Author Archives: Barbary Brix

About Barbary Brix

We've created the best caramel in the world while sacrificing nothing in flavor or taste to make our products both sustainable and healthier! We handcraft small batches using only sustainably farmed, organic, ultra premium ingredients like minimally processed sugars (no icky corn syrup or refined white sugar) to add complex, layered flavors and nutritional value while also being lower glycemic and gluten free. Too good to be true? NOPE.

We just say “NO” to corn syrup.

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With the recent announcement by the FDA that they will not allow the Corn Refiners Association to change the name of “corn syrup” to “corn sugar” on food labels, I thought I would celebrate by  finally putting out a little blog I’ve been sitting on for a few months that covers our relationship (or lack there of!) to corn syrup and why it’s so important to us at BBx.

Some of our all-natural ingredients: Raw Cocoa Powder, Organic Brown Rice Syrup, Coconut Palm Sugar, Vanilla Beans

Corn syrup is the primary invert sugar used in confectionery.  What’s an invert sugar, you ask? Well, it’s a culinary term used to describe a kind of sugar that’s pretty shy and keeps to itself….  (Damn.  How did that “dad joke” get into this blog post?!)

Invert sugars are extremely important in confectionery.  Their primary function is to prevent the candy, whether it’s a hard candy or a fondant or everything in between, from crystallizing.  But what exactly is an invert sugar?  Simply put, it’s a syrup of some kind.  It can be any syrup; some common examples are agave, honey, maple, or as I’ve mentioned, corn syrup.  Some confectioners even make their own invert sugars using granulated sugar that they cook into a syrup.

I’m not going to get all nerdy and go food scientist on you but suffice to say using an invert sugar makes manufacturing or making confections much easier, the downside being that it can add a significant cost to the price of a finished product if you’re trying to use a non-corn syrup alternative.  Let’s talk about how corn syrup goes from kernel to bottle and why that matters.

Corn syrup is made using a process called wet milling.  It is described pretty succinctly at Sweet Scam, a corn syrup advocacy group:

“To make high fructose corn syrup, the corn is first harvested and sent to the wet mill.

Next, the corn is crushed in a mill and then run through screens in order to separate the corn starch from other parts of the kernel.

After being separated, natural enzymes are added to the liquid, which converts some of the sugars in the liquid from glucose to fructose. The resulting liquid is typically 42 percent fructose and 58 percent glucose.

From there, the liquid is passed through activated carbon and filtered.

The final product is called HFCS-42, and is used to sweeten many baked goods.

Some of the HFCS-42 then goes through a liquid filtration process to increase the fructose content, creating a liquid that is 90 percent fructose. This product is called HFCS-90.

Finally, the two liquids, HFCS-42 and HFCS-90, are blended to make a mixture that is 55% fructose. The final blend, called HFCS-55, is widely used as a sweetener in sodas.”

It is noteworthy to mention two things here:
1) The “activated carbon” described above is most commonly what is called “bone char,” charcoal made from the bones of dead animals, usually cows.  So most conventionally processed sugars, even the granulated kind, are not vegetarian or vegan.
2) There is only one non-GMO, organic corn syrup out there that I’m aware of and, to my knowledge, it’s not being used by any candy makers.  When you see corn syrup on a food label, what you are getting is something that began as a genetically modified, chemically-farmed food crop that has been highly processed into a nutritionless sugar substance.

It’s hard to understand how the Corn Refiners Association can call this product “natural” considering how many steps, alterations, and chemical processes it has to undergo to be usable in the form of corn syrup.  Don’t be fooled by claims that all sugars are the same because they are chemically composed of glucose and fructose.  That is a truth but it fails to recognize that in order for the body to digest and integrate glucose and fructose, it needs a set of essential enzymes and nutrients that are stripped away in the refining process making it terribly difficult for your body to digest.  Hence the spike you get in blood sugar when consuming highly refined sugars like corn syrup.  But don’t take my word for it, read more from our guest blogger, nutritionist and dietician Alex Mart.

According to this infographic, high-fructose corn syrup consitutes 10% of caloric intake in a typical American’s diet.  So corn syrup is cheap and it’s in everything.  How did we get here, you may wonder?

