If a Tree Falls on a Blogger’s House, and Nobody Reads About It…
I've had better days. But nothing $$ can't fix. I hope mostly insurance $$.
The tree is a red oak, 7 feet 5 inches in circumference at 6 feet up the trunk.
The End of Gourmet Magazine
Conde Nast has decided to cease publication of the classic food magazine Gourmet. Today's front page story in the New York Times pointed out that this decision had something to do with financial problems at Conde Nast, something to do with the magazine's advertising base of hard-hit luxury product manufacturers, and much to do with a cultural change in how Americans are approaching food:
The death of Gourmet doesn’t mean people are cooking less or do not want food magazines, said Suzanne M. Grimes, who oversees Every Day With Rachael Ray, among other brands, for the Reader’s Digest Association.
“Cooking is getting more democratic,” she said. “Food has become an emotional currency, not an aspiration.”
It has also become democratized via the chatty ubiquity of Ms. Ray and the Food Network stars. Ms. Reichl is a celebrity in the food world, but of an elite type. She “is one of those icons in chief,” said George Janson, managing partner at GroupM Print, part of the advertising company WPP. But what harried cooks want now, it seems, is less a distant idol and more a pal.
Cream Nut Peanut Butter Clusters Now at Dean & DeLuca
I'm thrilled that one of my favorite retailers, Dean & DeLuca, now has our Cream Nut Peanut Butter clusters available on their web site.
They are selling a milk chocolate and dark chocolate box in combination.
Getting Food Safety Wrong in the NYTimes
There is a long front page article in today's New York Times on the safety, or lack thereof, in hamburger production. The underlying message of the article is that if only industry would agree to a more vigorous testing regime hamburger would be safe.
The article draws a clear picture of a global, industrial, beef supply chain driven by relentless cost-cutting. For reasons both technical and practical, no testing regime will ever deliver meaningful improvements in safety in this structure. Attempting to test your way to food safety under these conditions is the proverbial band-aid on a gunshot wound.
Moreover, the article completely ignores the food safety implications of a beef supply chain beginning with animals raised in confined feedlot operations. Ironically, by focusing on testing and regulation rather than the root causes of the E. coli problems, this article, on the surface hostile to large agribusiness, plays into the idea that we are a few regulatory tweaks away from improving food safety, rather than considering more profound and difficult questions of reforming the entire farm-to-table system.
Caramel Apple Season is Here!
Every year we eagerly await the arrival of the Michigan apple crop so we can start making our fabulous caramel apples. At the beginning of the harvest we use Jonathan apples, a traditional variety that is tart and juicy. This makes a great contrast to our freshly made soft, sweet caramel. Topped off with chopped salted roasted cashews (made from the broken pieces we screen out of our colossal cashews), I think this is the best caramel apple made.
The Jonathan apple doesn't keep, so the season is only a couple of weeks long. We extend our production to the end of October by switching to a later variety -- still locally grown -- the Fuji. This apple is sweeter, and some folks like this better than the tart Jonathan.
Once the local crop is done, we stop making caramel apples. Plenty of folks use stored Granny Smiths so that they can sell caramel apples year 'round, but I find that the apples are usually tasteless and often have a dry, cork-like texture. (Paired with poorly made caramel and often slightly rancid peanuts, you often need all kinds of fancy chocolate coatings to make the things edible.)
Koeze Company History in Packaging and Design
From time to time I will post under this title some of our old packaging and printed materials, with now and again editorial content written by me, or perhaps by Martin Andree, Koeze Company's self-described "worthless art guy."
A one pound Cream Nut metal can from the period 1915 to 1925
How to Spy on the Competition at Trade Shows
Last night I was part of a panel speaking to local inventors and entrepreneurs. Part of the discussion focused on how important it was to develop a deep understanding of your competition. A fellow panelist had this tip for learning about the competition at technical trade shows:
Cover up or remove your name tag, go the competition's booth, and find the guy with "engineer shoes." Pay that guy a complement, then shut up and listen. You'll turn a lot before a salesman finally shows up and shoos you away.
Now all I need is somebody to post a photo set of "engineer shoes" as I was previously unfamiliar with this concept.
Savvy Entrepreneur Talk This Evening
This evening I'll be joining a panel discussing "The Anatomy of the First Sale." The event is the first of the "Savvy Entrepreneur Seminar Series" sponsored by the West Michigan Science & Technology Initiative, MIT Enterprise Forum, and Great Lakes Entrepreneurs Quest.
Link to the series: http://wmsti.org/regional-events2.asp?EventsID=82
Basics on this evening's talk:
Location: GVSU CookDeVos Building (corner of Michigan & Lafayette), room 123
Time: 5-6 networking, program 6-7:30, 7:30-9:00pm networking)
I've been asked as a member of the Grand Angels to give an investor's perspective on the "first sale."
At Expo West Food Show
There is lots of great food safety stuff happening that deserves comment, but I'm out at the big natural & organic food show trying to make a living -- selling peanut butter, of all things.
FDA Hints at Peanut Field Problems
In a post a couple weeks ago describing my company's reaction to the initial PCA disaster, I reported my thoughts at the time:
But now we had a second recall in two years. Had something changed in the peanut supply chain -- practices in the peanut fields, in the shelling process, in the heat resistance of salmonella? -- that meant that industry practices which had previously prevented illness were no longer effective? Was general nastiness in the PCA plant enough to explain to their problems? (Maybe, but I have my doubts.) If it is general nastiness, why was the FDA considering moving peanut butter to the "high risk"category? Political cover? Or do they share some of my questions? (Emphasis added.)
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported yesterday that officials at the FDA shared some of my questions:
The FDA is examining peanut shelling operations that supplied raw peanuts to the Blakely plant, an official with the agency said. Depending on what they find, they’ll look at farms that supplied peanuts to the shellers.
According to the paper, the FDA is looking beyond conditions in the PCA plants to practices at the shellers, and ultimately in the fields, because the strain of salmonella found in one unopened jar of PCA-produced peanut butter is a genetic match to the same salmonella that was implicated in the Peter Pan recall two years ago. This suggests a source upstream from the two plants.
And, if the FDA finds problems upstream, we have to ask what this means for the scope of the current recall?