and farm.

In March 2011, FamilyFarmed.org hosted the FamilyFarmed Expo at the UIC Forum. The expo, which lasted three days, brought together farmers, retailers, restaurateurs, chefs, politicians and consumers. The focus of the Expo is increasing the availability and awareness of local, sustainably produced food and agriculture. Since The Spice House strongly believes in the importance of community and supporting local interests, we sent two of our manager, Paige  and Adam, to the Expo.

This year’s FamilyFarmed expo featured over 150 exhibitors in the main hall, including a number of local farmers and food-producers showcasing their products. Many of the farmers had exciting local produce to sell, creating a sort of indoor farmers’ market feel. Amongst the delicious items I sampled were Nessalla Kambucha and Ruth and Phil’s Gourmet Ice Cream. Also in the main hall was a “food-court”, with  booths operated by local restaurants whose menus feature local and organic products. I enjoyed a delicious lunch crafted by City Provisions, a local Deli and Caterer.

Of course, the expo wasn’t all food and fun. Many terrific organizations were present to promote sustainable agriculture. Represented were political organizations gathering signatures for petitions supporting sustainable agriculture, activist groups like the  Food Animals Concerns Trust who are fighting for the humane treatment of food animals, farm programs like Growing Home, environmental agencies such as Food and Water Watch and Green Earth Institute, and many legal and financial groups supporting family farms and environmental groups.

In addition to the exhibitors in the main hall, the FamilyFarmed Expo also offered a wide variety of relevant seminars. Topics included vertical farming, beekeeping, composting, raising urban chickens, and many more. I attended seminars on home canning and preserving, humane meat production, and home cheesemaking.

The event was truly a fantastic learning opportunity. It reminded me just how much each of us as consumers can affect change in the way our food is produced. I found it inspiring to be surrounded by so many hard-working people who are dedicated to improving our food, our farm system, and our environment. I also had a wonderful time tasting and savoring so many wonderful local agricultural products. In all, the expo reminded me that food which is produced sustainably and conscientiously is wholesome, healthy, and simply delicious.

“The greatest service which can be rendered any country is to add an useful plant to its culture,” wrote Thomas Jefferson in 1821. When Europeans first came to the new world, there were no cultivated fruit trees, and no apples of any kind. For the next 300 years, Americans worked to fix that. Colonists brought over seedlings and cuttings, planting apple, peach and other orchards to grow fruit for alcoholic beverages, livestock feed, and for eating. The varieties brought from Europe were modified to suit the varying climates and uses of different areas of the country, so that by 1905 W. H. Ragan’s USDA Bulletin No. 56, “Nomenclature of the Apple”, cataloged more than 14,000 different American apple varieties. They bore lyrical names such as Seek-No-Further, Bottle Greening, Victoria Limbertwig, Prissy Gum, Winter Banana, Maiden’s Blush, Sheepnose and Nickajack. Jefferson himself cultivated varieties including Esopus Spitzenburg, Rall’s Genet and Taliaferro at Monticello. Since apples grown from seeds seldom bear any resemblance to the parent plant, new cultivars developed accidentally in orchards as often as they were specifically bred from grafted rootstocks. Small orchards and backyard gardeners created apples specific to their region, blending characteristics like color, flavor, acidity, resistance to cold or heat, and storage ability to fill thousands of niche apple needs. By WWII the number of apple strains was nearly 17,000.

In the second half of the 20^th century, America’s food culture shifted towards mass-production to feed a growing population, increasing mobile and prosperous. Small farms gave way to agribusiness, and plant diversity suffered. Apples were now bred for storage, disease resistance, transport and uniformity. Thousands of apple varieties vanished, either going extinct or fading into obscurity in overgrown, abandoned orchards. Today, only 15 varieties account for more than 90% of U.S. production.  The top three varieties, Red Delicious (from an Iowan cultivar of the 1870s), Golden Delicious (West Virginia, 1914), and Granny Smith (Australia, 1868), account for over 50% of all apple sales in the U.S.

