There’s still time to order your special Mardi Gras foods!

The Zingerman’s Deli and the Zingerman’s Bakehouse are still accepting pre-orders for pickups on Tuesday, February 12 ONLY! 

We make our delicious Paczkis  fresh with the traditional Polish recipe, a little Spirytus alcohol in the dough. Choose from: Raspberry Preserves, Chocolate Pudding, Sweet Ricotta Cheese, Rose Hip Jam, or Plum Jam!

We make the traditional version of the Mardi Gras King Cake. No food coloring or plastic dolls, just buttery layers of puff pastry filled with our own almond frangipane. Each cake is baked with one whole almond inside, get the lucky slice and you’re crowned king (or queen) of the party!

This is a very limited engagement, so don’t miss your chance. Pre-order today!

Contact the Deli:
Email: rleber@zingermans dot com, or call 734-663-3354.

Contact the Bakehouse:
Call 734-761-2095.

Laissez les bon temps rouler!

The Gelato case is loaded up with flavors ONLY available in February!
Stop by the Zingerman’s Creamery or Zingerman’s Next Door for a taste!

Chocolate Balsamic Strawberry
We take fresh Michigan strawberries and macerate them in an in-house made balsamic vinegar reduction. Even more decadent than a chocolate covered strawberry, the vinegar enhances the natural sweetness of the strawberry and complements the richness of the dark chocolate base perfectly.

Dark Chocolate
Always a good choice, we make ours with Sharffen Berger cocoa for a rich, extraordinarily dark chocolate. Voted Best Gelato in Michigan by Detroit’s Metro Times!

Gianduja
Another Italian classic using chocolate-hazelnut mix from Turin.

Turtle
Freshly-roasted pecans and luscious dulce de leche are blended into dark chocolate. Made only in February.

Rocky Ride
We start with a base of our rich dark Scharffen Berger chocolate gelato and spike it with in-house butter-roasted peanuts and incredibly fluffy marshmallows made right next-door at Zingerman’s Candy Manufactory!

Chocolate Heat
Inspired by the great hand-made chocolates of Mexico, we take our dark chocolate and blend cinnamon, ancho chile and just enough cayenne to make it dangerous. All of this adds up to a super-dense, super-delicious spicy wintertime treat.

Chocolate Chip Sorbet
We use the most flavorful Michigan cherries we can find to make this sweet/tart sorbet, which we then blend with some made-in-house chocolate chips for a decidedly rich sorbet experience.

Stop by the Creamery or Next Door to taste some of these incredibly rich frozen delights!

Here’s a chance to have your voice heard in Lansing!

The Clean Energy Coalition has partnered with Transportation For Michigan to bring the Lights, Camera, Transportation! contest to Zingerman’s Next Door, today only from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.

Do you have a favorite bike lane in your town? A certain bus route that gets you to work every day? Is there a street nearby that’s in desperate need of TLC? Want faster passenger rail?

Join CEC and Trans4M upstairs at Zingerman’s Next Door and tell us about it! Your message will be videotaped and shared with state leaders to help them make wise decisions about Michigan’s transportation future.

Each person who records a video will be entered into a drawing for a chance to win one of 20 $50 gift cards to the business of your choice. (Full Lights, Camera, Transportation! contest rules are available at trans4m.org.)

Help decision-makers see transportation in Michigan through your eyes!

Each year, just in time for spring, the Zingerman’s Candy Manufactory creates something very special that’s sure to delight young and old alike. We’re talking about our delicious Bunny Tails! Soft pillows of tasty, handmade Candy Manufactory marshmallow in the shape of Peter Cottontail’s best-known asset! Bunny Tails come in either raspberry or coconut flavors, and are only available for a very limited time (March 1st – 31st). Available at most Zingerman’s businesses.

Bunny Tails are handmade in small batches at the Candy Manufactory using the best, all-natural ingredients and traditional methods. We start by combining gelatin, hand-cracked egg whites, real vanilla bean, and boiling sugar in a large mixer. Then we add either real raspberry jam or coconut jam, depending on which flavor is needed. The ingredients are added slowly and carefully to ensure a smooth mixture, and then whipped until the batch is nice and fluffy.

Note: From time to time we like to feature news from our local food community. Today’s post comes from Andrea Ridgard at Tilian Farms. Zingerman’s guests will soon be enjoying produce from Tilian as part of the novel Business CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) we have arranged. Read on to find out more!

