Dishing with Stephanie's Dish

In this episode of the podcast, we dive into the world of THC-infused products and THC culture by visiting the Dabbler Depot THC Owner Matt Kenevan. Matt is a successful business owner and discusses the benefits and potential drawbacks of branching out into marijuana products like the already popular seltzers and gummies. The discussion ranges from the safety and quality control of THC-infused products to navigating the changing attitudes toward the potential benefits of THC-infused products for pain management and overall wellness. With engaging storytelling, insightful analysis, and helpful tips, this episode is a must-listen for anyone interested in exploring the world of THC-infused products.

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On this episode of Dishing with Stephanies Dish”, I chat with guest Tracey Medeiros to discuss her cookbook, "The Vermont Farm To Table Cookbook." Tracey talks about the inspiration behind the book and her passion for community-driven cookbooks. She emphasizes the importance of building a relationship with recipe contributors and provides tips for utilizing excess produce. The conversation then turns to the impact of supporting local farmers and the farm-to-table movement, with Tracey sharing two recipes from her cookbook. The episode closes with discussing the importance of educating the next generation and supporting local farmers to strengthen the community.

Vermont is known for its maple syrup, goat cheese, and farm-to-table spirit. The recipes and stories of ‘The Vermont Farm Table Cookbook” bring a little piece of that Vermont spirit into your home kitchen. After 10 years, author Tracey Medeiros has revised and fully updated this cookbook to highlight the dedication of Vermont’s farmers. Readers can indulge in the comforting seasonal recipes and farm-fresh flavors this beautiful state offers while experimenting with their garden produce, CSA, or Farmer’s market finds, regardless of geography.

Stephanie’s Dish Newsletter is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

Here is the Burrata Salad Tracey talked about from the ‘The Vermont Farm Table Cookbook”

Ingredients

Basil Pesto

Makes 1 3/4 cups

2 tightly packed cups of fresh basil leaves

3 tablespoons raw pine nuts

1/2 cup grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese (about 2 ounces)

3 medium garlic cloves, coarsely chopped

1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil

Salad

8 ounces baby spinach, preferably local

2 medium strawberries, hulled, and sliced

2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

1 teaspoon lemon zest

2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice

1/4 teaspoon kosher salt, or to taste

1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, or to taste

2 (2-ounce) balls fresh burrata cheese, cut in half, preferably Maplebrook Farm

1/2 cup shelled pistachios, salted and roasted

1 to 2 tablespoons aged balsamic vinegar, or to taste

Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

Instructions

* To make the basil pesto: Place the basil and pine nuts into the bowl of a food processor and pulse several times.

* Add the Parmigiano-Reggiano, garlic, salt, and pepper, then pulse several times more. While the processor isrunning, slowly add the olive oil in a steady stream until well blended and fairly smooth, scraping down the sides ofthe bowl as needed.

* To make the salad: In a large bowl, toss together the spinach and strawberries. In a small bowl, whisk together theolive oil, lemon zest and juice, salt, and pepper until well combined. Adjust seasonings with salt and pepper to taste.

* Drizzle over the salad, tossing until well coated.

* To assemble: Smear the basil pesto onto a platter. Place the salad in the center of a platter. Place the burrata on top.

* Scatter the pistachios on and around the salad. Drizzle the balsamic vinegar on top and around the salad. Seasonwith salt and pepper to taste. Serve at once.

Here is a transcript of our interview.

Stephanie [00:00:15]:

Hello, everybody, and welcome to Dishing with Stephanie's Dish, the podcast where we talk to fellow cookbook authors, food lovers, and anyone interested in the food space in the same obsessive way that I am. And Tracy Madeiros is actually, like, right in line with all my obsessions. She is the author of The Vermont Farm Table Cookbook. And Tracy, you are having your 10th anniversary with this amazing book. How exciting, ten years later, to get, like, a rerelease.

Tracey Medeiros [00:00:46]:

I was so happy when I received the call asking if I would be interested in revising the first edition, and I said yes.

Stephanie [00:00:58]:

When you think about your original writing of the cookbook, tell me about that process and why you decided to write it.

Tracey Medeiros [00:01:05]:

Sure. Well, I was writing a column for the Essex Reporter in Colchester Sun, and I just felt the dedication and the energy from these folks wanting to be in that column. And I thought, why not? Why don't I write another Vermont cookbook? So I asked my editor at the newspaper her thoughts on me turning my column into a book. And years prior, the publishing house, that Countryman Press, had approached me, and they asked me if I ever write another cookbook again, please let them know. So I called the gentleman up who had approached me about writing a book for them, and I said, hey, I'm thinking about turning my column into a book. What are your thoughts? And he said, I love the idea. And I sent him some sample recipes and some profile examples, and he gave me a contract. And that's how the first edition came about.

Stephanie [00:02:18]:

How many recipes were in the original cookbook?

Tracey Medeiros [00:02:21]:

The original cookbook had 150 recipes.

Stephanie [00:02:25]:

Okay. And I had a cookbook that had 170. So about the same amount. How long did it take you to put it all together?

Tracey Medeiros [00:02:33]:

It takes me, I just work nonstop. The second I get a contract, I just run Stephanie, and it's just all consuming, and it's my life. And I would say about a year. I have that same yeah. So you're like me. You just okay, I get the contract. Because it's a little daunting when you get that contract. It's exciting, but it's daunting because you have that pressure to produce and because you have so many people involved, and people have lives, and they're busy, and farmers are extremely busy. You just have to work nonstop. So I would say about a year.

Stephanie [00:03:21]:

Your cookbook. The Vermont farm to table cookbook reminds me in some respects. So two things. One, I think Vermont and Minnesota are familiar climate wise. There is a rural aspect to Vermont, but also then you kind of have this liberal city in Burlington. So I feel like my daughter went to college there. So I feel like I have some a bit of a touchstone with Vermont. But when I relooked at all of your recipes in this latest 10th edition, I really got that vibe that I got ten years ago or twelve years ago when I kind of fell in love with cooking as an adult in this farm to table movement. Like buying these really cool ingredients at farmers markets and then seeing what I could turn into them.

Tracey Medeiros [00:04:16]:

Vermont has always been ahead of the curve food wise. And I just find that the people in this realm are just so inspiring. And like you said, and I hope when readers open this book, they will just feel the love and the dedication. These contributors are just so dedicated, so passionate, and it's just such hard work and they're just so inspiring. And they really do this for community wellness, because being a farmer, it's not a lucrative business.

