jgarbee

Jiva Coffee Cubes

Sooner or later, a modern marriage of the current artisan and coffee crazes was inevitable. Still, when that box of Jiva coffee cubes landed on our desk, we found the idea of 'artisan' instant coffee highly entertaining (it was a long day). And, to be fair, our Folgers times have changed. Starbucks introduced its line of instant coffee packets a few years ago, and refill pods for the (almost instant) espresso machines long been popular in Europe now line Smart & Final shelves.

With Jiva, the beans are fair trade Colombian Arabica, the sugar is not just any sugar, but panela (raw, unrefined cane sugar). The two are pressed together into a compact rectangle; each looks like a tiny relative of Mexican chocolate with its flecks of caramel-colored sugar amidst the dark coffee. As these are instant tablets, they're individually wrapped so you can pop one in your pocket for those unexpected caffeine-free moments: A spur of the moment camping trip, the untimely visit to a friend's mountainside retreat when everyone is on a juice cleanse, that sailing trip around the world, or at least to Catalina Island, that you've always wanted to take. So, how do they taste?

More »

jgarbee

Re-CAP Plastic Mason Jar Lids

If you're a fervent canner and preserver, twiddling your thumbs until that next Master Food Preservers class begins, the plastic Re-CAP Mason jar lid (a pour cap lid for your Mason jars) might be just the diversion you need.

Bonus: While you're waiting for your lids to arrive, the website is filled with "wide mouth" jar lid updates and FAQs to get the ideas flowing ("My spout lid is tight, what can I do?") as well as a brief history of the mason jar. And -- Are you ready for this? -- a link to the original patent documents for the Mason jar (inventor Karen Rzepecki is currently awaiting patent approval).

More »

jgarbee

Nory Locum Turkish Delight Factory Kitchen

How do you, how does anyone, define the term artisan today? The answer, less than five years ago, was an independent food crafter of various genres, ages, types and vastly different production yields. The schoolteacher who makes only a few hundred jars of jam annually in a shared rental kitchen. The third generation family of confectioners who make several hundred batches of Mexican candies a week, yet still insist on still making every single piece by hand (and using handmade equipment) in their tiny East L.A. kitchen. That handmade quality was all that mattered.

Back then, being an "artisan" also had nothing to do with whether those jams made appearances at farmers markets or "artisan events" like Renegade, Urban L.A. or Artisanal L.A. And not because their product wasn't worthy of those venues, but by necessity. They were too busy making candy six days a week. Yet in a span of just a few years, we rarely hear of the food crafts that these more established artisans are preserving.

More »

Robert Rose Publishing

200 Best Canned Fish & Seafood Recipes

When a cookbook titled 200 Best Canned Fish & Seafood Recipes lands on your desk, there's really only one reaction: That's a lot of canned tuna.

But if you look closely at the recipes from author Susan Sampson, former food editor of the Toronto Star, many are really quite clever. (Did we really just say that about canned seafood recipes?) As Sampson says in the Introduction, "there is a certain snobbery surrounding tinned fish, but it also has fans in the millions." And if you use the word "tinned" rather than canned, it even has a bit of that holiday cocktail party ring to it.

Fine, maybe not. But those recipes for CBLT (crab BLT with fresh lime juice mayo), Scandinavian dilled shrimp on pumpernickel, and Catalan clams with ham sound much better than the average Betty Crocker-type canned food fare. Case in point: That last one calls for good olive oil, Serrano ham (!), smoked paprika and plenty of crusty bread to mop up the sauce. At least we we finally know what to do with those canned baby clams a neighbor handed over last holiday season. Get more after the jump.

More »

jgarbee

Rancho Gordo Mexican Chocolate

Steve Sando of Rancho Gordo is known among chefs as the "bean guy" -- his Good Mother Stallard, Vallarta and Santa Maria Pinquitos make appearances on most top restaurant menus this time of year. More recently, Sando began importing a handful of products made by small producers (very small, often one or two individuals). Among them, the best Mexican chocolate we have tasted. It also comes with a handy (and genuine) holiday gift card story that trumps the average Beverly Hills chocolate box.