Here in Chicago, there’s a group that’s fighting against the disappearance of apple varietals. Chicago Rarities Orchard Project (CROP) is part of a small but growing movement to preserve and restore fruit diversity, and they’re starting with apples. In conjunction with NeighborSpace, the City of Chicago, and Altamanu landscape architects, they’re planning to open their first orchard in Logan Square as early as this fall. In the meantime they’ve been collecting rare seedlings in a nursery at Chicago Honey Co-op, and promoting awareness for their project with the help of Chicago Botanic Gardens, Logan Square Kitchen, Gingko Organic Gardens, Slow Food Chicago, Slow Food USA, and Uncommon Ground restaurant. Orchards are slower to get running than regular community gardens, and need a better guarantee of permanent space usage, but once the orchard starts producing fruit it will be an asset to Logan Square and whichever other neighborhoods host future orchards.  CROP plans to give at least half their harvest to schools, foodbanks, or directly to the community through open-picking days, giving Chicagoans an opportunity to learn about our threatened pomological heritage the best possible way: eating it.

We at The Spice House are always thrilled to see new developments in the Chicago food scene, whether it’s the production or consumption ends. And although apples, since they’re not a spice, don’t fall directly into our purview, we bet our Apple Pie Spice will make great pies out of whatever rare varietals CROP grows. We can’t wait to try it out.

If you can’t wait for CROP’s orchard to get started, and you want to render a service to your country by adding (or saving) a useful plant, there are several sources for heirloom apple scions. Trees of Antiquity is a California-based nursery that sells a wide variety of heirloom fruit trees, from apples to jujubes. Urban Homestead or Virginia has been seeking out antique Southern apples since 1992, and now sells rootstocks from nearly 100 varietals, including several they’ve saved from near-extinction. Both these nurseries cater to home gardeners and hobby orchardists, so if you’ve got a plot of earth big enough for an apple tree, you can grow your own delicious history.

Kosher Spices from The Spice House

Most of our customers who keep kosher already know that the Spice House offers kosher spices. Our Milwaukee customers in particular may have noticed the symbol on their spices consisting of an outline of Wisconsin containing a “K”, indicating kosher certification. However, we are often asked why spices from our Milwaukee store bear a kosher symbol while spices from our other locations do not.

Though the basic principles of kashrut (kosher law) are simple, the interpretation and implementation of these rules can be quite complicated. Fortunately, since vegetable material is generally considered kosher by default, most whole spices can be assumed to be kosher without specific certification*. For the most part, kosher certification for spices means supervision of how the processing is done.

The Chicago Rabbinical Council considers the following spices to be kosher without specific supervision (original at http://www.crcweb.org/spice_list.php):

(source: http://www.crcweb.org/spice_list.php)

Spice blends and some whole spices do require rabbinical supervision to be considered kosher. For this reason, Rabbi Tuvia Torem visits the Spice House in Milwaukee every few months in order to oversee their operations and certify the products as kosher.

Each Spice House location contains its own processing facilities. Most of our ground spices and all of our spice blends are processed “in house” in the store at which they will be sold. Currently, only the Milwaukee Spice House has its facilities certified by a rabbi. What this means is that, although all of our locations sell “Sunny Spain”, only “Sunny Spain” produced in Milwaukee is certified Kosher.

All of the Spice House locations obtain their spices from the same sources, and process spices in much the same ways. The reason that only the Milwaukee Spice House has rabbinical supervision is simple; kosher certification in Wisconsin is much less expensive than certification in Illinois, and the staff in Milwaukee are more familiar with kashrut requirements.

Those customers seeking spices with rabbinical kosher certification should call the Milwaukee Spice House and place orders with them directly. They can be reached at 888-488-0977.

Our Kashrut Certificate can be viewed at: http://www.thespicehouse.com/file/misc/kosher-cert-2011-12

*It is important to note that, except in our Milwaukee store, our spices may have come into contact with equipment that is not considered kosher.

Spice House managers Paige and Tracy recently traveled to the Icewine Festival in Ontario, an annual celebration of a rare vintage.  This wine, produced exclusively in cold wine-growing regions, is made from grapes that are left on the vine past the usual harvest time.  They have plenty of time to dry and shrivel slightly, concentrating the juice, before winter freezes them.  Picked only at night when the temperature drops below -10C, each grape produces one drop of thick, intensely flavored juice.  This is fermented into a marvelously sweet and complex wine worth celebrating.  The Niagara region, which is covered in small, often German-style vineyards, goes all-out for three weeks in January, with a street fair of food and wine, ice sculptures, and a cocktail competition.  Many of the 60+ vineyards in the area participate in the fun, with tastings and food pairings of their own vintages of icewine (including an icewine paired with homemade marshmallows and another served with spit-roasted pig and icewine applesauce).  Despite being outdoors in Canada in January, it’s a cheerful if well-coated and -scarfed crowd that moseys from vineyard to vineyard in the fresh frigid air.

