Hasta La Ideas

Organic potato vodka, locally malted whiskey and G&T syrups brewed in British Columbia

On a recent trip to Whistler, we had the opportunity to sample the vodka from Pemberton Distillery, a fledgling outfit nestled in the Pemberton Valley of British Columbia. Within their unassuming walls, the distillery employs copper stills to create a line of locally sourced, organic liquors.

Designed as a sipping spirit, Schramm Vodka has a deliciously clean flavor followed by a distinctive finish. Pemberton’s potatoes are free from herbicides, long-life chemicals and fertilizers, earning organic certification from the B.C. Pacific Agricultural Society. The distillery also produces syrups to spice up gin & tonic cocktails and vanilla extract made from the house vodka.

Schramm Gin is a potato gin created in handcrafted, small-batch runs with only eight botanical flavors added during the distillation process. Pemberton is also adding a whiskey to their line when it matures in 2013, which will be made from organic barley that’s malted in B.C. and then aged in bourbon casks.

Spirits from Pemberton Distillery sell online and from select distributors in B.C.

Sourcing fruits for Jessica Koslow’s line of boutique preserves

One bite of crusty bread spread with Sqirl raspberry and fresh lavender jam made by Jessica Koslow creates an explosion of local flavor. From the taste of such a juicy creation, it’s hard to believe that Koslow swears she barely ate fruit as a child. Now, her sweet preserves are quickly gaining popularity among discerning consumers and pastry chefs alike.

The day after Koslow returned from a trip to London to sample bitter marmalades—she’s on a mission to satisfy her new bitter orange craving—we tagged along for a drive to Mud Creek Ranch in Santa Paula, California. Koslow has made several jams with Steve and Robin Smith of Mud Creek, including, for one, pineapple quince with rosewater.

With the Smiths’ menagerie of seven dogs in tow, Koslow checks out the Pitanga cherries, Palestinian limes, and Bergamots and places her order—”Whatever you have I’ll take it,” she says.

Still thinking about oranges, Koslow inquires about Sevilles or other bitter orange varieties like Bouquetiers, but Robin advises her that Sevilles are too hard to grow in their climate, despite several attempts. Miraculously, Mud Creek did yield a tree of Bouquetiers for the first time this season, and Koslow is able to leave with a heaping bag for her marmalade quest. She feels that American jams tend to be sweeter—and Sqirl skews on the sweet side of those American options—but for her, the bitter marmalade flavors of London are where her heart is at the moment.

The next morning Koslow will make her way to the other side of Los Angeles to the
Santa Monica Farmer’s Market where she will see Smith and the other farmers she has
befriended along her food journey. Then she’ll head back to Sqirl headquarters pull
out the custom copper pots—made for her by David Burns of Copper Gardens—and begin the process of making her bitter marmalade one juicy fruit at a time.

Koslow jarred more than 6,000 containers of jam on 2011, in addition to piles of pickles, sauerkraut, cocktail syrups, candies orange peels, and several other small batch projects—all emblazoned with the bold Sqirl label designed by Scott Barry.

Sqirl jams are available at 15 Southern California retailers including Lindy & Grundy as well as in the Sqirl e-shop.

A delicious day in the life and land of Nudo’s collaborative community

Since we covered Nudo’s “adopt-an-olive-tree” program a few years back, we’ve been repeatedly impressed by their commitment to bridging the gap between consumers and their food. With a global community of adoptive tree “parents” as well as a localized community of collaborative growers, the Nudo family goes far beyond their fields and presses. It’s a close community as well, with owners traveling to visit their trees and help with the harvest. The farm-to-table connection results in an olive oil that bears the innovative personality of those involved. On a recent visit to Le Marche as the brand’s guest, we met the trees, farmers, and olive millers who define Nudo Italia.

Beginning our day of immersion we left Casal Dei Fichi—our residence for the visit—early for the olive groves. Driving through Le Marche, it’s easy to become hypnotized by the textures of the trees and vines that decorate the landscape like massive bolts of corduroy. We arrived at Rosalio, the Nudo groves, where we picked and raked olives from the branches, which were collected and gathered on nets that ran down the hillside. When asked whether olives could be eaten straight from the tree, Nudo’s founder Jason Gibb explained that fresh olives are extremely bitter and even peppery (I tried one anyway. He was right.). He then told a story about a tree that grew by a cove, its olives falling into the sea. Washed in the seawater over time, the olives were found and enjoyed by a passerby—the reported discovery of brining. Gibb’s story fits with the Rosalio vibe, which is itself a kind of Italian fairy tale.

