Buffalo Rising Online

Pop just one of these babies into your mouth and you'll see why they're one of the Co-op's most popular bulk items. These organic cocoa dusted almonds from Sunspire Natural Chocolates are sublime. Each fresh, crunchy almond is dipped in chocolate and dusted with bittersweet cocoa. We enjoy these at home on special occasions and we've found that they make a fantastic gift when packaged with a little flair. Packaged in small quantities, they are a simple way to get through the school bake sale.

At Christmas time they are especially popular; I've arrived at the Co-op as early as 10 days before the holiday to find their niche sadly nutless. But with a shelf life of six months, there's plenty of opportunity to stock up now. In fact, they happen to be on sale during the month of…

Hot cocoa weather approaches, much to my delight. Last year we covered the beauty of a good homemade hot chocolate, but what about the marshmallows, you say?

As much as I loved those pastel colored mini marshmallows in my cocoa as a child, I find them to be less than delicious these days. Warmed over a campfire, they're all magnificent regardless of shape, size and origin, but for consumption alone and in their original form, I find them to be dull and tasteless.

The French invented the marshmallow in the 1800s and still have a good handle on them as a confection that one can enjoy all on its own. Their flavored marshmallows are hard to beat, especially the violet and orange blossom varieties. Belgians also seem to have a penchant for the sweet treat and it shows in the quality of their product. B…

In Italian, “pepato” simply means peppery. An Italian sheep's milk cheese, Pecorino Pepato is a classic pecorino speckled with whole black peppercorns. Pepato is salty and sharp and the bite of the occasional peppercorn only adds to its intensity.

Pepato is not a protected name, which means that any pecorino producer can add peppercorn to their cheese and call it Pepato. I suggest that you look for a piece that has some age, something firm that can be cut into paper thin slices, which is my favorite way to use pepato. Shaved into a salad with a good olive oil, over eggs, fava or white beans, asparagus, or cauliflower, Pepato is a real winner. It's also a nice addition to mashed potaotes or pasta.

A younger, softer Pepato is milder and less salty and therefore more suited to snacking, especially with olives or cured meats. Even in its milder state, it can easily o…

Recently, while perusing the member list of Buffalo First, I noticed the name of a health food store that I had never heard of. Sure enough, a drive up Main Street the following weekend revealed a colorful sign denoting a newly opened business across the street from UB's South Campus.

Mom and Pops, owned by Jim Park and Anne Paulk, has been open for only a month and the neighborhood couldn't be happier. Park, a former community organizer, social worker and grocery manager for the Lexington Co-op is excited to bring a small-scale natural foods store to an area with few healthy options. Their mission is to focus on stocking locally made, organic and fair trade items in a community-based atmosphere. “There's been a need for a place like this in this neighborhood since the Co-op moved out. Currently we offer a pretty wide range of products and every week we're getting more. …

By now most of you know that, when it comes to Spar's European Sausage & Meats, I'm a diehard. Click here for a feature on the business which ran in last February's issue of BRM.

The other day when I stopped in for some sausage I found that the store has grown exponentially since my first visit last fall. The cash register has moved from behind the bustling counter to a home of its own in a corner of the shop. The shelves are laden with an even broader selection of imported grocery items and an additional refrigerated display case has been added. The number of customers waiting has increased tremendously (though they aren't made to wait long), as has the number of smiling faces behind the counter. I'm impressed, to say the least.

Spar's is a perfect business model for anyone hoping to make th…

While the 2000 US Census notes that only 1.4% of Buffalo’s population is Asian, that doesn’t seem to reflect the number of Asian markets in our city. A quick glance at the phone book reveals four: one on a Bailey, another on Connecticut and two on neighboring Niagara Street, not to mention the dozen or more located near UB’s North Campus.

Freezers full of fish, bins of fresh produce, bags of rice, bottles of spices, and jars upon jars of sauces and preserves line the shelves of these crowded little markets most often run by first generation immigrants. Much to my delight, the assortment of food items is generally augmented by an array of pots and pans, knives and chopsticks, teapots and dinnerware, kitchen gadgets, and less expected merchandise like DVDs and blankets.

Buffalo’s Asian markets not only cater to the Asian community, they are an integral part of their melti…

...as if you needed one.

Buffalo Rising has featured an ode to cannoli before, so the purpose of this posting is not to wax poetic about the many fine attributes of these delectable desserts. Nor is it to share a recipe for making your own cannoli, because while I’m a huge fan of the sugary, cheesy tubes of tastiness, it frankly seems like a pain to make the pastry from scratch. If you disagree, well, you’ve got an open invitation to a potluck at my place anytime.

Rather, the point of this posting is to let you know that Guercio’s now sells cannoli at the deli counter. For $1.25, you can get one decorated with chocolate chips, sprinkles, cherries or fresh strawberries. They’re located next to the cheeses, and I’ve seen the awesome women who work behind the counter filling them in …

On the corner of Niagara and Austin sits a Buffalo institution--Gondola Macaroni Products. Started in a West Side home in 1958, Gondola moved to their current location at 1985 Niagara Street in 1968 and have been crafting handmade pasta products ever since.

