Filtering by Category: Ingredients

Fritz Knipschildt Launches Fritzzz Artisan CBD Chocolate

Features Ingredients Chocolate Dessert CBD CBD Chocolate Confections Special Dietary Needs

Stephanie Webster July 21, 2020

For over 13 years, Danish born Fritz Knipschildt, and the House of Knipschildt, have been renowned for creating exquisite quality artisan chocolate. CT residents will recall his South Norwalk eatery, Chocopologie, where Knipschildt explored ways to creatively infuse elements from the savory kitchen into the world of chocolate and confection. Years later, Knipschildt is using his expertise in European chocolate, and has recently launched a new line of chocolate truffles and chocolate bars that are infused with premium, full spectrum CBD. Introducing…Fritzzz.

Tips to Maximize Your CSA From Mike's Organic Delivery

Features Ingredients CSA Local Farm Ingredients How To Shop Local

Mike Geller June 11, 2020

Having connected farmers to consumers for 10 years in Fairfield & Westchester Counties, Mike's Organic owner Mike Geller knows a thing or two about CSAs. And if there was ever a time to give a CSA a chance, it's now! First and foremost, our farmers need us. As many farms rely significantly on business from restaurants and other sources, a great way to support our farms right now is through signing up for a CSA.

This crisis has highlighted the importance of small, local farms. If planes stop flying or processing plants close, it is they that will feed us...let us never forget that. Second, it is a way to guarantee that fresh, healthy, local food will be on your table for a period of several months. There is so much uncertainty in the world and this is one way to regain some control over your food. Also, so many of us are home cooking and a CSA allows you to be creative and introduce new things to your family!

If you take care of your produce, it will take care of you. It's so fresh when you get it, and if you just give it a little love it will give a whole lot back.

Ben To Table: Food Subscription Launches To Promote Small-Batch Producers of Gourmet Pantry Items

Features Ingredients Delivery Service Home Delivery Ingredients Gourmet Ingredients

CTbites Team April 24, 2020

So, we all like to support our local vendors, especially at times like these, but occasionally you need something a little “extra” or specialized, that you may not find at your local shop. Enter food-lover, cook, and long-time advocate Ben Simon, a New Haven native who is bringing high-quality, small-producer pantry staples and non-perishables to front doors across the United States with his new subscription box company, Ben to Table.

Ben to Table is a New Haven-based monthly subscription box inspired by Simon’s years of working on environmental and human rights campaigns across the globe, with a focus on preserving and promoting sustainable agriculture.

Guide To Connecticut's Dairy Farmers: Shop Locallly!

Features Ingredients Local Farm Local Artisan Farm Fresh Dairy Farm Farm Stand CT Farms Homepage

CTbites Team April 14, 2020

Connecticut dairy farmers selling directly to consumers are not caught up in the milk-dumping situation because they do bottling and distribution themselves. Here is Connecticut Food & Farm’s list of Connecticut dairies who sell milk and dairy like half & half, butter, and yogurt direct to you at their stands or via delivery NOW. This provides you reliable sourcing of the freshest product and the best profitability for the farm.

We have not included ice cream although some make it, we have focused on the basics here. You can click through to their websites to see the other products they have available at their locations.

35+ DIY Take-Out Meals, Desserts & Cocktail Kits From CT Restaurants

Features Ingredients Take Out Delivery Service Entertaining Catering Cocktails Pizza Dessert Homepage

Emma Jane-Doody Stetson April 05, 2020

After weeks of being cooped up at home, you may be looking at ways to pass the time and explore your creative side. Fortunately, Connecticut restaurants, bakeries, and caterers are here to the rescue with fabulous DIY options to bring their delicacies into your kitchen. Sweet tooths and kiddos can partake in all kinds of cupcake and baking kits while the 21 and over crowd can get all of the ingredients to make their own restaurant worthy cocktails. There are also pizza kits, pasta kits, and more. Check out our full guide here!

