FLAVORFUL SOURCing
Each of these companies represent brands with which I have personal experience and whom I believe are making living flavor a priority. They hold flavor as a quality indictor, and understand that the quality of flavor is in direct correlation to the care they take in raising, growing and sourcing their products. Some of these links have affiliations to me, some do not, but all are brands I personally use and value as high quality, living flavor brands.
Tasting Kain Meats has become one of the foundational experiences at Flavor Remedy workshops. Mindy and Mark own a ranch local to me here in Colorado and have generously donated their meats to my tasting workshops. Without a doubt, when my clients do taste comparisons of Kain meats to a variety of other meats (all unseasoned) including grass fed, conventional and organic, Kain meats outshines them all. I'm honored to share them as a living flavor source for high quality Colorado meat.
I quickly became a fan of Burlap & Barrel Single Origin Spices when I was creating my own spice blends. The Co-founders Ethan Frisch and Ori Zohar have created a beautiful new way for spice farmers to have a more sustainable business model by working directly with B&B. This approach enables farmers to offer their best, often rare and freshest spices to home cooks and chefs. Do yourself a favor and don't skip over the Royal Cinnamon- you'll never buy another cinnamon again.
Artisan Tropic holds a special place in my heart, and will likely be the opening story to my book (coming 2024). The Guzman family started Artisan Tropic years ago when one of their family members became ill and needed to focus on whole food eating in order to heal. This, of course, is a very similar story to mine. HOWEVER, that is not the only reason why I love this brand. Yes, they're family owned. Yes, they use only regenerative farms, but the reason I adore this brand is that they see FLAVOR as their top priority in their chips. They refuse to sacrifice the flavors that are being highlighted in their brand because of the quality and the complexity of the variety of the plantains being grown by their caring farmers. They're a true flavor origin focused brand and for that. - they even won BEST PLANTAIN CHIP and were featured on The TODAY Show. If you don't believe the Today show, I highly encourage you to taste them side by side with other plantain chips - the quality bounces off of your taste buds! It's not just a substitute for a potato chip - it's a reason to simply choose a plantain chip!