This is by no means the only winter-specific culinary fun.  Most food festivals are held in more clement weather, and correspond with more conventional harvest times, but there are plenty of activities for those who don’t mind a little chill. With the Chicago blizzard behind us and a tang of spring at least temporarily in the air, let’s not write off the last few weeks of winter delicacies.

For those who can travel, there are dozens of festivals held in the winter, usually to showcase foods or beverages that are pushed to the background during the produce-laden summer and fall. The International Pizza Expo will be in Las Vegas March 1-3, while the 23rd Annual Fiery Foods and BBQ Show will be in Albuquerque from March 4-6. Wine and beer are often celebrated in the winter.  Cities from Charleston to Portland have Food and Wine Festivals in late February and March; San Francisco is in the midst of its annual Beer Week, running through February 20, in which the San Francisco Brewer’s Guild shows off the incredible variety of beer made in and around the Bay Area; Michigan and Minnesota also hold winter beer fests. In many areas shellfish are at their peak at the end of winter.  Fulton Texas has it’s 32^nd Annual Oysterfest in March, and Penn Cove Washington will be munching though their 25^th Annual Musselfest.

More locally to us, the 17^th Annual Twin Cities Food and Wine Festival is held from March 5-6 in Minneapolis, and the 21^st Annual Cincinnatti Wine Festival on March 10-12.  In our hometown Chicago, Restaurant Week starts today (Feb 18), when 200 of the city’s best restaurants will offer special prix-fixed menus.

Here in the Great Lakes, and across the Northern US, late winter is also Maple Sugar Season.  When the first hints of warmth draw the maples out of hibernation, it’s time to tap the trees.  In Wisconsin, Michigan, and Indiana small local festivals spring up, where the public can help out with the sugaring, taste the sap and the fresh-made syrup, and enjoy a range of maple-flavored delights.  Medora Indiana hosts the National Maple Syrup Festival on the first and second weekends or March, while smaller events like the Parke County Indiana Maple Syrup Fair run nearly every weekend between now and April all over the region.

Of course, if you’d rather stay snugly at home and hold your own celebration of food, we fully support that.  A nice cozy kitchen full of wafting aromas and warming dishes is often the very best way to appreciate the flavors of winter: preserved, slow roasted, long-simmered, seasoned to perfection.

With the Green Bay Packers headed to the Super Bowl (sorry, Chicago, we love you but we’re Wisconsin born and bred), we thought we’d take a moment to celebrate two of Wisconsin’s favorite industries: football and cheese. (Spices are a tad further down the line.) The Green Bay Packers were formed in 1919, and by 1923 were a franchise of the NFL. Today they remain the only team still associated with the small town of its founding. With strong ties to the local community and a rabidly devoted fan base (every home game has been sold out since 1960), the Packers are a publicly owned team. Many Wisconsinites have a share framed and hanging on their walls. (Check our Evanston location for one of these.)

The name “Packers” come from their original sponsors the Indian Packing Company. Despite this initial association with a meat packing company, Packers fans are commonly known as Cheeseheads after the most prominent local industry. European immigrants, largely from Germany and its neighbors, brought dairy farming traditions with them to Wisconsin in the 19th century, and Wisconsin’s first commercial cheese factory started operations in 1841. Today Wisconsin ranks behind only much larger California in milk production, and leads the nation in cheese production (and, I would guess, consumption).  With 600 varieties being commercially produced, Wisconsin cheese accounts for about 25% of all domestic cheese. This includes conventional, mass-produced cheeses, but also covers a wide array of artisan cheeses. Wisconsin has the highest number of licensed cheesemakers and is the only state to offer a European-style Master Cheesemaker program. And unlike most US dairy states, Wisconsin has a high proportion of small, grazing-based dairies (as opposed to the more common industrialized types), so the quality of milk and cream for cheese making is high. In short, this is a state that takes its cheese seriously. So it’s an indication of how much we love our football team that we wear cheese on our heads to show our support.

Patty and Tom will be heading to Dallas to cheer on their local team, but for those of us staying here, cheese based snacks are on the menu.  Sure, there’s always classic nacho dip cheese and crackers, but how about cheese-filled puff pastry shaped into the Pack’s oval “G”?  Or cheese fondue?  Or classic Wisconsin cheese soup?  There’s only a week of planning before the big game, so get creative, get cheesy, and GO PACKERS!