Brooklyn Treat Shoppe presents....

If you’ve been a reader of my blog, you may have read my entry titled, “Why a Mason Jar?”.  If so, you're ahead of the game.  If not, check it out.  It gives you an explination of why our cookies are packaged in mason jars and what’s to come.

It’s hard for me to believe that the entry noted above was made almost a year ago to date.

So much has happened with Brooklyn Treat Shoppe since then but, it feels like it was just yesterday!

Since that entry, we made a major decision to slightly separate Brooklyn Treat Shoppe from it’s jamming sister, Brooklyn’s Preserved.  We’ve been buzzing about it for a while now and would like to officially introduce you to our sister brand….

We tested products for Brooklyn’s Preserved last summer.  It was such a hit, we felt we needed to separate it from Brooklyn Treat Shoppe since it’s completely different from our sculpted cakes and dessert delivery service.  

However, the premise is still the same, if you want it, call us and we will bring it to you!

Brooklyn’s Preserved started when my family learned just how interested I was in the art of preserving fresh produce.   

This past February, I went with my Mom and Grandfather to Canada to visit my Great Aunt Mary and Great Uncle Patsy.  They both settled in Canada in the 1950’s after taking a boat across the Atlantic from Italy.  

Uncle Patsy & Aunt Mary (Grandpa's sister) - Not too long after their ship left them in Halifax.

While we were there, my Great Uncle Felice and Great Aunt Adeli also visited.  

Grandpa's brother Felice and his wife Adeli.

I was the youngest person in the house and was able to pick the brains of generations of immigrants from my family history.

We talked about family traits, their boat ride from Italy but, more importantly, we talked about food.

At the very mention of marinated mushrooms, my Great Uncle Felice sprang from his chair - a spry 77 years young, put on his coat and said, “Come’on, lessago….we gonna get somma mushrooms anda showa you ‘ow to makeit.”  And, he wasn't kidding.

We went straight to the market, picked up some mushrooms, worked together as a family and just a short amount of time later, we had these beautiful pickled mushrooms floating in oil...

Aunt Mary, showing me how it's done.

Aunt Adeli sorting out the mushrooms.

Grandpa (caught in a rare moment) helping in  the kitchen?!?!

Aunt Mary refused to let anyone do this part. 

They all laughed at me as I sneaked into the basement to take photos of their Cantina (or canning cellar) but, how could I pass up on something so beautiful!

You see, they never wrote any of this stuff down.  

All of the recipes were in their heads but, now that they are all getting older, I felt it was important to document these things before they were lost for good.

For the last year of so I've been collecting family recipes in a hand written cook book.  That trip in February filled my family cook book up to the brim.

The main premise of Brooklyn’s Preserved is that we’re preserving these family secrets and decades of a great love for food.

In the end, I see Brooklyn Treat Shoppe and Brooklyn’s Preserved living happily ever after in one place but, for right now; we’ll work together as a family - co-marketing and co-branding wherever possible.

As with anything else that comes out of our kitchen, we take our time so we can get it just right.

All of our produce is carefully sourced while we create partnerships to help support America's Family Owned Farms – more on this in another entry.

Each product is slow cooked with hand-picked, farm fresh fruits.  They are always free of additional pectin and low in additional sugars.

We want you to taste the beauty of the fruit in each and every jar.

We recognize that we're preserving the beauty of nature so; you can appreciate locally grown produce throughout the year.

Share with us these family secrets….enjoy Brooklyn’s Preserved!

We just finished making this year’s jars of Strawberry Jam and Strawberry Mint Lemonade.  They will be ready for sale as soon as we get the labels on them…We’ll definitely keep you posted!

Stay in touch:
www.brooklynspreserved.com (still under construction)
www.twitter.com/bklynspreserved
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Brooklyns-Preserved/151935648196951

"Why a Mason Jar??"

Ahhh - I've been asked this so many times. Everyone wants to know why we package our cookies in mason jars - Here's a little history....

Growing up, I never really believed I had a huge sense of where I came from - culturally.

It was only when I reached high school or even college that I realized just how much Italian culture was infused into my personality through out my life. And, of course, being an Italian American, many signs of my culture are expressed through food.

It's only in the last 10 years of my life that I've realized - not everyone has a room in the basement called "the wine cellar" and most people don't have capacola curing somewhere in the house. I've also learned that most wine bottles have labels on them and weren't made in someones backyard. However, in my family (and most Brooklyn Italian families) all of this is completely normal.

So, back in the day, we used to have traditional Sunday dinner as a family. If you're not familiar with the term, this is when every person in the family gets together - usually at Grandma's house and eats crazy amounts of pasta and meat while speaking as loudly as they possibly can.

As everyone's gotten older and busier, this tradition has drifted out of our weekly schedule but, the one thing that stays every time we do get together is the sauce...Tomato Sauce - some call it gravy or red gravy but as far as I can remember, we called it sauce.

The stuff is like liquid gold. I could eat a whole loaf of bread before dinner's served just standing over the pot as it cooks - dipping small pieces of bread in for "just a taste" - Grandma usually smacks me, shouting "get outta hea" before I can eat more than 2 pieces....sigh.