According to the Environmental Working Group’s 2011 Farm Subsidy Database, between 1995-2010, corn was subsidized by the US Government in an amount exceeding $77 billion, making it the most highly subsidized crop as well as extremely cheap for food producers to use in their products.  In addition to the consistency the producer is able to maintain as a result of the heavy processing of the product, the cost savings over other alternative ingredients makes is an obvious choice.  So the candymaker, or other food manufacturer, is gaining a cost savings and enjoys minimal variance in results of their finished product.  Why wouldn’t anyone use this instead of the more costly alternatives like honey, maple, and brown rice syrup?

Our country’s Obesity Epidemic has been garnering a lot of media attention recently. HBO’s Weight of the Nation and Gary Taubes’ Newsweek cover story are only two very recent examples of the much needed growing dialogue on the subject.  It’s becoming clear that one of the biggest contributing factors is the overuse of refined sugars.

Some confectioners are wisely starting to shift their invert sugar to healthier alternatives.  We at Barbary Brix use organic brown rice syrup from sustainable, organic Northern California growers, Lundberg Family Farm.  Let’s talk about how this is made and what it is.

Janet Souza over at Lundberg described their process for us:

1)      Brown rice is cultured with plenty of water and gluten-free enzymes
2)      The enzymes help digest the brown rice and convert the starches to sugars
3)      The resulting liquid is cooked down into brown rice syrup

Simple, right?  None of this chemistry mumbo jumbo.  We love it and feel great about using it in our product.  Unlike corn syrup, this organic brown rice syrup has the nutrients and enzymes your body needs to break it down efficiently and integrate it for ready use as energy in your body.  Your body is able to do this at a more sustained rate, so you get less of that spazzed out sugar rush; basically, it’s significantly lower glycemic than refined sugar.

We also love the flavor it imparts!  Unlike the flavorless, saccharine-y corn syrup, brown rice syrup adds a creamy, earthy, almost maltiness to our caramels.  We often get asked why our product tastes so buttery despite the fact that we don’t add butter.  In addition to the high quality, organic cream we use, we believe the inherent creaminess of the brown rice syrup amps up this quality in our product without making it too sweet or cloying.

To summarize,  in my humble opinion, it’s time for all of us as consumers to start expecting healthier food alternatives that exclude corn syrup.  It’s in everything from pasta sauce to “fruit” juices; just take a gander at those food labels and you’ll see!  We want to see food manufacturers treat their consumers’ health with respect; taking the 10% of caloric intake from corn syrup OUT of our food products would be a great step in the right direction.

It’s a tall order and nothing will be fixed overnight.  Mark Bittman at the New York Times wrote a great, balanced piece last year on the subject of the past/present state and future possibilities of farm subsidies and their relationship to our food choices, corn syrup included.  If you’d like to become more informed, it’s well worth your time to give it a read.

In the meantime, go ahead and feel good about enjoying your corn syrup free Barbary Brix caramels and spread the love about healthier, responsibly made candy options!

Yours Truly, Melissa

Straus Family Farm & Creamery Chef’s Tour, Part I: The Farm

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Oh to be a Straus cow, what a lovely life!

We arrived bright and early with only a few unexpected navigational hiccups and one coordinational mishap (not surprisingly mine) on our way from San Francisco to Marshall in West Marin, California to see for ourselves why the dairy products from the first certified organic farm west of the Mississippi are so incredibly outstanding.

After rendezvous’ing with the other participants in Straus Family Creamery’s twice-yearly Chef’s Tour, we all piled into six cars to head up to the beautifully situated dairy farm on Northern California’s picturesque Tomales Bay.

Overlooking Tomales Bay, CA

Bay Area Fog... Just because you can't see Tomales Bay, doesn't mean it's not there and stunning behind its shroud.

After a nice foot bath on the way onto the property to prevent any outside contaminants and germs, the first thing we saw on our walk up was the “maternity ward,” a large fenced yard speckled with a small collection of the most pregnant cows in the herd.

Pregnant Cows Enjoying Some Delicious Fodder

Cows, like humans, gestate their offspring for nine months.  Straus cows spend the last two months of pregnancy off of the milking line, relaxin’… just making a baby cow and noshing on fresh grass in the pastures all day.  The last few weeks of their pregnancies are spent together, close to home, awaiting the big day when their calves are born.

