Guest: Sonat Birnecker, President Koval Distillery

Koval Distillery Founders:  Dr. Sonat Birnecker & Dr. Robert Birnecker, Master Distiller & CEO

I am talking with Sonat Birnecker from my favorite distillery, Koval. These days they aren’t just producing their excellent whiskeys – they’ve pivoted; big time. They are now in the new business of producing hand sanitizer! It turns out that helping in a crisis is not such a simple matter. Sonat describes this new focus in a most humble and thoughtful way. I hope you enjoy listening to our conversation.

Guest: Carolyn Sherman Gutierrez

I had great fun talking with Carolyn Sherman Gutierrez of ISH. Who knew horseradish could be so versatile? Or come in so many flavors? I’ve had fun experimenting at home (too much time) and even got my husband on-board! But that’s really only part of the story. What is so cool is that Carolyn took this hobby of her dad’s and made it into a serious business on her own. Hope you enjoy the episode. AND if you are the first two people to email me at: beth@thebigschmear.com Carolyn will send you a package of 4 jars (they’ll go way faster than you think) so you’ll get to sample all four flavors! I hope to hear from you soon 🙂                                                                                                                                                                      Happy Listening!

Guest: Liz Alpern & Jeffrey Yoskowitz

Liz Alpern and Jeffrey Yoskowitz, co-founders of Gefilteria join me to talk about creative ways to think about Passover during this time of Covid-19. Passover will be a challenge for sure but maybe we can find a silver lining.

Guest: Amy Zitelman

Co-founder and CEO of Soom

Meet Amy Zitleman, Co-Founder and CEO of Soom. Haven’t heard of them yet? Soom is a tahini manufacturer located in Philadelphia founded and owned by three sisters, Amy, Shelby and Jackie (she lives in Israel). In addition to the best tasting tahini ever, they also make Silan (date syrup) and Chocolate Sweet Tahini Halva Spread!

I had a lot of fun talking with Amy about Soom and all their products. Not only did I expand my knowledge of tahini as a healthful and versatile ingredient; as we chatted Amy suggested all kinds of easy ways to include tahini in your everyday healthy snacking. So settle back and listen to a fun episode. Alert: after hearing this episode you’ll have lots of ways to get to the bottom of that jar of tahini in your fridge! Oh, and be prepared to really want some tahini…now.

Guest: Nina Glick

On this special episode we pay tribute to Canada’s Jewish Julia Child, Norene Gilletz who passed away last month. She leaves us with an amazing Jewish food legacy. She published 12 cookbooks, has a huge following on Nornene’s Kitchen (her facebook page) and she shares recipes and stories on her website.

Please join me as I talk with Nina Glick, a close friend of Norene Gilletz, as she tells us about this very special lady.

Norene Gilletz