Before that liquid gold makes it to the pot and all of those bright red tomatoes have a chance to carmalize, they would always come from a mason jar.

Most people buy their tomotoes for sauce from the grocery store in a can. Not us. We make our own.

When I was a kid, we would all gather at my grandparent's house for a day or two in August/September - tomato season. We'd go to the basement where there would be a sparkling red sea of tomatos. 

Bushels and bushels of 'em already cleaned and set out on tables to dry. We would all grab a knife and a cutting board and get to canning, or "jarring", our tomatoes for the year.

It was a long, messy and hot process - usually involving a whole lot of boiling water - but, it was totally worth it when it came time to make that sauce. 

This annual ritual is something I will never forget.

As I look back, it's not just the tomatoes that were in those mason jars. Each member of my grandfather's family seems to have one or two things they specialize in when it comes to preserved food. One of my Great Aunts makes preserved peaches that are to die for while another makes preserved eggplant salad and so on.

There were seven children in my grandfather's family - back in "the old country". They grew up on a farm and ran the local grocery. They were poor and had to make due with what they were given.

Today, those acts of necessity have turned into honored traditions that I pay homage to with my cookie packaging.

But, it doesn't end with our cookies. Looking at these mason jars everyday inspired me to go back to my roots with Brooklyn Treat Shoppe as an outlet.

So, needless to say, I'm crazy excited and super proud to bring you the first of many preserved items now available on our menu!

....and, our "Fresh Strawberry Jam" is just the beginning! 

With the summer officially here and local farms overflowing with super fresh fruits, we're hustling to get these old family recipes on our market tables. 

NEW Brooklyn Treat Shoppe Jam is made with local fruit and is slow cooked in small batches.
We watch very closely as the fruit slowly thickens over a low flame.  You'll never find additional pectin or preservatives in these products.
This time consuming process is totally worth it - just like the tomatos.

Jam Flavors currently available are:

Fresh Strawberry Jam
Blueberry Citrus Spread
Olde Time Apple Butter

NEW Brooklyn Treat Shoppe Artisanal Fruit Concentrates are excellent to have on hand when you're having a BBQ or get together.
Add water, to taste, and in seconds, you have a refreshing summer beverage.  Everyone will think it took you hours to make it. 
Get creative - add seltzer for a spritzer or some booze to make things even more interesting!

Artisanal Fruit Concentrates currently available:

Hand Squeezed Lemon-Limeade
Strawberry Mint Lemonade

Our concentrates are made with local fruit when possible and are never ever frozen. All the citrus is hand squeezed with just a touch of sugar added to sweeten the deal.

In the next week or so, we will be updating our website to include these new items on our menu. 

However, readers of this blog can get a sneak peek this week!! 
We're stocked with cases of preserves and heading to the markets.

Find our table June 24th through June 27th at St. Bernadette's Spring Festival - 13th Ave & 82nd st. Brooklyn, NY 11228

AND

Be sure to visit us Sunday, 6/27 at the Kings County General Store at Southpaw in Park Slope, Brooklyn - 125 Fifth Ave. Brooklyn, NY 11217. 

Kings County General Store is a monthly market with Brooklyn based designers, artists, food companies and shops. 

We want to add this to our regular market schedule so, please stop by and show us your support!





I hope you enjoyed this bit of family history. 
We have a lot planned for Summer 2010,  so stay in touch!

Ciao for now,
T

Family Owned and Operated Since 2009

What's it like to run a family owned and operated businees, you ask?  HA!  You couldn't even imagine.

Grandma helps wash the dishes, brother's scoop cookies - and then some - mom is learning to drive "like she has a cake in the car", dad is the official/unofficial "Regional Sales Driector".

And me?  Well...I bake, take care of the marketing, create new recipes, test said recipes and am becoming an all around pro at being just like Bugs Bunny in that episode where he plays baseball..."Bugs Bunny at the plate, Bugs Bunny pitches the ball...he swings...Bugs is in right field" eh - you get the drift.

Are you sorry you asked what a family business is like?  Don't be. 

With all of it's intense family drama (uh - did I mention we are all hot blooded Italians?!) at the end of the day, it brings us all closer and is teaching us how to communicate with each other on a totally different level...like, EVERY 20 minutes! 

I always appreciate the days when my brother Michael comes to the kitchen to help out.  Someone that never baked before in his life - other than a store bought mix - is now learning a brand new skill set...and he's damn good at it too! 

We blast the music - sing and dance and seriously have a really awesome time...at the end of the day we step back and see just how much more we accomplished than planned while having so much fun...most importantly, together. 

This awesome bonding experience has taught me just how much the members of my family share.  Personality traits, similar laughs or even the way we all say certain words the same...gotta love that Brooklyn accent! 

It all reminds me of why I started this buisness to begin with.  Home.  As cliche as it sounds, it all goes back to home.

So...this blog thing is new to me but, join me and Brooklyn Treat Shoppe on this journey. 
Laugh with us, cry with us and most of all - eat with us!
Ciao for now,
T