Producers Series: Gentle Breeze Honey

information gathered by Alaina Knief, Graze Server; complied by Samantha Egelhoff, PR/Outreach

The Woller Family
 courtesy of the Gentle Breeze website

Gentle Breeze Honey, in Mount Horeb, began in 1965 when Eugene and Donna Woller purchased seven hives from a retiring beekeeper. Today they have over 600 hives in operation, divided between Fitchburg, Mount Horeb and Pardeeville, kept in working order thanks to their three children and their families, friends, neighbors, and four additional full-time employees.

Honey is created when bees transform collected flower nectar through regurgitation and store it inside wax honeycombs in their hive. Since this nectar is the bees' primary food source, beekeepers encourage honey overproduction so the excess can be harvested for human use without depriving the bees of their nutrition. In beekeeper (manmade) hives, large honeycomb cells, called "supers," are created in the center, where bees normally store their extra supply of honey. These cells are easily removable and allow for collection without damaging the rest of the honeycomb cells. While honey is mostly carbs and water, small amounts of vitamins, minerals and antioxidants are also present. Darker honeys generally have a higher concentration of antioxidants than lighter honeys.

At Gentle Breeze Honey, Eugene harvests the honey only when 3/4 of the middle "super" honeycomb cell is filled and sealed by the bees, to prevent harvesting "green honey." Ideally honey is collected when the moisture content has reached 17-18%; "green honey" has not reached this moisture level yet. When the honey is ready to be collected, Eugene uses smoke and bee escapes to move the bees away from the "super" and harvest the honey safely, so no humans or bees are harmed. Gentle Breeze never use chemicals to remove their bees from the honey.

honeybees
courtesy of the Gentle Breeze website

The honey is then taken to the "honey house," where the "super" cells are exposed to 80 degrees temperatures in the "hot room," allowing remaining bees to escape and slowly warming the honey in preparation for extraction. A machine is then used to remove the wax cappings the bees put on the honeycomb cells, which are then placed in a centrifugal extractor to spin the honey out slowly and drain it into a tank. The drained honey is pumped out from the bottom and strained through nylon cloths to catch remaining wax particles from the honeycomb cells. This strained honey now goes through the time-consuming settling-out period. This helps maintain the delicate flavor and the high-quality standards set by Gentle Breeze. Because their honey-producing process does not involve chemicals, overheating or force-filtering of the honey, Gentle Breeze's products are all "raw honeys," meaning they warm and strain their honey only. Because of this, there may be tiny particles of the bees' wax or pollen found in it, creating their unique flavor and nutrition value.

Eugene's bees primarily use white clover and alfalfa, grown on Wisconsin family-owned dairy farms, as their primary nectar source. Gentle Breeze does not blend their honey with ones from other states or countries. Their honey is 100% raw Wisconsin honey, and we are proud to offer their products for you!

Find Gentle Breeze Honey at the Dane County Farmers' Market, or at many local natural food outlets, grocery stores or gift shops. Just look for the blue & yellow label!
Or stop by their farm in Mount Horeb to buy directly from them. They'd be happy to show you their beehives!

See their website here.

Producers Series: Blue Moon Community Farm

information gathered by Callan Krystofiak, server at Graze; complied by Samantha Egelhoff, PR/Outreach

photo courtesy of Kristen Kordet

Founded in 2004 by Kristen Kordet, Blue Moon Community Farm provides quality pasture-raised meats and organic vegetables at farmers’ markets in the Madison Area as well as by CSA box and to many area restaurants. Growing steadily since their start, today Blue Moon sits on 5 acres in Stoughton and supplies 85 CSA members.


Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) is a great way to get healthy, local food while also supporting and forming great relationships with area farmers! Depending on your lifestyle and family size, there is a share that is fit for you. Many different farms offer CSA shares. Find them here. 


Blue Moon offers a Standard Share, Every Other Week Share, or a Late Fall Share, all featuring the freshest organic produce available, with an option to add a sustainably raised meat share (chicken and pork) to your regular order as well. Descriptions and pricing are available on their website.