Momma Cow in the "Maternity Ward"

At Straus, 100% of the calves they add to their herd of approximately 600 cows are bred and born right on the Farm.  They are a mix of Jerseys and Holsteins, some pure bred and some mixed. In the herd there are also a few Swiss Brown cows[i] for diversity.

As we continued on the tour, we learned the reason for the mixed herd.  Holsteins produce a greater volume of milk with a lower fat to water ratio, meaning they produce a less creamy milk.  Jerseys, on the other hand, produce a lesser volume of milk with a higher fat to water content, meaning they produce a smaller amount of creamier milk. The diversity of the herd makes for a richer milk product when it is combined at the Creamery.

Back in the 1940s, Bill Straus, a German Jew who escaped Nazi Germany, started this herd with 23 Jersey cows, all named for various friends and relatives.  The herd is now nearly 600 healthy, organic cows strong, 275 of which are milking cows.  “The Girls” are given lots of space and live in an environment that is “as stress free as possible.”  This is not only important for their general well-being and happiness but it also keeps them all in excellent health and as a result there is a very low incidence of illness in the herd.

How do you give a herd of cows an environment that is as stress free as possible you might wonder?  Well, in addition to basic comforts like sleeping in a warm barn full of foam mattresses covered in rice hulls, at Straus the cows spend a good amount of their time grazing on fresh grass in the pastures.  Due to erosion concerns and the health of the herd, they spend their time out there when the weather permits, mostly from April to November, with the exception of very wet conditions.  To supplement their pasture diet, the Farm purchases 100% organic, vegetarian feed from a local mill and also throws in some nutrient rich silage that is fermented right there on the Farm with fodder from local, organic cover crops like alfalfa.  (I tried some, it was delightful!)  An interesting factoid related to the feed at Straus is that they are the first dairy product company to be non-GMO Project Verified!  Trust us, this is NO small feat and we commend their tireless efforts to this cause.  Not surprisingly, they are also Animal Welfare Approved.

Our wonderful Tour Guide showing off some of the ingredients in the organic, vegetarian feed.

Silage, a fermented fodder densely packed with nutrients from local, organic cover crops.

We then moved on to my favorite part of the tour.  I don’t think too much discussion on the subject is required so so just sit back and  enjoy this adorable intermission with a BABY COW PHOTO MONTAGE!!!

Baby Bertha is so sleeepppyyyyy....

Are you enamored?  We were!

As we were walking down the hill from the calf barn, I noticed there was something amiss…  Ever driven down I-5 or through an area with lots of dairy or cattle farms?  What’s the first thing that comes to your mind?  The acrid smell of animal waste, right?  Well, I was shocked when it suddenly occurred to me that all the time we had been on the farm discussing organic practices and taste testing probiotic cow fodder, I had yet to smell poop!  “What is this witchcraft?!?” I wondered to myself.  As we got closer everything was revealed; the answer is kind of magical, as it turns out…

Two words: METHANE DIGESTER.

View of the Methane Digester overlooking Tomales Bay.

Sounds pretty badass, right?  Well, it is.  Read on.

With a grant to help them get started, the Farm was able to put in an amazing piece of equipment that allows them to take the liquid waste[ii] from the cows as well as the waste water from the Creamery and through an anabolic process that separates the methane gasses, they create RENEWABLE ENERGY that powers everything on the farm, even some of the vehicles.  Read that sentence again if the amazingness hasn’t sunk in yet.  Not only does this drastically reduce their carbon footprint by negating their emissions, it also allows them to put the would-be detrimental by-products of raising milking cows to a very good use.  The system hasn’t just been environmentally beneficial, the Farm saves ~$4,000 a month in energy costs and the whole system paid for itself in only four years from the time it was installed.  I’m no financial guru but talk about a good ROI!!  That’s not just smart business, it’s environmentally responsible business that is paying off in every way.

Looking out towards the pastures...

You might be thinking that it’s impossible to beat that kind of eco-friendly cred!  Well, you’d be wrong.  Bill Straus wasn’t the only California pioneer and champion of responsible farming.  His wife, Ellen Straus was green waaaaay before it was hip!  She co-founded our country’s first agricultural land trust, the Marin Agricultural Land Trust, which can be credited with protecting and preserving the farming way of life in west Marin County, making it possible for the thriving, organic community of farmers that cultivate there today.   Albert Straus, their son, took on their legacy and converted the Straus farm to organic in 1994, the same year he founded the first 100% certified organic creamery in the US.  Talk about legit!