The chocolate is made by a small collective of women (Mujeres de Xochistlahuaca) in Guerrero. They grow and harvest their own cocoa beans, toast them in clay comales, then stone grind them with piloncillo and canela (Mexican cinnamon). By hand. Read that again and yeah, a box of 5 large tablets for $14.95 is a fantastic deal.

Get more on the chocolate, and why Sando, who primarily commissions small U.S. farmers to grow his beans, began importing a few products in recent years.

More »

jgarbee

The Candy Cure: Spicy San Angel Mole

The beauty of this time of year: we get to move straight from a candy hangover to spicy mole. Happy Día de los Muertos. If the idea of spending several hours making a batch of the traditional Mexican sauce isn't tops on your recovery agenda today, you can pick up a jar of locally made San Angel Mole and you're nearly there.

Yes, we know. Jarred mole. It sounds like a bottled marinara sauce travesty. But this recipe was developed by chef Tim McCarthy, a Lucques and Patina alum. He makes three jarred sauces: their twist on the traditional chocolate and toasted nut-based mole negro (Tim likes to serve it with duck this time of year), a red version inspired by mole poblano (the dried red chile-based sauce from Puebla), and a smoky cascabel chile sauce (great to slow-cook pot roast or cubed beef, or use as a cheese enchilada sauce).

More »

Jenn Garbee

Pistachio Flour + Butter From Santa Barbara Pistachio Company

Yet another buy local bonus: bumper crop discounts occasionally extend to secondary products like Santa Barbara Pistachio Company's pistachio flour. "It's crazy price!" says David Bomer, the company's enthusiastic Ojai sales manager, handing over a bright green $6 bag of cold-pressed pistachio meal.

"At one point it was like $9 for just a pound, but we ground a little too much and it wasn't selling so well at that price," he continues. Farm representative Angel Cannon confirmed via email that the discounted $6 price will remain at local markets for a few more weeks, after which 24-ounce bags will be available for $8, the current price online. Not sure what to do with pistachio flour?

More »

Christine Chiao

Sweet pastries at Claro's Italian Market

As significant as farmers markets are in reintroducing seasonality to our diet, it is the neighborhood market that regularly holds us over when times call for lingonberry syrup or injera bread. It may be too early to declare Los Angeles -- or anywhere for that matter -- post-racial, but in a city with deep cultural pockets, there is no denying how much we influence each others' tastes. We like our tacos packed with bulgogi, burgers built on the theory of umami, and Peruvian-style sashimi known as tiradito.

Turn the page for seven of our favorite grocery purveyors, listed in alphabetical order, chosen for expanding what it means to be local and global at the same time.

More »

Speiron

Lamba olive oil

You've been known to splurge on boutique fish sauce and $10 cocktails, but are you ready for the level of luxury and status a splash of super-fancy, ultra-special, mega-perfect Greek olive oil can confer? Seeing as just one teaspoon of Speiron's ritziest edition of its Lambda oil costs as much as a last-minute ticket to Vegas -- approximately $147 -- you're probably going to leave this salad drizzle to the real ballers.

More »

jgarbee

Olives + Garlic = Crush Oil

Blame it on one too many "truffle" fries, but we're skeptical of every mushroom, garlic and jalapeño-knows-what infused oil out there. Enter "crush flavored" olive oils, the jam "confitures" (oh, the food regulation semantic wonders) of the olive oil world.

Lodi-based Calivirgin has been producing great traditional olive oils long before there were conversations about the difference between cooking versus drizzling oils, much less olive oil "infusions." But with their latest crush oils, the produce -- here, garlic, jalapeños, citrus rind -- are tossed on the olive press *with* the olives, not infused in olive oil later. The flavor difference was remarkable -- yes, even for infusion skeptics like us.

More »