Upper Midwest Gourmet

Whether you are trying to think up summer drink ideas, or you are just wondering what to do with your extra Mountain Spiced Cider concentrate, fear not, we’ve got a list for that:

Summer Cider Drinks

Sparkling Cider
1 oz. Cider concentrate
7 oz. Sparkling water

Cider Float
1 oz. Cider concentrate
7 oz. Ginger ale
Scoop of vanilla ice cream

Apple Raspberry Cooler
1 oz. Cider concentrate
1 oz. Raspberry syrup
6 oz. Sparkling water

Apple Pie A la Mode Milkshake
1 oz. Cider concentrate
1 oz. Caramel syrup
4 oz. milk
1 scoop vanilla ice cream
1 piece of graham cracker
Blend until smooth

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We are an ever-evolving company and are always willing to bring in new products at the request of our customers.

Here are four new product lines that we are very happy to now stock and offer:

Monin Fruit Smoothies

Jet Fruit Smoothies

DaVinci Gourmet Syrups

Torani Syrups

(For pricing or additional product information, please Contact Us. Thank you.)

We have a few Blendtec Smoother 13 demo unit blenders for sale at an amazing price!

We are upgrading to this year’s models for our sales staff and have some great deals on our current demo units!

They have been slightly used, all under 1000 blends.

Please Contact Us for more information or to get the special pricing.

Ciao Ciao everyone!  2013 is off to a great start at Upper Midwest Gourmet.  Bethany and I traveled to Italy last month.  Our first stop was Riccione where we met up with everyone from Fabbri in order to attend the SIGEP show.  SIGEP is the largest gelato and pastry show in the world!  While it’s a bit chilly in this NE coastal region in the winter, it was really warm compared to what was going on in Minneapolis, so the timing couldn’t have been better.  We spent three days touring the show and eating (and drinking) our way around the town.  SIGEP is always a great time and we were impressed with all the presentations put on by some of the best pastry chefs in Italy.  Fabbri presented a number of new items that we’ll be able to start importing sometime this Spring that we’re really excited to show everyone.  The pistachio and amarena cherry gelato pops in particular are going to be a great addition to many cafes in the USA.  Fabbri hosted a large banquet with top notch entertainment and the Italians really know how to put on a party!  Fabbri took that opportunity to present awards to some of their staff and distributors from around the world.  To my surprise, Upper Midwest Gourmet was presented with the award for Best Distributor in North America in 2012!  It was a complete shock, but we were honored to receive the award.  No distributor has ever won the award more than once so now I have a new mission for the future.

There are a bunch more pictures from the show at the end of the blog post.

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It is very, very, very important to have a well-trained staff running your cafe. The staff of your cafe are the people that your customers interact with most and are also responsible for the production of everything you offer. The quality and consistency of your drinks and food rely on having a group of individuals that know exactly what they are doing and more importantly why and how they are doing it. Another huge factor is that they are all making your products the same way to ensure that every customer has the same great experience every time they come back.

We feel that employee training is a necessary for any cafe or business for that matter. For example, we take part in the Specialty Coffee Association America classes all the time to learn about new industry standards in the area’s of Barista education, coffee brewing, coffee roasting, and a whole lot more.

There is always something that can be learned and implemented to improve your business and we want to help you gain that knowledge!

Our training cafe, UP Cafe, is now open and ready to schedule training sessions with your staff. If you use our Flamenco Organic Coffee we are more than happy to offer free training and recipe support. We can train in areas of espresso extracting, milk frothing, pour-over coffee brewing, Gold Cup drip coffee brewing, blender drink creation, gelato and sorbetto production, baking and pastry, and a whole lot more. The goal is to improve your business and have you producing the best available drinks in your area. We want to help you reach that goal!

Please Contact Us about setting up a time for training and would love to have you visit!

Here comes cooler temperatures and increased hot drink sales!

We have been really busy making some serious improvements around here with a focus to better serve you, and want to let you all know again how much we appreciate your business!

Please check out our newest Brewsletter – Volume 48 – Fall/Winter 2012

Also, please go to the Brewsletters Page on our website to download and read previous Brewsletters. They contain lots of useful information!

Enjoy and thanks again from all of us at UMG!

Looking for some new, creative recipes that you can make with your Vitamix blender? Well, here you go!

(For Vitamix pricing or additional product information, please Contact Us. Thank you.)

That’s right, we will soon again stock the Reese’s Pourable Peanut Butter by Hersheys!

Works great as a dessert topping or in any hot or cold beverage!

Make sure to order yours today!

(For pricing or additional product information, please Contact Us. Thank you.)

Right now until November 16th, 2012 we are running an awesome promotion on Big Train “Specialty” Chai flavors like:

Caramel Chai, Raspberry Chai, Chocolate Chai, No-Sugar-Added Vanilla Chai, Pumpkin Pie Chai, and Gingerbread Chai.

Buy 3 bags, get 1 FREE! Must mix flavors!

