3 Generations of Coffee Farmers

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Recently, The Grommet launched TRIVE Farmers Coffee, a truly disruptive company that offers a new option for farmers to earn 5 - 10 times more than Fair Trade. They helped to educate us about a massively popular beverage that many of us consume every day, yet ironically  know such little about. We recently caught up with Christine Macrenaris, Director of Marketing & Communications of THRIVE Farmers coffee and we got carried away talking coffee (of course!). She shared some fun facts about coffee that we found fascinating.

Read on to discover 7 Fun Facts about coffee that you may not have known!

1. Coffee is actually NOT a bean, but comes from a fruit! It is grown on a tree or bush that produces cherry fruit. The bean is the seed inside the cherry.
2. Coffee is the world’s second most popular drink after water.
3. Years ago, in Turkey, if the husband did not provide their wife with enough coffee, it was grounds for divorce.
4. It takes one tree to make one roasted pound of specialty coffee and each berry has to be hand-picked.
5. There are 4,000 roasted beans in one pound of coffee. (Source: Rob Tuttle, Barista and Thrive Farmers VP of Operations)
6. The price of a tall latte in America is a day’s wage for many of the farmers who harvest it in South America.
7. What makes Thrive Farmers unique is that they are selling coffee directly to the consumer, providing world class coffee and giving farmers the opportunity to THRIVE in an industry where many farmers are unable to survive.

 sources for fun facts: 1, 2, 3, 4, 6,

How many of these facts did you know about your favorite morning drink?  

Molecule-R Gastronomy Kit

The young professional crowd in Boston wishes they had more time and skills to be a better cook.

Did you get inspired this holiday season by all the tasty treats around you and wish you too could make them? Whether or not "unsucking" at cooking was one of your resolutions, you'll find the list of Grommets below to help you get started.

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It's safe to say that last week's feature of Cuppow (to-go lids for mason jars) was a huge hit. In addition to the steady flow of orders, they took off on Pinterest and we've noticed all of your comments and excitement around these little problem solvers. If you missed Cuppow the first time around, be sure to check out or video (here) to see them in action and learn about how after a few too many spills in the car, Joshua Resnikoff starting thinking there must be a way to make a Mason jar more travel friendly. He teamed with his friend Aaron Panone, a mechanical engineer, and together they created Cuppow, a BPA-free plastic lid that turns an ordinary Mason jar into a travel mug. Now you can fill up yor mason jar and take your favorite beverage to-go.

above: pink lemonade & sweet tea below: iced coffee & hot coffee

Since Cuppow seems to be such a hit, we thought it'd be fun to give some away! Enter to win your own Cuppow lid. Simply leave a comment here letting us know what you would fill up your mason jar with and we will choose three winners at random. Good luck! General contest rules: To enter, you must be a U.S. resident and at least 18 years of age. You must leave a comment on this post.  No purchase necessary. Winners will be randomly selected and notified by email.  Employees, contractors, and the families of employees and contractors of Daily Grommet, Inc. are not eligible to enter. Void where prohibited. Contest will end May 9, 2012 at 9 am PST.

What would you do with 8,000 pounds of coffee grounds? If you’re Nik Arora and Alex Velez, you recycle that amount every week to make soil for growing mushrooms. We featured these two young entrepreneurs and their company, Back to the Root last year and we've been cheering these guys on ever since.

Check out this great interview they recently did with CBS News.

Our relationships with our Grommet partners last well beyond their feature day, they become a part of our Grommet family. Nik and Alex, they're like our little brothers -- go got 'em guys!

You can see our original video with Nik and Alex here.

Last week I got the opportunity to meet and mingle with several foodies, photographers, and bloggers at wonderful luncheon hosted by Todd and Diane of WhiteOnRiceCouple.com. If you're not familiar with Todd & Diane, they describe themselves as:

"... professional food & lifestyle photographers & filmmakers, travelers and gardeners. Fueled by our love of local culture, people & rich heritage, we document powerful stories from around the world."

A glimpse of Todd & Diane's blog, WhiteOnRiceCouple.com

Honestly, they had me at "stories." As I listened to Todd and Diane share  their passion of capturing someone's story and telling it through photographs and video,  I instantly wanted to get to know them better. Storytelling, now this is a topic that feels familiar and comforting. It's what we do here at Daily Grommet, everyday. It's what gets us going in the morning -- capturing the story of a great product and the people who love it and sharing that story with the world. Surprisingly, the luncheon became less about food and more about the story of everyone in the room. Themes of community and connecting  seemed to fill the air (don't get me wrong, there was some amazing food happening as well).

Here's a peek at the food.

But it really was the stories of the people I met that made a lasting impression.

Like Alex Thomopoulos -- a student, turned comedian, turned gluten free chef. She's pretty funny and has a very interesting story.