[tooltip title=”” content=”What is a CSA?
Community Supported Agriculture
CSA allows people to have direct access to fresh produce grown by local farms. When you become a member of a CSA, you’re purchasing a share of vegetables from a local farmer. Each week (or bi-weekly) during the growing season, CSA members receive a quantity of fresh, quality produce.
It’s a great way to support local agriculture and get healthy, delicious, fresh veggies!” type=”classic”]What is a CSA?[/tooltip]  

 Sick and Tired of Peanut Butter & Jelly?*
Check Out Tilian & Zingerman’s Farm to Deli!

Through two programs at 4400 Pontiac Trail, in Ann Arbor Township, Tilian Farm Development Center facilitates new farm business development to increase diversified markets year round in our foodshed. Tilian’s Farm Incubator Program began with funds granted to Jeff McCabe for a pilot Four Season Farmer Incubator Project in September 2010. This small reimbursement grant, matched by volunteer hours of dedicated community leaders in farming and business development, provided for the framing of a partnership with Ann Arbor Township, who is currently leasing 44 acres to Tilian through March 2014 for a nominal fee. On the land preserved by the township, Tilian has launched a program that provides new business owners with farm experience, a place to launch their farm business, establish local accounts, and save their pennies for two years on rent-free land before moving to a more permanent location.  The program has accepted five farm businesses (Bending Sickle Community Farm, Green Things Farm, Honest Eats Farm, Meristem Farm and Seeley Farm), 3 of which are in their second year and preparing to move off Tilian to expand and secure their business in a long-term location.

Farmer Nate Lada of Green Things Farm offers: “Tilian has provided us with the basic infrastructure to get our business started.  Given the huge investments needed by new farms to begin operating, Tilian takes the place of a generational farm handed down to children or grandchildren.  I would like to see Tilian leverage community support and investment to help support new farms so that they in turn can support the community.”

Soon after the launching of the Farm Incubator Program, a core group, now known as the Steering Committee, came together to name the project Tilian, the old English root of to till, to cultivate, to strive for, to obtain. Around the same time, Tilian became a fiscal partner with Food System Economic Partnership (FSEP). This past winter, the Tilian Steering Committee implemented the Farmer Residency Program, designed largely by Michigan State University’s Organic Farmer Training Program Director, Jeremy Moghtader, with the support of Jennifer Fike, Executive Director of FSEP. The Farmer Residency Program works to provide new farmers with farm management experience and will build a sustainable funding source for both of Tilian’s programs. Rachel Beyer was the first farmer in residence. With the help of her assistant Michael Kelleher, she managed the Tilian CSA (Community Supported Agriculture), growing food for families and restaurants that purchased a share at the beginning of the season and now receive produce weekly from the farm.

Several Zingerman’s businesses – Zingerman’s Roadhouse, Zingerman’s Delicatessen, and Zingerman’s Mail Order—have purchased 20-week Summer 2012 shares that ran through October, from the Tilian CSA. This investment from such a well-known and successful local group of businesses increased Tilian’s ability to establish long-lasting programming to boost the production and access of local food in our community. Tilian and the business of Zingerman’s recognize the need to grow more farm businesses that serve Washtenaw County, especially if we hope to move toward reaching the 10% benchmark of food consumed in our county that is also grown here. Currently, very little of what we eat in our county –at home and at restaurants—is actually grown in our county. Some rough estimates from some preliminary research conducted a few years ago by Jeff McCabe and Karl Rosaen (Real Time Farms) found that what we consume in our county from our county is less than 1%, and what we consume in our county from the larger southeastern Michigan is still under 5%!

Tilian is beginning a visioning and strategic planning process to develop a comprehensive programming structure that will include a mentoring program, pairing the farmers in both programs with local farm and business mentors, policies and systems for resource sharing, and methods for engaging the community. Tilian relies on the interest of its neighbors, area farmers, food businesses and institutional buyers for its success. The support of the community is essential to the longevity of Tilian Farm Development Center. Volunteers on the farms, monetary donors, volunteer Steering Committee members, all turn the wheels on an organization so central to the local food scene in the Ann Arbor area. If you are interested in deepening your commitment to local food and farming, and would like to volunteer on the farm, on our Steering Committee, or provide a financial contribution, please visit our website www.tiliancenter.org and click on “Contact Us” or “Donate to Tilian.”

If you are interested in getting involved more deeply in the visioning, planning and development of Tilian, please contact [email protected]. We are beginning a Strategic Visioning and Planning process this winter, which includes expanding our Steering Committee and growing our fiscal sustainability as well as securing a solid organizational structure and programming model.