Plenty Epicurean Pantry

Mountain Ash Preserves Fig & Strawberry Jam is back!  I recently received an e-mail from Anne Hutchings to let me know that her students had a batch of the coveted Fig & Strawberry Jam ready.  This is one of my favourite jams and many customers have asked us to let them know when it’s back in stock.  It tastes fantastic and it is also wonderful because of the educational collaboration that produces it.

Elaine and Max Steiger owned and operated Mountain Ash Farm from 1967 until last Spring. They raised five children on their Powell River farm and over the years raised beef, pork, lamb and chevon (goat), as well as dairy cows and almost every kind of poultry – from chickens to pheasants to emus. They maintained a small store and a market garden to produce as many fruits and vegetables as possible for the preserves produced on the farm.  Since last year Elaine’s legacy of amazing preserves has been continued by the students of Brooks Secondary School as part of an ongoing partnership between the Board of Education of School District 47 (Powell River) and the Powell River Educational Services Society (PRESS)!

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On Valentines Day, Sunday February the 14th, please join us at Plenty to enliven your taste buds with salt and chocolate tastings!

photo courtesy of Michelle Loewen Photography

Michelle Loewen recently described a visit to Plenty in her blog Once upon a time.  She was introduced to Himalayan Pink Salt and loved it…

the lady told me she tasted the salt and it made her happy, that it just felt right.  i smiled, it seemed strange but some how i knew what she meant.  we started talking about salt and i asked her to recommend a good salt for everyday use.  the epicurean pantry where i was shopping had a whole little corner dedicated to salt, i knew i was in the right place.  plus this lady, she was passionate about salt and i loved that. she handed me a little pink bag of beautiful crystals, it was tied with a black silk ribbon.  …tasting that salt did make me happy. it is good and after all it is pink.

Ruby Red Bar photo courtesy Soma Chocolatemaker

New for Valentine’s Day - the Soma Ruby Red Bar - a dreamy limited edition bar made with 64% Dark Peruvian Chocolate spiked with Wild Cherries, Cranberries, Barberries, & Cocoa nibs dusted with crushed Sumac spice!

Please drop in on Sunday from 11 - 4 when we will be sampling some great salts and wonderful organic chocolate from Taza, Soma, Organic Fair, and Blanx Art!

Photo courtesy of Taza Chocolate (available at Plenty)

On Valentines Day February the 14th please join us at Plenty to enliven your taste buds with salt and chocolate tastings!

You’ve heard of wine and cheese tastings, but what about a salt tasting?

Salt has been harvested by humans since at least at least 6000 BC! Food and salt have been inseparable ever since. Salt tastings are a fun and easy way to explore the surprisingly wide taste spectrum of salt. And what better combination is there for salt than chocolate? So we’ll also be sampling some wonderful organic chocolate from Taza, Soma, Organic Fair, and Blanx Art!

The organic BlanxArt bars arrived yesterday after an absence for several months as I had to find a new supplier - they are back, as fantastic as ever, and at a great price!  They melt on the tongue like rich pudding.  Click here to read about some of the other chocolate that we feature.

Here is part of a KokoBuzz review of the Blanx Art 70% Organic Dark Chocolate Bar:

AROMA: Muted pear, hay, banana.

INITIAL IMPRESSIONS: Faint lemon and apple notes slowly open up.

MIDDLE TASTE: Avocado, lemon, apple, lightly toasted bread, milk.

FINISH: Butter, vanilla, wax beans, faint coffee-milk, apple, pear, and marshmallow at the very end.

TEXTURE: A bit chewy and pliable at first, then melts to smoothness.

Drop in for the tastings, we are open on Sundays from 11 - 4.

I was thinking that I'd like to give everyone who reads this blog a gift of some sort and wondered what I could send out to each of you through the ether.  

I've decided to share one of my favourite internet destinations: KCRW's Good Food with Evan Kleiman.  I wish we had something similar on the CBC (perhaps Don Genova back on the air).  Good Food is my favourite podcast (actually it's one of two that I get - the other is Sesame Street's Word on the Street for Anton).  Good Food is worth a listen - I always find it inspiring.  In the past we've put the podcasts on cd and played them during car trips.  I generally play it while doing paperwork for the store - makes me look forward to it.  Here is a recent video from them on truffles (or select previous episodes by moving your curser over the left-hand side of the box and selecting the box that pops up):

The Best of 2009; Pie; Smoked Fish; Vegan Before Six

Listen to the show:

Subscribe to the Good Food Podcast:

Vintage Chocolate Making Equipment at Soma Chocolatemaker. Creative Commons licensed photo

We’ve recently received two shipments of some of the best chocolate anywhere.  Come in and treat yourself, or someone you like (a lot). If you are purchasing chocolate as a gift we recommend also buying a back-up bar (just in case something happens to the first - after all you should really try some yourself).

I was first introduced to Soma Chocolatemaker by event planner Christine Smart (Smart Events, christine@smartevents.ca) during Don Genova’s Food Culture Class at U-Vic.  Christine had brought this amazing chocolate that she’d picked-up while in Toronto.  Soma’s chocolate is remarkable both in terms of the texture they create and the complex profile of flavours that they craft.  I’ve been wanting more since that first taste.  At the time Soma was so busy that they were unable to fill wholesale orders.  They’ve expanded their capacity a bit and are now doing small wholesale orders for lucky stores like Plenty.