Westport Farmers’ Market Launches Pilot Farmers' Market Program

Ingredients Features Farm Fresh Farmers Market Specialty Market

Stephanie Webster March 27, 2020

The Westport Farmers’ Market understands the value of the local food community, and the importance of access to healthy fresh food…food that has traveled a lesser distance and handled only by the purveyor and buyer. We know this local food community is important to our economy as it keeps the money spent by you and then the vendor here supporting our neighbors.

Market Director Lori Cochran says “We, also, know we will find our way back to our gathering place on Imperial Ave and eventually back to Gilbertie's next winter BUT for now, it is in our blood to get you local food. To do so, we are launching a pilot farmers' market program under the strictest guidelines for shopping and collection of your purchases. The well being of you, ourselves and our vendors is the utmost priority.”

60 Connecticut Breweries Still Open For Take-Out And Delivery

Ingredients Features CT Beer Brewery Beer Take Out

James Gribbon March 18, 2020

The wave of local breweries made this new world possible, but for now their doors are mostly closed. Here's what we can do to see them open again.

Breweries are still allowed to sell to-go orders, offering pickup or curbside delivery options. This post will list info on breweries, their hours, and links to order online. I won't be able to find them all, so I encourage readers, brewers, and reps to include further info about their operations in the comments section below. Most breweries are small businesses, and all depend from some degree or entirely on in-person sales. Let's help the brewers and staff keep the Connecticut beer culture we love going.

Muscle Up Protein Bars: The Official Bar of Team USA Weightlifting Was Born in CT

Features Ingredients Special Dietary Needs Protein Bar Fitness Local Artisan

Stephanie Webster March 12, 2020

A few months ago I started buying Muscle Up Protein Bars at my local smoothie joint. The packaging advertised them as the first bar to be based on the beloved sweet potato, featuring grass fed whey protein, and all of the ingredients are clearly recognizable…nothing artificial. I sampled the varieties, settled on the Peanut Butter & Cacao Nib as my flavor of choice, and went in deep. After stock piling these bad boys for weeks, said smoothie shop owner informed me that the creators of Muscle Up were actually CT residents, and had developed these right around the corner. Also, turns out, the bar of my dreams is the official bar of Team USA Weightlifting. Who knew??

Continuum Distilling Opens In Waterbury With Craft Spirits Made From Beer

Ingredients Features Beer CT Beer Distillery Spirits Local Artisan

James Gribbon March 03, 2020

Because they apparently didn't have enough on their plates with Black Hog brewing, Ordinary cocktail bar, OLMO, Caseus, and The Stack in New Haven, Jason and Tom Sobocinski and Tyler Jones have launched Continuum Distilling in Waterbury. The distillery logo features a hop surrounded by the tricorner symbol for recycling, an emblem of their process, which takes the often discarded "trimmings" from area breweries, and reduces them to an unusual, boozy essence.

I made it up to Continuum last weekend for their grand opening, and my first impression was that it shares a building with Brass Works Brewing. Neat! I'd had several Brass Works beers before, but I'd never been, so a single trip can be a BOGO for the efficiency-minded drinker on the go.

Arethusa Dairy Farm: Saving CT Farmland Through Exceptional Dairy

Features Ingredients Bantam Litchfield CT Farms Local Farm Local Artisan Dairy Farm ice cream Cheese Homepage

Jessica Ryan February 26, 2020

CTBites and Terrain were recently invited to Arethusa Dairy Farm for a behind the scenes tour of their dairy farm and cheese making process. But before we get all cheesy, I want to share the wonderful story of a once little known dairy farm.

It all began in 1999 when the Webster family put their 150 year old family farm up for sale. Worried that their view would be obstructed, and to preserve the historic property, neighbors George Malkemus and Anthony Yurgatis stepped in to purchase the farm once named for a small pink orchid that grew in a swamp on the land. Malkemus and Yurgatis promised to restore its original name, and such were the humble beginnings of the Arethusa Dairy Farm.