Stephanie [00:04:55]:

Right, like writing cookbooks.

Tracey Medeiros [00:04:57]:

Yeah, exactly. You have to have a love and a passion for it. And these folks really do. And I'm just so fortunate that they trust me with their profiles and their recipes. And I always make sure to send the materials back and I tell them, anything you want me to add or omit or edit, please do. Because my books are really a community cookbook and I want them to also, when I feel their love, I want them to feel my love back to them, my thank you for doing what they do. And like, you obviously you love doing cookbooks and you love food. You have to just love these folks because they help you and inspire you to do what you do and do it well. And I always want them to feel my appreciation, and I'm just so grateful for them over the last all these years doing what I've done.

Stephanie [00:06:09]:

I think the reason your cookbook really appeals to me too, is because I think I'm a good cook. But I am a home cook and I am always attracted to newspaper columns about recipes because I feel like you have an aesthetic and a point of view that is like you're imagining me standing in my regular kitchen like I don't have all the special supplies. And I felt like when I was reading the cookbook too, that it was super approachable and like food that everyday people can cook. And I know that sounds silly, but a lot of cookbooks, they're more aspirational and beautiful. Yours is like, I can do the things. I can make the Vermont Cheddar soup, I can make these salad dressings.

Tracey Medeiros [00:06:56]:

Well. That's what's so important to me when I do any of my cookbooks. Exactly what you have stated, Stephanie, that I want someone who doesn't cook that often but wants to cook at home once in a while. So, for instance, I have this wonderful Lebanese salad in there. And I think also when you're trying to educate and the importance of the whole farm to table movement and the reason why you should support your local farmer and the importance you want to have that net as wide as possible, you want to educate and entertain as many people as possible so that movement continues to grow and flourish. And that's why too, when I create these books, they're a recipe book, they're also with the profiles, they're interesting reads. So maybe someone might not try a certain recipe, but they're still learning about that farm and also a tra

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shares the story of how Ben Zaver created a protein supplement that is not only packed with protein but is not milky but tasty and juice-like that comes in fresh fruit flavors. Hear about their journey from idea to catching Mark Cuban imagination from Shark Tank Fame. Learn about their vision for the future of protein supplements. Tune in now to hear their inspiring story.

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🧀 Meet our latest Makers of Minnesota podcast guest! Christine Leonard from The Grater Good Mn🐄 Whether she's milking cows, creating cheese boards, or sharing her knowledge of cheese-making, she loves all things cows and dairy. With a degree in food science and technology and experience at Redhead Creamery, her passion for farmstead artisan cheeses shines through in her creations. But her love for routine and structure is just as important to her, so she finds comfort in milking her cows and providing them with a familiar schedule.

In our interview, she dives into the challenges of using social media for business, the process of making different types of cheese, and how she tries to make cheese boards that provide an impactful eating experience. Plus, she shares her tips for pairing different cheeses with jams, honey, nuts, and more! Listen to our latest episode to hear all about it, and follow her on Instagram for content about her love of cheese.

Stephanie’s Dish Newsletter is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit stephaniehansen.substack.com/subscribe

Hey Podcast listeners! In this episode, we discuss the journey of Jessica Kohanek, a single mother who turned her passion for kombucha into Koru Kombucha, a thriving craft business, all while balancing the demands of raising a family and teaching full-time. Our guest started making kombucha as a way to improve her health and well-being, but quickly fell in love with the process and the benefits it provided. She began brewing large batches and supplying local businesses until her business grew to what it is today. Through trial and error, she refined her recipe and now brews her delicious kombucha at St. Paul Brewing Company.

Stephanie [00:00:13]:

Hello, everybody, and welcome to the Makers of Minnesota podcast, where we talk to cool people doing cool things. And I'm here with Jessica Kohanek, and she is the founder of Koru Kombucha. Did I say that right?

Jessica [00:00:26]:

Yes. Perfect. Thank you. Hi, thanks for having me.

Stephanie [00:00:29]:

Yeah, thanks for being on the podcast today. We're in some audio trouble, but we're all situated now.

Jessica [00:00:36]:

Perfect.

Stephanie [00:00:37]:

Jessica, tell me about your foray into kombucha making my foray into?

Jessica [00:00:43]:

Okay, well, back in 2017, I want.

Stephanie [00:00:49]:

To point out too, that you're, like, in a classroom.

Jessica [00:00:52]:

Yeah, I teach full time. Okay. So I'm here, the kids just left, and I just had my end of the year meeting with my par person, so that just got done. And now I'm doing this, and I'm super excited. And when we're done, I'm going to go flavor some kombucha, go shopping for some ingredients and get that. It's a busy day. Busy week, always busy. Yeah, I like being busy. It works out for me.

Stephanie [00:01:16]:

What made you start deciding to make kombucha?

Jessica [00:01:21]:

