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Local Spotlight: Unbound Pickling--This Pickles' for you!
by Cristin Kearns Couzens
Replace ‘pickle’ with a popular mass-produced American lager, and you’ll have the exact opposite of Unbound Pickling’s branding strategy. “We think of ourselves as the microbrew of pickles,” said Jesse Hancock, who co-founded the artisan small-batch pickling company with his wife Katie. Cooking was a shared passion from the start. “He cooked me dinner on our first date,” Katie said.It’s been their dream to start a business in which they could work together and build on their love of food.
Jesse and Katie hatched their plans for Unbound Pickling while living in Sandpoint, Idaho. Knowing that Sandpoint may not be the best market for their hand-crafted products, they searched for the perfect city to incubate their business. “I did all my shopping at Wal-Mart in Sandpoint. There just weren’t as many choices as there are in Portland like the farmers’ markets and food co-ops,” Katie said. Jesse agreed. “Last week when it was pouring rain, the farmers’ market was just as crowded as normal. People really support local food here!”
The idea for pickling came from the Dilly Beans and other vegetables Jesse’s Mom canned while he was growing up. But these aren’t his Mom’s pickles. “We didn’t want to recreate the typical Betty Crocker pickle, bound by traditional recipes,” Jesse described, with his pickling passion radiating from his eyes.
“We use half the sugar, half the salt, and add local ingredients to impart unique flavors to our pickled products.” For example, Unbound Pickling’s bread and butter pickles are sweetened with pear juice and blueberries. But don’t confuse the blueberries with the mix of spices. “One customer could not get over how unusual the blueberries tasted in our pickles. We couldn’t convince her she’d actually eaten the allspice.”
From a food processor’s license to becoming experts in jars, lids, and labels, Jesse and Katie researched for two years before introducing their products at Portland farmers’ markets. They pickled soy-wasabi asparagus last May when it was in season. Not wanting to go to market with only asparagus, they waited for locally grown cucumbers, sweet onions, green beans and beets, then launched five products on August 1st, 2009.
All their planning paid off. “Within two weeks, Tom Mattox from Food Front stopped by our booth. We were so excited.” Katie said. “He connected us with Gary Koppen, Food Front’s Grocery Manager.” By the end of the month, Unbound Pickling was on Food Front’s shelves. “Food Front has been an incredible resource for us. From teaching us about pricing and what to expect selling in stores, to being the right size for us to meet demand while continuing to develop our business.”
Being the right size means local artisan food producers like Unbound Pickling can work out the kinks selling at Food Front, without being overwhelmed by demand they’re not quite ready to handle. Kinks like how long it really takes to can 1000 jars of pickles. Their first day of pickling turned into a twenty-four hour marathon. “We thought we’d planned the timing well.” Jesse said. “But we started at 6am and didn’t finish until 6am the next day!
Unbound Pickling is based in Portland, Oregon and offers five innovative pickled products: Beatnik Beets: Pomegranate Pickled Beets, Ring Leader: Balsamic Pickled Onions, French Quarter: Cajun Pickled Green Beans, East Meets Northwest: Soy-Wasabi Pickled Asparagus, and (B+B)2: Bread and Butter Pickles. You can read more about them at www.unboundpickling.com
Cristin Couzens is the author of the Weekly Veggie
New Grocery items (NW location):
· Pacific Natural Foods Hemp Milk
o Available in Original and Vanilla
o Local! Pacific is located out of Tualatin, OR
· Skout Trailbars
o Great New Local product. Great for the snack on the go.
o Certified Organic
o No refined sugars- contains a full serving of fruit
o Comes in Apple Cinnamon, Cherry Vanilla, Blueberry Almond, and Chocolate Coconut
· Imagine Organic Roasted Turkey Gravy
o Certified Organic and Gluten Free
o Comes in great aseptic container…. Only use what you need
· Bob’s Red Mill Baking Soda
o Aluminum Free! It is extracted by an all-natural water process that uses no chemicals.
o Local! Bob’s is located out of Milwaukie, OR
· Biotta Organic Beet Juice
o By popular request!!!
· Spectrum Coconut Spray Oil
o Your favorite coconut cooking oil now in a convenient spray for non-stick cooking!
o Made with organic coconuts
o Refined for medium to high heat
· The Tao of Tea 500 Mile Chai
o Local tea artisans blended a yummy chai for those cold fall mornings!
o “The tale of ‘500 Mile Chai’ originates from the many late night truck drivers stopping at small Chai stands ‘Dhabas” on the highway and asking for really strong, sweet Chai to help them drive long distances (in a humorous tone- for another 500 miles).”
· We now have All-Natural FOOD COLORING!!!
o This is big news as we have had many customer requests and there are not a lot of natural food colorings on the market.
o Seelect Brand- all natural, kosher, derived from plant and vegetable matters
o We are carrying yellow, red, green, and blue
· Spectrum Organic Marinades and Grill Sauces
o Certified Organic and no hydrogenated fat, corn syrup or preservatives.
o In three flavors: Cuban Mojo, Malay Assam, and Cajun Barbecue
· New Coffees from Bradorf & Branson
o Organic and Fair Trade Certified Omar’s Blend
Dark blend- with notes of molasses, chocolate and cherry
o The Famous Dancing Goats Blend
Dark, sweet, spicy and smooth
Go Raw Super Cookies
o Organic, Raw, Gluten Free, and Nut Free
o Simple ingredients and family owned company
o Available in Original, Chocolate, and Ginger Snaps
· Dr. McDougall’s All Natural Soups
o Vegan, Gluten Free and GMO free
o Comes in Aseptic packaging- no Bisphenol A!
o More bang for your buck! 25% more soup than a 14 oz can
o Available in: Vegetable, Minestrone, Lentil, and Split Pea
· Blue Sky Sugar Free Sodas
o Sugar Free! Made with sweet tasting Stevia- for the flavor and not the guilt!
o Comes in cola, ginger ale and root beer
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