We are pleased to take part this year in the Michigan International Women’s Show from April 28- May 1, 2011 at the Rock Financial Showplace in Novi, Michigan (46100 Grand River Avenue 48374). For more information check out this link – and feel free to come on down to say hi to us in booth 630. The show runs from 10am-7pm on Thursday, 10am-9pm on Friday, 10am-7pm on Saturday and 10am-5pm on Sunday. Based on the fun we had last year, there is no doubt it will be even a better time for us in in 2011! See you there!

One of our favorite blogs, the “Actors Diet” is running a contest for one of our Top Sellers Set. We highly you recommend you check out this blog, and certainly enter the contest for the Top Sellers Set. Thanks for the support!

Happy New Year 2011! To ring in the new year, we received a wonderful review from a great blogger – She Scribes. Kimberly has a fresh perspective, and covers a broad range of topics on her engaging blog.

Anyway, we sent Kimberly a slew of Beyond the Shaker salt samples for her review including Cyprus Black Lava, Windy City Celery, and Murray River Salt. Even though Kimberly admits she does not use a lot of salt in her cooking, having our Beyond the Shaker blends available really spurred her in the kitchen. And of course that is our goal!

The She Scribes review can be read in its entirety here – but even better, Kimberly is also offering a giveaway of our Top Sellers Set! The contest rules are embedded in the page link, so good luck…

We have fantastic news – You can now find our unrefined sea salts and hand made blends at Market Square of West Bloomfield, Michigan! We have been a big fan of this store for years as it has an incredible gourmet food selection, and delicious prepared foods – and now Beyond the Shaker is gracing this market’s shelves.

Our premium gourmet salts can be purchased at the West Bloomfield location at 2100 Walnut Lake Road. During the holiday season, our pure unrefined sea salts make a wonderful host/hostess gift even without the need for wrapping paper – the beautiful hand crafted Italian jars make a stunning impression before you even get to the gastronomic experience inside!

Anyway, please stop in and ask for our salts – you won’t be sorry. As always, we thank our valuable customers and Market Square for support.

We are very excited about the response we have received for our new Dill-icious Blend salt. At a recent holiday show in Birmingham, Michigan, this unique salt blend was an incredible hit. Well now we have some more great news on this amazing blend – a recent Detroit Free Press article highlighted this salt and the amazing flavors it extols – “Once…the jar is opened, the prominent aroma is dill with a good taste balance.”

And that says it all really. Anyway, we highly encourage you to try this one out as it is truly a winner. The everyday salmon, popcorn, and potatoes you eat will thank you. Trust us. Enjoy!

So big news. We have a brand-spanking new salt blend. Wow is it good. And by good, we mean crazy yummy. Of course crazy yummy is the top of the chart plus some, so it is like an 11 on a 1-10 scale.

Beyond the Shaker has a love affair with dill, and finally we get to share this passion with the world. To mark our first new salt since launch, we did something completely unorthodox with this label and salt blend name (as you might be able to tell). Is it cheezy? Maybe. Is it crazy yummy? Most definitely. And certainly that is the type of sacrifice we should all be willing to live with for culinary excellence.

People who hate rhetorical questions (maybe you know who you are?) probably will not like this post, but certainly some folks might be asking – what, pray tell, is a dill salt good for? WELL! How about beef, beets, cabbage, carrots, corn, eggs, halibut, mushrooms, parsnips, peas, salmon, scallops, shrimp, sour cream, tomatoes, trout, yogurt, and the list goes on and on. And no this was not a play on just increasing our key words by listing a bunch of cool foods that you eat regularly but would be better with Dill-icious – instead it is the hard and fast culinary truth. Embrace this new salt blend as we have, and reap the gastronomic pleasure that you have been missing out on all these years.

Beyond the Shaker was featured in the October issue of dBusiness – Detroit premier business journal – including a full page picture of Chris, Tyler and Chef Eric creating some wonderful dishes with our premium gourmet cooking salt. If you are in the Michigan-area, check out the article or click the link for a PDF copy. Thanks everyone for the support of our sea salt revolution as we continue to receive wonderful press and news coverage!

Check out this Internet site we found that is focused on pink salt! It is pinksalt.org .

We love ourselves Himalayan Pink salt, Bolivian Rose and Murray River.

Beyond the Shaker actually sells an awesome three jar set of pink salts that includes all of the above! Anyway, we are super happy that gourmet salts and pink salt in particular is becoming so popular!

We just received another great review from the blog “The Baby Bottom Line” written by first time mom Lise, our neighbor to the north in Canada. Check out the full review here. Our Garlic Shallot was the big favorite of Lise. Anyway, thanks for the wonderful review!

Hey, look at that! – an article we wrote was recently published in Michigan Home and Lifestyle Magazine. Here is a link to a PDF copy of the article that appeared in the Summer 2010 edition of the magazine (provided with permission from Michigan Home and Lifestyle Magazine). The article is titled “Make this Summer Worth its Salt” and it is a solid (if we do say so ourselves) primer to unrefined salts and their use, especially in summer-time applications.

The article also includes a copy of our ridiculously yummy Windy-City Celery Potato Salad. We use avocado to add huge oomph to the flavor and texture of blah old potato salad…but of course the true secret to this recipe is our hand blended Windy City Celery Salt. Seriously, if you have not tried this marvelous blended salt, we have incredibly pity for you and your taste buds. It is one of your top sellers (collect the whole set), and for very good reason! We are huge fans of Michigan Home and Lifestyle Magazine (and not just for the obvious reasons), and we highly recommend you seek it out if you can for some other delicious articles. Anyway, we hope you enjoy the article and also make some time to claim this last bit of summer to do some cooking (don’t forget the salt)!