Okay, I'll try to make it it's a long story, but I'll make it short. Basically, back in 2017, I teach high school now, but back then I taught little kids Montessori for second 3rd graders. So I had about 36 to 6789 year olds in my class, so I'm doing that full time. I was working towards my K through twelve art license back then, so I was going to school at Bethel four nights a week. And my son I'm a single mom, and my son was in hockey in the goalie. So I had all this going on, and I'm like, I'm so tired, like, going to class that night and getting everything done. And my body doesn't do well with caffeine or sugar, so I'm not a pop drinker. And coffee makes me ill, so, I mean, I love the taste of it, but it doesn't do well with my body. So a friend of mine at the time said, I heard kombucha is really good for energy and this and that. It's a healthy wave without getting all your sugar and caffeine and whatnot, but it works. So he kept bringing me kombucha, and after about two weeks, I'm like, oh, my God, I was going to class that night without yawning, and I could get through the day a lot easier. I dropped a few pounds. I just felt really good. I just felt really good. I'm like, this is magical stuff. I need to learn more about it. At the time I've heard of it, it was like a California thing or East Coast thing and what is this? And so I started researching and buying a bottle at $4 a pop when you're a single mom wasn't a good idea on a teacher salary. So YouTube, how do you make kombucha? And did it. And then I started making and having fun with making flavors and getting it to the PH that I liked and the flavors that I liked, and I could personalize it. And I'm like I like mine. It's a little bit better than the store stuff. Anyways, this is great. So I went from two gallons, and then I went bought another two gallon. And so I was going through it, and I'm like, mom, sister, friends, you guys got to try this stuff. This is freaking amazing. Like, all the benefits that's coming out of this. And so I started making more, and then I had, like, glass jars all over the house. So I'm like, okay, well, I went and bought a 30 gallon fermenter and then another one, and then story keeps going if you want to keep yeah, okay. So I went what was it? I wrote a teacher's grant to go to Hawaii to study the flora and fauna of Hawaii and won it. So I went to Hawaii for almost a month with my son at the time and met all these amazing people. And it just so happened when I was there, I met these people that were making the Hawaii Kombucha, and I saw what they were doing and how they were doing it. I can do that. So I came home and did it, went down to Kansas City with the brokery kombucha thanks, guys. And bought 490 gallon fermenters from them. And I'm like, yeah, I'm doing this commercially. I got to share this kombucha with the world. Let's go. Let's do this. And I started looking at shared kitchens, and I'm like, I can't afford this. I can't afford that because my stuff takes up too much space, and it wouldn't be logical to do this. A friend of mine, Ryan, who was one of the owners at Stack Deck Brewery downtown St. Paul, he said, Just come here and brew. I'm like. Okay. Thanks, man. So we tried it out. I took a break from school to do this. March of 2020, everything shuts down the month I moved in there. But I just really focus on making it commercially and getting in. My goal was just to be really local, really like coffee shops, people in St. Paul. I just wanted to kind of invert Grove, where I'm from, and supply my people right, that were around me and at least do that. And I'm still teaching full time, so I didn't want to get all crazy big. And so that worked out really great for a while. Stackdack is no longer and so I spent a lot of time emailing breweries from all over the Twin Cities. Hey, do you have space for me? Do you have space for me? I probably got 15 to 20. No, I'm sorry. Good luck in your adventure. We don't have that much space. And when I finally went to Eleven Wells Distillery and talked to the guy there, he's like, we don't have what you need. Why don't you go talk to the guys at St. Paul Brewing. I'm like, I swear I did, but I checked my emails and I didn't. But I went over and talked to Bob, who's the head brewer over there. Awesome guy. Everyone there is awesome. And he's like, yeah, we can make space. Let's do this. I got to talk to Rob, the owner, and they made space for me, and I'm like, at the time, I was ready to in my mind, I was ready to start my own shop and be done with teaching. But I'm still there, and it's been almost two years, I think, now, but I really learned I'm in a different teaching job that I absolutely love. I'm teaching at an alternative high school. I'm the electives teacher, so I get to do art and cooking and careers and teaching about the real life stuff. So I'm doing a really good job of balancing both things, and I'm still taking in a few new what's the word I'm looking for not clients, but just places to sell kombucha. Thank you. Real Taylors. Yeah, I just got into Red Rabbit on grand, and, yeah, it's just fun, just an adventure, and I don't know what I'm going to do in the future, but just keep growing as it comes. Organically, I guess.

Stephanie’s Dish Newsletter is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

Stephanie [00:07:19]:

Yeah. And so how much kombucha? Like, you sent me six flavors, and they're all really interesting lemongrass. There's some berry. How much kombucha is the normal amount to drink per day for gut health benefits? Because I don't think people know.

Jessica [00:07:39]:

Good question. I suggest when people come to me for kombucha first, I ask if their body is used to probiotics in the first place, because some people will take pills or powders or whatnot or eat fermented foods, so I kind of figure out where they're at. If your body is not used to probiotics at all, I would suggest a third of the bottle throughout the day, a third in the morning, a little bit in the afternoon, in the evening, just to kind of see how your body feels, because everybody is different. And when I first started, I would drink the whole bottle, and I was fine. Some people have issues that kombucha is known to help out, so it might have more effect on your body. And kombucha is known to kind of I always say it's kind of like cleaning out a junk drawer, right? And so the probiotics and the kombucha, well, you got to get everything out of there, all this yucky stuff, and get it out, and it kind of flares up, and it's like a mess. What did I do? This is a huge mess. But then you kind of put back what you need, and it kind of helps in that I compare it that way. So to answer your question, I would start if you're not used to it, like a third of the bottle, maybe 3oz at a time. Okay. If you're nervous, start with 1oz because it is a detoxifier. Right.

Stephanie [00:08:55]:

And then is it started with plain distilled vinegar or do they always use cider vinegar?

Jessica [00:09:03]:

I don't use any vinegar, so I use gunpowder, organic green tea, and I use cane sugar. So I make my tea, add the sugar, let it cool down, add like 15% of previous batch, how many gallons you're using? It's kind of like starter fluid, like when you're making. So I call it starter fluid and then add that. And then you add your SCOBY, which is your symbiotic colony of bacteria and yeast. This living organism that's going to eat most of the caffeine and the sugar that's in there and ferments it. You know how, like, cabbage turns into sauerkraut? It's like you got your sweet tea turning into kombucha. So I don't start with any vinegar, but if you let it sit long enough and ferment long enough, the acidity gets really low. So it tastes like vinegar. Yeah, it gets to that point.

Stephanie [00:09:58]:

So you're fantastic to me because I love th

Stephanie [00:00:16]:

Hello, everybody, and welcome to Dishing with Stephanie's Dish, the podcast where we talk to people that have written unique, amazing, and in this case, super fun books about food. I'm here with Judith Chishon, and she is a friend of a friend sister, which is fun to talk with her, too. Susie Mindrum is her sister, who's a good friend of our families and has been so kind to me and my stepmom. So it's fun to talk with you, Judith. She reached out and said, Would you ever want to talk to my sister? She has this funny book called “Romaine Wasn't Built in a Day”.

Judith [00:00:53]:

Sister in law.

Stephanie [00:00:54]:

Okay. Sister in law. It's amazing.

Judith [00:00:58]:

Yeah.

Stephanie [00:00:59]:

So do we call you? Is it an entomologist? The person who studies the nature of words?

Judith [00:01:08]:

Yeah. Etymologist no, n otherwise people might think it pertains to bugs.

Stephanie [00:01:16]:

Yes, that's right. So etymology is the derivative of words.

Judith [00:01:22]:

Yeah, right.

