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)!

We love when others love our salts! Recently we met Amanda, who writes a blog called the Nutritionist Reviews, which is filled with wonderful food product reviews and exciting giveaways. Amanda also earns extra points because she lives in Michigan!

Anyway, we provided Amanda with a few of our various unrefined salts and salt blends for her to reivew, as well as one of our Top Seller Sets for a giveaway item. We just heard back from Amanda, and the good news is that even though she does not use a lot of salt in her cooking, she is a huge fan of our distinctive products. Check out the review here!

Amanda’s giveaway is a great opportunity to try some of our most popular salts so we encourage you to check out her blog, and try for a chance at winning our Top Sellers Set. Good luck and thanks again Amanda for the awesome review.

Iron Chef is the wildly popular show on the Food Network, and I doubt it needs any introduction to those reading this blog. I remember first watching the Japanese version with English language dubbing in the 90′s. Over the course of two decades of cable television re-runs, I think I probably saw every episode ever aired in the US. If you have never seen the Japanese version, you owe it to yourself since it is classically hilarious – check out this YouTube clip of one of the episodes.

In January 2005, the Food Network starting airing a revamp of Iron Chef with Alton Brown as color commentator (get it?!) titled appropriately “Iron Chef America”. My DVR knows the show well as it is a staple of the Sunday night television ritual. I think my favorite concept of the Japanese version, and now the US show, is the secret ingredient. This ingredient, for which the show revolves, is dramatically unveiled from a smoke filled, culinary-altar in the opening of each episode, and can range from Chestnuts to Skirt Steak.

As an example of how the Internet and the information gathering prowess of its users never ceases to amaze, here is a wonderful compiled list of all of the ingredients ever to appear on the Iron Chef shows (both Japanese and US version). Notice something missing? Seriously, where is salt? I mean, even Snail has been on the show twice. Eggplant, three times. Heck, even “Dry Ligament” got to bask in the Iron Chef secret ingredient sun (yes, that was on the Japanese version, but still)!

I know what you are thinking – salt ain’t an ingredient. Well first, I would say (to your face) you are very misguided and should seek culinary help immediately. Certainly salt is an ingredient. Perhaps even the most important ingredient. I refuse to be cliche by pulling out the dictionary definition of ingredient, but certainly it is as much of an ingredient in cooking as sugar, honey or chocolate. Just because it is part of most of the foods we prepare, does not make it any less critical to the final outcome that lands on our plate. And look at the list of previous ingredients that have been featured on Iron Chef – sugar, honey and chocolate have all been secret ingredients in the past along with milk, ginger and curry powder. Curry powder! Certainly salt is as much of an ingredient as curry powder!

For further precedent in making salt a Secret Ingredient on Iron Chef America, Alton Brown even did a special Good Eats episode that focused entirely on the magical mineral. And better yet, just think of all the amazing things chef’s could do with salt as a Secret Ingredient – brines, pickling, salt bakes, and even ice cream. Plus, I can imagine the Secret Ingredient altar on Iron Chef being filled with unrefined sea salts and blends from around the world – pushing the chef’s to really use this ingredient in creative ways based on its distinctive qualities.

My final argument for why salt is the perfect candidate as a Secret Ingredient on Iron Chef America is that salt itself is big news right now. We have written about it several times, but all the media attention proves how timely a “Battle Salt” would be – especially since lowering sodium intake is so linked to preparing foods ourselves which is a hallmark message of the Food Network.

Come Iron Chef! Nothing against curry powder, but doesn’t salt deserve the chance to be a Secret Ingredient? We certainly think so!

I happen to have the good fortune to work closely with folks in the food industry in the US. While walking through the office my eye happened upon a copy of “Food Technology” magazine from May 2010 with a large photo on the front of flaked salt and the caption title “REDUCING SODIUM.” Of course I quickly leafed through the first couple pages of this publication and within moments learned of the New York City group, the National Salt Reduction Initiative. We have discussed this group (at least tangentially) before, and of course our position is that this movement should focus its efforts on the salt in processed foods, rather than salt intake generally.

WELL, right in the first couple paragraphs of my new favorite magazine, I came across a statistic that I had not seen before – only 11% of sodium in Americans’ diets comes from their own addition to food. On the other hand, a whopping 80% is added to foods before they are even sold to consumers! Based on this information, it is not difficult to extrapolate there would be a significant reduction in Americans’ sodium intake if we just ate more meals prepared in the home kitchen. In this way we control the amount and type of salt added to our foods, thus reducing our overall sodium intake.

