Sierra Madre Grocery Company in Pasadena Magazine | 30-Minute Meals – Quick dishes for moms & gals on the go
CLOSE THISNOT MANY WOMEN HAVE A LAB IN THEIR BASEMENTS, BUT KAREN SWISHER, FOOD SCIENTIST, GOURMET FOODIE EXTRAORDINAIRE, AND MOTHER, DOES. SHE USES SCIENTIFIC TECHNIQUES (THINK FIDGETING WITH PH LEVELS) TO PERFECT FOOD PRODUCTS FOR SIERRA MADRE GROCERY COMPANY, WHICH SHE LAUNCHED IN EARLY 2010. THE COMPANY, WHICH IN SIMPLE TERMS INVOLVES
Swisher developing food concepts and scaling them to be sold in mass-produced-but-still-gourmet-quality quantities, has introduced six products to store shelves in the past year alone. She loves nothing more than dreaming up creative and fun food concepts that translate from her home kitchen to products any family can use in a variety of ways, such as the garlic salsa that she always makes around Christmas. After a trial run selling it at Savor the Flavor in Sierra Madre, the salsa was so well received that she became motivated to sell it under her own label.
Swisher explains the practical side of cooking with some premade items, saying, “You can take a jar of my Roasted Garlic and Olive Bruschetta Salsa, and a pound of meat and some beef broth, put it in a crock pot and cook it all day. And you have dinner!” One of her recent products, a Caramelized Onion & Roasted Garlic Spread, resembles a savory sort of marmalade that’s great on burgers or on crackers with Brie. Slightly less traditional and possibly a bit more challenging is Swisher’s passion for combining sweet and savory flavors, like in her label’s Sweet ‘n Spicy Mountain Savory Trail Mix, which combines sweet brown sugar sauce, soy, and chili pepper for a bit of heat. Next, she hopes to develop savory cinnamon rolls: key ingredients could include pesto and cheese. When asked how she has found the time to build her career while raising two children, Swisher laughs, summing it up as ‘chaotic’. In her world, anything is possible as long as you can multitask, Find Swisher’s products locally at Porta Via Italian Foods in Pasadena and Savor the Flavor in Sierra Madre.