Stephanie [00:01:24]:

How did you think of putting this book together? Because why don't you describe it in your own words? Okay.

Judith [00:01:31]:

A somewhat short answer as to how it came about. I specialized in Old English and Middle English in graduate school, and as a professor, I had the great good fortune to teach history of the language, which, of course, included many discussions about the immense vocabulary of English and where all those words came from. And over the course of many, many years, I had amassed a huge pile of notes about interesting word histories. And then when the Pandemic hit, I put them all together into a book.

Stephanie [00:02:17]:

Isn't it amazing how many books were spawned by the pandemic?

Judith [00:02:22]:

Yes, really, it is.

Stephanie [00:02:26]:

And do you have a personal love of food or why this focus specifically on food words?

Judith [00:02:33]:

Yeah. Well, that's a good question. Yes. I love food. I am very interested in the history of food. I taught a course once long ago on food and literature, and often even in other courses, talked about the role that literature, that food played in a book. But the first love, I guess, was words. Even as a kid, I mean, all kids love to play with words, rhyming and punning and doing Dr. Susan kinds of things. And if I can indulge in one anecdote that's popping into my head right now about a love of language, even as a kid, I don't know how old I was maybe seven, eight, something like that. We were sitting around the table at my grandmother and grandfather's house, and he was holding forth with an anecdote, the punchline to, which was in Norwegian. And everybody burst out laughing, probably including me, though I didn't understand what he had said. I had a few words of Norwegian, that was it. But it really stands out in my head that a kind of moment of paying attention to the medium, perhaps, rather than the message that it was funny for everybody, maybe because literally what he said, but also because he said it in another language. We call that code switching now, and I wouldn't have articulated the whole business the way I am now, but it was a fun moment of awareness of I'm going to call it the ludic quality of language meaning the playfulness and all the things that we can do with language. Like tell jokes.

Stephanie [00:04:39]:

Yeah. And the lyricism of it. Right.

Judith [00:04:42]:

Yes. And I was a dictionary reader even at a young age. I don't know why exactly.

Stephanie [00:04:50]:

It makes me laugh that you just said that, like we're all dictionary readers. You read the dictionary as a young kid.

Judith [00:04:58]:

Yeah. I remember looking up words and making marks in the book. And I love the word pugnacious. Who knows why?

Stephanie [00:05:09]:

Right.

Judith [00:05:10]:

And naughty words were sometimes in there. Although I admit I was using a very old punk and wagon's dictionary, which did not have very many naughty words. Yeah. I've just always really loved digging around in the dictionary.

Stephanie [00:05:28]:

Have you by chance read and I think the book is called The Book of Words. It's about the writing of the dictionary from the female perspective.

Judith [00:05:39]:

Well, I've read a number of books like that. Is it the one by Corey Stamford? Word by word?

Stephanie [00:05:48]:

Maybe. Oh, I just read it, and I'm sorry that I don't know the name of the author. I will try and find it.

Judith [00:05:57]:

Okay. I've got it sitting here in this big pile of books.

Stephanie [00:06:03]:

Yeah. It was basically just this idea of how the dictionary came to be and how they chronicled and cataloged the words. And it was fiction.

Judith [00:06:15]:

It was fiction.

Stephanie [00:06:17]:

It was but I think it was based in historical fiction, and it was just something go ahead.

Judith [00:06:25]:

No, that sounds fantastic.

Stephanie [00:06:27]:

Yeah. It was just something I had never really thought about. Here's the name of it. It is called lost words. I'm going to find it. Sorry. I just think you would really like it. And it was absolutely very beautifully written. The Dictionary of Lost Words is what it was called. And it was written by a woman named Pip Williams. K. Okay. Pip Williams. And the idea was they sort of chronicled this historical fiction of the creating of the dictionary. But also what was unique about the book was this idea that women had their own language and women of the aristocracy, their language was different than women that were working in the homes or were working in the markets and were lower caste women, as it were. So she became enamored with chronicling and cataloging the words that women use that didn't make it into the original dictionaries.

Judith [00:07:35]:

Interesting. Well, I definitely want to read it. And she was talking about English, or was she talking worldwide?

Stephanie [00:07:43]:

It was in England, and it was the Oxford Dictionary compilation.

Judith [00:07:49]:

Okay, so it's a story about The OED.

Stephanie [00:07:51]:

Correct.

Judith [00:07:53]:

Okay. Yes.

Stephanie [00:07:54]:

I think you'd like it.

Judith [00:07:55]:

Yeah, I read the Madman story about the OED, but I haven't read this one specifically. Do you know if she has a lot of food words?

Stephanie [00:08:06]:

There is some, but it's not a lot that I could pick up because I think I would have recalled that. And when we were talking about preparing for this book, you were talking about the funny. We talked about rhubarb in particular because I'm obsessed with rhubarb. What is the origination of the word rhubarb?

Judith [00:08:27]:

It comes from a Greek word that means, well, the vegetable. But it means barbarous, too. So it's a foreign thing. That word foreign. And barbarous is in there. That's the barb part of rhubarb, which seems to me kind of fun and funny.

Stephanie [00:08:47]:

Yeah.

Judith [00:08:49]:

So I'm curious about your obsession with it. Food so often, of course, has emotional associations. And my association with rhubarb is a very positive one. Not only because my husband likes to make rhubarb pie and I love rhubarb pie, but it makes me think of my grandmother and her backyard in Northfield, Minnesota and a big rhubarb patch and the admonition that we should not ever even think about eating those leaves.

Stephanie [00:09:26]:

Yeah. Because they're poisonous.

Judith [00:09:27]:

Poisonous. And you'll die. But in spite of that, I mean, that only made it all more thrilling.

Stephanie [00:09:34]:

I think what I am fascinated by with rhubarb is that it's sort of this ugly looking weed in a lot of respects, and then it's not. If you just pull a stalk and eat it without a ton of sugar, it's not awesome. And then when you cut the leaves off and you boil that down or you cook it in a pastry and you add sugar, you make something completely transformative out of what is, in a lot of sense, zoeed I think that's what appeals to me, yes.

