White Pine Products: Kinda Nutty
January 6th, 2010
Maple spice hazelnut, brussels sprout and bacon spaghetti loaded with freshly grated parmesan and a good squeeze of lime juice.
A couple years ago I wrote a story about locally grown horseradish (wasabi grows in the Pacific Northwest too by the way) and for that I interviewed the Krizos in the Klamath Basin. It was a really interesting story to research and then I didn’t talk with the Krizos for a couple years.
A few weeks ago I got to see the working cover design for my book Food Lover’s Guide to Portland. I love it and I should because I took all of the cover photos except one — the one of the Krizos’ harvest truck.
So I got to check in with them about this agricultural shot of their truck filled to the brim with horseradish. They gave the green light and that opened up the dialogue. A couple weeks later I heard from their son — Ira Krizo — who lives in town and runs a thriving local, wholesale food business — White Pine Products. Ira provided the recipe to go with that seasonal horseradish story in 2007 — horseradish crusted filet mignon with a blue cheese cream sauce.
In 2007 Ira’s all-natural (some organic) White Pine Products — granolas, candied nuts, pancake mixes, and more — were only in a few stores. Since then WPP has grown and diversified. You can now find White Pine Products in local Whole Foods Markets, Market of Choice stores, and other food and drink shops around town.
The past few weeks I’ve been lucky enough to sample several White Pine Products and here are a few of the tasty treats I’ve enjoyed as a result…
Caramalized onion, feta, white wine and spinach spaghetti topped with candied pecans.
Butter lettuce, bacon, egg, and maple spice hazelnut salad with a miso lime vinaigrette.
As you can see from the photo below there’s a lot more to White Pine Products than spiced nuts (Although WPP’s are so fresh and perfectly spiced they takes spiced nuts to a whole new level.) I’ll let you know how the pancake mixes, granola and muesli are next time…
White Pine Products line-up.
White Pine Products
503.794.4083
www.whitepine.us
WPP online store
January 9th, 2010 at 7:05 am
I’ll be on the lookout for White Pine products. I shop at Whole Foods occasionally so will ask there. Wow, that butter lettuce salad is something else. Brussel sprouts and spagetti, gotta try it.
January 9th, 2010 at 10:41 am
Cathy — I’m hoping to cook up some of the pancakes tomorrow morning for breakfast. Or maybe for a breakfast dinner tonight…
If I were to recommend one item for starters I’d go with the maple spiced hazelnuts. Incredible.
January 15th, 2010 at 10:39 am
Awesome products. Candied pecans are good on many things but I never thought to add them to pasta. Great idea! Everything looks delicious.
January 15th, 2010 at 11:11 am
Thanks Lisa! Yeah, I like to add ground or chopped nuts to pasta. I also like nicely toasted breadcrumbs because they both add bite and good toasty flavor.
January 16th, 2010 at 10:44 am
Lovely pictures. Now I’m hungry! I’ve never thought to grow wasabi, but horseradish grows like a weed here in the PNW; anyone can do it! The leaves make lovely bushes (and you can use them in pickling to keep cukes crisp). You really do have to contain the plants, though. A runaway horseradish once tried to eat my garden path.
January 16th, 2010 at 11:28 am
Eugenia — I grew horseradish for a couple years and then it died last year. I don’t know what happened. Like you I contained it with a buried barrier and it grew big and deep and then just failed to come up again. When I processed it I wore goggles and still had to run out of the room every few seconds for air! I didn’t know that about the leaves keeping cukes crisp — great to know. I always use grape leaves for that. Good to have another option.
From what I know of wasabi (I wrote a story about local wasabi here — http://www.portlandtribune.com/features/story.php?story_id=30987) it needs a lot of attention incl. constantly circulating water. I think I’ll continue to just buy mine thank you very much!