From Farm to Monastery
At the small business expo I went to last week (with Saratoga Peanut Butter) I saw some wonderful, creative businesses. One in particular stuck out in my mind!
Hill n’ Hollow is a small business that makes vinegars, chutneys and some other fruit related things (like their farmhouse crunch).
The farm on their bottles is actually their farm! They grow all the gooseberries, blueberries, rhubarb, and elderberries for their products. The only lie in the picture is the sun- it’s in the wrong place!
Gooseberry- This vinegar has the most delicious Asian flair. Its sweet and tart, perfect for really gourmet sushi rice! In fact, I’ll be ordering for that purpose very soon.
Elderberry- I can see myself using this on a salad of baby greens. The sweet and subtle flavors stand up to spinach or arugula. They recommend it with game meats (which I imagine would be amazing!) and it would be amazing drizzled over roasted potatoes, asparagus, or shallots.
Sweet n Spicy Blueberry- This is so good! It’s like a fruity balsamic reduction that tastes like the middle of summer. She was serving it on strawberries, which was amazing! I will be making a strawberry and pear salad with this vinegar very soon!
Other vinegar serving options:
-Marinate vegetables, tender fish, or chicken in it
-Serve with bread for a pre-meal appetizer (the blueberry vinegar is amazing with whole grain sunflower seed bread and toasted sesame oil!)
-Serve with fries or chips (potato, sweet potato, or parsnip) for that classic tart fries and vinegar flavor.
They also make these really different “Farmhouse Crunch” fruit and nut blends. This flavor is make with their own dried blueberries and walnuts. It’s so delicious on a salad or on oatmeal, and it doesn’t lose its crunch like granola does. Even try it on ice cream!
I love it because it’s made with local produce and is completely gluten free + vegan!
In addition, they offer a line of chutneys, including blueberry, rhubarb, and tomato.
I highly recommend all of their products. You can order them online, but not directly from Hill ‘n’ Hollow. This is where the monastery comes in. They sell their farm fresh products to the monks of Genesee, and the monks sell them online. It’s an “everybody wins” situation!
Above, the best food ever: baked parsnip chips and blueberry vinegar.
Click here to order online, or…
Leave a comment on this page to enter a giveaway for the blueberry vinegar and a package of the farmhouse crunch. Tell me your favorite way to use vinegar!
For an extra entry, paste this link into your post if you have a blog:
Click here to win Hill n’ Hollow gourmet vinegar and blueberry crunch!
And for one more entry, add OhhMay to your blog roll and then leave a comment letting me know you did.
You have until next Monday, April 19th, to enter. Good luck!
I really think you will enjoy these products. They make a simple salad a treat and they’re also a great gift for any foodie. The products add a little gourmet flair to anything you cook up. I wouldn’t be saying this if I didn’t love them!
Ohh May... 
well now thats totally cool. I’ve been spending my evening searching for a local CSA group to try out. and see something farmish right in my email. Ok, I totally un-envy all those gooseberry pickers; man those prickers hurt when you get too close. I wonder if you could use them for anything, or if they are completely useless. They might be too fragile to make needles out of, so what else is there for millions of inch long pokey stingy things right next to luscious berries? Did you bake the parsnip chips?
Yup, they were baked! 🙂
The blueberry vinegar sounds so interesting! My favorite way to use vinegar would be in pancakes (as a buttermilk substitute) 🙂
Yay, very cool!
My favorite way to use vinegar is in salad dressing!
And you are on my blog roll 🙂
You already had me convinced to buy some before I got to the giveaway part of your post!
I use vinegar as a salad dressing and as a marinade for roasted or grilled veggies. I bet all those flavors would be great!
i love using vin on all sorts of salads. Pasta salad included!!
I just added you to my blog roll! come check out my blog too!!:)
hi may! o gosh your reviews of the different vinegars really had my tastebuds going! they sounded so delish! my favorite way to use vinegar is actually combining rice vinegar with soy sauce and mirin to make my version of what I call the “teriyakaWOW sauce”. great for stir frys!
you’re also added to my blogroll via google reader!
I’ve never tried blueberry vinegar but raspberry vingar is my fav for salad dressings. I also like to mix balsamic vinegar with mustard to dip my veggies in. And applie cider vinegar + tomato paste + spices for homemade ketchup!
Favorite vinegar use is definitely vinaigrette. That and flavoring sushi rice!
Oh also you’re on my blogroll =)
I loving using vinegar to make salad dressings! 🙂
The blueberry sounds so good! I like to make my own salad dressing or roast veggies with it!
The berry vinegars sound so cool and delish! I love raspberry red wine vinegar, so these would be great. My favorite way to use it is as a salad dressing or tofu/tempeh marinade!
I’m a vinegar-aholic, I put it on EVERYTHING! Blueberry vinegar sounds like it would make a great salad dressing though.
Vinegar is great for all kinds of dressings!
I don’t really have a favorite way to use vinegar as I use it often! I love trying new flavors like port wine or champagne. I use them in everything from a slaw to a sauce or marinade.
What an interesting company to feature. Blueberry vinegar sounds so unique. I bet it would make a delicious vinaigrette for fresh summer lettuces. My favorite way to use vinegar right now is to marinate strawberries in balsamic vinegar with a sprinkle of sugar. Delicious eaten as is, with salad, or even over vanilla ice cream!
I go through a lot of vinegar! I love balsamic on green salads, or with honey on a fruit salad. I would love to try the blueberry on both of those things! Non-food uses include adding white vinegar to the laundry and mixed with water to clean my kitchen counters. Vinegar is the best!
ohhhhhh mae. i love me some vinegar. i use it nearly daily on salads with mustard, to steam my veggies or just in a custom health concoction i make when i’m feeling sluggish. i love bluebs! i hope i win some vinegar 😀
I love vinegar in an avocado salad with a squirt of lemon
You’re on my blogroll
This would save me some time and ingredients when I make fruit vinaigrettes for salad dressings!