The “Food Technology” article points out that there is a movement in the packaged food industry to offer reduced sodium products (yeah, this is obvious). However, pre-packaged foods are just one piece of the sodium intake pie chart – just think of all those meals you eat at restaurants (yikes, look-out) and fast-food franchises (one of these will certainly put a dent in your daily sodium diet).

Preparing your own meals certainly is a way to know how much salt is in your food, and so let our naturally unrefined sea salts and blends entice you to venture into your home kitchen and reduce your sodium intake at the same time…

We are very excited about all of the positive buzz Beyond the Shaker has received in the media. Here is a sampling of some of those media highlights over the last year. Thanks again everyone for your support!

MEDIA HIGHLIGHTS


Detroit Business (dbusiness Journal), “Snapshot,” October 2010
“..in 25 to 30 stores, multiple restaurants and…sales are global.”

ChicagoMag.com: Dish, August 20, 2009
“Look into Beyond the Shaker, a locally based company that offers a line of chef-crafted, mostly organic gourmet salt blends, such as Herb Garden Blend…and other variations that sound like types of pot.”

NBC Chicago News, “Worth Its Salt,” August 14, 2009
Beyond the Shaker’s website taught me “that the word “salary” comes from the Roman word “salarium,” which referred to paying their soldiers with salt. Great dinner party conversation.”

Fashion Meets Food (food blog), March 10, 2010
“Beyond the Shaker Gourmet Salts are made in Michigan, and are absolutely divine! If you love giving your meat or bread some flavor seriously check out Beyond the Shaker.”
 

FoxNews.com, “The Rock Stars of Salt,” October 26, 2009
“Gourmet salts were always the province of foodies. With their encyclopedic website [Beyond the Shaker] is bringing them to the masses, one grain at a time.”

 
Hour Detroit Magazine, “Great Shakes” November, 2009
Beyond the Shaker salts “are beautiful.”

The Novice Chef Blog, January 2010
“These salts…well they were everything I was promised, and more! I have added them to chicken, fish, steak, veggies…and the list probably goes on but I can’t even remember. These were honestly wonderful.”

National Public Radio – The Craig Fahle Show, February 17, 2010
Beyond the Shaker salts “are so addictive they are like cocaine!”

News Talk 760AM – Voice of the Great Lakes, October 18, 2009
Beyond the Shaker featured on hour long broadcast show titled “Come to the Table” which highlights Midwest food companies.

The Actor’s Diet (food blog), “Worth Its Salt,” February 19, 2010
Beyond the Shaker “salt blends are truly gourmet…and they’re absolutely beautiful.”
 

The AM Law Daily, “Off The Clock: Whole Lot of Shakin’ Going On” September 4, 2009
“McVety, who calls himself a foodie, says his salt quest began almost three years ago when he took a cooking class, and learned about the many salts used in Chicago’s most famous restaurants.”

Odd Pairs Food Competition – Winner of “Tastemaker Award,” March 26, 2010.

Beyond the Shaker was 1 of 400+ exhibitors on display at the Michigan International Women’s Show in Novi, Michigan during the long weekend of April 29-May 2, 2010. And what an interesting few days it was! As a result of the virtual nature of Beyond the Shaker’s retail sales through our website, it is easy to lose the fundamental connection between our distinctive salt products and the public that (we hope) loves to consume our salts. Retail shows, like this one, really allow us to gauge what is popular and how ‘salt’ is perceived from a cross-section of our potential customers.

My first observation is that these retail shows are a tough way to make a dollar! Seriously, it is down right brutal. There are costs related to building up proper levels of inventory, remitting all the show entrance fees, creating marketing displays, staffing the booth, and providing the necessary discounts for ‘show specials’ on product – and so in the end, this all adds up as a giant deduct to the bottom line. On top of the monetary cost, to be successful, even with a wonderful product offering, you need to aggressively work a crowd that may not be completely receptive to the concept and importance of gourmet salt. Given all the recent news and misconception surrounding sodium intake, our unrefined sea salts and hand made blends also require us to provide a certain level of education to the average consumer, and so before you can even get to the SALE, it is critical to provide pertinent and compelling information on why our products are superior to table salt. One of the reasons that we launched Beyond the Shaker was because of a perceived void in consumer education on the difference between various salt options, and so this opportunity to speak one-on-one about salt is important to us, even if that discussion does not convert into the coveted SALE.

