The Fare Trade brings you 5 full-sized artisan and all-American ingredients, as well as signature recipes from award-winning chefs, for only $65.00 per month. You can now discover different flavors from all over the country while looking (and feeling) like a professional chef from the comfort of your own kitchen.
The interior box is a lovely deep blue, and the label proudly announces the Chef-Curator for the month, as well as the artisan that created the chef’s selections.
All the items are well-protected, nested within a big batch of wooden straw.
Every box includes 5 recipes incorporating the curated items as ingredients. The recipes are created by the month’s featured professional chef specifically to showcase the Fare Trade products.
If you are up for a culinary adventure and willing to take a dash to the store, the five recipes are a great way to get the most out of your Fare Trade selections.
This month’s featured chef is Chef Patrick Ponsaty from San Diego, California. Chef Ponsaty is a French Master Chef who has trained extensively in France, Spain, Monaco, the Caribbean, and the United States, acquiring many accolades, including a “Best Hotel Chef” award from the James Beard Foundation.
The information card gives you more details about the items of the month, including several suggested uses. As Chef Ponsaty enjoys focusing on local ingredients, all the selections are from Southern California.
A handy shopping list is included, so you can gather all the ingredients needed in a single trip to the store for a week of great meals!
Honey Pacifica Sage Mango Honey ($9): Natural mango flavor is added to the raw honey, produced by bees gathering sage pollen. The result is a flavorful honey that is perfect as a complex sweetener in both sweet or savory applications. A recipe for Pan Roasted Salmon is provided.
Stone Brewing Co. IPA Mustard ($5): This mustard combines whole grain mustard with Stone IPA, adding the sweetness of malt and the gentle floral and bitter notes of the popular microbrew. The Chef recommends using this condiment on a beet and goat cheese crostini.
Santa Barbara Pistachio Company Organic Hickory Smoke Pistachio ($7.95): These gorgeous natural color pistachios have a nice crunch and flavor. Roasting over hickory smoke imparts and almost bacon-like richness and smokiness. The Chef pairs these with scallops and squash (two ingredients that were never worse for having a dash of bacony goodness added.
The shells are naturally ajar and lack the obnoxious dye that used to be commonplace.
Kandarian Organic Farms Brown Lentils (approx $7): Chef Ponsaty designed a simple recipe to get the most from these tender and earthy lentils. They are grown organically on the Kandarian Farm in Los Osos.
Pacific Beach Peanut Butter ($6.78): Not known as a typical French ingredient, classically American peanut butter gets an upgrade in this spread. A bit of sugar, butter, oil, and almonds, transform the lowly peanut into high art with a more decadent texture and richer flavor. The Chef suggests creating an elegant brioche PB+J!
Fare Trade gathers really high-quality items, all with an artisan-made, cottage feel. I like that they reflect the sensibilities of the curator – this month’s items were appropriately locally sourced from SoCal, but each fit nicely into an established paradigm of French cuisine. The value of the items totals about $36, so the products alone don’t reach the $65 cost of the box – there is quite a bit of a premium for the curation and the great recipes included in every box. The Chefs that curate the boxes are distinguished and highly regarded in their field, donating recipes that one might see served at their restaurants – though this also means that the shopping list provided may have you reaching for some pricey items. Each recipe includes a video tutorial you can access online, so quite a bit does go into making sure you can enjoy the recipes and ingredients. Everything is really useful for any seasoned cook, but it’s not a bargain hunters delight. While we approve of the quality of items and the concept, we think this box needs to improve the value substantially.
Comments