(For pricing or additional product information, please Contact Us. Thank you.)

We now stock the most popular new flavor around, Salted Caramel from Monin!

Monin Salted Caramel Syrup combines the indulgence of caramel with a light, smooth salt accent in a flavor that is versatile in countless applications from specialty coffee beverages, to cocoas, shakes, cocktails and much more.

Made with select ingredients and pure cane sugar, Monin Salted Caramel Syrup is a highly concentrated, authentic flavoring offering exceptional versatility for creating specialty beverages.

Order yours today!

(For pricing or additional product information, please Contact Us. Thank you.)

      These are so simple! I just prepared the crust then used our Fabbri Amarena Cherries in syrup as a filling.  After folding them up, it’s off to the oven!

Amarena Cherry Galettes:

yield: Makes 8 servings

active time: 25 minutes

total time: 3 Hours

1 3/4 cups all purpose flour

1/4 teaspoon salt

3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) chilled unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch cubes

2 tablespoons (or more) ice water

Blend flour and salt in processor. Add butter and blend, using on/off turns, until mixture resembles coarse meal. Add 2 tablespoons ice water and blend just until dough begins to clump together, adding more ice water by teaspoonfuls if dough is dry. Gather dough into ball; flatten into disk. Wrap in plastic and chill 1 hour. DO AHEAD: Can be made 2 days ahead. Keep dough chilled. Soften slightly at room temperature before rolling out. Preheat oven to 450 degrees.

Here, I divided the dough into four large portions (you could make 8 smaller ones, if you wish) and them out. I did rough circles of dough, filled the  center with Amarena cherries and folded the edges of the dough over. Make sure to pinch any cracks to that the syrup does not seep out. You could also use a tart pan or circular cookie cutter for a more precise look.

Bake galette 20 minutes. Reduce oven temperature to 375°F and continue baking until crust is golden, about 30 minutes longer. Remove from oven. Slide long thin knife between pan and galette. Let stand at least 10 minutes. Serve warm or at room temperature and enjoy!

The basic crust recipe was pulled from this galette recipe on Epicurious.

Taste the ultimate Happy Holidays seasonal drink and refresh your body and soul with a delightfully delicious blend of honey, creamy pumpkin, black tea and exotic spices. In addition to being Kosher Certified, Big Train‘s Pumpkin Pie Chai is gluten free, contains no hydrogenated oil and can be made with water or your choice of milk. Enjoy hot, over ice or blended. Cheers!

(For pricing or additional product information, please Contact Us. Thank you.)

As we all know too well, the cooler temperatures will be here soon and it is a great idea to start stocking some new seasonal products.

Remember that chai teas, hot cocoa, oatmeal, apple cider, and steamers (many blended powders can be used to make steamers) are all going to start picking up in sales soon, as well as, all coffee and espresso drinks!

Here are some of the other great flavor options we have currently available:

From Artista Gourmet:

Gingerbread Syrup – 750 ml bottle

Peppermint Syrup – 750 ml bottle

Pumpkin Pie Syrup – 750 ml bottle

Toasted Marshmallow Syrup – 750 ml bottle

From Amoretti:

Peppermint Syrup – 25.5 oz bottle

Pumpkin Spice Syrup – 25.5 oz bottle

From Monin:

Peppermint Syrup – 1L bottle

Pumpkin Pie Syrup – 750 ml “glass” bottle

Toasted Marshmallow Syrup – 1L bottle

From Torani:

Pumpkin Pie Sauce – 6/64oz jugs per case

From Big Train:

If you are looking for something new that is sure to impress your customers, look no further than Big Train’s impressive seasonal options:

Pumpkin Spice Ice Rage, Chocolate Mint Ice Rage, Gingerbread Chai, and Pumpkin Pie Chai are great made hot or cold!

(For pricing or additional product information, please Contact Us. Thank you.)

Yesterday we had a few customers in to demo gelato. Tom Trieschmann, our ever-gracious Fabbri rep was on site to talk us all through some recipes. Over the years, Tom has fine-tuned many recipes. For instance, we made a Strawberry Sorbet that will knock your socks off. It’s creamy and delicious. From the taste and texture, you might never know it was a dairy-free product.

Here’s a few more. Also, check out our facebook page for the full photo album

Fabbri North America‘s own Tom Trieschmann will be in the Twin Cites on Wednesday, August 29th for a fun and relaxed gelato/pastry training and demo at UMG.

Upper Midwest Gourmet

1901 Traffic St. NE Minneapolis, MN 55413

Office: (612)728-7208

The demo/training will begin at 10am.

Please RSVP to FabbriDemo@umgcoffee.com with what business you are with and how many people will be attending for lunch ordering purposes.

We would also like to focus the event on what you guys would like to learn about, so please let us know any ideas you have in your RSVP.

Looking forward to seeing you on August 29th, 2012!

(For additional event or Fabbri information, please Contact Us. Thank you.)