I usually use it to make a salad dressing of some kind.
that looks/sounds heavenly! i use them everyday on my lunchtime salad – peach/mango salsa, hot sauce, mustard, vinegar 🙂
and you’re on the blogroll girl!
rice vinegar on sushi
Lately I’ve been using it for salad dressings. Also I drink Raw Apple Cider Vinegar, I like to drink it by mixing it with ice cold water and stevia. soooo goooood.
you are on the blogroll!
I love balsalmic vinegar! It helped me lose weight by eating heirloom tomatoes and cucumbers with a big splash of basalmic vinegar. When I can find it in my local store I choose a flavored vinegar like gooseberry.
My favorite hands down
Strawberries, sour cream brown sugar drizzled with basalmic vinegar – yum!
Oh May! you are on my blogroll
Um, I want to play! Those vinegars sound great! The Gooseberry sounds delicious! 🙂
This is an awesome giveaway, May!
This may seem weird, but I use balsamic vinegar as my default when I have no idea what to use for a liquid, haha. I especially love it with burnt broccoli. Never fails! I would lovee to try a vinegar other than balsamic with it. oh! and balsamic-honey glazed salmon 😛
Annnd, no idea why you weren’t on my blogroll before – but you are now!
didn’t know that vinegar can come in that many variates! interesting! maybe try out on some sushi 😀
you are on my blogroll 😀
hey Mae! im so sorry i have not come out sooner, i kept saying to myself that i was going to comment before but for some crazy reason didn’t, I have been following for a little while now! im from Michigan and just like you, i am graduating from highschool very soon! but anyways i love your blog and really do admire you greatly for all of your gifts and talent in the kitchen, athletics, etc! so very nice to meet you!
p.s. i love vinegars in my salads and apple cider vinegar!
thankyou so much!
OMG I love anything blueberry!! I like using vinegar on salads!!
Well, I have been a “wheatard” (as my husband calls me) for about 2 years now…or in other words have been diagnosed with Celiac disease! I am always in the market for awesome gluten free treats!
One of my favorite things to do with vinegar is to make a vinegar and fruit reduction. My favorite is a fig balsamic reduction. I chop up the figs, sautee them in balsalmic vinegar and bring the mix to a light boil for a few minutes and then reduce to a simmer to thicken it up. Meanwhile I like to toss some veggies in olive oil (best mix, eggplant, asparagus, red onions, and bell peppers) and sprinkle with a little salt and pepper and grill them! Then I drizzle the veggies with the fig balsamic glaze and I am in heaven!!
Hope you enjoy it if you try it 🙂
THIS SOUNDS AWESOME! 🙂
The vinegars sound amazing – so unique! Fun giveaway.
I LOVE blueberries!! 😀
My favorite way to use vinegar? I add it to water and drink it daily! It helped me lose over 100 pounds and has helped me maintain the weight loss as well. (I use the organic apple cider vinegar with “Mother” – raw, unfiltered, with enzymes intact.)
Thanks for the giveaway, Mae!
Hugs,
Michele
These sound so good. I love berries. I have not tried berry vinegar but sounds awesome for a salad dressing – that is mostly what I use vinegar for!
I love vinegar on homemade sweet potato fries. yum!
Oooh . . . all of their products sound so delicious! My favorite way to use vinegar is pretty boring and has already been said, but it’s so true – as a salad dressing. I rarely even mix it with anything for a dressing anymore. If it’s a good flavored vinegar I just use it straight. YUM!
I use vinegar on salads and veggies mostly.
I love using vinegar to tranform humnut cheese into salad dressing (hummus+ nooch+ hot sauce+ vinegar). I also have (unrelated to vinegar) developed “babaganooch” (babaghanoush + nooch + hot sauce+).
I am linking back on my blog tonight!
And you’re on my blog roll 🙂
I just subscribed!
Now that I have been stalking your blog for a little while I figure it’s a perfect time to comment.
1. cause you are doing an awesome giveaway and
2. because I am eating a humnut pizza as we speak! (w/ tofu, spinach, tomato and artichoke, yum)
My favorite use for vinegar is definitely to cook asparagus in! On salads is a close second
Such a cool giveaway! It sounds so good. I’m sure that my hubby would want to make a salad dressing with it, he makes some amazing dressings!
I use straight red wine vinegar as my salad dressing. I’m addicted to the flavor!
hey! love vinegar as a dip too, namely sweet potato oven fries. and smoked salmon. i dont why its good, but i go with it.
As a flavor enhancer! Marinade, tofu/meat tenderizer, in stoneground mustard with sweetener as a dipping sauce, dressings etc.
Yum! That Farmhouse Crunch sounds delicious!
My favourite use of vinegar is definitely to put it in salad dressings, it adds that added tang that is oh-so necessary.
I love to use it on my salad and to dip veggies in.
I love vanilla vinegar on salads! Fig is good too 🙂
And…I love gummi vitamins. I don’t eat 10 at a time either 🙂
My favorite way to use vinegar is one of the simplest ways – with a drop of olive oil and salt and pepper on some salad leaves. Yum!
Great giveaway! My favorite way to use vinegar is mixed with peanut butter as a dressing for asian noodles… so awesome! don’t bash it till you try it!
i love vinegar in potato salad. i prefer it to mayo.
linked back: http://theactorsdiet.wordpress.com/giveaways/
I like using vinegar to add flavor to marinated veggies!
vinegar is best for salad dressing!
I love using flavored vinegars on salads! I’ve never tried blueberry vinegar..looks great!