All shares are available for pickup at their farm, located only minutes outside of Madison, on Wednesdays from 3-7pm during the market season. It’s also a great chance to visit their farm and see where and how your food is grown! 

photo courtesy of Kristen Kordet

Don’t want to commit to a weekly (or bi-weekly) share? Find them at the outdoor Westside Community Market on Saturdays from 7am-1pm during the April-November season, and at the indoor Dane County Farmers’ Market on Saturdays from 8am-noon during the November-April season.

Find all sorts of recipes, photos, and more CSA info on their website.

And join us at Graze for a benefit dinner in support of the Madison Area CSA Coalition (now Fair Share CSA Coaltion), on Sunday, May 6th at 6pm. 


Enjoy four courses in celebration of their 20th anniversary alongside veteran growers, long-time farm members, and other pioneers of the CSA movement. 


Tickets at $50. 
Call us for reservations at 608-251-2700.

Producers Series: Rishi Tea

information gathered by Sara Joss, server at Graze; complied by Samantha Egelhoff, PR/Outreach

courtesy of Rishi Tea's website

The vision of founder and tea buyer, Joshua Kaiser, Rishi Tea began in 1997 to fill the void of traditional handcrafted artisan teas in the North American market. Enlisting the help of longtime friend, Benjamin Harrison, Rishi Tea started in a small room in Milwaukee’s Third Ward, tirelessly hand-blending teas and individually packaging them for sale. Their operation grew quickly and facilities expanded, but they still maintained their core founding principles, committing to a philosophy of sustainability in all aspects of their business. Earning their organic certification in November 2002 and working for the advancement of Fair Trade Certified tea, Rishi Tea is a key player in the TransFair USA Fair Trade Certified projects, which support a better life for tea-farming families and communities by providing fair prices, wages, safe working conditions, environmental sustainability, education and community development.


The founders of Rishi Tea still travel every year, maintaining their strong personal relationships with the tea farmers of China, Taiwan, Japan, Vietnam, Laos, Thailand, and India, and bringing you the freshest sustainable teas possible.

At Graze and L’Etoile, we offer 10 of Rishi Tea’s varieties, including black, green, caffeine-free botanical, oolong, and African rooibos. Enjoy one in house or to-go anytime; they’re the perfect way to relax! 

courtesy of Rishi Tea's website

Green Teas: A broad class of teas that are processed with the intention of preserving the tealeaf’s green character and low degree of oxidation. 

• Jade Cloud - An organic fair trade tea that is a special grade of Chinese green tea produced in the high elevation tea gardens of western Hubei, China. It has a mellow and refreshing character that is smooth with low astringency. It’s aroma sugests sweetly toasted chestnut and bluegrass. 
• Jasmine - This organic green tea is blended with fresh jasmine blossoms by a traditional tea scenting process. The green tea absorbs the natural essence from fresh jasmine blossoms and imparts a sweet and soothing fragrance in every cup.
• Orange Blossom - A refreshing and floral blend of green teas with sweetly-scented blossoms, lemongrass and tropical citrus fruits.                                 

Black Teas: Originated in China. Black tea profiles depend on the tea bush varietal, season of harvest, elevation of the tea garden and the degree of tealeaf oxidation.

• China Breakfast - This breakfast tea has a robust and flavorful taste profile that is rich and malty with subtle notes of chocolate.
• Darjeeling 2nd Flush Muscatel - The “2nd flush” or second harvest of the year provides semi-brisk teas with big, fruity flavors and distinctive floral aromas that are reminiscent of Muscat wine. A favorite of connoisseurs, the black teas of Darjeeling have a unique character with nuances of green and oolong teas.
• Earl Grey - A British tea classic and the most popular tea of the Western World. This citrus-scented tea blend dates back to the 19th Century Sino-British trade of opium, silk and porcelain. Rishi’s Earl Grey blends bold-flavored Yunnan Dian Hong harvested from antique tea trees with natural Bergamot citrus from Southern Italy.