As we piled back into our cars to head to the Creamery, I have to admit I got a little verklempt ruminating on what a beautiful, holistic system the Straus Family and their colleagues have built in that place.  I truly admire the legacy that environmentalists Bill and Ellen Straus began and that their son Albert is now continuing to build.  I’m so tremendously grateful we have access to a product not only outstanding in flavor and quality but surpassing in environmental responsibility, not just for our candy products but for my personal use as well.  If I wasn’t a hardcore devotee to the line of Straus products before, I would be now.

To be continued at the Creamery….

Love,
Sugar

***Photos courtesy of the amazing Cap’n Rob!!***

[i] See what I did right there?  I made you recite the phrase “How now brown cow?” involuntarily in your head.
[ii] The solid waste is turned into organic fertilizer!  Nothing goes to, ahem, waste around here. Pun intended.

The Morning Glory – Bacon Caramels

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Here at Barbary Brix, we love some variety in our flavors. Long time fans will recognize that we’ve offered our own bacon + maple caramels from time to time…. That said, when we get a chance to try some new exciting ingredients, we’re all over it.  This is doubly so when we can get our hands on some responsibly raised, heritage breed bacon that comes from people dedicated to doing things right and keeping things local.

So when we heard from a friend that they could get us in contact with Tellurian to sample some of their Maialino Bacon, we immediately said, “YUP!”

If you’re looking for the short version: The Maialino Bacon combined with our base caramel recipe = scrumptious culinary bliss.

What follows is more about the bacon and how we prepped it than the caramels. But fear not, there’s plenty of carameley goodness to come at the end. It won’t be the wordiest article, but we think that you’ll appreciate it.

For the record, we cooked down 1lb. of this amazing bacon and added it to about 4lbs. of our basic caramel recipe. We didn’t add any maple, vanilla or anything else in order to let the true flavor of this amazing porcine product shine through.

We figured that this was a good post for tons of bacon pics, so if you’re a fan of the fine swine, keep reading.

Check out the marbling on this bacon!

Maialino Bacon in all of its uncooked glory!

Still in the package, almost taunting you with it's deliciousness!

So, once we get it out of the package, it’s time to cut it up into even sized pieces. While this isn’t an exact science, you can get pretty close:

We recommend slicing the bacon in half the long way before the short way to ensure smaller, more evenly sized pieces.

Slice those bad boys down the center the long way to set you up for an easier time cutting into smaller pieces in the next step.

Now it’s time to give your chopping skills a test. Try and cut the short way as evenly as possible.

Now chop it up!

Give it a nice even chop the short way!

About 1/8″ gives the best results we’ve seen, without being too difficult on the knife skills front. Don’t worry if there’s not exactly the same size, just get them as close as you can.  You’ll end up with a glorious pile of bacon bits that resembles something like this:

Uncooked Bacon bits!

Boom: uncooked bacon bits!

Now, into the pan on a medium heat. One word of warning, this is going to take a good 20 minutes or so, depending on your stove… So error on the side of the heat being a little too low so you don’t accidentally scorch your precious bacon!

Bacon in the pan, medium heat

This is where the magic starts to happen! Careful to not have the heat up too high!

Let it cook for a while… You’re going to see it start to sweat out and get a bit of a sheen to it:

Keep cooking!

Time to start keeping a closer eye on it!

You'll start to see more and more of the fat render. Keep an eye on it! If there is bacon grease popping out of the pan aggressively, turn the heat down a bit.

Getting closer!

Bacon's almost done! Just another minute or two!

Getting there! When you see it "foam" up a bit, you're just a couple of minutes away.

At this point, make sure you’re giving it a slow, steady stir to make sure that all the warm, rendered pork fat is evenly cooking the bacon bits:

Keep stirring the bacon to ensure even cooking!

Keep stirring to ensure an even cooking!

Okay, time to stop that cooking by pouring the whole mix through a strainer. Make sure to save the bacon fat for other treats! In this case, we had a wire strainer over a smaller pot.

Pour it out, make sure to save the flavor packed bacon grease!

Pour it out, make sure to save the flavor packed bacon grease!

