Delivering a Taste of Home, Local Comfort Foods Can Make the Greatest Gifts

The package arrives days before Christmas (or

the start of Hanukkah, your birthday or wedding). It’s labeled perishable, so no use waiting … you open it right away.

As you pull away the wrapping and the gift is revealed, memories of home come flooding back. You quickly break off a nibble – better check to make sure it’s OK – and one bite transports you to your roots on Minnesota’s Iron Range, in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula or in Ontario’s Thunder Bay. You savor the taste of a family tradition.

Food and celebrations are inextricably woven together, whether it’s a national favorite such as turkey for Thanksgiving or more local, like pickled herring on the Christmas buffet. The food on the table often speaks of family and tradition.

It’s little wonder then that long-distance orders for Big Lake regional favorites skyrocket during the holiday season with locals sending food gifts to far-flung family members or displaced natives ordering for themselves, many placing their orders year after year.

A tour of such local delicacies from around the Big Lake reveals an array of irresistible eats – and maybe a new tradition for you.

Potica

Immigrants from Slovenia, Croatia and Serbia who settled on Minnesota’s Iron Range to work in the mines first brought potica (po-ti-suh) to the area. Hailing from a locale where walnut trees were abundant, this Old World pastry features a rich ground nut filling laced with butter, honey and sugar. A cross-section slice reveals its signature feature, the spiral of abundantly rolled layers.

It was in the 1960s that Ginny Forti first convinced her father, Vincent Forti, to add potica to their offerings at the Sunrise Bakery in Hibbing. Already offering a variety of ethnic specialties from the melting pot of Iron Range cultures, Vincent perfected the technique to produce a rich walnut potica. Ginny and her sister Linda set about marketing it locally and to the Twin Cities and beyond. A review in the LA Times launched them to fame and voluminous orders. “We got an unbelievable number of calls,” Ginny recalls.

Today their potica is still rolled the old-fashioned way. Two to three bakers flank a long table and urge the filling-covered pastry into a 12-foot long roll. That is cut into 8-inch logs for baking. Ginny reveals her interpretation of what makes a good potica: “Real ingredients with no preservatives, and a really rich filling. And thin layers.”

Two generations later (and the fourth in the bakery’s history), potica remains one of the bakery’s best sellers. It is a year-round favorite, but orders increase tenfold at Christmas. Ginny has passed the bakery mantle to nephew Paul Forti and his wife, Hannah, but is still active at the business. She especially enjoys talking to customers on the phone, where inevitably stories and memories pour out when she takes their order.

“A typical call lasts 20 minutes. Many of these people have not lived on the Range for 50 years or more. They want to talk about old times here, and memories of my dad in the bakery.”

Hannah notes that they get holiday orders from all over the country, with a high rate of repeat customers.

“Many of our customers will send potica as a gift and include a message such as ‘Happy Holidays, here is a taste of home,’” she adds.

It’s this association with home that allows regional foods to stay firmly entrenched in their territory, according to Lee Svitak Dean, “Taste” editor of the Star Tribune in Minneapolis.

“Most of us have food memories that are quite strong,” she explains. “Food memories tap into all the senses, which may be why they are so powerful. And those memories can reflect the foods of our community, as well as our family. They are meaningful because of their familiarity, which reflects ‘home’ to us.”

Pasties

The pasty (pass-tee) planted strong roots in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan and, once again, it was mining that brought the food to the region. While access to walnuts may have sprouted potica, though, the pasty grew from more pragmatic work-related reasons. Cornish miners flocked to the U.P. in the 1800s looking for jobs when tin mining was declining in England. In addition to their mining expertise they brought their

pasties. The portable pies stuffed with meat, potatoes and onions encased in pastry made a convenient and hearty meal for their long days down in the mines. The initials of the baker (usually the wife) stamped on one corner identified the owner, and cold pasties could always be warmed on a shovel over a headlamp candle. The pasty soon found favor with miners of all ethnic backgrounds and ultimately adorned dinner plates outside the mines, which accounts for its enduring popularity. It also has a following in Minnesota’s mining country.

Since the early 1990s, Pasty Central has been making and shipping pasties out of Kearsage, Michigan. What originally began as a fundraiser to support the Still Waters Assisted Living Community in Calumet has become a flourishing business operated out of a USDA-inspected facility. But the company owners remain true to their roots. Coupled with Pasty.NET, an internet service provider business that actually pays the bills, the pasty operation has no paid management and all proceeds continue to be donated back to support elder care.

