Meet the Maker: Ada's Artisan Certified Organic Loose Leaf Tea Company

 

“When one cups tea, one should allow the senses to take in all nuances it has to offer,” says Ada’s Artisan Teas co-owner Eva Lamiano. To Eva—and partner in tea and life, Eran Wasserman—tea is a ritual, an art, and a presentation. The aim of their company is wholly hedonistic: to sip and experience the pure pleasure of drinking a fine, quality tea.

Eva and Eran have taken part in the high-pace, professional lifestyle through their previous careers. With Ada’s Artisan Tea Company, they have offered up an invitation for a pause in everyday life and carving quiet moments out of task-heavy days.

 “Of course the health benefits of tea are abundant, but communicating its healthfulness is not the goal of our company,” Eva said. “We are driven by enjoyment. We can’t always drop everything and take off for an extended vacation, but what we can do is incorporate a ritual of enjoyment in our everyday lives. We can take a moment of relaxation and indulge in superior taste.”

Eran added, “We love to create, live life, obtain and share experiences of good food and good drink—the great pleasures of life.”

Of course, Ada’s is hardly the first to honor and celebrate tea. “Tea has been around for centuries and cultures have been built around it. It has been brewed for celebrations, ceremonies and healing. It is the second most consumed beverage in the world after water.” The second part surprised me, as I’d have pegged coffee for second place, but Eva noted, “In America, we are still primarily a coffee drinking nation, but there is growing exposure of the American consumer palate to a wider variety of high quality loose leaf teas than previously in our country’s history. Consumers are not fully aware of the versatility of tea, which doesn’t always have to be a hot beverage in a mug or cup. It can be steeped and mixed to make a delicious cocktail, a caffeine- and sugar-free, kid-friendly herbal infusion, or incorporated into cuisine from baked goods to main dishes.” 

What makes Ada’s Artisan Teas different from others, and, in fact, artisan? Eva says, “We select the best certified organic teas, and allow their natural flavors to shine through. When we create flavors and blends, we only add organic fruits, herbs, and natural flavoring. Nothing is artificial. We consider a wide variety of palates, as everyone is different. Some teas are very popular while others are quite rare and unique. Some teas originally reserved for royalty and emperors are now sipped on the porches of our neighborhoods.

We believe in the simple pleasures of exceptional teas. To that end, we work closely with tea gardens and specialists to ensure that our distinguishable blends are rich in inspiring aromas and exquisite flavors which bring bliss to your day, and peace to your life — one sip at a time.”

One of Ada's paintings

The Inspiration

Eran’s mother, Ada, is the tea’s namesake. Eva shared, “Ada is an artist who has been painting for more than 30 years. She is an artist, an artisan herself. So Ada’s Artisan Teas just clicked. In addition, we wanted to do something that honored her influence in our lives, and helped us celebrate and remain connected to her on a daily basis, although she is in Israel and we are in New York.”

The exterior of the tag that accompanies every tin of Ada’s Tea reads: “May the harmony in your cup overflow into your life.” Its interior reads: “My mother Ada always said, ‘Be present in the moment, find peace from within, and observe greatness in the small, simple pleasures in life.’”

Eva’s “Tea 101”

I drink loose leaf tea with some regularity, and thought perhaps I knew a little something about tea, but after being educated by Eva, it was clear my confidence in this area was falsely inflated. With every informative prong of our discussion, it was utterly apparent that she was damming back her extensive knowledge so as not to overwhelm me. Listening to her, it was easy to grab on to the poetic language that flows from her, the lexicon of tea: “tea gardens, first flush, pluckings, silver needle, withered, oxidized, cupping, ‘the agony of the leaf’ . . .” How can one not find bliss in listening alone?

Eva instructed me, “All types of tea come from the same plant, Camellia Sinensis, the differences in tea arise from processing, growing conditions, and geography. Tea can be divided into five basic categories: Black, Green, Oolong, White, and Pu-erh. Tisane, or herbal tea, is an infusion of fruits, herbs, or spices that usually does not contain caffeine. Offering a selection from each category, everyone has an opportunity to enjoy — from someone just beginning to explore the world of tea to the tea connoisseur.”