Leaving the groves by mid-morning, we arrived at the Corradini olive press to make lemon olive oil. Our freshly harvested olives were separated from their twigs and leaves, washed and sent into a basin where three granite wheels pulverized the fruit. Lemons were tossed whole into the mash, which let off a citrus scent of the infusion at work. After an extended cold mixing and going through a series of centrifugal presses, the oil was finally extracted and bottled, ready to be consumed after sitting for a month. This modern pressing process minimizes the olive paste’s exposure to air ensuring optimal freshness and the brightest possible flavor.

Gibb explained that the press charges by weight, so many farmers harvest later in the year when the olives are lighter, having begun to desiccate on the tree. He also notes that older growers prefer the traditional nylon press, which is more of an open-air process that results in an oil that goes rancid more quickly. Tasting oils produced in both the new and old ways I found the difference to be remarkable—olives pressed in the traditional manner had a much more basic, even blurry flavor. Nudo harvests their olives when they are just becoming ripe, paying a higher price to produce a better product.

Lunch came courtesy of Nudo collaborator Paolo Beretta and his wife Paola. The two run an “agriturismo” in Cossignano called Fiorano, where they grow olives for oil and grapes for wine production. Beretta worked most of his career as a dentist—a detail that’s evident in his impeccably maintained groves, vines and wine production facilities. Paola prepared our lunch alongside her mother, who were the keepers of a transcendental stuffed olive recipe that they were kind enough to share with us (see below).

Their “Olive Ascolane” was a delightful appetizer alongside the Fiorano wine. The olives were stuffed, then battered and fried in a mix of the family’s extra virgin olive oil and sunflower oil. The fleshy “tenera ascolana” olives are favored in this rustic dish, which is named for the town of Ascoli Piceno. The piping hot morsels were filled with mortadella and parmesan cheese, as well as minced turkey, beef, and pork.

Our route to dinner in the charming village of Loro Piceno was met with a pleasant interruption at Peppe Cotto, the local butcher. The unrestrained character of Piceno serenaded us with a pigskin trumpet—which complimented his bowtie, also made of pigskin—as he served up vino cotto, or cooked wine, with a wheel of sausage on the rim of the glass.

Before leaving, he found time to give a live performance of a composition that was written on a sheet of dried skin. His fat sculptures were truly mesmerizing, decorating the display case with familiar characters and animals. Of all his eccentric performances, it was the puppet show enacted with the carcass of a chicken that left us reeling on the way out the door.

Visiting this community made the experience of tasting Nudo’s product even more special. As a region with a blossoming agriturismo business, it’s a definite destination to add to any foodie’s vacation wish list. In the mean time, to get a taste for yourself, check out Paola’s mother’s recipe for “Olive Ascolane” after the jump.

Photography by Josh Rubin and Masiar Pasquali

Olive ascolane

Ingredients for 4

“Tenera ascolana” olives

Pork—200g/7oz

Turkey breast—200g/7oz

Beef—200g/7oz

Mortadella—100g/3.5oz

Parmesan—80g/2.8oz

Eggs—4

White wine—1 glass

Nutmeg—to taste

Salt—to taste

Pepper—to taste

Bread crumbs—as required

Flour—as required

Extra virgin olive oil—as required

Sunflower oil—as required

Brown the chopped meat in a pan with a little oil, add salt and pepper and drizzle with white wine. Cover as soon as the wine has boiled away and cook for another 10-15 minutes. Place the cooked meat in an oven dish with the finely chopped Mortadella, the grated Parmesan, nutmeg, salt, a whole egg and a yolk. Mince finely with a chopping knife or with the mixer until smooth and thick. Stone the olives by cutting off the flesh in a spiral—start at the top of the olive and try to cut the flesh off in one piece. Take a piece of meat about the size of the original olive in your hand, roll into a ball and spiral the flesh of one olive around it. Then dip the ball first in the flour, then the beaten eggs and finally the bread crumbs. Do this for all the olives. Heat up the extra virgin olive and sunflower oils until boiling and deep fry the balls until golden brown. Serve hot or warm as a nice starter.

