• Purpose
• Kombucha Kits
• BPA-free Canning Lids
• Stainless Steel Dehydrators
• Porcelain Coffee Filter Cones
• Hemp Twine
• Food Preservation Information from OSU
• EverClear Drain
• News from Pomeaireware
• New Products for February
• Insulated Drinking Bottles
• Fire-starting Tip
• New Fred Soll's Scents
• Shoyeido Reflections Incense Gift Set
• Proteak
• Battery Chargers
• Meat Grinders
• Mirador Mural
• Cheesemaking Supplies
• Jam

With Kombucha being pulled from grocery shelves due to fears over elevated alcohol levels (google “kombucha recall” to find out more), now is a great time to start making your own. We have kits from home-grown Oregon Kombucha that includes everything you need, including a starter mushroom, to make a batch of kombucha. We are carrying decaf citrus ginger, pear ginger, and jasmine green tea kits.

Posted on July 1, 2010 by Steve. Comment.

Mirador is the first retail store in the country to sell BPA-free, reusable canning lids form S & S Innovations. You'll never need to buy lids again, and your food will not be contaminated with BPA with these lids. They do use a rubber gasket that will need replacing very occasionally at very small cost. See our Facebook page for a lot more information about BPA.

Posted on July 1, 2010 by Steve. Comment.

For all of you who are trying to go plastic-free, we are now carrying stainless steel dehydrators, with chrome-plated steel shelves. The extremely popular Excalibur dehydrators are made of polycarbonate plastic (the trays and liners are made of food-grade plastics, not polycarbonate, so contain no BPA), which contains BPA, so if you want to avoid that we can accommodate you now.

Posted on July 1, 2010 by Steve. Comment.

Hemp twine is finally back in stock, in 8 pound, 20 pound and 170 pound sizes. The 48 pound is still out of stock.

Posted on Steve by July 1, 2010. Comment.

We now have porcelain coffee filter cones in stock, so you don't have to pour hot water through plastic cones anymore!

Posted on July 1, 2010 by Steve. Comment.

Oregon State University has an extensive website devoted to food preservation. There are lots of downloadable panphlets as well as some they charge $1.00 or less for. Some of the subjects covered are canning, freezing, drying, smoking, jams and jellies, and pickling.

There is also information of classes given in various counties. Since funding for Multnomah County's extension service was discontinued a few years ago, probably the closest classes will be in Washington County.

You can also call the Food Safety/Preservation Hotline at 1.800.354.7319

Also, for pressure canner gauge testing see:

WASHINGTON COUNTY
1864 NW Walker #1400
Beaverton, OR
(503) 821-1150

CLACKAMAS COUNTY
200 Warner Mill Road
Oregon City, OR
(503) 655-8631

Posted on March 31, 2010 by Steve. Comment.

Does your bathtub drain clog even with a screen? EverClear Drain is designed to keep your drain clog-free forever.

It was designed by a ER physician from right here in the Portland area who was tired of seeing people in the ER with chemical drain poisoning and burns. Apparently it is the hair that is over four inches long that get trapped in your drain and then smaller hairs and other material gets caught by that. EverClear Drain traps the hair, then after every shower, you push the drain down three or four times and it actually chops the hair into little pieces that go easily down the drain.

It works with virtually all bathtub drains; if you have a really old bathttub (like 1929 or older), they will send you an adaptor that will allow the EverClear Drain to fit for free. And it is made in the USA!

Posted on March 11, 2010 by Steve. Comment.

The Pomaireware clay cookware people were affected by the recent earthquake. Very fortunately no one was hurt, but two of the warehouses were either damaged or destroyed, thus delaying future shipments of the products until June.

Fortunately for us, we had just received a shipment which included some new items:

• Four-quart sauce pan (they call it a fondue pot, but it looks just like a saucepan to me!)
• Large baking pan
• Large loaf pan
• Wok or paella pan

Posted on March 11, 2010 by Steve. Comment.