Some Tea Basics:

• Tea is harvested periodically and varies in different regions.
• Fresh growth on the tea plant is referred to as a flush.
• Spring: 1stflush, Summer: 2ndflush, Autumn, 3rd flush
• During each cycle new tea will appear every 5-15 days with more rapid growth during hot and humid conditions
• First pluck of the First Flush is highly prized for its rich aroma
• First tea following the dormant winter cycle is considered very best.
• ALL Tea is withered. Withering is moisture evaporating from the leaf. 
• Oxidation is the reaction of the tea leaves when it is exposed to air after the leaves have withered.

Steeping the perfect cup:

• Start with fresh, cold, quality water.  If your water has taste to it, such as mineral or sulfur, use fresh Spring water.  
• Use quality loose leaf teas.  
• One teaspoon for approximately one 6-8oz cup.
• Heat water to appropriate temperatures.
• Warm your teapot/teacup with some hot water, discard.
• Measure tea into pot, infuser or cup.  Use double size vessel of expanded tea leaves. 
• Pour hot water over tea and steep to taste.
• Strain, serve, enjoy!
• Remember that steeping tea longer does not make the tea better, only bitter!

Tea Storage: 

Do’s

• Airtight, dark container
• Foodsafe containers airtight and opaque
• Cool, dark place.  Avoid light and heat.
• Foil bags or foil lined provided by tea supplier.

Don’ts

• Clear glass or plastic
• Refrigerator or freezer or other wet, warm or humid climate
• Same cabinet as spices. Odors are easily absorbed.
• Plastic bags. Light, odors and air penetrate bags.

Shelf life:

• 6 months – 1 year, up to 3 years. 
• Some exceptions such as aged Pu-erhs.

The Savory Pantry's Guide To Perfect Steaks Every Time

Grilling Anxieties Be Gone!

We are deep into grilling season, but for some of us, taking up the tongs and throwing a steak on the grill can be intimidating. Compound pre-existing jitters with the weight of bearing responsibility for guests’ varying tastes and temperature desires, and inconsistent  thicknesses of cuts, and you might feel like tossing your apron.

But take heart, steak lover! The Savory Pantry’s Steak Temperature Chart is here to rescue you from your most perspiring moments at the grill. May it be your safe secret and trusty companion as you wow the pounding forks in your life time after time. It works. You’ll see. Grilling anxieties be banished once and for all! 

The Savory Pantry's "Thrilled to Grill" Steak Temperature Chart.

 Tips and Inspirations:

• Start with quality meat. If you can find prime beef, go for it. You will taste the difference. Warning: you probably won’t be able to go back to choice.
• Start with the right guests. If your guests like their steaks well done, don’t invite them! Sort of a joke, but there is some heartbreak (and extra time at the grill, away from the party!) involved in subjecting a good piece of meat to such a woeful end. (Personal aside: When we have guests, my husband gets the steaks to medium rare and tells anyone who wants them cooked further that they are on their own to wo/man the grill from medium rare on out. Not a joke.)
• Allow steak to come to room temperature. This ensures consistent cooking throughout.
• Salt and pepper just prior to grilling. Salting too early can cause juices to be drawn out and dry the steak. When your grill is hot and ready, salt and pepper your meat with the a not-so-light hand to achieve that scrumptious steak house crust. In my opinion, one cannot add too much pepper. Salts, peppers, and seasonings should also be high-quality, such as our Amola Bacon Salt, J. Q. Dickinson Heirloom Salt , Bourbon Smoked Sea Salt, or Rainbow Peppercorns. 
• EVOO steak and grill. Brush your steak and your grill lightly with olive oil. 
• Make it fancy with “quarter turns.” Yearning for those impressive diamond grill marks? You’ve got this, baby! Divide each minute marker in the chart above in half, and at that point in the cooking cycle, turn your meat ¼ to make these marks. For example, if you’re going for medium rare on a 1” steak, side 1 should cook for a total of 5 minutes, so at 2.5 minutes, rotate it 90 degrees and voila. Told you that you could do it!  
• Use tongs, not a barbeque fork. A fork will puncture the meat and you’ll lose juices. Tongs are the gentle way to respect your steak and help it be its best version of itself. 
• After grilling, allow steak to rest for 3–5 minutes. Why rest? Although like any cooking method, there’s debate, it is generally agreed that resting can help meat to hold its juiciness and allow it to “relax” and become more tender than if eaten straight off the grill.
• Succulent finishing drizzle. It’s always fun to experiment and discover favorite finishing touches. We recommend one of our ethically sourced extra-virgin olive oils, Christian Potier’s Classic Hollandaise, Béarnaise, or Shallot Red Wine Sauces, Tishbi Onion Cabernet Preserves, a pat of good butter (you might even make compound butters (with a bit of red pepper, scallions, or fresh herbs like parsley), or even any drippings you may have caught. 