And Joy, who has been baking with her father for as long as she can remember. She created a blog to share her baking journey with the world and has just released her first book -- Joy the Baker. She also makes some amazing frosting (it's dangerously good).

I also met up with long-time Daily Grommet friend Ciaran, creator of Francie Pants. Her story is ever-changing as entrepreneurs tend to shake things up in small and big ways. Looking forward to seeing what she does next!

And of course it wouldn't be a successful outing without a little Grommet scouting. I discovered two possible Grommet ideas, both delicious I have to say. Stay tuned!

follow us on Instagram and check out more photos from this luncheon.

Did you know that January is National Soup Month? After a holiday season full of large meals and tempting sweets, a month of warm and nourishing soups sounds so appealing -- don't you think?

We asked our friends on Twitter which soup recipes they were most excited about and @sahopson shared this with us:

Of course this peaked our interest, check it out -- how delicious does this look?

Brazilian Fish, Shrimp and Mussel Stew from Food & Wine Magazine

After drooling over this soup on Pinterest (check it out here and follow the link for the recipe), we had soup on the brain. This next find had our tummies grumbling:

Spiced Butternut Squash and Apple Soup from Martha Stewart

This  Spiced Butternut Squash and Apple Soup looked too good not to share. So we pinned it on Pinterest and shared with our hungry Twitter crowd. Turns out it was perfect timing as our friend @DianaScimone was just about to make dinner. She saw our tweet and decided to make this recipe for dinner.  How cool is that?

She officially sealed the deal on our soup cravings with her tweets. Good thing we have a whole month to drool over recipes like this and test out new soups one in our own  kitchens.

What are your favorite soup recipes? We'd love to know! Share with  us in a comment below.

And if you are on Twitter, be sure to follow our friends @sahopson and @DianaScimone because they have delicious tweets!

We'd also love to connect with you on Pinterest and Twitter -- let the recipe sharing begin!

Last week while tweeting with our pal Alma Soto, we learned that she loves to bake. Next thing we know,  we had struck up a conversation about the types of things she bakes often and it turns out she's got this famous zucchini bread recipe that folks beg her to make. Naturally, we asked her to share the recipe with us and she agreed! Alma whipped up a fresh loaf for us to snap this photo (now if only she delivered)!

More from Alma:

This recipe was handed down to me by one of my mom's friends, who made this bread regularly but never had a recipe for it. We begged her to write it down and to this day I still have my copy, oil, cinnamon stains and all!

When I first told my kids I was going to make this they thought, zucchini? A vegetable in a bread? Ew! They were convinced they would hate it. Little did they realize how absolutely awesome it is.

Suffice to say this deliciously moist and tasty, spice infused bread has become a staple during the fall and winter months and holidays in my house! Perfect for a morning coffee, a splurge snack, the talk of the office coffee room, or your next group social potluck. Enjoy!

Zucchini Bread

Ingredients:

•3 eggs

•1 cup oil

•2 cups sugar

•2 tsp vanilla

•2 cups grated zucchini

•1 small can crushed pineapple (well drained)

•3 cups flour

•2 tsp baking soda

•1 tsp salt

•1/4 tsp baking powder

•1 1/2 tsp cinnamon

•3/4 tsp nutmeg

Optional

•1 cup crushed pecans

•1 cup raisins

Topping

•Glaze drizzle

•Pecan topping

•Powdered sugar

Add all ingredients into mixing bowl and mix well. Add crushed pecans and or raisins. Bake at 350º for about 1 hour (time may vary depending on baking pan used).

Create a glaze of confectioners sugar, water, and a 1-2 drops of lemon juice. Drizzle over bread, sprinkle pecans on top (run through food processor) and powdered sugar.

Thank you Alma for sharing your zucchini bread recipe with us!

Do you have a recipe you are known for? We'd love to hear what you're baking in the kitchen!

As the Community Manager here at Daily Grommet, I spend a good part of my day on Facebook chatting with our great fans and friends. I'm always delighted to see how eager our Facebook crowd is to jump into the conversation, whether we're taking a poll, asking for opinions, or just bantering back-and-forth. Because I know our Facebook community especially loves talking about food, I decided to ask everyone to name their favorite sandwich (August is National Sandwich Month after all). In a matter of seconds, the responses were flying in. From traditional favorites to more adventurous recipes, it's obvious our Facebook crowd is all about their sandwiches.

Take my conversation with one of our members, Al ...

It's not like Al was calling me out for a challenge (no, I'm not competitive at all really), but I just couldn't let Al down. So, I decided to test this famous recipe out for myself.

The ingredients: Bacon, bread (no sourdough on hand, so I went with wheat), and creamy peanut butter -- as per Al.

At this point I was a little lot skeptical. I am not a big bacon fan (I'm pretty sure I'm in the minority here) BUT I do love peanut butter, so who knows?