The second major observation from the weekend really does not have to do with salt at all, but more speaks to the actual experience of exhibiting in one of these shows. Again, to fully understand the point, it is important to remember that this is an incredibly tough couple days for the exhibitors. You are standing upon your feet 10+ hours a day, constantly talking and working the crowd. Making the sale defines your existence, and so time is always clocking away in your head with a reminder that every minute gone is one less to recoup the expenses of the show (at most you certainly strive to break even).

Racing around to sell product while keeping your display in stellar shape is a meaningful drain that cannot be made visible as that impacts your strictly upbeat marketing face.
“I heard Oprah loves Himalayan Pink Salt.” Yep.
“This stuff is a waste of money when you can buy a pound of Morton’s for a buck.” Hmmm…sure.
“Does this stuff have salt in it?” Oh boy.
“This smells like grass.” Uh-Huh.
“Your packaging rocks!” Yes ma’am.
And so it carries on into a loosely woven length of scraggly yarn lacking any discernible begin or end through the entire day. The key is to be always smiling and upbeat regardless of every other uncomfortable aspect of the process or how much you stand to lose if you cannot move more product into the hands of consumers. In this common situation, we discovered a community of other exhibitors riding the waves of crowds with the similar goals and frustrations we were experiencing.

For Beyond the Shaker at booth 532, I believe we happened upon an especially unique neighborhood of exhibitors. All that time spent together in economic proximity forms a common bond, and so between the strife of sell-sell-sell, there develops an unlikely relationship based around the objective absurdity of the marketplace and task at hand. Packed in a giant, sunless hall, the masses of women of all ages walk (or wheel) around the cramped aisles of booths where everything from doggie health insurance to organic hair removal creams are offered. The noise of chatter, disjointed music, and machinery (grinding ice cream makers, novel motorized mops, and on and on) fills the ear. Any sense of smell is completely confused as your nose is bombarded by hoards of scents lead by candy, perfume and the ever present aroma of burnt popcorn. Color and lights flash from all around as exhibitors up the ante to vie for the attention of each passerby, with the eye drawn to and fro in an environment of dizzying attention deficit disorder.

However, the moment amongst the four days of the show that best summed up the experience came on Friday evening (“Ladies Night”) when all of a sudden there was a rush of women literally running through the aisles as hoots and hollers erupted from the north east corner of the expo hall. Without any warning, burlesque-ish music (you know what I am talking about – chica bang, chica bum) rang through the building as the frantically ecstatic screams of females began to climax.

Turning to one of my fellow exhibitors, I inquired as to what was driving the mass hysteria. And of course the response made complete sense in relation to the rest of the experience – I was told it is a traditional highlight of the weekend when on Friday evening, one of the local fire departments puts on a strip tease show for the throngs of women in attendance. Ha. Yes, we were in it together and so a spirit of camaraderie developed over the course of the weekend. Every exhibitor was filled with positive suggestions on how to sell more, and we learned an unbelievable amount about working the crowd. To drive sales, next year Tyler has promised to put on a “Salt Tease” so be ready women of South-Eastern Michigan…

Anyway, if one of these shows comes to your town, I would highly recommend attending. It is certainly a hoot. Wear comfortable shoes and look out for Beyond the Shaker! We will update our site with more expos that we attend, so stay tuned…

Check out this amazing photo of our winning Odd Pairs dish taken by Chicago photographer, Douglas Bening! As a follow-up on this incredible event, there was an article in the April 2010 issue of Chicago Magazine highlighting the various Odd Pairs with a reference to the dish created by FIG Catering and Beyond the Shaker. Unfortunately, the actual article from Chicago Magazine is not available online, so grab the issue from your favorite magazine stand before it disappears.

There also was an article in the Chicagoist blog describing the Odd Pairs event in detail including the other competitors. As a bonus, in the Chicagoist blog entry there is a photo of Molly Schemper from FIG and Chris McVety from Beyond the Shaker cheering on the crowd that had assembled to try the various Odd Pairs. All-in-all, a very exciting evening.

We are pleased to announce the addition of a fantastic retail location to purchase Beyond the Shaker salts in Denver, Colorado – R&R Modern Leisure. Proprietor, Hamilton Cowie, is a professional chef with fifteen years of experience. The store offers a wide variety of unique products with the goal to be a ‘one-stop’ shop for the discerning culinary customer.