 

Meet the Maker: J.Q. Dickinson Salt Works

If the idea of eating salt formed by a 400+ million year old ocean turns you on, prepare for a monumental thrill when you open a jar of salt handmade by the sibling owners of J.Q. Dickinson Salt Works in Malden, West Virginia. The salt’s taste is as mesmerizing as its history —it is considered indispensable by celebrity chefs like Thomas Keller (The French Laundry, Napa Valley, CA), Sean Brock (Husk, Charleston, SC, and Nashville, TN), and Spike Gjerde (Woodberry Kitchen, Baltimore, MD).

Sister Nancy Bruns and brother Lewis Payne may have something going here.

The brine the pair evaporates to yield their celebrated salt is the result of freshwater aquifers running through pourus sandstone and redesolving sea bed salts from the more than 400 million year old Iapetus Ocean. The Iapetus name was inspired by Greek myth—the titan Iapetus was the father of Atlas, after whom the Atlantic Ocean was named, as the Iapetus Ocean was something of a precursor to the Atlantic. During the Neoproterozoic and Paleozoic eras, this ancient sea rested between the paleocontinents of Avalonia, Baltica, and Laurentia. Today, it rests beneath the Appalachian Mountains in West Virginia’s Kanawha Valley and the Dickinson family farm.

How did the pair come to access this ancient sea bed? The narrative follows like a combination of something in one’s bones that calls them to return to family land and a little bit of magic.

Bruns and Payne are the seventh generation to own their family land in Malden, purchased in 1813. By 2012 when the siblings began plans for J.Q. Dickinson, the once very active salt works had been out of operation for nearly 70 years. Originally launched in 1817, their great, great uncle had shuttered the works in the 1940s when mass produced salt like Morton put them out of business.

Nancy Bruns shared, “My husband and I met in culinary school and owned a restaurant together in Highlands, NC. We had been amassing a salt collection that was taking over our home and restaurant pantries. After we sold the restaurant, my husband began pursuing a master’s degree in American history, concentrating on the role of salt in America’s past. He came across the Dickinson family and their long history in the industry. I knew that my family had been in the salt business, but I didn’t realize how deeply we were involved.” Bruns had been collecting and educating herself about salts for years without ever knowing exactly why she felt so pulled toward this culinary essential over countless others.

“After years of tasting, I realized there were few American salts of high quality, and none being made in the region. Amidst the artisanal product movement and the intensifying of America’s desire for locally sourced foods, the opportunity to resurrect our family heritage surfaced.  My brother was also looking for a change in his life, so I said, ‘I’ve got this crazy idea . . . He went with it.”

How would they choose their drilling spot? By referencing their ancestors’ records. The building on the farm now referred to as “the old salt office,” where business was conducted for decades, contained maps, a log book for every drilling attempt, sales records, employment records, even hand-labeled bottles of salt. With the help of their ancestors speaking through these documents and hearts full of big hopes, they selected their spot.