The array of pasta available at Gondola is enough to send an indecisive grocery shopper into an apoplectic state. Walk through the door of this store front, and you’ll find ravioli (cheese, meat, spinach and lobster), tortellini (cheese and meat), stuffed shells (cheese and spinach), a huge variety of egg noodles (two thicknesses of plain egg noodles, in addition to tomato, saffron, squid ink, spinach, red hot pepper, black pepper, carrot, and garlic egg noodles), and to top it all off (literally), tomato sauce (plain and meat).

All of the Gondola pasta is made by hand, using durum flour, water and eggs. After the ingre…

Sweetness, weight, acidity, tannin level, and silkiness are all terms often associated with wine tasting. They are now being applied to water. Balance, minerals, regional characteristics, flavor and bubble size (in the case of sparkling water), are also considerations. The process of identifying and classifying these elements in expensive, and most likely imported, water has become a phenomenon, even spawning a tasting service it seems that the privileged are even willing to pay for.

Most of the truly high end-waters like Iskilde or Antipodes are (to the best of my knowledge) not currently found in the Queen City. Most of our fine dining restaurants offer Pellegrino (sparkling) or the increasingly popular, acclaimed and relatively inexpensive Fiji (still). Perhaps the demand for presumably outstanding water is just not h…

Hanova Hills Farm, an earth friendly Forestville, NY farm, is so esteemed by beef cognoscente, that its fine cuts of meat are carried at the prestigious Lobel's, a premier butcher shop that has provided Manhattan with exceptional meats since 1840.

Hanova, arguably one of our area's best kept secrets, brings its bounty to the Elmwood Farmer's Market every week. Those that aren't able to visit the market on one of Buffalo's sunny Saturday mornings can sometimes find Hanova's products at the Lexington Co-op, just a few blocks down the road.

Hanova's beef, a truly delicious alternative, incomparable to the options available at supermarkets and local butchers, is derived from hormone free cows raised in green pastures and fed a healthy diet of hay and corn.

Happy and well cared for animals make for happy taste buds. Hanova Hills' beef is particula…

The Bidwell Market has been well stocked with cherries for the past few weeks. They've looked absolutely gorgeous, but I procrastinated buying them for two reasons: one, I had no idea how to pit those little stinkers, and two, even once I had pitted them, I didn't have a clue what I'd make with them. Cherry pie was an obvious choice, but seemed so cliche.

On a recent Friday afternoon, I strolled through the front door of a suburban retail cooking store where lo and behold, there was a cherry pie kit for sale. Pie plate, recipe, and cherry pitter all included! Heaven knows I don't need another pie plate, but I couldn't resist the cherry pitter. The next weekend at the Bidwell Market, I picked up a pint of sour cherries (mainly because I like a culinary challenge) and took them home to play with my new pitter.

Cooking with really good, fresh ingredients makes life so easy. …

I love a nice wedge of Morbier. When I was at Lexington Co-op the other day, this little beauty called to me from their well-stocked and more than adequate cheese department, and I’m so glad she did.

Morbier hails from the village of Morbier in the Comté region of France, also the home of delicious Gruyère de Comté. It is a semi-soft raw cow’s milk cheese with a full (yet not overpowering) flavor, slightly bitter aftertaste and fantastically stinky aroma. Morbier is most easily discerned by the thin layer of ash that runs through its center.

Yes, ash. Don’t let it unnerve you. The use of ash in cheese making is an ancient technique, a natural way in which farmers were able to not only preserve their product from pesky insects but to also inhibit the development of a hard rind.

In the case of Morbier, the layer covers not only the outside of the cheese, but als…

On a recent visit to the Elmwood Bidwell Farmers Market I encountered an attractive stand offering fresh lemonade and adorable glass bottles of raw milk yogurt. Good packaging always catches my eye, and this product certainly did that, nestled amongst glistening ice cubes in bright blue and yellow bowls. Standing beside the bowls, covered in condensation, a large, white ceramic jug designed to dispense cold lemonade was equally tempting. Often looks can be deceiving and I wondered if the product would deliver. I happily took single serving-sized bottles of both plain and maple yogurt home with me to find out.

White Cow Dairy is based in East Otto, NY and works in conjunction with other small, local farmers (Native Offerings, Helen's Hens, etc.) to offer their community fresh raw honey, maple syrup, herbs, fruits and vegetables as well as eggs and dairy derived from grass fed…

Our recent trip to the Clinton-Bailey Market was like a trip back in time in more ways than one. The route we took reminded my husband of excursions he had taken with his family out to his Balla Nejné's (that's Hungarian for Aunt Balla) house which always included a stop at the market.

I think he could have found the market blind-folded, but colorful banners greeting guests in the Clinton-Bailey Community announced our destination. Plentiful and convenient parking encouraged us to fill up our bags.

A vibrant, noisy and aromatic scene unfolded as we reached the center of the gathered farmers and local merchants. Shoppers ranged from teens to parents toting active toddlers to older couples who had spent a lifetime in markets such as this - perhaps thousands of miles away from Buffalo. They carried decades of memories with them and one look in their eyes revealed their sto…