Some cool new Lodge cast iron items came in this week:

• 6.5“ Skillet
• 5-Quart Dutch Oven with a glass lid
• 10.25” Skillet with a glass lid
• 10.25“ and 12” glass lids that fit the 10.25“ and 12” skillets

Also some new gadgets:

• A procelain filter cone for making coffee without having to use a plastic filter cone.
• Ravioli stamps for making your own ravioli. Yum!
• Vegetable peelers made in Switzerland (part of our quest to have non-Chinese products). These have a lifetime replacement, even if you break it!

Posted on February 24, 2010 by Steve. Comment.

We just got in some insulated drinking bottles from thinksport. These stainless steel bottles:

• Keep water or other cold beverages cold and hot beverages hot for hours
• Do not sweat
• Have an internal mesh filter
• Have an easy-to-fill wide mouth
• Come in 350 ml and 750 ml sizes

• Free of BPA
• Free of phthlates
• Free of cadmium
• Free of lead
• Free of PVC

Posted on February 11, 2010 by Steve. Comment.

Keep candles ends and pieces to break up and put on your kindling when making a fires. Great for getting a roaring fire going quickly and for keeping wax out of the landfill!

Posted on February 11, 2010 by Steve. Comment.

Fred Soll's incenses are made of all natural resins, pure essential oils (no perfumes!) and other natural ingredients in New Mexico. Although priced higher than Indian incense, they are extremely popular – we just got a shipment today and in the short time since I ordered, much of what was left was gone.

I tried some new scents this order that sound really interesting. These are Cedar and Juniper Berry, Frankincense with Roses and Jasmine (!), Sacred Myrrh and White Sage and Dragon's Blood (again, !). These are in addition to the many other scents we already carry, include eight other frankincense blends, several other cedar and sage blends, a Nag Champa, and many more.

If you like incense and haven't tried Fred Soll's yet, check it out next time you come in. You can read about Fred and his incense on his website.

Posted on Novemeber 17, 2009 by Steve. Comment.

Shoyeido is a Japanese incense manufacturer that's been in business for over 300 years and makes really nice incense blends with all natural ingredients. We have been carrying their incense for most of our time in business and I think their blends are truly wonderful.

If you like incense and haven't tried Shoyeido's yet, or you have someone special to give a nice gift to, we are now stocking Shoyeido's Reflections Gift Set. This consists of three of the most popular of their incenses (Moss Garden, Autumn Leaves and Golden Pavilion) along with a really beautiful hand-made ceramic incense holder. At only $10 this is truly a great gift at a great price.

Posted by Steve on October 27, 2009. Comment.

The Proteak teak cutting boards, produced using Forest Stewardship Council certified teak and local Mexican labor, are back in stock.

The teak is grown on 7000 acres of reclaimed ranch land and daily captures the amount of CO2 emitted by 15,000 cars. Proteak provides jobs for 250 workers in a traditionall low-income area, paying above-average wages and providing health care. Their teak plantations are the closest the the US, thus saving large amounts of transportation costs (both energy and pollution).

Posted by October 22, 2009 on Steve. Comment.

We recently received a large shipment from Rayovac of battery chargers and rechargeable batteries. There are a variety of sizes and prices ranges, including a charger that plugs into the USB port on your computer. All the batteries are Nickel Cadmium and come in AA, AAA, C, D and 9-volt sizes. The AA and AAA batteries also come in a hybrid style that store the charge longer than the regular NiCd, but are not able to be charged as many times.

Comment.

Posted on October 14, 2009 by Steve

After a two-year hiatus the Norpro meat grinder is back in stock, at a lower price than before. The meat grinder comes with sausage stuffers as well as two cutting disks.

The meat grinder is also popular with people who want to grind sprouted grains to make manna bread and can be used to grind vegetables as well.

Posted by October 14, 2009 on Steve. Comment.

On Friday, October 9 the boards came off of our beloved mural, thus ending seven years of controversy and five years of having our mural two-thirds obscured.