“It was like the histories you read about drilling for oil. We were standing around the well with our cups, hoping to catch salt water. Sure enough, per ancestral records, we hit the brine at about 300 feet down. We caught it in our cups and tasted. We were pretty sure we had something special.”

Through the “nothing fancy” 6” PVC pipe with a pump now flows the brine of Bruns and Payne’s ancestors, and the salts of the ancient Iapetus. Though in the old days the brine went into a salt furnace, which reduced it to salt by burning timber and coal to turn the product around quickly, today Bruns and Payne insist on a more environmentally and economically sustainable approach that relies on solar evaporation. In “sunhouses” similar to greenhouses, the brine pours into massive, handmade “sunbeds” where it evaporates in 150 degree temperatures for about two weeks before it is moved to another house where it crystallizes and is hand harvested. About 5 weeks pass from pumping the brine to sealing the jars.

After jarring, the salts are ready for use by home cooks and professional chefs. Nancy’s culinary experience has come into play bringing the salt into some kitchens you might have heard about. “It has really helped me to be able to speak a chef’s language. I understand that it is a significant investment for restaurants to move from Morton to J.Q. Dickinson, and am thankful that many chefs are deeply concerned with quality sourcing and willing to make the move.” 

The Savory Pantry's J.Q. Dickinson Heirloom Salt Gift

And just as chefs concerned about quality sourcing are supporting J.Q. Dickinson, J.Q. Dickinson champions Appalachian craftsmen and producers. For example, the team’s salt-making tools are handmade by Allegheny Treenware, which also makes the cherry salt cellars and scoops that are part of The Savory Pantry’s J.Q. Dickinson Heirloom Salt Gift.  

Still thinking about all those old maps, drilling and employment records, and bottles of salt labeled in the early 1800s? Payne is hard at work on preserving the documents and objects, with the aim of creating a museum on the farm. If you visit when the museum is complete, you’ll also be able to see the remnants of J.Q. Dickinson’s salt furnace.

When I asked Nancy what this endeavor has meant for her in terms of family connections, she shared, “It has brought us together. My husband, my brother, my brother’s wife—we all work on different aspects of this project, and our children will grow up with it as part of their lives. It has established an incredible connection to our ancestors, and we are driven and informed by seven generations of heritage. Now, we’re the stewards for another generation. We want this to be something that our kids carry on.” Between two Bruns and two Payne cousins, let’s all toast cups of brine to the chances being pretty good. 

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Eager for more? Listen to episode #22 of the James Beard award winning Gravy Podcast, "A Salt Story: West Virginia Siblings Mine the Past to Build a Future." Gravy is a production of The Southern Foodways Alliance, which documents, studies, and explores the diverse food cultures of the changing American South.  

Linguine with Smoked Salmon, Agrumato Lemon Olive Oil, Goat Cheese, and Fresh Arugula

Summer is all about highlighting the fresh bounty and flavors of the garden, and making simple meals that provide more time to enjoy with friends and family.

One of my all-time favorite dishes, which we eat nearly weekly once our arugula patch starts to yield spicy rocket, is a Savory Pantry twist on a recipe my best friend shared with me a few years ago following the birth of her son, when she didn't have a ton of time to stand over the stove. It can be made in just 10 minutes, with only a few ingredients, and it impresses every time. Each time I ask my husband, "Are you tired of salmon lemon?" he says, "Nope!" and I'm so relieved, because I never tire of it either! 

This year, I've been making it with Agrumato Lemon Olive Oil, an incredible oil that is made by pressing olives and lemons simultaneously. You'll feel like you're enjoying something straight from the grove, and it will become your next favorite necessary pantry item because it makes sense with everything seasonal from veggies to fish (and into the winter on dishes like roasted chicken when you are craving that burst of summer).  It's also very giftable, arriving with gold foil wrapping, a cork spout, and a cord-tied brochure. Good oils and vinegars are staples in your pantry that will elevate the taste of every meal you prepare, and they'll last you for many months to come!

