Get to Know the Food Artisan: Kyla Touris of Sweet Thing Gourmet
Written by Claire Hoppens
Born from humble beginnings and a desire to work closer to their children, Sweet Thing Gourmet found its footing in Columbus eight years ago and has remained a treasured staple ever since, all under the guidance of founders Kyla and Mark Touris. The couple is responsible for crafting and baking an array of jams and biscotti in their own home kitchen, a business practice made possible by the state's "Cottage Foods Industry" clause.
Kyla and Mark's passion for cooking and drive as small business operators are evident in their high quality product and in their fascinating responses to this week's Q&A portion! You can find these jams and biscotti at a number of farmers markets and businesses locally, or complete an order on Sweet Thing Gourmet's website at www.sweetthinggourmet.com.
Where do you work?
We work out of our home in Bexley, cooking everything in our 140 sq ft kitchen. We remodeled it in 2005, so it actually seems much larger than it is. Now it's a bustling, open space open to the rest of the main floor, where music is usually playing and our children and their activities are in eyesight.
How long have you been cooking?We launched our business in 2003, but started making jam and biscotti for friends and family sometime around 1992-3. We would find ourselves faced with a holiday or some other occasion that required gifts, but since money was never in great supply, we would use our own resources.
Though there's a distinct and timely chill in the air come mid-September, there are still many local sweet corn providers with bushels of it left to enjoy. Tricia gathered her corn, and other fresh produce for the classes, from local farmers markets, including New Albany, Worthington and Easton. As we approach winter, however, the season for sweet corn ends. By blanching whole, shucked ears for 1-2 minutes, cutting the kernels off and freezing them in a sealed bag with the air removed, corn can be enjoyed all year long. Toss the corn into stir-fry, soup or salsa for summery crunch in impossibly cold months.
To my chagrin, when I phoned about a month ago to check their opening hours, I was informed that there was to be no apple picking this year.
"I might have just enough for a pie out there, but surely, not enough for you to take home," said Charlie Fritsch, the owner of the only organic apple orchard in Ohio.
Get to Know the Food Artisan: Stacy Peters of O'Chocolate
Written by Claire Hoppens
Get to Know the Food Artisan: Stacy Peters of O'Chocolate
Stacy Peters' hand crafted, artisanal chocolates are unique and delicious treats. Her business, O'Chocolate, grew roots in Athens, Ohio just last year, but has found a steady increase in popularity and production since. With a firm belief in ethical and organic standards, O'Chocolate uses high quality ingredients that ensure everyone from the grower to the customer stays happy. Since the Athens area is so rich in small, distinctive artisanal food makers, it is easy for Stacy to maintain her commitment to local ingredients.
What do you make?
We at O'Chocolate specialize in chocolate truffles and other exquisite chocolate creations, with emphasis on using local ingredients and fair trade/organic chocolate. We recently debuted a line of chocolate bars that are unique, supported by locally sourced ingredients and that have been perfected for your palate. Always made fresh and in small batches.
To call Jeni Britton Bauer a retail ice cream genius is nobody's news. To realize she is also a home ice cream cook's best buddy is, however, serious headline material. At least in my home.
Britton Bauer is, of course, the brilliant mind and mouth behind the eponymous Jeni's Splendid Ice Creams. She is known throughout Columbus, and throughout the country, as much for her innovative flavors—cucumber, honeydew and cayenne, anyone?—as for her dogged devotion to sourcing local ingredients. Oh, and for her ice cream, which is knock-down, drag-out delicious.