With no retail outlet, Pasty Central’s pasties are primarily sold through their website, says Charlie Hopper, general manager of the family business. “We don’t have one set of customers – 99.9 percent of our pasties are shipped to individuals across the country. The Fed Ex truck is our shop.”

Here again, there is a high repeat rate among customers. “Some people have ordered every year since 1996. They tell all their friends. They are frequently ordered as gifts for other people.”

Charlie credits their shipping policy for their popularity and reorder rate. With a flat shipping rate regardless of location, he says, “We don’t penalize people for living far from the UP.”

Charlie fondly remembers one delivery in particular. “My wife and I loaded up the car with 600 pasties and drove them to The Villages in Florida. There are a lot of people from the U.P. there, and they hold a Yooper Banquet.” Invited to stay for the festivities, Charlie was also asked to say a few words about the causes that Pasty Central has supported over the years.

When asked what makes a pasty remarkable, Charlie ruminates on a particularly good experience at the summer Pasty Fest in Calumet. Standing on a street corner in a bit of rain, with passersby asking where to find the pasties, he savored “the flaky crust and the way the potatoes were diced up with good quality ground meat, with rutabagas and onions. I could tell they used a little vinegar, which goes to the crust and makes it tangy.”

Without addressing the pasty ingredient debate – with or without rutabagas, etc. – or the condiment debate – ketchup, gravy, butter or plain – Charlie offers his pasty opinion: “The best tasting pasty is when you are really hungry.”

Persians

You might think a country inspired a name for the Persian, but the Thunder Bay delicacy owes its name to history rather than an ethnic group. It is reputed to be named for John “Blackjack” Pershing, a World War I general who visited the city bakery owned by Art Bennett. Bennett’s Bakery decided to name a treat after the general, and the Persian was born.

Mario Nucci purchased Bennett’s and popularized the pastry when he launched a series of coffee shops named The Persian Man. Today his son Danny and two brothers, Sandy and Joe, own the shops. Danny’s son Spencer assists them. Persians are made fresh seven days a week. Many restaurants offer “Persians,” but Danny owns the trademark to the name. His, he points out, are the original.

So just what are Persians? A simple description would be to call it a cinnamon bun, deep fried and smothered in pink icing. Danny asserts that the icing is essential to its quality. “It starts with a rich cinnamon bun product, but it’s the secret of the icing itself that sells the product.” When asked the flavor, he states coyly, “Pink.”

The Persian Man now sells three varieties of Persians – blueberry, chocolate and the traditional pink. Because the pastry must be fresh, most sales are through their own shops or local retail outlets.

“This is a ‘want’ item,” Danny explains. The want may come from someone who grew up with Persians, or a visitor who has been advised they must sample a Persian when in Thunder Bay.

Shipments are expensive, due to the perishable nature of the product. However, some die-hard fans willingly pay $60 to $80 Canadian in shipping for one or two dozen Persians. Kathy, Danny’s wife, remembers a phone order from an elderly lady. “She grew up on Persians and wanted to surprise her 70-year-old sister with them.”

Holiday orders tend to be purchased locally and brought to family and friends out of town.

“Although we normally do all our baking at night,” Kathy says, “we may need to make a batch during the daytime to meet these extra orders.”

Trenary Toast

While most other Big Lake food traditions might have multiple good locales for purchasing, Trenary Toast is made exclusively at a single location – the Trenary Home Bakery in the center of the U.P. Its origins, though, are far more common.

The twice-baked bread, sometimes called a rusk, was commonly made in homes in the 1800s. As late as the 1950s, it was still made by grandmothers and ladies in

church basements. But the coffee-dunking standard was a hassle to make, says Andy Reichert, owner of the Trenary Home Bakery. “Each time someone stopped making it, the bakery got more orders. We started delivering to stores, and folks didn’t make their own anymore.”

Even bakeries stopped making it. “We’re sort of the last man standing,” Andy says. They are the only bakery that specializes in toast as their main product. “Toast is probably two-thirds of the throughput in our bakery, producing 700 to 1,000 bags a day.”

The tradition of cinnamon toast was originally born of frugality. Twice baking eliminated the moisture in the bread, and cinnamon was a natural preservative. It kept a long time and traveled well. Today, the cinnamon flavored Trenary Toast remains the bakery’s biggest seller, but it’s added five flavors – cinnamon-raisin, vanilla, cardamom, sugar and plain.

