2014 Battle of the Food Trucks

On August 2^nd, we hosted our first Battle of the Food Trucks event, here at our York, ME headquarters. The event showcased 5 different Food Trucks from the Portland, ME area, each serving up special culinary concoctions, including at least one made with Stonewall Kitchen products. 

Stonewall Special from Fishin' Ships

According to Entrepreneur magazine, the “street-food” industry has grown to be over $1 billion and “has seen an 8.4 percent growth rate from 2007 to 2012.” Being “Foodies” ourselves, Stonewall Kitchen saw this as a perfect opportunity to host a Food Truck event, supporting this great mobile culinary craze. 

The Battle of the Food Truck participants included; MainelyBurgers, Fishin' Ships, Urban Sugar Mobile Cafe, CN Shawarma and Wicked Good Street Kitchen as well as a sampling station from Finest Kind Tea. Each participant was given Stonewall Kitchen ingredients of their choice to help create special recipes to provide as samples during the event along with their regular menu for purchase.

A delicious menu from Wicked Good Street Kitchen

A great crowd of all ages came to try the tasty foods that the trucks had to offer. All attendees were encouraged to test the special from each Food Truck, as well as grab some refreshing samples of Finest Kind Teas. Attendees were asked to cast their vote for the best Food Truck.

Waiting to try the amazing CN Shawarama

Tasty tea samples from Finest Kind Tea

These doughnuts from Urban Sugar Cafe are worth any wait! 

All of the trucks had amazing items to try and purchase, and in the end, Mainely Burgers won the Battle of the Food Trucks! These Burger Gurus started their truck in 2012 and have been serving the Scarborough Beach and Portland, ME areas. To learn more about our Food Truck champion, visit their site at http://www.mainelyburgers.me/#home.

Thanks to all who attended this year’s battle, we look forward to seeing you all again for round two in the Summer of 2015!

Blog Better Boston comes to York, ME

We are so excited that Blog Better Boston will host their first annual Food Summit at our headquarters here in York, Maine in October.  When approached by BBBos about the potential event, we knew it would be a natural fit.  The event is scheduled for Sunday, October 21st from 9:30am-4:30pm and will include a tour of our facility, seminars from industry professionals, including some of our own staff!

The workshops and sessions during the event will help bloggers brush up on some of their skills including;

• Food Photography
• Photo Editing
• Recipe Development
• Restaurant Reviews

In addition to the workshops and sessions, attendees will also get a tour of our manufacturing facility and enjoy a fantastic lunch in our Cooking School which will include;

• Roasted Acorn Squash and Ginger Soup
• Pan Seared Chicken Wrapped with Sage and Parma Ham
• Lemon Garlic Buerre Blanc
• Caramelized Fall Vegetable Medley
• Fig and Pear Cobbler with Vanilla Ice Cream

There are limited spaces available, so be sure to check out the Blog Better Boston website and sign up.  We hope to see you in October!

Greeting our four-legged friends at our South Windsor store

For those who have visited our offices here in York, you know that we love our four-legged friends!  We get frequent furry visitors and are sure to provide water bowls outside and a place to stretch their legs.  Sometimes you will see Daisy, Lily and Violet, Jim and Jonathan's Golden Retrievers, greeting guests and employees.  They like to do quality control with our selection of pet products as well!  With our love of animals, we were more than thrilled to participate in the Paws on the Promenade which took place this past weekend at Evergreen Walk in South Windsor, CT, where one of our company stores is located.

The pups were lining up to get their treats at our booth at Evergreen Walk in South Windsor, CT.  All natural doggy biscuits were on the menu for this annual event, which attracts all kinds of four-legged friends.  Some were visiting with their owners and others were looking for permanent homes, but all enjoyed the pampering and beautiful weather.

Waiting patiently for a treat

We're going to need a bigger biscuit!

"Got any Goodies?"

Now THAT's a water bowl!

Sharon is ready with the treats

Did someone say cookie?

We're cute too!

To keep up to date on events in your area, please check our store pages or our Facebook page for event listings!

Maine Maple Sugaring Time

Typical way to collect sap from the trees – metal buckets hung from tree taps

With the recent warm weather around here, it sure feels like we are in the midst of summer and not the end of winter, but we’ll take it! The calendar shyly reminds us it is, in fact, the end of March and with that, Maine Maple Sunday is this weekend.


March generally signifies the midst of maple season in New England; that naturally sugary, deep brown colored syrup with a buttery natural flavor we like to pour and cook with. Not the familiar corn syrup kind with the fake flavoring - so gently presented by an affectionate, apron clad, glass bottled grandma.


This is the real stuff, the stuff that comes seeping out of the trees once the cool nights and warmer days of the end of winter present itself. This year’s maple season started a bit earlier and will end even sooner; a normal season starts in late February and goes through mid April. It takes 60 gallons of sap to make one and half gallons of maple syrup. An average 40 year old tree will yield about 40 quarts of sap per season, enough to make one quart of pure maple syrup. (source: http://www.mainemapleproducers.com/how_maple_syrup_is_made.html)


If you are in Maine or you want to take a nice weekend drive, here is a map of all the sugar shacks open for Maine Maple Sunday. They will have samples, special events and demonstrations going on throughout the day, most will also be open on Saturday.

Once the sap is tapped it must be processed right away so it won’t spoil, this requires syrup makers to work around the clock during maple season.

The evaporator is kept constantly boiling and throws off dense clouds of steam as the sap becomes more and more concentrated.

Once clear, the syrup is packed in sterilized containers for distribution all over the world and of course, sold right at the maple shacks as well.

We love cooking with pure maple syrup, it adds a pleasant sweetness and enhances the flavor of all sorts of grilled foods, especially grilled root vegetables, pork, chicken or duck.
See Portland Press article on Maple Sugar which highlights our Stonewall Kitchen Maine Maple Glaze.
We also love creating a glaze which tastes great on seafood like the shrimp in this recipe.

Melt in Your Mouth Shrimp


ingredients

• 3/4 cup Stonewall Kitchen Maple Syrup
• 2 tablespoons Stonewall Kitchen Maine Maple Champagne Mustard
• 10 slices of bacon
• 20 large raw shrimp, peeled and deveined

directions

1. Mix Stonewall Kitchen Maple Syrup and Stonewall Kitchen Maine Maple Champagne Mustard in a bowl and set aside.
2. Cut each bacon slice in half. Wrap each bacon slice around a shrimp. Place shrimp on a cookie sheet and cover each with a spoonful of the syrup/mustard sauce.
3. Broil on high and cook on both sides until very crispy.
4. Remove to a platter and serve immediately.

And this great recipe for maple glazed bananas will satisfy your sweet, after dinner cravings:

Caramelized Bananas


ingredients

• 2 Tbsp. unsalted butter
• 1/4 cup packed light brown sugar
• 4 small bananas, sliced into 1/2-inch rounds
• 1 cup Stonewall Kitchen Maine Maple Syrup
• 1 Stonewall Kitchen Farmhouse Pancake and Waffle Mix

directions

1. Prepare pancakes or waffles according to instructions on package.
2. Melt the butter in a large skillet over medium heat.
3. Add the brown sugar and stir until the sugar has melted and the mixture begins to simmer.
4. Cook over low heat for 1 minute, stirring continuously.
5. Add the banana slices to the pan in a single layer and cook until the bananas begin to caramelize and the brown sugar sauce is bubbling.
6. Pour the banana sauce over hot pancakes and serve with warm maple syrup on the side.