After cooking up the bacon, I assembled the sandwich. At this point I was thinking, "am I getting this right?"

And there she is. Bread, peanut butter and bacon. Do we call this a PB-B? Okay, and now for the moment of truth...

Not too bad Al, not too bad.

Now, who is up for making some of the other favorites sandwich recipes? Did you see Heather C.'s favorite? Tuna fish and banana -- I'll let you all test that one!

No? Well, neither had I. But recently, chefs in-the-know have been experimenting with it, and it has diners wondering just what that elusive yet distinctive flavor could be. Is it curry?? ... anise?? ... saffron?? Is it in fact all three, or something entirely different?

I'm actually quite familiar with fennel: the vegetable and the herb. It does have an anise-like quality. Sliced fennel bulb, or finocchio -- also known as "Florence fennel" -- is a beloved vegetable in Italy and is often found in salads, either cooked or as a side dish. Fennel seed is also popular in some tomato sauce recipes, and you can even chew fennel seed to freshen your breath.

But fennel pollen is a whole new, dare I say, invention? The Pollen Ranch in Lemon Cove, California (already sounds delicious) has been the leading promoter of herb pollens like fennel and dill, and the trend has really caught on in culinary circles.

Fennel pollen is collected just after the fennel plant has come into flower. The drying process is what makes this spice so expensive ($20 an ounce!). Once dried, the pollen can be packaged and used as is, or it can be blended with other ingredients.

I was intrigued and decided to try some.

The pretty little golden tin arrived in the mail from Daily Grommet. I opened it, smelled it and, of course, had to taste it.

What does it taste like? The dominant note is a very light licorice flavor (anise), but there were other mysterious back notes:  crushed toasted pecans, lemon peel, chervil flakes, fleur de sel, cumin, according to the ingredients on the tin. I knew a pinch of this would perk up my summer cooking and grilling.

Pork loin brushed with olive oil and rolled in fennel pollen

In Italy, fennel pollen is used most frequently with pork dishes. I rolled a pork loin in olive oil and some of the fennel pollen to marinate for several hours. We grilled the loin over hot coals for about 20 minutes -- it smelled divine -- sliced it and served it. Delicious. I think the fennel pollen even made the pork more juicy and tender.

What next? It's often used in the preparation of sausages. And famous chef Mario Batali rolls goat cheese logs in the fennel pollen as an appetizer.

Bu since I live near the ocean on Cape Cod, I was searching for a more regional use. Stuffed clams came to mind. Just as the baked stuffed clams come out of the oven, I sprinkled each with a dusting of the fennel pollen and served.

“What is that flavor?” a guest asked.

Ah, the kitchen secret might have to be revealed.

This flavor enhancer can be sweet or savory, so it would work with any favorite fish dish or a risotto ... the “gold dust” of the kitchen gods.

Try it and see.

I decided right then that a tin of fennel pollen will be my go-to gift for friends, especially for the cook who has everything and is on the lookout for the latest new foodie vibe.

Rita's Baked Stuffed Clams

1 cup minced clams, drained but save some of the liquid

½ minced onion, 1 small clove garlic, minced

2 Tbsp. butter

½ cup fine breadcrumbs like Panko

salt, pepper

1 tsp. lemon juice

1 Tbsp. chopped parsley

fennel pollen, about 1 tsp.

Saute the onion and garlic in butter. Add in the breadcrumbs, salt, pepper, clams, lemon juice, parsley and 1 Tbsp. reserved clam juice. Off heat stuff the clam shells or ramekins with the clams/stuffing. Bake in a 350 degree oven for 20 minutes. To serve: sprinkle with a dash of fennel pollen and a wedge of lime.

If you watch the Grommet videos very closely, you might occasionally spot the Lexington Farmers Market in the background - it's the perfect setting to shoot some video for stories like ChicoBags (creator of reusable produce bags). Every Tuesday, from early summer into the fall, dozens of farmers and artisans set up shop on our village green, just across the way from Daily Grommet headquarters. And last Tuesday, Donna, Daily Grommet's master of finance, headed over to meet Charlie, "the Boston Truck Farmer."

It turns out, the guys who produced the award-winning PBS documentary, "King Corn" had started a new movement last year by growing a garden right in the bed of their old Dodge truck and driving it around to urban farm sites. This year, there's a fleet of 25 trucks scattered across the country doing the same -- and Charlie, from Arlington, MA,  is the Boston truck farmer.

Charlie will be visiting 25 sites throughout the season, and we'll be watching for the next time he's back in our neighborhood so we can check in on his garden's progress.

I especially like how these guys describe what they're doing as a "mobile community farm" ... as well as a "public art and education project."

You can take a look at  www.truck-farm.com to see if there's a truck farm in your neighborhood and find out more about this cool project.