African Rooibos: A South African tea made from the red bush plant. It is a completely caffeine-free herb tea that, when brewed properly, has a brilliant red infusion and a sweet nutty finishing flavor. 

• Blueberry Rooibos - African rooibos and real, wild blueberries in a perfect balance provide tart, juicy, and naturally sweet flavors that taste great hot or iced. It is artfully hand-blended in small batches using only 100% naturally caffeine-free botanicals and artisan herbal tea-blending techniques.

Caffeine-Free Botanical Blends: Mild-tasting infusions of wild herbs and flowers are often served before a tea ceremony to cleanse the palate and the soul before the tea is served.

• Peppermint - Peppermint leaves produced from Washington state. The Pacific Northwest variety of Peppermint in the most aromatic and potent form of this world-renowned mint variety. Mint is prepared like a tea throughout the world. 
• Serene Dream - A balance of botanicals and aromatic flowers with a smooth body.    

Oolong: The oolong tea category is defined as a group of semi-oxidized teas whose manufacturing style ranges between green and black teas.

• Wuyi - The cliffs of Northern Fujian’s Wuyi Mountains are an important tea producing area with a long history. Oolong tea was first produced in Wuyi and this region’s soil type, microclimate and unique tea bushes produce exquisite oolong. Rishi’s Wuyi tea has a smooth and rich body with a classical roasted aroma and sweet finish, known as Wuyi Qi Lan or “Profound Orchid,” its flavor is quite unique with sweet notes of raisin sugar, honeysuckle, and roasted barely.

Visit their website or Facebook page for more info on these teas or the many, many other kinds they have available!

Producers Series: Sassy Cow Creamery

Welcome to the first of many in our Producers Series, where we detail all the great Wisconsin producers who supply our delicious, local ingredients year round.

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photo courtesy of Sassy Cow Creamery

information gathered by Alicia Hamilton, server at Graze; complied by Samantha Egelhoff

Sassy Cow Creamery is a 3rd generation Columbus, Wisconsin family-owned dairy farm, founded in 1946 and run today by two brothers, James and Robert Baerwolf, and their families. At the core of their operation is the belief that all decisions should be made with the cows’ best interests at heart, and it shows in all of their dairy products.

Currently, they run two separate farms, a conventional herd and an organic herd, as well as their creamery with a built-in dairy store, where they are able to offer ice cream, butter, half-n-half, and cream all created from the leftover butterfat from milk production.

Their conventional herd began as 50 cows in the 1990s, growing recently to over 400. They are housed in a sand-bedded freestall barn and are allowed to pasture in good weather. Antibiotics are only used when an individual health problem arises, but the milk is kept out of production during this treatment period, and only until the milk is tested completely free of antibiotics, will it be used again. The pastures the conventional herd feeds on are treated with a few herbicides to stop weed growth.

The organic herd was begun in 2000 as the demand for organic dairy started to rise. Today they have 100 organically raised cows, their diet consisting mainly of grass from organic pastures. Sassy Cow uses no antibiotics on their organic herd, or any herbicides or commercial fertilizers on the cows’ feeding pastures.

photo courtesy of Sassy Cow Creamery

Both herds are never treated with bovine growth hormone (rBGH), and are treated with the same love and compassion they have extended to all their cows since the beginning. Each of their cows’ milk is tested monthly for quality, leading Sassy Cow to have “100% confidence in all of the milk [they] produce, organic or traditional.” They are happy to be able to supply milk for you and your family, whichever kind you prefer, from cows that are treated with the utmost respect.

Here at L’Etoile and Graze, the milk we use is from Sassy Cow Creamery, as well as our cream, half-n-half and delicious cheese curds. We are proud to work with them. Thank you for supporting local farmers!

Visit their wonderfully informative website or their Facebook page for updates, photos and more!