A small but enthusiastic collection of people showed up to share beer, wine and cider as Gwyllm LLydd, the artist, with help from other celebrants, took off the plywood panels that had covered up the murals for five years.

Among the folks that showed up were Joe Cotter, who was responsible for the courts allowing the city to regulate murals separately from signs; and Joanne Oleksiak and Mark Meltzer, tireless fighters for mural rights (and, in the case of Mark, a muralist himself). Joe, Joanne and Mark, along with other muralists, were also instrumental in helping the city craft the new mural code.

Posted on October 14, 2009 by Steve. Comment.

We just received a shipment of earthenware bake- and cookware made by artisans in Pomaire, Chile. These pots can be used in the oven up to 450° or on the stovetop (you need a diffuser for an electric stove)

The local (and lead-free) clay is shaped using techniques handed down for generations. Each piece is then polished with an agate stone before being fired. No glazes or other finishes are used.

The importer who works with the artisans, Laarsen Associates, was certified by the Fair Trade Federation in 2007. Their mission is to provide a way for the artisans in Chile to earn their living as they have been and also to improve their quality of life without giving up their tradition.

Posted on August 25, 2009 by Steve. Comment.

Eight years after the first customer asked about cheesemaking supplies, we finally got some today.

I did try a number of years ago to stock some cheesemaking supplies but could not find a satisfactory wholesale situation.

With the huge increase in cheesemaking in the last few years, someone has finally come up with a wholesale distribution; and, wouldn't you know it, she's right here in Portland!

To start, we are carrying mozzarella/ricotta kits, which include instructions, vegetarian rennet, cheese salt, citric acid and cheese cloth. Each kit makes 10 batches of cheese. We are also carrying individual packages of vegetarian rennnet tablets, cheese salt and citric acid.

In the future we will have goat cheese and paneer/queso blanco kits, real cheesecloth (the stuff you usually see is not fine enough for cheesemaking) and some molds.

We have gotten LOTS of requests for cheesemaking supplies over the years and are extremely happy to finally be able to offer them.

Posted on August 14, 2009 by Steve. Comment.

I made some apricot jam for the first time a week or two ago. I’ve always loved apricots; I guess it started when my grandmother used to give us Cheez-Its and apricot nectar when we visited as kids. And canned apricots were my favorite fruit as a child (my mom not being fond of much beyond meat and potatoes, we did not get a lot of fresh fruit or vegetables as children).

Anyway, I made the jam using Pomona’s pectin, which allows you to use a lot less sugar. I had more apricots than the recipe called for, so I added a little more pectin and calcium water. As they cooked, I took a spoonful out and let it cool. It didn’t seem like it was going to jam, so I added another half-teaspoon of pectin (the instructions said to add a quarter), thinking that would be plenty.

Well, it cooled and was basically apricot syrup. Oh, well, we use it mostly on toast and pancakes so it didn’t matter that much; it was just strange because it should have had plenty of pectin.

We had some for breakfast the next day and it was delicious. We put it in the refrigerator. A few days later I thought I’d have a PB&J with it, so I got it out and, lo!, it was quite thick! Magic!

Then I remembered that the same thing had happened to another jam I had made last winter that didn’t jam until after being refrigerated.

Hopefully I will remember this the next time I think my jam didn’t and wait until after refrigeration to worry about it.

Posted on August 10, 2009 by Steve. Comment.

We have been wanting to have a blog for a while, ever since we realized that it could:

1. Allow us to have real-time updates on new products as opposed to waiting for a newsletter issue, which have been increasingly hard to do regularly.
2. Allow us to post items that relate to the products we sell and the activities that are relevant to Mirador. For example, the “aha” moment regarding having a blog came when I was making pizza and decided to try using parchment paper under the pizza while I was building it to make it easier to ’transfer to the baking stone. It seemed like a tip our customers would like and I realized that if we had a blog, it would be easy to do that.