07/29 - Grapeseed Flour - A New Product from the Vine!

Nannette and Valentin Humer

Food and Vine, Salute Sante!

Salute Santé!® Introduces Line of Varietal Grapeseed Flours

  

Food & Vine™, Inc. have now added a line of Salute Santé! Varietal Grapeseed Flours, available in Merlot & Chardonnay, to their top-quality line of Salute Santé! products all made in Napa, California, USA.

The industry’s top purveyor of grapeseed oil, Food & Vine is recognized for their high quality grapeseed oil line, ranging from Salute Santé! Extra Virgin Cold Pressed oils to Salute Santé! infused oils to their original award winning grapeseed oil.   Salute Santé! literally means “To your health” in French & Italian and now, Food & Vine, Inc. offers two delicious options for baking with their Salute Santé! Varietal Grapeseed Flour, available in Merlot & Chardonnay!

Salute Santé! Grapeseed Flours are rich in anti-oxidants, calcium & potassium, high in dietary fiber, and are GLUTEN & SODIUM free. These multi-purpose flours are perfect for sweet, as well as savory baked goods, including fruit breads, muffins, bars, granolas, grain breads, focaccia, pizza and home-made pasta! Or sprinkle over yogurt!  

On further exploration and experimentation, Slow Living Chef, Sally James, found the flour terrific for thickening pan juices when sautéing or stirfrying, inplace of cornstarch, and for coating chicken and fish before cooking.  Mixed through burgers, the flour adds a great texrure, not to mention greatly improving the fatty acid profile and nutritional content.

Easy to incorporate into every day recipes, grapeseed flour offers multiple flavor & potential health benefits.  Explains Food & Vine, Inc. co-owner Nanette Humer, “You simply add 1 TBSP of grapeseed flour per 1 cup of flour or substitute 10-30% in your favorite recipe. This adds a nuttiness & crispy texture to your favorite baking recipes.”

Sofi Awards at Fancy Food

Salut Sante! Extra Virgin Cold Pressed Syrah Grapeseed Oil was a Finalist for Outstanding Oil for the 2013 sofi Awards at the New York Fancy Food Show - out of 1885 products submitted.  Star Chef Michael Chiarello says - "The extra virgin cold pressed grapeseed oil is the best artisanal product I have seen in 25 years in the Napa Valley!" Now you can really pair your grapeseed oil creations with your wine!

Food & Vine has perfected a unique method of cold pressing California grape utilizing their special grape seed press at their headquarters in Napa Valley. They now offer eleven different cold-pressed grapeseed varietals: Cabernet Sauvignon, Chardonnay, Merlot, Syrah, Riesling, Zinfandel, Chenin Blanc, Viognier, Sangiovese, French Colombard, and Sauvignon Blanc.

Seeds are carefully collected from the premium vineyards of Northern California and gently cold pressed in Napa using state of the art technology. Food & Vine, Inc. Founder Valentin Humer explains, “Our stainless steel press gently expresses the oil without heat or oxygen. This process, which we developed especially for grapeseeds, allows the oil to flow at temperatures that are consistent with the temperatures grapes experience in nature - no more, no less.  By not refining out the biologically active substances within the grapeseeds, Salute Santé! creates the most nutritious and superior grapeseed oil possible.

These cold pressed varietal oils offer a smooth, buttery feel; a nutty, yet fruity taste, reminiscent of each individual varietal’s characteristics; aromas of fresh crushed grapes; and a beautiful golden-green color. Best used as finishing oils, these varietals quickly elevate a dish as they are drizzled on seafood, salads, cheeses, or simply used as gourmet dipping oils for bread or artisanal crackers.

Eli Colvin

The Model Bakery



Sarah and Eli at Model Bakery Oxbow, Napa

Eli Colvin has been working with Valentin Humer to incorporate their Grapeseed Flour into several of Model Bakery Breads.  One is rEVOLUTION Bread, the backbone of what he is doing with the grapeseed and whole grain bread he makes. Available at Greenstring farm in Petaluma using only locally sourced ingredients - a platform to create a dialogue and raise awareness about industrial food production.

About Model Bakery

For approximately 90 years, The Model Bakery has been part of the Napa Valley culinary scene, providing discerning and hungry residents and valley visitors the best breads, pastries and coffee house at the original location on Main Street in St. Helena. Karen Mitchell, once a successful caterer in the Napa Valley, has been the proprietor of The Model Bakery for nearly 30 years. Today’s Model Bakery specializes in artisan breads made with organic stone ground flours and the highest quality ingredients as well as a complete range of pastry products. Karen's daughter, Sarah, works with her mother as managing partner of the bakery and both are dedicated to authentic, artisan baking traditions.

In January 2008, The Model Bakery opened its second location in the Oxbow Public Market, incorporating state-of-the-art equipment and ovens to continue to create their world-class breads and baked goods. Both locations also offer delicious, daily breakfast and lunch specials for dining in or take out. In addition, the Napa Oxbow location also offers a "late bake" - an afternoon bake of signature breads for consumer purchase, and as a service for the region's best restaurants. 

Known for their artisanal products, The Model Bakery sets the standard for such items as the English muffin (featured on Food Network), chocolate “rad” cookies, cinnamon morning buns, gargantuan luncheon pizzas and distinctive sandwich combinations. With more than 17 varieties of breads in their daily baked repertoire, The Model Bakery offers the most complete menu of options for consumers and commercial operations to be found in the North Bay.

OLD WORLD ARTISAN MEETS HIGH TECH

The original Model Bakery in St. Helena boasts two vintage and nearly century-old ovens, where they are heated by hand several times a day to complete the baking cycles. These brick ovens were built by Italian masons in the early 1920s, and are works of art in themselves. Each oven is hand fired, where the internal temperature can reach 600 degrees, cooling down several hundred degrees as the hours elapse, ideal for baking a variety of items from pastries, to pies, cookies, and breads. Although beautiful, the Model Bakery was limited by the natural cooling cycle of these historic ovens, and without complete temperature control, their ability to keep pace with demand was impossible. The new facility at Oxbow Public Market complements the original St. Helena shop by providing ultra modern, state-of-the-art ovens that excel at producing quality breads of all shapes, sizes and varieties.

THE LATE BAKE!

 The state-of-the-art ovens at the Napa Oxbow location also offer the ability to produce a "late bake" at 3:00 PM, resulting in the absolute freshest bread available to North Bay restaurants for their evening diners. Prior to that, the option for most area restaurants was product that was baked in the early morning hours, often around 2:00 AM. By the time the bread reached a diner with an 8:00 PM reservation, the bread was nearly day-old. The late bake at Model has changed that scenario for many of Wine Country's most celebrated restaurants.