Lakeshore Advance, 2011-03-23, Page 3Wednesday, March 23, 2011 • Lakeshore Advance 3
From field to table for farm fresh good eats
Lynda Hillman-Rapley
Lakeshore Advance
The Nutty Bakers started in 1997 and
II', no time to iaok back. Anna and
1..., mother Mary are busy baking and
the rest of the Szabos family jumped on
the farm fresh bandwagon. 'Iheir facility
is near Kirkton but their product is
everywhere.
Anna says her brother, Nick, rented a
space at the Gibraltar 'Trade Centre in
London and had an extra cooler. Ile
asked their Mom to make her brownies
and cherry cheesecake to fill this space.
She added something new every week
like carrot cake, more squares, different
types of Hungarian baking like apple
strudel, dobos torte, pogacsa biscuits.
Then their sister Sara, started to help her
when she got home from school and Anna
helped on weekends. Mat seems like a long
time ago.
At first they didn't realize there was a
demand for farm fresh. The term
"value-added" was the buzz word in the
farming community, inspiring farmers to
increase income by taking their raw material
and turning it into something- and that, Anna
says is Just what they did.
"Going to the market in London we catered
to the Hungarian, European community. We
sold fresh pork and Hungarian inspired
sausage and baked goods. Slowly we
developed a relationship with our customers.
I would talk about the farm, show them
pictures and they were excited to be able to
purchase right from the farmer! I think at that
time, in 1997, that was rare," she said adding
consumers were becoming more savvy about
where their food came from with the Internet
and documentaries, information was more
readily available.
"They wanted to know how we raised the
animals, what we fed them and how we
processed the meat and we were able to
answer those questions."
Anna says at the time, they didn't have the
experience or resources to expand on this
excitement from the customers.
Nick also wanted to supplement his income
as the hog price was very low in 1997. Ile
contacted the health department to find out
how he could set up a pleat processing shop
to sell fresh pork cuts at the market in London.
He had Metzgers in I lensall slaughter the
hogs where they are inspected, then brought
to the shop on the farm in a refrigerated truck
to be processed into sausage, chops, bacon
and other cuts.
Since their mom Mary, had access to all this
fresh pork, she developed prepared pleat
products starting with cabbage rolls. We used
only ground pork and our smoked bacon.
"ack in those days it was a big deal to make a
1 of 40. Now we are slaking 300-4011
. , ek1y. This was the beginning of the pleat
pies, lasagna, meatballs, nleatloaf and side
ribs," says Anna.
Adding one more family member, brother
Ernie is now running the pork shop and sells
at the St. Marys fanners market as well. 1 le
carries a line of gourmet sausage like chorizo,
maltese, spicy hungarian, apple breakfast and
I lawailan.
week once the summer market starts.
I believe they are popular because of
Mom's pie pastry. It is all handmade
and rolled out by her. The buttertarts
and cinnamon buns are very popular
In St. Marys and Exeter as well. "
Farmers market
Their main market is Stratford
Farmers Market which is all year
round at the Agriplex. Mary is a
vendor at the St. Marys Farmers
Market from May to October. Anna
has been participating in the Exeter
Mary and Anna Szabos
are the Nutty Bakers
Farm fresh is Etnportant to consumers- 4: -s-
and to the Szabos
Anna says she didn't realize how many
farmers they purchased from until the
question was asked.
"Our eggs are from Orval in Millbank,
chickens from Dave in Lucan, spinach from
Laurie in Monkton, cabbage, potatoes, onions
and other vegetables from Olivers in Embro,
beef from Wendy in Shakespere and Medimas
in Exeter, apples from Shawn in Medford and
pork from our farm," she said.
"I'm looking at getting organic sauerkraut
from Pfennings in Baden. We are always
looking for what we can get local. Most of
these products are purchased at the Stratford
Farmers Market because they are our fellow
vendors. It has helped to develop a sense of
community and pride in our product knowing
it came from other vendors."
Going to the city
Anna's friend Jamie Colliver lives in Toronto
and Grand Bend and believes there is a
demand for products like the Nutty Baker
produces. And he is correct as now this
product is in the city and in Collingwood.
"We prepare our dishes using fresh ingredi-
ents without preservatives at an affordable
price. It is hard to find handmade products
like this. It is convenient food but you feel
good about eating it! Country Farm Fresh
Foods is like an online farmers market and we
are excited to be one of the first farmers on
the site."
This local company also sells their "Nutty
Baker Bars" at a store called Pusateris.
" Mom and I were a little shocked they were
interesting in our product because we thought
for sure they mast be able to find this type of
baking in the big city but they wanted ours! It
is a start and we are willing to see where it
goes and change with the demands.," said
Anna.
Grand Bend's Jack Bentley loves the
Christmas cake frorn the Nutty Bakers and
isn't shy about telling his friends about this
product. Anna says their pleat pies have
become one of their plain products.
"We often Joke about when we had to make
24 pork pies a week but now it has grown to
600 a week, and expecting to make 1000 a
farmers market the past two years and is still
deciding if she will return because it is
Thursday afternoons and they have a hard
time getting there on time because that is their
meat pie day.
"We also sell to Baileys Local Foods, an
online company in Kitchener/Waterloo,
County Food Co. in Stratford, Marshall's Pasta
In London, Kirkton Market and the Woodham
Gas Bar;" says Anna.
There are three ladies who help them out
part time.
*We couldn't do this without them! And my
Dad! He helps with the deliveries, Im not sure
if we would let him bake. We only let him test
products,"
What began as a consumer idea has flour-
ished and these nutty bakers just want to bake.
"We have kept the philosophy of keeping
everything simple, fresh and a bit of nostalgia.
We offer comfort foods that remind of us days
gone by. Chicken pot pies like our grandmoth-
ers prepared, cabbage rolls just like they were
from Hungary. We get that comment a lot,
these are the best pies etaer and I say they are
the second best because somebody's Grandma
always made them better!"
Check out the website at or call them at
Phone: (519) 229-6760 or check out www.
countryfarmfreshfoods.com
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