By GREGORY ZELLER   –   Innovateli

Randy Kopke knows there’s an artisan in all of us.

For the self-employed contractor – tile and masonry, mostly – it turned out to be pickling, a hobby he shared with his wife, Cori, a freelance bookkeeper.

Just two years after the amateurs supplied 200 jars of handcrafted pickles as favors for a relative’s Montauk wedding, their inner entrepreneurs have come roaring out. Their 2013 startup Backyard Brine Inc. is graduating from Stony Brook University’s Business Incubator at Calverton; several high-profile shops and supermarket chains are carrying their wares, with more to come; and the Kopkes are fully invested in bringing their pickles to the next retail level.

Randy actually gave up contracting as of 2014 to focus on Backyard Brine, and while Cori is still providing accounting services to multiple companies, she spends plenty of time balancing Backyard’s books – and is looking to transition fully to the family business.

Running the skyrocketing startup is not exactly what the Kopkes had planned. But they spent a couple of days in Montauk after that wedding and were surprised to see word of their pickles spreading – “the talk of the town,” according to Randy. They were doubly surprised when folks asked for more.

“People started calling us and ordering pickles,” Randy said. “Then the IGA in East Northport offered to carry them.”

Realizing that pickles could be their bread and butter, the Kopkes incorporated and “spent the rest of 2013 learning how to be a food company,” Randy added. Cori’s accounting expertise went a long way, but their greatest advantage were the outrageous pickles.

“People were going nuts for them,” Randy said, noting a variety of 10 dills and sweets including Dill Death Do Us Part, a popular garlic dill, and the Everything Bread and Butter, which is fermented in a variety of seeds and a Vermont maple syrup brine.

Other top sellers: the habanero-dill Rowdy Pepper Belly and summer-season favorites Smokey Sienna, bathed with smoked jalapenos, and BBQ Betty Lou, a sweeter jalapeno alternative.

“They’re all very popular,” Randy said. “They’re all pretty good sellers.”

Good enough to land Backyard Brine, so far, on the shelves of 100 independent and chain retail outlets between Brooklyn and Montauk, as well as single-store shops in Georgia, Maryland, Pennsylvania and Vermont.

The fledgling company’s marketing has been completely word-of-mouth and legwork; the Kopkes have attended many food shows, including the national nonprofit Specialty Food Association’s enormous Summer Fancy Food Show, held in June at New York City’s Jacob Javits Center.

That show and others have led directly to retail deals, including Backyard Brine’s November debut with Whole Foods Market, the Texas-based supermarket chain specializing in organic products. Whole Foods is rolling out the brand slowly; for now, it’s only available at the chain’s Lake Grove store, but after the holidays Backyard’s pickles should appear at other Long Island Whole Foods locations, then at stores in Brooklyn and Manhattan and “around the Northeast,” Randy said.

The pickles are already available at IGA markets across Long Island and several Island-based specialty food stores and butcher shops, with strong concentrations in the Hamptons and Oyster Bay areas.

Backyard Brine wound up in a Baltimore shop, he added, after the Kopkes attended Expo East, a September natural products showcase held in Maryland.

It’s an impressive rise for two amateur enthusiasts who weren’t even imagining professional pickling just 30 months ago.

“When we spoke to a consultant last year, she said the amount of stores we got into as quickly as we did was just unbelievable,” Randy said. “I guess you never know what’s going to happen.”

With the Whole Foods expansion and other retail deals pending, the Kopkes are now looking to step up production. That starts with Backyard Brine’s first-ever corporate HQ: They’ve been pickling at the Calverton Incubator since March of 2014, but have now leased a 2,000-square-foot space on Cox Lane in Cutchogue.

Their Long Island-based distributor has enough stock on hand to satisfy customer demand through the end of the year, Randy noted, and if necessary the Kopkes can still use the Calverton kitchens for new production. But the plan is to be out of Calverton, and up and running in the new Backyard Brine headquarters, by January.

The Cutchogue rental includes enough room for a small retail shop up front, Randy added, in addition to 1,800 square feet of manufacturing space. That will come in handy as Backyard Brine grows its product line – new relishes and condiments are on tap, as well as those seasonal offerings – and new retail deals come to fruition.

“There are buying seasons, and spring is definitely better,” Randy said. “We’ll hit it hard again in two months, when stores start picking up.”

The pickle brokers also expect their Cox Lane location to pay off. It’s within cork-popping distance of numerous Cutchogue vineyards, meaning a potentially rich combination of local and day-tripping customers.

“Everyone says we’re very lucky to be in this location,” Randy said.

Backyard Brine was also lucky to be among the first Long Island companies accepted into Empire State Development’s new Innovation Hot Spot program. The state initiative, run locally by SBU, offers tax breaks, mentoring, continuing education and business-development assistance to startups affiliated with Island incubator programs.

