FRANKENMUTH, MI – Things have been heating up in the Frankenmuth Farmers Market’s Artisans Kitchen recently and will continue to do so with upcoming events, including the March 8 Taste of Frankenmuth and the March 20 members-only Edible Experience Club “ilLOGICAL” dinner. The Market’s culinary offerings including the recent Brunchfast, Cream of the Crops Ice Creams, and the Edible Experience Club are overseen by Market Chef Dietrich Bronner and volunteers committed to continuing raising funds to pay for the Market’s new building, completed in late 2016.
Sold-Out “Brunchfast”
Last Sunday the Market hosted a sold-out Brunchfast featuring Custard-Filled French Toast, Yeast-Raised Waffles, Souffléd Pancakes, or Crustless Vegetable Quiche baked in the Market’s signature wood-fired brick ovens, accompanied with Vanilla Bean-Honeyed Fruit Salad, Willi’s Sausage maple breakfast sausage links, and Farm Hand Potato Vegetable Hash. The event was generously sponsored by United Dairy Industry of Michigan, Willi's Sausage Co., Butter Crust Bakery, Engelhardt Farms, Maple 81, Star of the West Milling Company, Leonardo's Produce, and Gordon Food Service. Attendees expressed strong wishes for more brunch offerings to become a regular happening at the Market.
New Cream of the Crops Ice Cream Flavors
Debuting at the Brunchfast were new Cream of the Crops ice cream flavors for sale in the Farm Store. These small-batch, inspired, artisanal ice creams are made in the Market’s Artisans Kitchen by Chef Dietrich Bronner. Fried Chicken and Waffles Ice Cream using fried chicken breading crumbs from both the Frankenmuth Bavarian Inn and Zehnder’s of Frankenmuth. The breading crumbs and fresh-baked waffles were infused into the milk and then strained before being turned into custard, churned, and then swirled with more breading crumbs, waffle pieces, and maple syrup. Black and Tan Guinness and Candied Bacon Ice Cream features a reduction of the Irish beer with a swirl of candied bacon pieces. The lightly spiced, dairy and egg free Coco Yummo YAMmo Sorbet stars roasted sweet potatoes with a coconut milk base. These join the ranks of past flavors including Long John Da Bomb Donut Ice Cream, Jalapeno Popper, Poppy Seed Psychedelia and many more.
Taste of Frankenmuth this Thursday
The Market will participate at the Taste of Frankenmuth March 8, serving Dinner Donuts featuring many of its vendors’ products. The offerings will include Bacon Bomb, topping a donut with bacon jam, bacon-confited apple, bacon whipped cream, and bacon candy; Very Bavarian stacking barbeque bratwurst, and sauerkraut, mustard, barbecue sauce, and microgreens; and Macho Nacho with queso cheese sauce, salsa, black beans, cumin crema, and tortilla chip dust. This event features 35 Frankenmuth-area restaurants offering samples and tastes as a benefit for the Frankenmuth Noon Rotary Group. $20 tickets are available at the door at both Zehnder’s of Frankenmuth and Bavarian Inn.
Edible Experience Club Events: Game Night
The Edible Experience Club (EEC), the brainchild of Dietrich Bronner to bring more creative food to Frankenmuth, offers its members many different benefits along with wildly thoughtful, avant garde dining experiences usually found only in big cities. One year memberships include 3-4 dinners and cost $250 per person or $450 per couple. The debut dinner late last year was Game Night featuring the six courses of Checkers, Twister, Chutes and Ladders, Tic-Tac-Toe, Chess and Candy Land. These board games were reinterpreted through food and accompanied by a tea cocktail that changed colors throughout the night. One guest after the event remarked, “I’m not sure a meal like this has happened anywhere on the planet before, but it did happen here in Frankenmuth.”
ilLOGICAL March 20
The second Edible Experience will take place March 20. New members must sign up by March 16 to attend. This dinner’s theme is ilLOGICAL featuring St. Julian Winery Rieslings paired with the conceptual courses of Think Outside The Box, 80/20 Rule, Literal, Which Came First—The Chicken or the Egg?, From Point A to B, and What Goes Up Must Come Down. While food allergies and dietary preferences are carefully considered, guests are by and large surprised to discover the culinary creations as they arrive at each course. Menu cards are provided as souvenirs to help interpret the Experience. July’s EEC performance is Ice Cream for Dinner, featuring the courses of Garden Ranch; Basil, Olive Oil, Balsamic; Bloody Mary, Grilled Cheese; Cucumber; mignardICEs, and Neo-Neopolitan. November’s EEC dinner is entitled Mathematique 1.0, featuring +-x÷, Venn and Cubed Square Root, Pythagorean Theorem, The First, Second and Third Derivatives of Calculus, and Pi Squared.
The Frankenmuth Farmers Market is a nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization dedicated to providing and promoting the values of local food and products in an effort to strengthen and preserve our economy, agriculture, and sustainability. A founding member of the Michigan Farmers Market Association, the Market is listed as one of the top ten must-visit farmers markets in Michigan by the website OnlyInYourState.com and was named one of ten “must see” farmers markets in Michigan by Michigan Travel Ideas. To learn more, please visit www.frankenmuthfarmersmarket.org or the Market’s Facebook page. The Frankenmuth Farmers Market is an equal opportunity provider.