Around The Market

Expanded Creswick Farms Selections

What’s new and exciting at Grand River Grocery? Expanded offerings from Creswick Farms. We’ve been partnering with Nathan and Andrea Creswick for over 2 years now and we are so pleased and proud to sell their meat and eggs in our market.

We’re now offering: 

• Expanded Beef Selections: Rib Eye, Sirloin and Flank Steaks, Chuck Roast, Ground Beef and Beef Patties.
• Expanded Pork Selections: Tenderloins, Pork Shoulder Roast, and Pork   Chops.
• Ground Lamb and Morrocan Lamb Sausage (Nathan’s own recipe).
• Expanded Sausage: Apple Chicken and Bulk Chorizo (hard to find).
  

We know where our meat comes from, we know how it’s processed and we know the people and agricultural practices behind our meat. We stand by the Creswick Family and their products – it’s local, natural (meaning the animals roam the pasture and barns and eat what nature provides), and until the “last day” . . . the animals are happy . . . we think that has something to do with the superior taste and quality!

Grand River Grocery Tastemaker

Mimi Wheeler of Grocer’s Daughter Chocolates

Another one of our Michigan food artisan’s, Mimi Wheeler started Grocer’s Daughter Chocolate in 2004. Mimi takes great pride in her handcrafted chocolates – from the quality of the chocolate she sources from the Ecuadorian rainforest, to the processing and roasting of those cocoa beans, to the blocks of chocolate that arrive at the door of her little chocolate shop in Empire Michigan, a sleepy little town (in the winter!) near the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Park, south of Glen Arbor. The chocolates are all natural and contain many organic and other naturally grown ingredients. Mimi grows her own herbs in her garden and packages the chocolates in recyclable materials whenever possible. Mimi sources her chocolate from the rainforest of Ecuador where she believes, the very best quality chocolate hails. Her chocolate is not overly processed which means most of the cocoa butter is left in the chocolate which gives her chocolate that dark, rich decadent presentation and flavor. Most commercial grade chocolates extract the cocoa butter from the chocolate and sell that off to the cosmetics industry (where did you think cocoa butter came from???!). That cocoa butter in commercially produced chocolate is then substituted with palm kernel oil, or other additives, reducing the quality and taste.

Mimi was in our market earlier this month sampling her chocolates and we were privileged to spend an evening with her and 33 lucky customers that signed up for her chocolate dinner hosted in a private home in Ada. (See our Market Chatter for more information and all recipes we served are posted on the website). It was a glorious evening of wine, chocolate, delicious food and friendship. We carry Mimi’s handcrafted chocolate truffles in our bakery case, along with her Wally Bars (a market favorite), Zen bars and Maple Nibs. We also sell the Ecuadorian “cocoa pulp”, which is similar to a quince paste. 90% fruit with just a little sugar added. It’s delicious on toast or scones, a marvelous accompaniment to cheese (similar to a quince paste), and for our chocolate dinner, we served a dollap of the cocoa pulp on Victorian Bakery date cake, then drizzled a little Kings Cupboard Chocolate Sauce over the two . . . it was . . . well . . . exquisite! Check out our recipe in this mailing which features Mimi’s cocoa nibs and the cocoa pulp.