The New Braunfels Chamber’s Business-Education Partnership Committee closed out 2015 with a pancake breakfast meeting held in Honors Hall. Roy Linnartz, Committee Chair, presided at the meeting and was the pancake chef. With more than 22 members in attendance, Linnartz led a year in review discussion about the successes that the BEP had in 2015.

One of those successes is the very popular “Kits for Kids” program (pictured), headed up by Chris Snider of Texas Tito’s. Snider reported more than 350 bags were prepared to distribute more than 900 books at the last meeting. Chris Snider will take on the reins as the new BEP Chair in 2016 and the group welcomed Shannon Dixon of Big Brothers Big Sisters of South Texas as the 2016 Vice Chair. Snider recognized Linnartz for his two years as the Committee Chair, and thanked him for the many pancakes he has prepared during the past four years.

The Business-Education Partnership Committee acts as the education advocate for the community, acting on the recommendations of the Mayor’s Higher Education Task Force.

– See more at: http://innewbraunfels.com/chamber/2015/12/21/bep-wraps-up-2015-with-a-kits-for-kids-report/?ct=t(Serving_You_Issue_51)#sthash.AbZt5Zmi.dpuf

By queenseyes   –   Buffalo Rising

A young Buffalo couple has opened up a market on the city’s Lower West Side/Historic West Village dedicated to foods that are pickled. Buffalo Barrel + Brine is located in a former corner store that was once considered the thorn in the side of the neighborhood. After neighbors fought to have the business closed, the space sat empty for quite a while. Recently RJ and Lindsey Marvin decided the it was the perfect location to open a pickling business. “We live right down the street,” said Lindsey. “Ever since I’ve known RJ, he’s wanted a corner type store such as this.”

If you’re still trying to wrap your head around the idea of a market that is dedicated to the art of pickling, then you probably haven’t been doing a lot of traveling to larger cities like NYC and Montreal. “Those types of cities have dozens of shops that are dedicated to particular types of foods,” RJ mentioned. “There are cheese shops, fish mongers, pickle shops, etc. Buffalo’s restaurant scene is finally starting to arrive, which means that there are going to be more people who appreciate specialty foods. Some people think that it’s weird, but there are a lot of people who love what we’re doing.”

During a recent visit to the shop, called Buffalo Barrel + Brine, three young kids from the neighborhood walked in with skateboards in hand expecting to find a store that sold candy, most likely. One of them shouted out, “What kind of a place is this? What do you sell?” “Pickles!” replied RJ. The three youngsters looked at each other, before one of them exclaimed loudly, “That’s weird – this place smells like pickles!” Upon, realizing they had walked into a pickle shop they abruptly walked out.

Fortunately, the rest of the people that walked into the pickle shop during my visit all arrived in search of pickles. One woman walked up to the front counter and sampled a number of slices, before proclaiming her favorite variety. A couple of young guys walked in looking for one of the bread and butter varietals, but they were already sold out. Sold out! Yes, there appear to be a lot of pickle fans out there who are extremely happy to have these picklers in the neighborhood. “It’s like going to a brewery and ordering a flight of beers,” RJ explained. “But instead of beers, it’s pickles.”

Before long, I found myself trying a number of the different house pickled cukes – some in vinegar and brine, and others in salt water. RJ’s favorite is the Buffalo Sour (a full sour), which is fully fermented in salt water, with garlic and a couple of spices. It’s raw, all natural, and took a month to make. After popping one into my mouth, RJ told me, “It’s yeasty and funky… it’s like being in NYC in an old Italian or Jewish deli – there’s nothing else like it.”

While the Buffalo Sour was not thenumber one on my list, I did find that the rest of the pickles that I sampled were pretty dynamite, especially the bread and butters. “Those are great,” said RJ. “The bread and butter dates back to times when people were too poor to eat anything but bread and butter. Occasionally, if they were lucky, they managed to come across this style of pickle, which they would put on top of the bread and butter, hence the name. Then we have the Million Dollar Pickle, which was resurrected from old Amish recipes, resurrecting old world recipes. If you like beer, then try the Southern Tier IPA Pickles, which are dry-hopped with fresh hops.” It’s true – the pickle has an IPA taste about it!

For those of you wondering how RJ and Lindsey got into all of this, it all started when RJ was working at Elm Street Bakery. “He worked in the restaurant business for 17 years,” said Lindsey. “Elm Street had a market, which is where he got a lot of experience in the business. He was doing a lot of pickling at the time, but he wasn’t able to do everything that he wanted. He wanted to experiment with pickling – he wanted to create flavors that no one else was doing. In order to achieve that goal, we needed to open this business.”

“It started when I was young,” RJ added. “It’s something that I always knew how to do. My grandparents preserved their tomatoes for the winter time, and my dad was always pickling. I was always helping when I was young. For years I was making kombucha (fermented tea) at home. I was also pickling and fermenting. Now I have taken all of these learning experiences and applied them to a business.”

Aside from pickles, Buffalo Barrel + Brine does carry a number of other products including house made kimchi and sauerkraut. The owners even serve up kimchi shots! When they make ferments, they create additional brine and add juices – it’s essentially a probiotic gutshot, according to RJ. There are also a number of products that are sourced from other supplier friends in the industry, such as BBQ sauce and rub. But most everything right now comes from the brain of RJ, who considers himself a Willy Wonka sort of character when it comes to pickles. “Next we want to do miso and vinegars… a steam punk cider vinegar… barrel aged,” RJ reflected. “The door is wide open for all sorts of ideas. In NYC there are people who come together as a ‘think tank’, dreaming up different ideas. I want to do that here in Buffalo. Maybe we might have one kick-ass sandwich that is what we become known for. We might do pop-up grilled cheese or tacos. Right now I’m looking for a rabbi – we want to be certified kosher [seriously]. I’m also thinking about putting out a Craig’s List ad, in search of a couple of old Italian guys who would sit outside and play dominoes all day [laughing].”