Unlike the similar Start-Up NY program, which requires startups to be physically located near a university or research center, Innovation Hot Spot’s benefits are portable, meaning Backyard Brine can take its five-year moratorium on state sales and corporate taxes to Cutchogue.

That’s welcome relief for entrepreneurs who’ve spent roughly $25,000 getting their startup to this point, on everything from cucumbers to jars to food-show fees.

“The tax savings are incredible,” Randy said. “And any little bit of money we can save helps out.”

Backyard Brine Inc.

What’s It? Artisan pickles

Brought To You By: Amateur hobbyists-turned-entrepreneurs Randy and Cori Kopke

All In: About $25,000, self-funded, for food show fees, tools of the trade and incorporation costs

Status: Taking the East Coast one market at a time

ANADOLU AGENCY   –   Daily Sabah

Known as Turkey’s capital of pickling, Bursa’s Gedelek village has come to the rescue of farmers facing a Russian boycott of their vegetables, promising to pickle and export all unsold vegetables across the country.

Gedelek Agricultural Development Cooperative Chairman Mustafa Şener said Antalya’s farmers were the main victims of the Russian ban that came after Turkey shot down a Russian jet that violated its airspace, arguing that unsold vegetables needed to be utilized.

“Since the announcement of the Russian boycott, between 500 and 600 tons of produce arrived in Gedelek. There is no reason why farmers need to suffer. We, as the pickling industry of Gedelek, are willing to do everything possible to prevent Russian bans from harming our country. We are determined to pickle all unsold vegetables and then to sell them across the world. We already have a market. They don’t need to stress about it. They can call us anytime they want.”

In the past, Antalya provided only a small fraction of the pickled vegetables, he said, noting that those which came were unseasonal produce grown in greenhouses. “In the last week, we are receiving between 50 to 80 tons of vegetables a day,” he said.

Gedelek Muhtar Mehmet Dönmez said Gedelek pickle had become a globally recognized brand, with 25 percent of the 20,000 tons produced annually sold overseas. He said 17 different types of pickles were produced in the region. “Domestically, our most popular pickles are those made from cucumber and cabbage. Overseas, we sell mainly sweet pickles, mainly garlic and beetroot.”

He said as a result of the Russian ban, which was also boycotting pickles, local producers had moved onto other markets. “I’m calling on all vegetable producers harmed by the ban. Let’s pickle them and sell them all over the world. Our country is strong and won’t be harmed by Russia. We are behind our government’s stance and are willing to do what’s necessary to overcome all adversity.”

Four dishes that define the season in the Alamo City

By Mark Spivak   –   Palm Beach Illustrated

Additives in wine (or anything else) are a source of controversy, and most connoisseurs would react with horror at the idea of drinking a flavored wine.

However, think about this: there are nearly three dozen additives allowed in the production of wine in America. These range from fining agents to chemicals such as copper sulfate, acetaldehyde, urease, catalase, and ammonium sulfate. You can add oak chips to simulate the taste of barrel aging, add or decrease various acids, subject the wine to reverse osmosis, or spin it in a centrifuge. Ever hear of Mega Purple? It’s a thick grape concentrate used to enhance the color of red wines that don’t appear powerful enough.

Take all that into account when viewing the experiments conducted by Rob McDonald, winemaker at Napa’s Art + Farm. McDonald is aging wine on peach, ginger, coffee, jalapeno, and habanero peppers. The wines are called St. Mayhem, and they are currently distributed in 30 states at a price of $25 per bottle.

“I was sitting around one day after work, drinking a coffee-flavored craft beer,” he recalls, “and the light bulb went off. I thought, why can’t we do this with wine?”

He currently makes Sauvignon Blanc aged on habanero and jalapeno, Chardonnay aged on peach and ginger, and Merlot aged on coffee and jalapeno. In very broad terms, the process isn’t much different from the widespread practice of aging wine on its lees (dead yeast cells). Jalapenos and habaneros obviously aren’t natural byproducts of fermentation, but the general concept is the same.

I found his Lake County Sauvignon Blanc to be the most successful of the three. It has mouthwatering acidity and classic grapefruit flavors, with the peppers adding layers of complexity. The heat sneaks up on you and builds gradually, noticeable but not overpowering. The ginger takes over the Chardonnay, adding a peppery kick in the mid palate and creating a lean and focused texture. The red wine is the most radical: McDonald used a Mendocino Merlot to brew a batch of Costa Rican coffee, then aged the wine on jalapenos.

The real payoff of these wines comes with food pairings, particularly spicy cuisines such as Thai, Mexican, or Szechuan, where the spices in the dish balance the heat in the wine. McDonald is focusing on making small batches at a time, since he feels the flavors are more distinctive when they’re fresh.

“Initially I assumed that the customer for St. Mayhem would be younger people who grew up drinking craft beer,’ he says, “but the appeal has been much broader than that. There’s been an explosion of interest, and the people who like them become really exuberant over them.”