“For me it’s the crunch,” Andy muses. “When you bite into it, you can’t get that anywhere else.”

Alternately, he likes to dunk it. Most people dunk it into coffee, but Andy prefers milk. “It soaks it up, yet still there is structure to the toast. It is succulent and great.”

The Christmas season brings their biggest volume of shipping. Store sales also increase during the holidays. “Customers buy it to bring to family and friends for gifts, or to have it on hand when people come over,” Andy explains. Folks returning to the U.P. for the holidays also buy it. “It’s something they remember from home.”

The toast is very popular with U.P. residents who now serve in the military. Their parents place orders to send to naval ships or to Afghanistan or Iraq. “It is a special warm moment for me when I get to pack one of those boxes,” Andy says. Having served in the Army Reserve with multiple deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan, he knows first-hand what it’s like to get such a care package with a comforting taste of home.

Yooper Bars

No need to speculate from whence comes a Yooper Bar. If the name isn’t enough of a clue, the shape certainly gives it away.

The popular chocolate bars from Sayklly’s in Escanaba, Michigan, are made in the shape of the

Upper Peninsula.

“My wife’s uncle Fred and some friends thought it up about 45 years ago, during Fred’s reign in the business,” says Jim Kirby, one of the current owners. “They developed the unique chocolate gift mold.”

The Yooper Bar immediately was in instant demand for fundraisers, which remains a big market for the chocolate bar. They are also extremely popular for weddings, done with custom wrappers. “Particularly for weddings outside the U.P.,” Jim says, “couples like to bring Yooper Bars for favors.”

Jim sums up the popularity of their Yooper Bars quite simply: “Yoopers are proud of the U.P., and the bars are good quality chocolate.”

The bars come in milk chocolate, dark chocolate and extra dark chocolate.

For those curious about general chocolate trends, more than 75 percent of the bars sold are milk chocolate.

During the holidays, “everything upticks,” says Jim. Orders by the case abound during the season.

“I think one of the main reasons for sending Yooper Bars during the Christmas season is to give a little piece of home to folks living away. Most of the customers are former Yoopers.”

Wherever Big Lake people roam, they seem to carry a lifelong fondness for Lake Superior and for the local foods that mean home. Clearly home-town yearnings persist despite the globalization of foods that seem to make ordering Asian, Middle Eastern or other diverse options possible in even the smallest towns.

Asked about that food tie to home, Francis Lam, host of “The Splendid Table” food show produced by American Public Media in St. Paul, sees it as wanting to be part of the greater world while holding onto our local roots.

“We want to feel we belong and can have what everyone else has. Yet it’s important to be unique. There is power in feeling like we have a specific connection with something we can call our own.”

Given the continued popularity of our regional favorites – to eat right here or to send to those we miss – it doesn’t look like these treats will disappear any time soon. But then again, it’s best not to take any chances. I’m placing my order today.

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Where to Get Yours

Many people have their own favorite places for picking up those traditional tastes of home.

These are the ones featured in this story. Most of these products may be picked up on site or

ordered by phone or online.

Potica

Sunrise Bakery in Hibbing

218-262-1219, www.sunrisebakery.com

Distributed to grocers on the Iron Range, Duluth and Twin Cities – locations listed on their website

Pasties

Pasty Central

877-PASTY-11 (877-727-8911), www.pasty.com

Pasties may be ordered online or by phone, and Yooper Bars and Trenary Toast are also available. Note: Pasty orders are suspended in summer due to the extreme heat in some parts of the United States. These pasties are also available at a selection of regional outlets listed on the website.

Persians

The Persian Man

807-344-2931, on Facebook: The Persian Man

In Thunder Bay you can find two The Persian Man shops or buy them at Nucci’s Bake A Deli, plus at Walmart and Metro stores.

Trenary Toast

The Trenary Home Bakery in Trenary, Michigan

906-446-3330, trenaryhomebakery.com

Distributed to grocers, gas stations and other outlets across Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota and beyond – locations listed on their website.

Yooper Bars

Sayklly’s Confectionary & Gifts has two locations in Escanaba, one in Marquette

906-786-1524, www.upcandy.com

Distributed to grocers, gas stations, convenience stores, bars and restaurants throughout the U.P.

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Hailing from a U.P. mining family, Molly Hoeg, now of Duluth, is no stranger to pasties, and she happily married into a family that enjoys potica every Christmas.