The quirky creative’s first store opens in NYC bringing a clever take on classic garments

A year after French designer Ramdane Touhami moved his family and introduced Cire Trudon to New York with a whimsical boutique, he has since sold the company and moved on to his next venture—the eponymous store and house label Ramdane, characterized by classic garments for men and women updated with the designer’s signature sartorial twists. Using the finest fabrics sourced from well-known names in the industry, Touhami brings together high-quality and fashion at an accessible price point.

As a nod to his collection‘s playful aesthetic and attention to textures and colors, the exterior facade of the Nolita boutique has been draped in woven wool surrounding the neon orange doors; the interior space is furnished with large, custom-made stone slab counters carved from single pieces of rock in upstate New York. Inside there’s an anything-goes atmosphere—after all, the creative maestro Touhani is not only a designer, but also a DJ, director, artist and journalist—with garments hanging freely from the ceiling or folded on counters, each accented with their own unique patterns and colors—a style central to the Ramdane aesthetic.

The store will eventually carry a range of products—furniture, accessories, clothing and more. Current offerings include coats made with Mackintosh fabrics, accented with a dozen or more buttons wrapped in patterned fabric sourced from Scotland, and a motorcycle jacket constructed of the same waxed cotton used by Barbour. The women’s green bouclé jacket and contrasting-neon trenches are at once youthful and sophisticated in slim contemporary fits.

For a more subtle creative touch, Ramdane’s light-pastel sweaters feature multiple collars, while the thick angora cable knit cardigans remain true to classic form. The colorful corduroys are also well proportioned and have a fine hand. We found a favorite in the “Crisis Suit,” an ingenious design that has to be seen—or, ideally, tried on—for the full effect (Touhani put it on for us, but we couldn’t contain his exuberance long enough to get a proper shot of the suit). The three-in-one combination of jacket and vest has a base layer with suit-jacket sleeves and three different vest styles—tuxedo, double-breasted and countryside—to change-up the lapels.

In an effort to bring superior fashion to a more inclusive audience, Ramdane sells his limited-run pieces in a relatively moderate range—sweaters go for around $200, coats for between $350 and $500 and pants for $200. Also of note, Ramdane is offering an extremely unique staggered payment system for customers under the age of 25, allowing for payment to be made in three installments over time. For now Ramdane is exclusively sold through the New York flagship.

To see the collection in motion watch “The Forrest,” a horror movie directed by Ramdane and produced for $500.

Ramdane
64 Kenmare Street
New York, NY 10012
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Bring some all-natural aloha to your tastebuds with this small-batch granola from Kauai

Since 1986 Anahola Granola has been handmaking granola with a focus on fresh, quality ingredients in Hawaii. Founder Becky Burns’ obsession with the region’s surplus of exotic, tropical flavors dates back even further to when she bought a one-way ticket to the islands in the summer of ’69. This affinity for the land combined with baking skills learned as a child pushed Burns to start her venture by selling granola at local fairs and farmer’s markets throughout the islands. As demand grew so did production, while the recipe stayed the same.

Standards for quality remain unchanged too; each variety of granola—original, tropical, mango ginger—ships the day after it’s made. Our personal preference leans toward the tropical granola, made with the Anahola mix of whole grain oats, seeds and local honeys, superbly accented with sun-ripened papaya, coconut and sweet pineapple.

For granola on the go, the MacaMania bars burst with the same delicious island flavors. Using Burn’s original granola as a base, the bar is studded with Hawaiian-grown macadamia nuts, flavored with sweet honey and brown sugar, and gets its crunch from puffed brown rice cereal. We may have just been hungry, but the sliced MacaMania bar disappeared seconds after we snapped these images.

Burns’ treats are now served in many of Hawaii’s upscale hotels and restaurants, and sell through a long list of health food stores, cafes, grocery stores, as well as from Anahola Granola’s online store. Each 12-ounce bag sells for $6, while the MacaMania bars go for $2.50 each.