Hamilton has been a pleasure to work with and we are confident that he will have tremendous success in this fantastic pursuit as we salute a fellow entrepreneur. If you are in the Denver area (or tremendously wealthy and can jet-set on a whim to Colorado), you owe it to yourself to stop by R&R Modern Leisure at 1238 Colfax Avenue to check out Hamilton’s store. Tell him Beyond the Shaker sent you!

If you follow this blog or live in the Chicago-area, you may be familiar with an incredible food competition that Beyond the Shaker participated in on March 26, 2010 called “Odd Pairs“. We previously wrote about our culinary entry into Odd Pairs, but as a short recap, the event is sponsored by two local food companies, Bean & Body and Crop to Cup with the intent to match small midwest food companies (restaurants, suppliers, caterers, etc.) with each other to create a signature odd pair dish. Past combinations included Pre-Season Croatian Olive Oil from our friends at Fino Products paired with rich handmade vanilla ice cream from Nice Cream in Chicago. Sounds odd, eh? Well it tasted unbelievably great. This is the type of pairs that are unexpected and yet yield a delicious result, and it is exactly what the Odd Pairs evening is all about (ok, there is usually music and other stuff too, but the primary purpose is food).

The competition in the latest iteration of Odd Pairs this Spring 2010 was crazy-good (and I am not just saying that because we won – nice try though!). The participants included Ineeka Tea (Dearest Ineeka, love your tea. And your new tea beer product. Sincerely, Beyond the Shaker. PS, also dig your website), Glazed Donuts Chicago (name says it all – in Homer Simpson voice, “mmmm…donuts”), Swim Cafe (wonderfully original food), Das Foods (caramels and some stellar suckers), Great Taste Cafe (socially conscious and inventive – Beyond the Shaker is doing a salt tasting with them in April, so look out for it), Ginger Bliss (amazing ginger sodas), Goose Island (internationally known, Chicago-based brewery) and L2O Restaurant (nationally acclaimed, cutting-edge food featured on Anthony Bourdain’s “No Reservations.”

See?! I wasn’t virtually (metaphorically) pulling your leg when I said there were some heavy hitters of the Chicago culinary scene at this event. And Beyond the Shaker was fortunate enough to be paired with FIG Catering, a Chicago-area caterer that I really cannot say enough about….our contact at FIG was Molly, and her creativity and ability to build flavor seems almost limitless. She is the brilliantly deranged inventor of our Odd Pairs entry- Beyond the Shaker salt infused, savory marshmallow croutons to be floated in a silky spring time carrot soup.

The trio of marshmallows included roasted garlic shallot (with Beyond the Shaker Garlic Shallot blend), ginger wasabi lemongrass (with our floral Everest Wet Salt), and bacon fumee de sel (with our Fumee De Sel)…uh, yeah, bacon marshmallows. In my informal observations, I think the bacon infused with smoked salt was the most popular marshmallow for people to try, but the Everest Wet marshmallow was the crowd favorite. People seemed to be drawn to it because the salty ginger and lemongrass paired so well with the springtime carrot soup.

Anyway, at the end of the night, after probably dishing out 100+ servings of this creation, Beyond the Shaker and FIG were announced as the favorite and awarded the highly coveted “Tastemaker” award. The judge was a personal favorite of mine, Cleetus Friedman from City Provisions in Chicago (and a former Odd Pairs Tastemaker). Yes, Beyond the Shaker is a Tastemaker and that is why I have that goofy smile in the picture above (goofier than normal at least). Fun evening and of course we thank everyone that screamed their hearts out for our Odd Pair. If you can get an invite to the next iteration of this event, you should beg and plead, as it is truly one not to be missed.

As a final note, to top it ALL off, we heard an amazing Russian folk choir (Golosa) at Odd Pairs, which just fit in perfectly with the night. These guys and gals are sure into their art, and it shows with incredible vocal expression. Great stuff.

We at Beyond the Shaker really like Hollywood actresses. Seriously, what is there not to like?! It is a lifestyle and profession all rolled into one stellar package, if we do say so ourselves.

Anyway, we were honored to learn that a pair of actresses dig us too! Well, not exactly ‘us’, but our distinctive salts and blends.

And even better, this dynamic duo maintain an engaging blog called the Actor’s Diet, which includes stories and commentary on food from the view of the up and coming actress. Since we first spoke to Lynn and Christy about our pure unrefined salts and hand crafted blends, I have been an avid reader of their blog.

Recently they posted a great review of the Beyond the Shaker’s Windy-City Celery blend, which you can read HERE.

So thanks Lynn and Christy…in the wonderful universe of Hollywood actresses, you are definitely stars!