Judith [00:10:03]:

Well, wow. That is the magic, the transformation, right. That we can eat that stuff, but then it has to be cooked. Yeah. And when I think of rhubarb, I think of recipes that promise this transformation. I just love recipes, though I am not a recipe writer. I mean, I'm certainly not a cookbook writer. So I'm full of admiration for anybody who has written books with lots of recipes in them and all that that entails. But I just love the idea that you can have a list of rules and ingredients that promise transformation and something tasty and wonderful. And I think of it, too, in another way that's maybe kind of odd. I think of recipe cards that I have in my little old recipe card thingy holder, and I think of the handwriting that's on them. So in some cases, it's my mother's very neat handwriting. The Palmer method, that was not long ago. And in other cases, it's my grandmother's handwriting, the one who had rhubarb in the backyard. And hers tended to be shorter. I mean, she wouldn't give well, this doesn't account for the length of the recipe, but she wouldn't give a precise number for the oven setting. She would say hot oven or the precise measurement of, I don't know, flour is just scant. And somehow I liked that, that they were kind of abbreviated because she assumed you knew what to do.

Stephanie [00:11:52]:

Yeah. That's so funny, because in a lot of the recipes that my grandma left behind when I wa

Paul Werni and his son Anton created a grain-to-glass family distillery called 45th Parallel. With a production facility in Wisconsin but a cocktail room in Stillwater, they built their reputation by sourcing the best crops from a local farmers and convincing them to become suppliers. He runs a distillery production facility that has expanded into an event center, restaurant, and bar, representing half of his business. With his expertise in farming and cocktails, Paul has become a respected figure in the industry.

Stephanie [00:00:12]:

Hello, everybody, and welcome to the podcast. We are here with Paul Werney and Anton Werney, and they are the co-founders of 45th Parallel Spirits and Distillery. And they are located in New Richmond, Wisconsin. And in the meantime, they've opened a cocktail room in Stillwater, Wisconsin, and they make some very delicious products. I think the first product I ever had of yours was the vodka because obviously that's where most people start. Right. But you were like I felt like the second person that I heard use the term grain to glass, the first person being Gina Carver at J. Carver Distillery.

Paul [00:00:54]:

Yeah, we were the first distillery in the region. And at that time, I was a little naive. I thought that everybody started with the raw materials and actually made their own stuff. But that is somewhat rare with some disorders.

Thank you for reading Stephanie’s Dish Newsletter. This post is public so feel free to share it.

Stephanie [00:01:11]:

Yeah. And a lot of people will buy product and then make something with the byproduct, not unlike you see in the wine industry. Let's face it, very few people are actually growing their own grapes. They're buying grapes and then making their wine from that. But you guys really started with that grain to glass philosophy. And tell me about that. Like, literally seeing the grains and going, this is what I want to do.

Paul [00:01:37]:

Well, because of where we live, grain is what's available. You don't have a lot of fruits here or any other type of sugar sources, so you have to start with starches from grain, break them down. Fortunately, here in the Richmond, we're in a rural area, there's a lot of farmers here, so we have access to just about any grain that we want. And we get all our grain for our products is put on fire just on the road.

Stephanie [00:02:04]:

And did you know those people? And is that like, how did the first germ of an idea of like, hey, let's start making cocktail?

Paul [00:02:15]:

Well, as far as the farmer goes, I went to the local mills. When you have a farming community, you're going to have a mill. And so I went to the mills and I asked them who's going to have the best crops? And both mills gave me the same mail. And so I was able to convince that farmer to be a supplier. He's not a very large farm, about 500 acres, just a few employees, and that's it. As far as making cocktails, the industry, we started out as pretty much a production facility, and that's really what we are. However, the industry is changing. So small Distilleries really have to make money on site. So a few years ago, we added an event center, restaurant and bar. And now that's half of our business.

Stephanie [00:03:05]:

It'S not surprising to me because I did an event with you guys, and I've done lots of events at Distilleries, but I felt like you really has a loyal clientele. They were very into what we were doing that day. We did a bloody Mary tasting and also the whole restaurant side of it. You weren't just, like, offering Shakoori plates and had a food truck outside, like a lot of folks, you had, like, a full on restaurant, and the food was good.

Paul [00:03:33]:

Yeah. Well, I think you know who Scott Davis is, and he's and he's a friend of mine. We've known each other for 30 years, and he runs the kitchen over there, and he has a lot of experience in the Minneapolis area with running kitchens over there.

Stephanie [00:03:51]:

Yeah, it was clear that this wasn't and I don't mean to say that in a negative light, but for some folks, it's kind of an afterthought, right? They're trying to get you to stay around longer. They're trying to provide more amenities, but it wasn't what they started out to do. And you guys feel like you had an intentional way of going about that. And there aren't a lot of restaurants in that area. You're kind of in the middle of a field next to the liftbridge production facility, too, so I imagine people kind of come from all over.

Paul [00:04:25]:

We offer something different than a lot of the places in a small town. We have an Italian pizza oven, and we have a chef that has experience in the downtown Minneapolis market. We're not really trying to be your average and I don't mean this in a bad way bar food. We're trying to offer something different. New Richmond is a growing community. It's over 10,000 people now, and there are a lot of people in that region that are looking for something.

Stephanie [00:04:57]:

I really was impressed with your event schedules. You do a lot of events, but also they look fun and interesting and the kind of have a little twist to it. It seems like events are just a huge part of what you do to because your calendar is just full.

Paul [00:05:13]:

Yeah, there's a temptation to go with weddings, but weddings are a lot of work, so we wanted something different. Plus, being in a small town, you don't really have a lot of opportunities for, like, a comedy show, for an art show, stuff like that. That's what we're trying we're trying to bring in a variety of events to a small community so they don't have to drive 50 miles to get to.

Stephanie [00:05:37]:

Yeah, I liked it. Let's talk about so you've got the vodka, then you have a gin, and then you have referent, which is infused with horseradish. I'm assuming that came about because you're a big Bloody Mary guy in Wisconsin.

Paul [00:05:56]:

Actually, it came about when a couple of Russians came into our building in about 2009. And they have a place in St. Paul, Moscow, on the hill, and Russians like Porsche, so they asked us to make it, so we make it. And the son of the owner over there, he started his own business. And the are the owners of that brand. We don't own the brand.

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Stephanie [00:06:23]:

Oh, so you just produce it?

Paul [00:06:25]:

We just produce it. It's funny you say because you were here for the Bloody Mary.

Stephanie [00:06:32]:

I was.

Paul [00:06:33]:

You said gin, horseradish vodka, and regular vodka. However, 90, least 90% of our production is whiskey.

