Many cooks don’t know what common spices like rosemary and thyme look
like in their live form with the roots on, says an Alberta
businessperson.
That is why Anita Schreyer of Down to Earth Greenhouses in Sexsmith,
Alta., made it part of her promotion to visit restaurants and thrust
free fresh-cut green herbs on the chefs to try.
Food festivals, greenhouse tours, samples and in-store demonstrations
are the creative ways she uses to increase the public’s knowledge of
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herbs and spices.
Schreyer spoke at a Jan. 10 conference organized by the Saskatchewan
Herb and Spice Association.
Nine years ago she had a commercial greenhouse selling the usual
bedding plants and annual flowers. But that overlapped with a local
competitor, so in 1995 she began her adventures in culinary herbs. Her
business grew following trial crops and test marketing of processed
herbal vinegars, spreads and teas using feedback from the farmers
market and other sites.
“To my husband’s dismay we’ve built a greenhouse every year on the
farm. We’re up to six.”
While she mischievously gave one chef some chickweed to sample, her
role supplying local restaurants meant she had to build a reputation as
a reliable supplier with consistent quality. But greenhouses have
“eight months of expenses and two months of revenues,” said Schreyer.
Since utility costs restrict her winter greenhouse operation, she has
shipped in fresh herbs from other places. Transport costs affect
profits and truckers often need careful instructions to not freeze the
perishable product.
Schreyer decided to expand from the fresh herb business into processed
functional foods to deal with the wintertime gap and to further
distinguish her label, From the Earth Naturally. She now hires about a
dozen people to tend the herbs, look after tours and make the products.
Adding well-known herbs like echinacea to her vinegars is a way to add
value to her product and increase sales. People are looking out for
their health and want cereals fortified with vitamins, orange juice
with calcium, and eggs with low cholesterol.
That same trend to self-care from an aging population supports a Quebec
woman’s medicinal herbs company. Marie Provost of Clef des Champs, Val
David, Que., and her staff of 20 grow, process and distribute to health
food stores and pharmacies.
Last year she was the only small processor among larger drug giants on
a committee helping the federal government develop rules for natural
health products.
Provost told the conference the herb industry can’t avoid changes and
there is much to gain in having quality standards. Unregulated
medicinal herbs in the United States have damaged the industry’s
reputation.
Even in Germany, where the most prescribed drug for depression is a
herb, the plants are bought from countries that don’t always have the
same standards. That is why Provost expects the Canadian rules will
help protect the domestic industry as long as factory phyto-farms don’t
dominate smaller-acreage growers. That is also why she prefers to buy
certified organic herbs among the 15 tonnes of botanicals she buys
annually from around the world.
“Organic herbs heal better because there are more trace elements. It’s
better for you and for the earth.”
She also tries to buy from fair trade dealers who ensure the farmers
and pickers are paid a good wage. She spoke in favour of the developing
national coalition of herb and spice growers because it would be easier
for small buyers like herself to contact them.
Like Schreyer, Martene Carlina found she had to educate today’s
population about the value of her natural products. The Regina-based
HMG Sales and Marketing Inc. sells hemp oil and seeds for culinary,
health and cosmetic purposes. While most of her sales have been to the
U.S., she is looking at other countries because American drug rules
equating her hemp with its notorious relative marijuana have caused
problems at the border.
Farmers who want to supply some of the 50 tonnes of hemp that Carlina’s
company buys each year should check with her. She has many preferences
about moisture level, organic production, fatty acid content and
variety.
She hopes to move hemp oil into the same markets that now buy flax oil
since their nutritional bases are similar. But dealing with a crop that
was illegal just five years ago is still a problem.
An image issue has arisen as farmers who were enticed into growing hemp
by a now-bankrupt company are dumping the seed going rancid in their
bins. That industrial hemp is being turned inappropriately into health
and culinary products, said Carlina, making it difficult for her
products to sell.
While women dominated the business side of the conference speakers, the
herb and spice association’s vice-president, Connie Kehler, said it is
not a female industry.
“It’s more a partnership, a team. People are at two sessions. … It’s
more couple oriented.”