Let it drain for a minute or so, then tap the side of the strainer a few times to knock any remaining grease off the bottom and you should be left with something as glorious as this:

Tell me that doesn't look like a little pile of heaven.

Resist the temptation to grab a handful of these: 1) Because you want all that bacon to make it in the caramel and 2) They're still hot as hell!

Next to make sure that we weren’t adding too much fat to our final caramel product, we did a quick blotting on a towel to get a little more of the grease off.

The bacon after a quick "wicking of the grease" on a towel

The bacon after a quick "wicking of the grease" on a towel

Now it’s time to add the bacon to some caramel that’s just getting finished cooking.

Meet your new home, little buddies!

Meet your new home, little buddies!

After a quick stir to ensure even distribution of the bacon bits, time to pour it out!

Pour that goodness!

Pour that goodness!

 

Put on some Yacht Rock, cause this stuff is smoooth!

Put on some Yacht Rock, cause this stuff is smoooth!

Now comes the hard part. You have to wait for the caramel to cool down to room temperature. Don’t worry it will be worth the wait. Once it’s “cool enough”, cut them up into whatever size piece you like. We go for “squarish”.

Little squares of heaven, waiting to get consumes...err.. wrapped up.

Little squares of heaven, waiting to get consumed...err... wrapped up.

Now, just wrap them up for later since you won’t be able to eat the whole pan in one go (trust us, not worth it no matter how good idea it seems at the time).

Resist the temptation to eat them here. Your friends and family will thank you.

Resist the temptation to eat them here. Your friends and family will thank you.

Just kidding, now’s the time to eat away! But any you do manage to save for a bit will garner you some serious brownie points with your friends and family.

Okay, enough out of us. I’d recommend heading down to the store, getting your hands on some caramel making ingredients and seeing if you can’t get your hands on Tellurian Bacon to recreate the magic!

-BBx

What’s the big deal about sustainability, anyway?

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You’re hearing it more and more these days.  Seems everyone is talking about “sustainability” and every company is using the word to try to sell you on their product.  But what does it really mean when it comes to food and why should you care?

Think about this: in less than 100 years, since the end of World War II and the introduction of chemical-based, factory farming we have done more harm to our physical environment than at any previous period in human history.  Digest that for a second.  Scary, right?  The current system is on a collision course; it’s simply not a sustainable way to persist if we expect the human race to survive and thrive on a continued basis.

The good news is that we’re still in a period where much of the damage is reversible or can, at the very least, be mitigated.  So, your food choices matter.  Every time you eat you “vote” with your food choice for the type of system you want to live in: one on a path to collapse or one that can continue to sustain itself and life on our planet.

We’re not experts at this and we’re not about to jump on a soapbox about it but it’s worth starting to care about and you can learn more about the growing sustainability movement from these guys, who are just a few of the fantastic organizations working to increase awareness and provide educational resources to consumers:

Share your thoughts with us in the comments section below!!

Yours truly,
Sug + The Cap’n 

Natural Products Expo West – THIS WEEK

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We’ll be heading down to Anaheim join the venerable collective of producers exhibiting at the Buyer’s Best Friend “city of food” as Adam of BBF put it.  This will be our first trip to Expo West and we’re very excited!  Come say hello to us at Booth #3899 for caramel treats and sweet dance moves.

Okay, there won’t be any dancing (unless you ask Sugar very nicely – it doesn’t take much to get her to embarrass herself) but there will be delicious caramels!  We’re bringing these ones:

The Salty Dog {Balinese Sea Salt Caramels}
The Eligible Heiress {Vanilla Bean Caramels}
The Distinguished Gentleman {Cocoa Bean Caramels}
The Windfall {Roasted Almond + Vanilla Bean Caramels}
The Mother Lode {Raw Cocoa Nib Caramels}

So much deliciousness (and maybe awkward dancing).

See you there!
The Cap’n + Sug 

Caramel Fondue Recipe

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There’s about as many different modern versions of fondue as there are Swiss people in Switzerland.  (Which is about 7.5 million in case you were wondering.) I mean, it’s obvious why that is, right?

 “Let’s dip delicious stuff into warm delicious sauce!”

Genius.  But here’s a better question: why should cheese and chocolate get to have all the fun!?