Stephanie [00:06:44]:

Yeah. And you have three that you're selling on shelves that I am aware of. You might have some specials, too, or special barrel ages that you're doing.

Paul [00:06:55]:

We do. The three base ones are bourbon, rye, and our wheat whiskey. And each one of them has different finishes, different types of cast that we finish in. But those are our base whiskeys.

Stephanie [00:07:09]:

Which do you think is your best seller or know is your best seller? And is it the one that you like?

Paul [00:07:16]:

It is the one I like. It's bourbon and bourbon. By far, bourbon is the hottest whiskey out there.

Stephanie [00:07:24]:

Is it because people don't understand about wheat and rye whiskeys?

Paul [00:07:28]:

Yes. Well, it's some of it. I think the profile bourbon is going to be a little bit sweeter, and I think it's gonna be for the more the the general palate. Where is a rye whiskey? If a bartender or a brewer comes into our facility, they're going to sit down and say, I want a rye. I think it's a little bit spicier. I think of it as like a real strong cup of coffee. It takes a more advanced palate for it.

Stephanie [00:08:02]:

And then you also are contracted to brew or to make the Gamaliode aquavi.

Paul [00:08:10]:

Yes.

Stephanie [00:08:11]:

I love that product. It's very underrated. I think it's so complex and just makes such delicious cocktails. But again, it's a product that a lot of people have to sample it and get familiar with it because dill. Yeah, it's obvious in the Bloody Mary, but there's a lot of savory side cocktails that really can be delicious uses with that.

Paul [00:08:36]:

Yeah. Bartenders, especially in urban areas, love the Aquavites because they can do so many different things with them. There's a lot of great things out there that the general public just doesn't know a lot about. I try it once, but you have your meat, potatoes, you have vodka, gin, rum, and whiskey. All these other things like lacurs and brandy's and ODA bays. They have their audience, but it's a small audience.

Stephanie [00:09:15]:

I think that's why people like to go to bars, because I think they don't feel confident buying those products and experimenting with them at home. But the will take a chance on a cocktail at a bar.

Paul [00:09:27]:

Yes. The Aqua beach, it's kind of a different animal. I mean, if I were to go out to California or New York or any other state, they would be interested in aquaman. That's what they're looking for. They're not looking for vodka, they're not looking for gin. They can get those pretty easily. But that's something unique.

Stephanie [00:09:51]:

Yeah. And the flavor profile is different. And maybe because of the Scandinavian sort of story. There is a lot of story to it and you can get different variations. I know you guys have a holiday. And then the

Stephanie [00:00:12]:

Hello, everybody, and welcome to Dishing with Stephanie's dish. We talk to people that have written cookbooks or books or food adjacent things because I can't get enough about talking about food, and and today we have a great guest. She is julie joe sieverson. She is the author of Oldest Twin Cities a Guide to Historic Treasures. And I had read about this book, and I thought, oh, that's cool. I wonder if she has stuff in there about restaurants and breweries, because we have so much history in the Twin Cities. And indeed she does. Welcome to the program.

Julie [00:00:47]:

Thank you for having me here. This will be fun.

Stephanie [00:00:50]:

Yes, it will be fun. So how did you decide? Are you like a born and bred twin Citian, and how did you decide to undertake this project?

Julie [00:00:59]:

Yes, I'm a fourth generation Minnesotan, and I've lived in the Twin Cities most of my life. I first wrote a book called Secret Twin Cities a Guide to the Weird, Wonderful, and Obscure, and that came out in 2020, arrived March, mid March, right when the cities were shutting down. So good timing on my part. I shoved them all in the corner for a couple of weeks because I thought, who's going to want to buy a travel guide right now?

Stephanie [00:01:24]:

Right?

Julie [00:01:25]:

It turned out okay for secret Twin cities. They had a lot of social distancing ideas in it, coincidentally. But anyway, all this Twin Cities evolved from that book. About a year later, the publisher asked if I'd like to write another one. And I really wanted to do one of more of a historic nature because I just think with COVID and the really tough year that the Twin Cities had in 2020, including the murder of George Floyd and the Civil uprising and businesses shutting down, burned down. I just felt like I needed a reason to fall back in love with the Twin Cities. And I was feeling a loss of community and a loss of connection. And for me to feel connected to the region I live in is very important to me. I need to feel part of the fabric. And so I just stopped focusing on enduring places in our midst and places that hung in there and have endured and have reopened, providing us continuity, kind of a comfort that was good for my soul to focus my energy there. So that's why I kind of went in this direction.

Stephanie [00:02:43]:

Well, and one of the selections in the book is the Oldest Best Bar, which is our friend Tony Zacardi, who bought it from our friend Lisa Hammer. I knew Lisa and Keith, and they had shepherded the bar, and then they sold it to Tony Zacardi. And it's from 1906.

Julie [00:03:03]:

Apparently.

Stephanie [00:03:04]:

It's an institution on Cedar Avenue. And you talk about sort of that pandemic and that coming back to life. Tony is a good example of someone that really he had just bought the bar and all of a sudden it has to close, and they're trying to hang on. And a lot of these bars and restaurants and distilleries really were in tough shape. So I was so glad that when we came out of the pandemic that Palmers has come out of it. And tell me a little bit about the history of Palmers in particular.

Julie [00:03:40]:

Yeah. And Tony really was he was really propelled into the national spotlight during that time. Yes.

Stephanie [00:03:48]:

He was an African American man who.

Julie [00:03:51]:

Owns this in the heart of he spray painted black owned business in hopes to protect his business, to deflect potential looters. And he was really a spokesperson and a comfort, I think, for the twin stage community during that time. We needed absolutely.

Stephanie [00:04:10]:

And the music community, too, because Palmer has had such a history in steeped in music.

Julie [00:04:16]:

Yeah. What a gem this place is. It's so unique, with an Islamic mosque on one end and then that iconic Mustachioed man against it on the other one. And as I write in the book, you rarely leave this place without a story to tell. Kind of rough edge place. Maybe not everybody's going to feel comfortable there, but you're very welcome there, no matter who you are. And you'll be invited to play a game of Scrabble or get into a conversation, unless you're a jerk. Because if you're a jerk, you're going to get plastered on a poster note on the back wall, and you're not going to be welcome there at all.