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The Legend of the Moksgm’ol

Long ago, when the earth was covered in ice, Raven - the creator - decided to change the earth to a beautiful green land. But as a reminder of when the world was pure and clean, covered with snow and ice, Raven went among the black bear people and turned every tenth bear white.

Raven promised that these unique bears would have unique powers: they would lead special people to special places and have the ability to dive deep in the ocean in search of fish.

Raven then set aside a rainforest home for the bears where he decreed that they would live forever in peace and harmony.

We recently received a wonderful shipment of Sacred Bear Soaps from Melanie and Kala Hooker (Mother and Daughter, Kala is expecting her third child any day now) of Telkwa, British Columbia.

Each bar is a beautiful oval, white handmade soap stamped with first nation artwork of a spirit bear looking at ursa major in the sky.  They are packaged in canvas gift bags screened with the artwork and the spirit bear legend.  Squamish Nation Artist Todd Baker designed the spirit bear image.  3% of the profit proceeds are donated to the Spirit Bear Youth Coalition for habitat protection of the Great Bear Rainforest.

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© Manuel González Olaechea y Franco (Wikimedia Commons)

We are thrilled to be carrying some savoury treats from the International Women’s Catering Co-op (of Moss Street Market fame).  Reach into the Plenty freezer for a tasty empanada or samosa:

Empanada
From Ecuador, an oven baked pastry with a vegetarian or beef filling.

Samosa
A crisp Indian pastry, filled with potato, cilantro, onion, jalepenos and peas or lentil with cilantro, leeks, onions, and spices.

The International Women’s Catering Co-op (IWCC) is a worker co-op located here in Victoria.  It practices business in a non-traditional way where ownership is equally shared; the business flow is structured around the needs of the members; and the decision-making process encourages participation by all. Since the co-op’s inception participants have ranged in age from 39 - 70 and have come from all parts of the world (including India, Japan, Oromia, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Ecuador, Holland, El Salvador and Vietnam).  We hope to add more items from the co-op such as frozen soups and their amazing Buraqs.

Image courtesy of www.furochic.com

We are very pleased to announce that Jenn Playford will be conducting a Furochic workshop at Plenty on November 27th from 2 - 4 pm (part of our Buy Nothing Day activities, a day to pause and reflect on the need to make our consumer choices more sustainable: eco-friendly, organic, and socially responsible.  More activities to be announced shortly).

What: Furochic Workshop

When: November 27th, 2 - 4 pm

Where: Plenty, 1034 Fort Street, Victoria, BC

Cost: $28, to be paid in advance

Furochic is a reusable cloth gift wrap in brilliant colours and patterns designed by Jenn Playford. It is easy to use, versatile, eco-friendly and fun!  Jenn based it on Furoshiki, the traditional Japanese wrapping cloth used to embellish gifts as well as a handy everyday item to wrap, protect and carry.  It is perfect for green gift giving as it replaces disposable paper gift wrap and bags, and can be reused over and over again and to make gifts feel special and unique.  Get hands on with Furochic and learn easy and inventive wrapping techniques.

Advance registration and payment ($28) is required for the workshop. The cost includes one Furochic wrap ($10 value) and a copy of Jenn’s new book Wrapagami ($20 value).  Please register by phoning us (250-380-7654) or dropping by the store prior to November 27th.

Image courtesy of www.furochic.com

One of the wonderful things about Plenty is that I get to surround myself with great food and goods that delight me.  And these seem to attract people that delight me as well.

One of those people is Gillian Gravenor, a fantastic textile artist, seamstress, and creator of extraordinary things.  She came into the store asking for a fair quantity of whole star anise and I imagined that she was making up a batch of something quite exotic.  Gillian was using it in collages she was creating on cards.  Soon we were selling those cards and I feel so grateful for everything Gillian brings in from her studio. We have some of her curio boxes in the store - whimsical match boxes filled with curated urban detritus - they are little palm sized galleries.  We also have some of her tea cozies made with repurposed sweaters and in a month we’ll be bringing back her Christmas stockings (made from sweaters that are now fantastic as stockings but may have been a bit garish in their earlier form).  Gillian has also brought in vintage aprons that she’s collected and aprons that she’d made from vintage tablecloths and repurposed fabric.  Last Fall we featured a display of felted sculptures that are difficult to adequately describe but gathered together they looked to me like whimsically coloured sea squirts or perhaps a garden of fantastical squash.

Recently Gillian brought in an incredible wall hanging (pictured above) that features a crow made from shiny black buttons.  It is currently featured in one of the display windows at the front of the store with some fabric crows, some incredible crow tea cozies, and some of Gillian’s aprons.   [ READ FULL ENTRY ]

Image from Red Shawl Woman Products

We just received four very special varieties of soap that incorporate wild-crafted ingredients: Cedar, Sweet Grass, Juniper-Birch Goat’s Milk, and Devil’s Club!  Red Shawl Woman Soaps are a fusion of Naturopathic knowledge and native tradition.

Dr. Jeanne Paul hails from the Sliammon Band of the Coast Salish First Nation tribes and is known as Red Shawl Woman.  This name refers to the First Nation dancers who wear their ornate garb and perform their dances in Native ceremonies. Dr. Jeanne is a fully accredited Doctor of Naturopathy, trained at the National College of Naturopathic Medicine in Portland Oregon.

All of her products are chemical and Lauryl-Sulfate free and are derived whenever possible from 100% natural locally wild-crafted herbs. [ READ FULL ENTRY ]