Formula 79, to the rescue!  Our newest (and possibly dreamiest) caramel treat is a salted vanilla bean caramel sauce.  Named for the atomic weight of gold, it’s rich and buttery with a subtle sweetness and soft creaminess.  We cook it in small batches using our flavorful, unique sugars, rich Strauss cream, freshly scraped vanilla beans, and a hint of Balinese Sea Salt.

Like all of our delectable caramel treats, we don’t use corn syrup, refined white sugar, butter, preservatives, or anything artificial.  In fact, we only use sustainably farmed, organic, ultra premium ingredients like minimally processed sugars that add complex, layered flavors and nutritional value while also being lower glycemic and gluten free.

How perfect is it then, that the fondue world was crying out for a new medium to dip all those yummy cookies, breads, pretzels, and fruits in?  Is there a prize for solving important problems such as these?  If so, we accept.

Barbary Brix's Formula 79 caramel fondue

For our super simple recipe below, we selected some local, organic strawberries and Pink Lady apples, cooked up some Applegate bacon, toasted some organic mini waffles, and got our hands on Annie’s Organic Pretzel Bunnies and Mary’s Gone Crackers’ Pretzel Sticks. You can pretty much use anything you think would taste good with warm, dreamy caramel sauce all over it.

Here’s the step by step:

  1. Prep the things you want to dip.
  2. Pour jar of Formula 79 into sauce pan.
  3. Warm on low heat until desired temperature.  We suggest, slightly warm.
  4. Pour into fondue pot or bowl.
  5. Dip your treats!
  6. Enjoy.
  7. Repeat.

Don’t forget the bubbly!  All of our caramels pair exquisitely with the sparking white wines but none as wonderfully as the Formula 79.  It’s like they were made for each other (tres romantique!) and if we at BBx have strong convictions about anything it’s that you never need a “special” occasion to pop open a bottle of the champ-fun!

Cheers!
Sugar + The Cap’n

PS  We understand if you’re too excited to wait for the caramel sauce to warm up to fondue temperatures.  So, we’ll just make sure and mention that this sauce is smooth, dip-able, and spreadable, even when it’s cold.

PPS It really took a lot of self control to not title this post: “Fondue me, baby!!”  Don’t judge.

Caramel Apple Pie Recipe

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The Salty Dog Caramels + Organic Fuji Apples

Here in the ol’ USA we love both our traditions as well as our innovation.  So, Team BBx has gone ahead and concocted a tasty variation of the quintessential American dessert using delicious Barbary Brix caramel.  Yes, Caramel + Apple Pie.  It tastes as amazing as it sounds.

Before we start, here’s a few items of note…
APPLES:  We recommend using a “sweet” apple like Red Delicious or Fuji.
SUGAR:  We recommend using a “good” sugar!  You know, an organic one that isn’t over processed so you get more of the nutrients and enzymes your body needs to digest it well.  For example: coconut palm nectar, evaporated cane juice, etc. Keep in mind, depending on the type of sugar you use, it may be more or less sweet.  You can change the quantity of the GRANULATED sugars in the recipe to your liking without affecting the way the dish turns out but be careful with the SYRUPs – they add more liquid so we don’t recommend using them in this recipe.

Ingredients:

  • 1 Box uncooked French Picnic® brand pre-made piecrusts OR Make your own, you’ll need two crusts
  • 5-6 Medium apples (or 7-8 small ones) peeled and sliced into ¼” thick slices
  • ½ – ¾ c. Sugar
  • 4 T. Flour
  • 1 T. Ground cinnamon (optional)
  • ½  t. Ground cardamom (optional)
  • ½  t. Salt
  • 10-15 The Salty Dog or The Eligible Heiress caramel chews cut into quarters
  • 1 egg white, beaten (optional)
  • 1 T. Milk
  • Lots of LOVE (Mom’s secret ingredient; works like magic.)

Equipment:

  • Vegetable peeler
  • Cutting board + Chef’s knife
  • Pie pan
  • Prep bowls
  • Pastry brush
  • Wire rack

First things first, adjust your oven rack to the center and preheat the oven to 425°.  Pull your pastry crusts out of the freezer, if you are using pre-made ones, and bring to room temperature.  Make your egg wash by gently beating egg white with milk and set aside in the refrigerator.