LINGUINE WITH SMOKED SALMON, AGRUMATO LEMON, GOAT CHEESE, AND FRESH ARUGULA

• Agrumato Lemon Olive Oil
• Rustichella d'Abruzzo Linguine 
• 1 Lemon, zested
• 1 8 oz. package smoked salmon
• 1 log garlic and herb goat cheese
• 1 pour of milk or cream, as you prefer
• Large Bunch of Arugula from garden or store

DIRECTIONS

While you are waiting for your linguine's water to boil, heat 2-3 TBSP Agrumato Lemon Olive Oil in a small pan on low. Add log of goat cheese, crumbling with your hands. Add the zest of one lemon and a pour of milk or cream. Do not allow to heat too quickly or sauce will separate. 

As sauce heats, wash arugla. Slice salmon and leave aside. When pasta is ready and drained, combine with sauce. Add salmon just before serving so that it does not "cook." Top with a hefty mound of arugula, sprinkle with Parmesan, and serve with half of the lemon that was zested for squeezing over the top, if desired. 

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We eat caprese salad weekly during the summer at the Wood household. However, sometimes it's nice to lighten things up a bit by removing the cheese and having only sweet cherry tomatoes and fresh basil. 

SIMPLE TOMATO BASIL SALAD

• Cherry tomatoes
• Fresh basil, ribboned
• Lemon Agrumato
• Ritrovo 6-Year Balsamico
• Rainbow Peppercorns
• J.Q. Dickenson Heirloom Salt

DIRECTIONS

Halve cherry tomatoes. Ribbon basil. Drizzle Lemon Agrumato and Balsamico. Sprinkle with a tad of pepper and salt to taste. Stir and serve. 

Meet the Maker: Dancing Ewe Farm

At Dancing Ewe Farm in Granville, New York, Jody and Luisa Somers are perfecting the farm to table experience. What exactly does that mean in the lives of this couple, their family, and their extended family? Come and meet the dynamic people producing Dancing Ewe olive oil available for purchase in The Savory Pantry.

When I received Luisa’s “Buongiorno!” email and heard her possessing accent over the phone, I was dreamy-eyed to learn much more about how this Tuscan woman found herself a farmer in upstate New York. “I grew up with it,” Luisa started brightly. “Father and mother had our farm in Manciano and their parents also had farms. I grew up with 60–100 sheep, rabbits, pigs, chickens, dogs, cats . . . and a turtle! For crops we had a vineyard with enough grapes to produce wine for our family and 60 olive trees to produce olive oil for our family. My sisters and parents and I would harvest my grandparents' olive trees as well. During harvest time—which used to be November but has been moving earlier for the past ten years or so and is now in October—my sisters, parents, and I would set to work. I was the youngest, and therefore the princess, and didn’t have to work quite as hard as my sisters! We’d head to the trees with a picnic lunch and harvest from 9 or 9:30 in the morning until 4:30 or 5 in the evening. We’d pick the olives and then at the end of the day, father would go around with a tractor to gather the crates. After two or three days of work, the frantoio would process the olives and we’d have enough to last the whole year, plus a little extra to save in case the next year’s harvest wasn’t so good.”

So perhaps it makes sense that Luisa would continue her family traditions in Italy, but New York? It ends up that her three week visit to America twelve years ago—which included staying at her friend Jody’s then newly purchased run-down farm—took an unexpected, romantic turn. Fast forward to 2016, and they now have a three-year-old son and a beautiful, working farm on that same property which reflects Luisa’s Italian heritage, Jody’s expertise from his experience in large animal veterinary medicine, and the couple’s shared curiosity for learning how to deliver the best from the farm to the table in the Italian tradition.