In the end, RJ dedicates much of the success of the market to his wife. “She helped to shred 300 pounds of cabbage a couple of days ago, and she plays a huge role in the day to day operation,” he told me. “She is 100% involved. I couldn’t do it without her. I wouldn’t do it without her. We both make the decisions, and we both roll up our sleeves.”

Was I expecting to see a pickle shop open at the foot of Johnson Park, in the shadow of The Avant? No. Am I anticipating heading back to score a jar of bread and butters as soon as they are available? Of course!

Buffalo Barrel + Brine is going to become a mainstay in the neighborhood, hopefully fueling others to follow their own culinary passions, no matter how weird they may seem. In the end, it’s these types of places that will enhance our city’s overall culinary prowess.

by Alix Wall   –   Berkeley Side

By now most East Bay residents are familiar with CSAs, or community-supported agriculture — consumers subscribe to a farm and receive in return boxes of organic, seasonal produce.

Oakland-based nonprofit Phat Beets Produce has been running one such CSA for six years, but they’re now taking the concept one step further. Phat Beets is now offering The Cultured Case through what they call a CSY, or community-supported youth program. Subscribers receive jars of preserved and pickled vegetables, all made by Oakland youth taking part in Phat Beets’ Fresh Fellows program.

Founded in 2007, Phat Beets Produce connects small-scale farmers of color to urban communities through the creation of clinic-based farmers markets, school farm stands, youth market gardens and community kitchens.

Fresh Fellows was started two years later, along with help from a doctor at UCSF Benioff Oakland Children’s Hospital. It teaches youth from the hospital’s Healthy Hearts Clinic who are at risk for diet-related illnesses about healthy eating, cooking and gardening.

The program takes place at Phat Beet’s Youth Market Garden, a shared free urban garden that produces over 3000 pounds of produce each year. The food is shared with the neighborhood as well as the community at the Healthy Hearts Clinic. (Hence the name “clinic-based farmers market.”)

Some participants get so much out of Fresh Fellows that they have attended the program repeatedly. This was the case with Lorena Ramos, an 18-year-old from Hayward, who now heads up the CSY as well as Phat Beets’ catering company, We Cater! Collective. Other Fresh Fellows participate in the catering company as well.

“Given that we had some youth who had done the program two or three times, it was clear they wanted to get more involved and also find a means of income,” said Alyssa Cheung, Phat Beets’ office manager.

One popular item in The Cultured Case is kimchi. Cabbage grows year-round, so the fermented Korean pickle is made frequently. Ramos said that even though she is half-Korean, she did not learn how to make kimchi until recently.

“I grew up eating it, but not making it, as my mom doesn’t make it,” she said.

Her grandmother, on the other hand, did make homemade kimchi, but Ramos didn’t especially love the smell of her recipe. So she set out to make her own version. Ramos found a recipe online, began experimenting to make it her own, and soon began giving kimchi-making demos at local farmers’ markets with the Fresh Fellows. It is now included in The Cultured Case.

Phat Beets is marketing The Cultured Case to its 175 CSA members, but one doesn’t have to be a CSA member to join the CSY. The two programs are being kept separate separate because the pickles need to be stored separately in a cooler, and it’s too complicated for Phat Beets to put icepacks in its CSA boxes.

Subscribers receive an email at the beginning of the month, listing everything that’s available. A recent list included seven kinds of pickled vegetables: brined okra, “Kale Yeah! Kraut,” Curtido Spicy Kraut (Salvadorean spicy cabbage relish), two kinds of kimchi, ginger beets and mustard seed sauerkraut. In addition, subscribers could order a variety of mustards and chile pastes. While most of the krauts and kimchis are made by Fresh Fellows, some of the sauces come from small women-owned businesses in Oakland.

All produce for the items comes from Phat Beets farmers markets, some of which are leftover from the markets and some of which are “cosmetically challenged.”

The jars can be picked up at several Oakland destinations, such as Impact Hub, UCSF Benioff Oakland Children’s Hospital, Destiny Arts Center and the Phat Beets office in North Oakland. Subscribers also pay a deposit for the jars and return them each time when picking up a new batch.

While the staff of Phat Beets has supported the undertaking so far, “the goal is to make it [an independent] company,” said Max Cadji, a founder of Phat Beets. “Eventually we want them to be running their own company with minimal support from us. We don’t want them to just be laborers, we want them to be managing it, too.”

Another goal is for the business to become profitable. “We’re always trying to figure out what the most fun and profitable way to make money is, as we don’t like writing grants,” said Cadji. “If we can make revenue from this to avoid writing grants and reports, even better.”

Ideally, Cadji envisions hiring a manager for the program to provide programming and structure. In the past, Phat Beets has worked with youth who have just left juvenile hall, or have participated in theOakland Restorative Justice program. “Having a youth coordinator would help them create recipes and provide the support they need to be successful,” said Cadji, as opposed to them “showing up, shredding cabbage and checking in for five minutes.”

Cadji said that four Fresh Fellows are now working for the catering company, and there’s a need for the graduates of the Fresh Fellows to earn money.

“We have plenty of catering gigs, and one former participant was managing our Twitter account, and another our spreadsheets.” The next step, Cadji said, is for participants to learn how to approach retail stores to sell their products. “We’re trying to get them [to learn] all aspects of a business.”