Next prep your fruit by coring, peeling, and slicing the apples into 1/4″ slices.  To prevent them from turning brown while you work on other things, put the slices in a bowl of cold water with a squeeze of lemon juice.  The citric acid prevents them from browning.  You’ll need to drain and dry them well before using.  We recommend using a salad spinner to spin the excess water off.

 

Combine flour cinnamon, cardamom, and salt. We love using cardamom with any kind of fruit dish but you can leave this and/or the cinnamon out if you’d like.

 

 

After you’ve combined your dry ingredients, in a large prep bowl, combine your flour mixture with your drained and dried apple slices and toss to coat apples in the flour mixture.  Set aside.

Next, unwrap and your caramel pieces like so and then cut into quarters as pictured below.  We used The Salty Dog for this demo but any of the varieties could be swapped in depending on your preference.  Be sure to compost the discarded wrappers along with the apple peels and cores!

Gently place the first pie crust into the bottom of your pie dish and make sure that the crust is touching the sides and bottom of the dish.

We love French Picnic® brand pre-made pastry crusts.  They are flaky and full of flavor.  They don’t use any hydrogenated oils or artificial ingredients, which is impressive.  The texture of the cooked product is ideal, not just for pie but for lots of other pastry applications.  Not only are these crusts superior in every way, the company is just down the hallway from our kitchen in SF.  In summary, we’re big fans.  We picked ours up at the Whole Foods on California and Franklin in San Francisco.

Now it’s time to assemble your pie!  Start by evenly spreading 1/3 of the apples into the pie crust followed by 1/3 of the caramel pieces.  Then sprinkle 1/3 of the sugar evenly over the layer of apples and caramel.  Repeat two times until you have added all of the apples, caramel, and sugar to the dish.

For this demo we used a homemade vanilla sugar made with organic evaporated cane juice and vanilla beans.  You can use any granulated sugar that you prefer.  Coconut palm nectar, sucanat or another “brown” sugar also taste great and add a molassasey flavor.

 

Once you’ve filled your pie, you need to cover it with the second pie crust.  You can do a lattice crust as pictured below or simply put the entire crust over the top in one single layer making sure to join the bottom and top layers of crust.  If you choose to do a single layer on top, be sure to use a paring knife to cut decorative holes on the top to ventilate the pie during cooking.

The last step before cooking is to use a pastry brush to lightly brush the top of the pie with the egg wash.  Doing this will make the crust shiny and golden brown.  If you’d like, sprinkle sugar on top of the egg wash for a little extra sweetness and caramelization.

Cook the pie for 15 minutes in a 425° oven then reduce heat to 375° for remaining 30-35 minutes until filling is bubbling and crust is nice and golden brown.

Remove and let cool on a wire rack for at least an hour.

While you wait in eager anticipation for your delicious pie to cool, go grab a cup of coffee or other tasty beverage.  We took a break from our hard recipe testing and headed over to one of our favorite spots, the Blue Bottle kiosk in Hayes Valley and grabbed some coffee to enjoy with our pie…

Which tasted as scrumptious as it looks here!  We drizzled it with our (coming soon) Salted Vanilla Bean Caramel Sauce, The Formula 79, for a little extra caramel flavor and added a little vanilla ice cream for good measure.  We, clearly, never get sick of this stuff…

Click this link: BBx Caramel Apple Pie for a printable PDF with step-by-step instructions.

Let us know how your pie turned out in the comments section below!!

-The BBx Team

Dear Santa…

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We’ve been very good this year (so far).  It’s a little early for this but since the holiday season gets busy both at BBx and at The North Pole, we thought we’d get our Dear Santa in early.

If it’s not too much trouble, please send us a double twist wrapping machine for Christmas this year.  Either that or maybe loan us some of your elves?  We pay in candy and we saw Elf so we know how much elves like candy…

Also, will you take caramels and bourbon in the place of cookies and milk?  Let us know, we’re flexible but we’ve got a really nice Maple + Bacon caramel coming out if you’re into it…

Thanks in advance for all your help,
The BBx Team

Our Ingredients: Coconut Palm Nectar

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The primary sugar used in Barbary Brix caramels is the delightfully healthy and delicious Coconut Palm Nectar! We use it for a lot of meritorious reasons, which I will now illuminate for you below…


  1. It’s the most environmentally sustainable sweetener crop in the WORLD! Well, at least according The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO)…
  2. It’s lower glycemic than almost any other sugar!
  3. It’s good for you with vitamins, mineral and enzymes your body needs!
  4. It tastes delicious on its own or in other foods – especially caramel!