Deepening their upstate New York to Tuscany ties, Luisa shared, “When I moved to New York in 2005, I was really missing the olive oil. Olive oil is such a new concept for America for the most part, at least in New York, because butter is so popular. There is bread and butter at the dinner table. Here, no one could match that taste of my childhood with anything. So when I traveled back to Italy, I’d fill a bottle with olive oil from my mother’s house and smuggle it over in my suitcase. Over the years, friends were able to try it and they all said, ‘Wow! This is completely different from what we have in the grocery store! Friends became interested in getting more from Italy, and we thought, why don’t we go there, harvest it ourselves, bottle it under our label, and sell it here? So many people don’t want to harvest their own olives anymore because it’s tough work and it’s hard to find help. So we started roping in family members. We started with my uncle, moved to my cousin, and now my brother-in-law is involved as well. My mother had to sell our family farm when my father passed away, but it is now owned by a family who uses it as a villa, and still allows us to harvest the olives in exchange for a year’s oil for their family.”

After using a “rastrello”—a telescoping arm with a gently clapping hand at one end that gently knocks the olives from their sometimes 100-year-old branches—the olives are taken within hours to the “frantoio,” the olive mill, to be cold pressed before their chemical makeup is transformed, impacting the taste. Following each year’s harvest, the couple returns to New York to continue life and work at Dancing Ewe. Meanwhile, the small batch of 2,500 to 3,000 bottles of olive oil that result from their labors is labeled and shipped to a port in New Jersey, where the Somers will greet it.

Curious how many olives it takes to make a single bottle of oil? According to Luisa, 1 crate of olives weighs about 20 kilos (40 lbs) and will make about 4 bottles of olive oil. To this lay person, that seems like a lot of rastrello clapping, and I begin to understand why the old adage, "You get what you pay for" applies readily to quality olive oils. 

If you find yourself in Upstate New York, you can visit Dancing Ewe for one of their weekly lunches or dinners, and even enjoy cooking classes in which they demonstrate how using the best, farm fresh ingredients makes cooking simple. “Once you get the American mind off of needing so many ingredients to make something better, and you return to simple ingredients, and you see how good it is, you don’t need to go back. Olive oil, garlic, maybe salt and pepper—these are all you need to make something taste good. You don’t want to mask flavors of quality ingredients; you want to let the quality shine. Recipes in my cooking classes produce this reaction: ‘Wow I didn’t know you could make something this good with so few ingredients!’ Good, healthy cooking doesn’t have to be hard or terribly time consuming. Our meals are nothing fancy or pretentious. I’m not a trained chef. It’s like going over to a friend’s house for dinner.”

Upstate New Yorkers have responded strongly to Dancing Ewe, and the Somers have cultivated quite a following. In fact, Dancing Ewe oils are incorporated into another product sold in The Savory Pantry, Augie Treats Original and Sunny Day Granolas—quite possibly the best granola you’ll ever taste. When I asked Luisa why she believed that customers return for more, she said, “It is something to know and feel like you can trust the people that make your food from the beginning to the end.” And indeed, we’re glad we can.  

Luisa’s Advice on Tasting Olive Oil

Either

(1)   Trust the person selling you the olive oil, or

(2)   Trust your palette to tell you what tastes good and pure and right

Regarding color, Luisa says, “Many people are in search of the green oil because it is so dark and appealing, but it simply doesn’t stay that way. Even within a week of bottling, it’s going to begin to change. Believe me, I love it! I love the spiciness of the fresh oil. But there’s no good way to preserve that taste entirely. That’s what makes it a special experience to be right there for the harvest. To not cloud your judgment regarding the color when you are doing a tasting, don’t let your eyes trick your brain. Put it over something dark because you are making a judgment based on color which isn’t always the best way. I always use a dark bread whose flavors I’m very familiar with so I can distinguish what is the taste of the bread and what is the taste of the oil.”

Tuscan Style Bruschetta

• Crusty Bread
• Raw Garlic Clove, sliced in half
• Dancing Ewe Current Harvest Olive Oil

Luisa’s Instructions: “In one hand, picture yourself having a slice of bread—crusty bread that is thick inside, cut about half an inch and roasted over the fire or in the oven until it is lightly browned. In the other, the clove of garlic. Brush the garlic across the bread. For me, once is perfect. For others, twice. Sprinkle some sea salt and then drizzle with olive oil from a spout purchased at an olive oil place or even from a liquor store. The salt amplifies the smells and taste of the oil. This is how we always do when we get the new oil.”