Turning Sap Into Syrup At Ambler Farm's Tap-A-Tree Program

Ingredients Features Farm to Table Local Farm Ingredients kids activity Kid Friendly

Natalie Levitt February 24, 2020

It was a warm February morning and my son and I joined a group of families as we gathered at Ambler Farm in Wilton, CT to kick off the maple sugaring season. We were greeted by Program Director Kevin Meehan and received an introductory lesson on how to tap a maple tree. Most of us stood in awe as the sap started to drip out of the tree upon tapping it. Many cheered with excitement for what was about to begin was a fantastic winter farming adventure and a great lesson in farm-to-table. We then received our buckets from Assistant Program Manager Jennifer Grass and proceeded to carefully select our “Giving Trees” on the farm. We hung our buckets on the trees and captured photos to commemorate the day. (Our tree was number 42 and pretty far from the sugar shack! It was an adventure after all!) Then we waited. We waited a week. During that week, many of us wondered just how much sap we would find in our buckets when we returned to the farm.

Local Spotlight: Mike Geller of Mike's Organic in Stamford

Features Ingredients Delivery Service Home Delivery Organic Specialty Market Stamford Westchester Interview Homepage

Andrew Dominick February 12, 2020

Hello, CTbites readers!

Most of the time we bring you pieces on chefs but we’re trying something new that puts the focus on interesting food and beverage industry folks that ARE NOT chefs but have a tale to tell; think bartenders, independent bakers, farmers, maybe some brewers, or even that waiter everyone seems to know.

It’s only fitting to kick it off with Mike Geller, the owner of Mike’s Organic Delivery in Stamford. He’s not a chef, he has a story, and he’s really easy to have a conversation with. He’s one of the reasons why I thought of this series in the first place, so making him number one was a no-brainer.

If you’re unfamiliar with Mike’s Organic, it opened in 2009, strictly as a grocery delivery service. Now, celebrating its decade-old birthday, Geller expanded his business and opened his doors to the public with a mini market filled with carefully selected organic goods, fresh produce, and lots of local products. To boot, they host lots of special events and cooking classes with the likes of Geoff Lazlo, Ross Bread, and Nit Noi Provisions.

How it all started, though, is quite something. Cue the Q&A!

Friday Froth: Experimental Brewing at 12% Brewing Project in North Haven

Features Ingredients Beer CT Beer Brewery North Haven

James Gribbon February 07, 2020

Nordic Fish Opens in Fairfield: The Freshest of Fish, Poke Bar, Sushi Donuts & Prepared Food!

Restaurant Ingredients Openings Specialty Market Fish Fish Market Fairfield Seasonal Sushi Poke Catering Clambake Lobster Bake

April Guilbault January 15, 2020

I have two words for you: Sushi Cake.

And two more words for you: Sushi Donut.

Hold on, two more: Sushi Burrito.

Wait! Three more words! (so many words).

Knowledge. Sustainability. Heritage.

How on earth do all of these, plus a fresh Nordic wind, connect?

They intersect on the Post Road in Fairfield at the Nordic Fish market.

Terrain Cafe & Amis Trattoria Teach Seasonal & Sustainable Cooking Class Series

Features Ingredients Cooking Cooking Classes Education

Stephanie Webster January 07, 2020

Join the culinary professionals that lead the kitchens of Westport restaurants Terrain Cafe and Amis at Stamford Museum & Nature Center as they show you the joys of sourcing and cooking with the best in seasonal and sustainable ingredients. From salads and appetizers to entrees, pastas and desserts, this six-part series (January 27 through March 9.) takes you through the methodology of creating show-stopping dishes as you also learn how to source the best ingredients right in your own backyard.