Stephanie [00:05:00]:

That's funny.

Julie [00:05:02]:

Yeah.

Stephanie [00:05:02]:

Another institution that is in downtown Minneapolis specifically, and I didn't realize that they had had a fire in 1989, but this was Glicks, the oldest downtown bar.

Julie [00:05:20]:

Yeah. Lots lots of damage. It seems like most of these places have endured fires over the years. Yeah.

Stephanie [00:05:30]:

You can imagine that. Yep.

Julie [00:05:32]:

Yeah, they they really came back from that. In fact, there was a moose in there. They have these animal heads mounted all throughout the restaurant. And the moose in the back room had been stolen from during a fraternity party there. And I think this group, whoever had stolen it, felt so bad because of fire that Reopening day, they anonymously returned it, leaning it against the front door. Welcome, everybody back. But yeah, my daughter was just there the other day. She's like I'm a glicks. I'm like, do you know that's in my book? No, I didn't even know that.

Stephanie [00:06:05]:

I had no idea either. Now, the Monte Carlo has been near and dear to my heart for some time, and my mom and dad got divorced, and my dad moved downtown. And that was really like, wow. Because we were suburban girls. And the first weekend my dad had us, he took us into this CD alley, and he went through this back door that had this weird sign above it and brought us in. And I thought he was bringing us into a pool hall. And I was like, oh, my gosh, my dad has really tipped over here, and it turned out to be the Loveliest bar inside. It was actually the Monte Carlo, and he was kind of a regular there. What's the historic nature of the Monte Carlo?

Julie [00:06:47]:

Yeah. Well, yeah, the hum of the neon sign is going to remain a constant in the North Loop Bar. It's really exquisite in there with this mirrored wall behind the bar. One's kind of an elegance to it, to it all. But the whole North Loop area, the warehouse district is where the Milky Way candy bars and cream of pasta and pop up toaster were invented. This was a real industrial place. The neighborhood has more than 60 buildings that are over a century old. A lot of them have been repurposed. Some of them. A few of them are rehearsal spaces for the Minnesota Opera, and a lot of them are faded. Business signs are repurposed. You see the old signs, ghost signs, sort of. But the Monte Carlo Bar and Grill have stood the test of time. It used to be mostly only for men, but then when it changed ownership, mr. Rimsick, who owns a number of places in the Twin Cities, he kind of turned it into a destination for all the patty, is a great happening place. Now, Beijing style wings, they're really famous for.

Stephanie [00:08:06]:

Yeah, the dry rubbed wings are my favorite. Yeah, a kind of funny one that I didn't expect would reach me and grab me, but it did. So I work on the Stone Arch Bridge festival and I curate a culinary market that happens underneath the Hennepin Avenue Bridge. And underneath that bridge, we have 38 ten x ten booths of vendors that produce Minnesota made food products. And as I was looking through your book, it's the oldest bridge relic at First Bridge Park, which is where I am during these two days of the festival from 1855. Underneath that bridge, there's these giant anchors, and I sit on those anchors. That's my chair during the two days of the festival. So I didn't realize they were so old.

Julie [00:08:56]:

Well, yeah, those don't date back to the very first bridge to cross the Mississippi River anywhere. Right there at St. Anthony Falls. I mean, prior to that bridge back in 1855, people were crossing over the falls to get to the other side. That first bridge didn't last real long, and then they created another one and another one. So anyway, these archaeological excavations revealed anchors from the original bridges, and so now they are under the Hennepin Bridge. Now you can see and sit on them if you want. There's plaque. So cool. Really interesting history at that park. Yeah. Right down from Melrose Park.

Stephanie [00:09:42]:

The oldest island venue in 1893 is the Nicolette Island Inn, which is still operating as a hotel, as a restaurant. It is a beautiful, gorgeous spot. If you ever just want to pop in for a drink or they have delicious food, too. Yeah, that's a great spot. And I didn't realize that David Shea was kind of responsible for bringing that back. He's designed so many restaurants in the Twin Cities.

Julie [00:10:08]:

Yeah. I didn't realize he was connected to that either until I started research. Talented guy. Yeah. That place I learned a lot about. I didn't really know a lot about that fire that had kind of spread through Nicholas Island and all northeast Minneapolis. A very ravishing fire, and only one of two structures, industrial structures, on the island to survive it. A fire started by some boys smoking. And so, again, these places that have endured. And at one point, it was a men's shelter, salvation army men's shelter. So I really and, you know, I can't help but continue then to learn about and read about Nicholette Island.

Stephanie [00:10:52]:

Right.

Julie [00:10:53]:

So many storied history there. Couple donkeys, Pearl and she. But I really focused on that island and my secret Twin Cities.

Stephanie [00:11:01

Lee Wallace worked is bringing Peace Coffee, a fair-trade coffee company started in Minneapolis nationwide. We revisit her nearly 4 years after our first visit (Season 1 Episode 97)

Stephanie [00:00:13]:

Hello, everybody, and welcome to the makers of Minnesota podcast. I am your host, Stephanie Hansen, and I'm here today with a guest that I had, boy, probably back in year one of the podcast. I'm here with Lee Wallace. She is the CEO of Peace Coffee. And we talked such a long time ago, lee, it's like it may as well have been a different universe because you were just launching coffee shops at that point. And like any evolving business, your whole model has probably shifted again. So let's just go from pre pandemic. You had some coffee shops you guys were selling in stores and get us caught up on what is happening with Peace Coffee now. And welcome to the program, first of all.