I know what you’re thinking… “Prove it!” So here goes…

Coconut Palm uses a very small amount of water compared to other sweetener crops. In addition, it is grown in tropical climates with lots of rain so the farmers don’t have to do any irrigating. The plants themselves produce a very high yield of nectar for a small crop area and they also – get this – REPLENISH nutrients in the soil rather than depleting it. In addition, the farmers don’t have to destroy the plant to harvest the nectar, making the sugar a renewable resource. On top of all that, unlike conventional sugars like white sugar (mostly made from GMO beets) the Coconut Palm Nectar is unrefined so it retains the vitamins, minerals, and enzymes your body needs in order to digest it well. Which, brings me to my next point – when you talk about lower glycemic sweeteners, it doesn’t get much lower than this.

What exactly does that mean and why should you care? To get a really easy-to-understand explanation of how different types of sugars are broken down in your body, read our guest blogger, Alex Mart’s post here! In the meantime, to make it short and sweet (pun intended), when your body processes sugars it needs certain enzymes and nutrients to do it without causing a huge spike in blood sugar.

Coconut Palm Sugar is loaded with B-vitamins, macro-nutrients like Potassium and Zinc, and plenty of good enzymes your body needs. Eating nutritious sugars, like this, allow your body to break the carbohydrates down gradually without depleting your stored mineral and vitamin resources. So, this is obviously good for everyone but the lower glycemic index make it especially good for diabetics, people with hypoglycemia and children who suffer from sugar-induced spastic episodes (so pretty much ALL of them).

Wanna see a comparison chart of different sugars’ nutrient content? Check it!

Last, but certainly not least is the fact that Coconut Palm Nectar tastes amazing and is a perfect addition to our caramels. Not too sweet but rich and complex, it creates layers of flavor so you end up with a smooth, fragrant caramel that tastes like caramel, not sugar. Don’t believe us? SF Weekly food writer, Jon Kauffman, recently described the flavor by saying: “While the Barbary Brix sweets are as sticky as conventional sugar caramels, the rice and coconut sweeteners give them a deeper, most complex flavor — similar to the difference between a piece of toast smeared with butter-flavored Crisco and one slathered in Irish cultured butter.” You can read more of his review here.

Are you also wondering where we get ours from? I’ll tell you anyway! While over two thirds of the ingredients in our products are local, there aren’t currently any Northern California coconut palm farms so we import this ingredient from Big Tree Farms, a sustainable co-op of small scale farmers in Bali. The technique used by these farmers to collect the nectar is the least damaging to the tree as it involves collecting nectar from the flower (inflorescence) rather than “tapping” the tree for sap. Big Tree Farms’ Coconut Palm Nectar is the most eco-friendly Palm Nectar on the market today and we feel great about their commitment to social and ecological responsibility.

Want to read more?? Here’s some cool links:

Other Cool Sustainable Products: ColcaSac

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Heyoooo! Sugar here…

So, I recently replaced my old, antiquated iBook with a shiny new laptop, which I desperately needed after leaving my desk job for the world of better-for-you sweets! Of course, I also needed a way to protect my little efficiency facilitator from damage so I went on the hunt for a case. I was looking for something that, like Barbary Brix candy, was made with quality, sustainable materials in a responsible manner.
What did I find? Only the coolest electronics case company out there, ColcaSac!! Not only are these babies handmade using sustainable materials but they are affordable and the company itself belongs to 1% For The Planet to boot! You can choose from tons of different designs for your iPad, MacBook, iPhone, or Kindle. They even make shoulder bags!!
I’ve been using my Lappy (aka laptop) sleeve for over a month now and it’s FANTASTIC. I love how soft and snugly it fits. Speaking of snuggling, I feel like I’m tucking it into a fuzzy, warm sleeping bag every time I put it away. (Sweep tight, wittle Wappy!!) Bottom line, it looks great, does its job, and makes me feel good knowing how it’s made. Needless to say, I’m a huge fan and I’m not the only one:
ColcaSac has the Official Sugar Stamp of Approval!