CT Distilleries Share Their Favorite Holiday Cocktail Recipes

Features Ingredients Cocktails Recipe Entertaining Holiday Local Artisan Distillery Spirits Homepage

April Guilbault December 10, 2019

’Tis the season for merriment annnnd with merriment usually comes festive cocktails. Knowing that Connecticut has some amazing small-batch distilleries, we would like to highlight some delicious cocktails utilizing these spirits to get your party going and get your guests dancing like ol’ Mr. Fezziwig. Enjoy these jovial creations at your next party or pick up a bottle of these local spirits as a great gift for hostesses, friends or family members. Spread the local love, raise those glasses and enjoy the holidays. Cue the merriment!

Teroforma’s 1pt Cocktail Blends Teams with Crew Restaurant to Host Cocktail Lab Dinner

Ingredients Features Pop-Up Bar Pop-Up Dinner Cocktails Local Artisan

Andrew Dominick December 03, 2019

Wine or beer dinners in Fairfield County are common, but cocktail dinners? You don’t see very many (if any) offered on a regular basis. About a year ago, Chris Geideman, the owner of Crew Restaurant in Greenwich, along with Andrew Hellman, CEO of the Norwalk-based barware company Teroforma, started to discuss a cocktail dinner event of their very own.

The idea would feature Teroforma’s 1pt Blends, a line of flavor kits that enable anyone from experienced bartenders to at-home amateurs to infuse spirits minus all the guesswork. Teroforma is a local CT company that creates all-natural, gourmet infusions for cocktails. After a bunch of casual conversations, they figured out a way not only to make it happen, but to make it something more than simply drinking and eating.

Growing CT Beer At Fox Farm Brewery

Features Ingredients Brewery CT Farms CT Beer Beer Local Artisan Local Farm Homepage

James Gribbon August 25, 2019

Beer, as I've said so many times on this site, is food. Beer is a farm you can drink. It's an agricultural product that comes to us from fields of grain and leafy green hop yards, even down to the yeast brewers culture and grow from the skins of fruit in orchards. The massive proliferation of breweries in Connecticut - many of them less than five years old - means a huge uptick in the need for all these natural products. I wanted to take a look at how the rise of craft beer is affecting the state of agriculture in the Constitution State, and how breweries and farms are working hand in hand to create and restore the growth of Connecticut beer. This will be an ongoing series as summer days get shorter and we approach harvest time, but I thought the best way to start would be with a place that brings agriculture and beer together, and I started with at Fox Farm Brewery.

Guide To Our Favorite CT Summer Farm Stands

Ingredients Features Best of CT Farmers Market Farm Stand CT Farms Local Farm Farm to Table

Maddie Phelps July 26, 2019

With the glorious warmth that summer brings to Connecticut comes a plethora of delicious fruits, vegetables, and other produce that are sure to highlight any and every meal of the season. If you’re looking to get a taste of the incredible produce CT offers when the temperature is at its hottest, you’ll surely want to make a trip to some local farm stands. As late July is upon us, however, the number of summer days left are ticking away at a startling speed. But fear not; your life just got a little bit easier. Some of the best summer farm stands in the state are listed below, ranging from the eastern most points of Connecticut to down in Fairfield County. All you have to do is find one that catches your eye and take the drive.

Local Boxing Trainer Creates Hot Lady Hot Sauce Brand

Ingredients Features Ingredients Hot Sauce Local Artisan

Andrew Dominick May 28, 2019

The hot sauce market is stacked with thousands of brands trying to win over your taste buds and into your pantry, but few have roots right here in Fairfield County. Cue Hot Lady Hot Sauce, created by Adam Colberg, a Connecticut resident who grew up in Westport.

For Colberg, hot sauce wasn’t always in his overall plan.

“Before I graduated from Staples High School, I always embarked on different projects, I always did things differently,” he said. “I wasn’t ready for college, but I wanted to do something adventurous, so I joined the Marines.” His time in the corps, where he was a jet mechanic, granted him the opportunity to travel the world, including a tour in Spain.