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Lee Wallace [00:01:01]:

Yeah, thanks for having me. I'm happy to be here. Sure, absolutely. Somebody was asking me a question the other day and I was trying to put things together and I was like, oh, timelines are so weird now, and it's so hard to reconstruct everything, but yeah, in 2019, we had four coffee shops. We had three in downtown Minneapolis and one in the Longfellow neighborhood. And we were working on beginning to think about, okay, we've always been sold all across the country, but really we're beginning to take our first big steps toward what does it look like to begin to scale more nationally and then COVID hit and closed the shops immediately. Well, after we learned that we had to close the shop. March 15 ish yeah, March 15 ish closed the coffee shops. And the good news about being in coffee is it's not like people are going to stop drinking coffee just because of a pandemic. So what happened was really our business shifted quite dramatically. So prior to the pandemic, our number one product was five pound bags of coffee. And those were going to colleges and universities, offices, bulk sets and co ops, bulk sets and specialty grocery. Everything that went away during the pandemic. Right, that's mainly where those five pound bags of coffee are going. And then our second most best seller would be a twelve ounce bag of coffee. Well, all of a sudden, everybody's drinking coffee at home, and so those twelve ounce bags of coffee just started disappearing. And so then we pretty quickly realized, wow, it takes just as much work to bag put £5 of coffee in a bag as it says to put 12oz of coffee in a bag. So we added a second shift. So we were able to bring some of our coffee shop employees back in because we had to add a second shift just to bulk up on the amount of twelve ounce bags we were able to produce. That was a really good sign. The other thing that started really taking off was online. Like everybody else, our peacecoffee.com business just exploded because it's a super safe way to shop. So I think that business grew 300% and we're still continuing to grow that platform. But all of a sudden we have this sizable ecommerce business. So food service went away, but people started getting their coffee in other ways and it was a scramble. But we figured it out and I consider us to be talked to my friends in restaurants during that time. The struggle was real. We needed to I always call it log. Like it feels like log rolling, right? When you're an entrepreneur, you're just trying to stay on the log. Right?

Stephanie [00:03:59]:

Good analogy.

Lee Wallace [00:04:01]:

We just had to do some log rolling during that time. But yeah, and then as time went on and our growth continued and we began to get into more national accounts and we began to grow into more of a national business, the decision seemed pretty clear. Like, let's focus on this part of our business. Let's not reopen the coffee shop. So we had shops for about ten years, learned a ton, but we're focusing on our wholesale business now.

Stephanie [00:04:35]:

So how did you leapfrog from a Minnesota based coffee maker company to national? Was it simply because of the online activation and really being more robust there that people in other markets found you or how did that work? Was it intentional?

Lee Wallace [00:04:55]:

It was intentional. I bought the business in 2018 from the former owners and part of my desire to do that was to be a little bit more aggressive on the growth front. And I will say it probably all tracks back to Target and we have done a really good job and we've built a really good partnership with them and they've done a really good job. From our first meeting with Target years ago, they were saying, look, walk before you run. And that always has been my growth mentality. So I know it's so easy. We're entrepreneurs and it's so easy to be like, yeah, I want to be in every Target store. Well, some really big businesses have done that and they failed. So with us it's been incrementally growing our store count every year with Target, the coffee buyer there's great and just helping work with him to say, okay, here's some new geographies where we see we've done well in a small grocery store chain or things like that. And if we can prove ourselves in a new geography, then typically in our next review meeting with the coffee buyer, Target, he'll take that information and work to expand our store count. So we have yet to learn what our growth is going to be this year with Target, but we have a pretty solid track record of just going into new geographies. So at this point we're like Michigan down into Denver and then Oklahoma, Texas kind of that's our path with growth with Target. And then we've also had really solid growth in the Natural Channel. That's a great home for us. So we got into all the sprout stores which go from California to Maryland in the past two years. And so then you can use that case study. We're very strategic in terms of demonstrating a good case study and then using that to find other retailers that we want to be in.

Stephanie [00:06:53]:

So you mentioned earlier, and I've heard stories about people, they get into Target and it's super exciting. And then you realize just because you're in Target doesn't necessarily mean people will buy your product and it's harder to get that pull through. I have a sneaking suspicion that your packaging has a lot to do with people's brand trial of you. And then they like the product and they're like, oh, this is good, I'll buy it again, what do you attribute that first purchase a piece of coffee to when someone's standing in a Target aisle looking at coffee?

Lee Wallace [00:07:29]:

I think you're right. I think ideally, your packaging is going to work really hard for you. And we've made a very intentional decision with our packaging to a try to put the most important information and make it really easy for people to find the most important information. We have not done that well on previous versions of our package. So I think we've learned over the years and iterated over the years and I think it's important to update your packaging as you learn things. Two, I think the way we position the brand stands out in the coffee category. I think a lot of coffee companies tend to come across as very serious. And what we know about coffee and the consumer research on coffee is coffee is very emotional for people. It's me time, it's their morning ritual. I don't know, I don't need to be really serious during me time. It's okay for someone to say, you be you enjoy yourself, have a good time. We're doing all the hard work for you. And I think we're not saying to folks, drink this cup of coffee and it's going to change your life. We're saying drink this cup of coffee because it does good things for other people. And I think that stands out as well.

Stephanie [00:08:52]:

And we know, and you were so early adopting in this the brand from the get go. We know that people like to make purchases that help the community, help the environment, give back. And you've made it real easy and it's been a huge platform for you from the get go. And it's almost like it's baked into your company logo, your persona, everything about peace. Coffee feels like that give back movement. So it was very timely and prescient that that was the brand ethos from the get go because you didn't have to work so hard to create that after the fact.

Lee Wallace [00:09:36]:

I give consumers credit, right. I think they can tell the difference between a brand that was built around the sets of values versus a brand that was reverse engineered to try to appeal to consumers. They're smart. It's been interesting over my career to go from being kind of the outlier to now being mainstream. Right. I've been doing the same thing the whole time, but somehow my sets of issues have become mainstream now, which is great. I love it. Super fun. Yeah. But yeah, I think people can sense that in the brand.

Stephanie [00:10:15]:

How many people are in the company now?

Lee Wallace [00:10:17]:

We have about 55 employees.

Stephanie [00:10:21]:

Yeah, it's not small.

Lee Wallace [00:10:24]:

Yeah, smaller than when we had all the shops. Right. Then we had like 80 some staff members. So interesting. We're not a small company. We still feel like a small company. I still feel like I run a small company. But then yeah, I also forget that I've been doing this for a while.

Stephanie [00:10:45]:

So let's talk about the Keurig pods, because you guys have gone into that technology too, and it's so convenient to do a Keurig, and it's such a huge part of wholesale, obviously, with hotels, and it's really handy. But there is a lot of talk

The Coven is a network of radical spaces where changemakers connect, learn, and grow, currently located in St Paul, Mpls, and coming to East Lake Street. The Coven’s Twin Cities spaces focus on providing spots and networking opportunities to women, trans, and nonbinary people. The Coven has launched a franchise model and will franchise nationwide this year. Alex West Steinman attributes a large portion of the growth to the friendships and professional networks people make at The Coven

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