Cultured Pop: Bougie Popcorn in Sault Ste Marie

Kathy Twarty: 00:00:00

I always like to say that Michigan could be its own country. Because we really have almost all of the agriculture here that we would need to sustain ourselves.

Steve Twarty: 00:00:10

anytime we're looking to bring something new into any one of our stores, the first thing we do is try to find someone who's producing it in Michigan. I've eaten everything that we sell, and if we don't like it, we don't sell it.

Cliff Duvernois: 00:00:23

Hello everyone and welcome to Total Michigan. I am your host, Cliff DuVernois. Continuing my series in, wonderful Sault St. Marie. And today, I'm sitting with a couple people that are fixtures in the community up here. And that would be Kathy and Steve Twarty. Yes. Yes. And they are the owners of Cultured Pop. So as you're going down the main avenue here in, Sault Ste. Marie, and it's a beautiful little shop, and I'm gonna let Steve and, Kathy introduce themselves and, let's jump into it. So how are you guys doing?

Kathy Twarty: 00:00:54

Doing great

Steve Twarty: 00:00:55

Yeah. good morning. Cliff.

Cliff Duvernois: 00:00:57

Good

Kathy Twarty: 00:00:57

sunny day in Sault St. Marie.

Cliff Duvernois: 00:00:59

You know what? I, we've been absolutely blessed Yes. over the past few days with how wonderful the weather is. Yeah. Steve, why don't you tell us a little bit about where you're from and where you grew up.

Steve Twarty: 00:01:08

I'm, I grew up in upstate New York. that was a long time ago. I've spent a great deal of time moving around the country. I spent 10, 12 years in the Coast Guard. I got to live in some cool places like Alaska and Florida. And, and, yeah. Yeah. The four Corners I was in Maine and, after that, I did some time with t-Mobile, which brought us all around the country. Again, we lived in Denver, Chicago, dc, new York, and then we were in New York and we decided this is not New York City. So we decided this is not where we want our kids to grow up. we moved to St. Marie, which is about as far from new York City as you can get.

Cliff Duvernois: 00:01:49

the, yeah, so that's true. So I'm gonna imagine that somehow or another, Kathy, that your backstory, you have a connection. So talk to us that.

Kathy Twarty: 00:01:57

Yeah. I like to point out to Steve all the time that I am a yooper. we go. And so I'm not, he is not and never can be. So yoopers are very passionate about who we are, right? We need to be born in the up in order to be like a true yooper. So I was born and raised here, fourth generation Yoopers. my mom is a troll. She'll never be a Yooper. But she gave birth to four yoopers.

Cliff Duvernois: 00:02:21

I wondered if that was still a thing. a thing. When I came up here, I saw a hat at the store that said, I wanna be a Yooper. And I almost thought about getting it, but I was like, it's, does anyone even remember the troll thing? okay, there you go. It's

Kathy Twarty: 00:02:33

So that's the connection there. But I met Steve when he was in the Coast Guard and at like he said, we moved around the country and we decided to come back here and the goal was to settle down. Sure. pull out of the corporate life, and Yeah. And Steve likes to work. No. So we moved back here and we started buying and opening businesses, and now we're up to four now.

Cliff Duvernois: 00:02:57

wow. That's, that's amazing. So what are, just real quick, what are your four businesses, because I know we wanna talk about Culture Pop, Yeah. are the

Kathy Twarty: 00:03:04

We own a health food store in town. And then the second one that we opened was this one. And then included with this one Cultured Pop. We have a wholesale oil and vinegar business that we'll also highlight in a minute. So that's business number three. And then two and a half years ago, We opened a small food market in what they would call a food desert, where there was no access to food within a half a mile for residents. And so we opened a small food market as well.

Cliff Duvernois: 00:03:34

Perfect. So to keep the story going, so you guys moved to Sault ste. Marie, and like you said, before you decided to start buying businesses. Why did you decide to go that route versus just go out and get a job?

Kathy Twarty: 00:03:49

I don't, to be honest, why?

Steve Twarty: 00:03:51

So that was an organic evolution. Right. So we bought, when we were sitting in new York, we talked about options. And one of the options was Sault Ste. Marie, because that's where Kathie grew up. And she goes, there's a health food store there. Maybe I'll call them and see if they'd be interested in selling. This was on a Saturday. On Monday she called and, Within 15 minutes they had a price for us. So we bought the health food store, we moved here and and for the first five or six years that was, that consumed everything that we did. but small business in a small town, nothing ever stays the same for very long. So as the business began to evolve, we had to evolve with it .And part of that evolution was this store. and it came at exactly the right time. And once we got into this store, we had the idea for the oil and vinegar business for years. And an opportunity to make that happen just appeared outta nowhere. And so we did it. And we added the oil and vinegar to this business. Did that for a few years, and then all of a sudden, somebody, two different people came walking in one here and one at the health food store where I was on the same day. I think it was a, there was a little coercion going there. Wow. And they're like, hey, Osborne Commons is being built, in town here and there's gonna be retail spaces. Is there something that you guys can do there. And my immediate reaction was, no, we have enough going on. And then we went home that night and she was like, man, I had this really weird conversation. so did i. Well, maybe there is something we can do there. And it, you know, wham bam. All of a sudden we have A third store. And so we haven't really tried to do much other than the health food store. It just seems to happen.

Kathy Twarty: 00:05:57

When this space became available, so we rent this space, And when this space became available, the landlord brought us in here on a really cold March day, okay? And we came walking in and I said, wow, what a cool space. And she said, great, because this is your new store. And I said, what new store? And she said, you have two months to open. Can you make it happen? And I said to Steve, I said, you know what, I've always been wanting to open a popcorn store in this town because there's no popcorn store. And he said, do you make popcorn? I said, well, I'll figure it out. So I have figured it out and yeah, we were ready to open. I could see the vision in my head of what we wanted it to be. We're very passionate about stimulating a local economy. And after you stimulate. Stimulate your local economy, you wanna expand that out. We wanted to expand it out to Michigan and so everything in this store, other than the Sprecker pop is made in Michigan and the Sprecker is made in Wisconsin and we're still attached to them. So yeah, even my popcorn comes from a Michigan grown corn who we've known the farmers since we bought the health food store. And so we're very passionate about only using his corn because it's a high quality product. We know we've been to his factory. Steve drives down to Ann Arbor every single year to pick up my thousand pounds. Whoa. Yep. Thousand pounds of corn is what I go through in six months, all by myself with that little tiny popper.

Cliff Duvernois: 00:07:28

So what I'd like to do is I'd like to take a step back here. And of course I'm a sucker for really good popcorn. But you just said, I had this dream of always making

Kathy Twarty: 00:07:39

Yeah. Where I, to be honest, I'm not sure. when we walk around Sault St. Marie all the time, we're always looking at missing markets. And so Steve and I really have 10 more ideas, but being able to implement those, Yes. not enough hours in the day. And so the oil and vinegar was a missing market that we've seen around the state and around the country where you bring in Italian oil and vinegar, but you market it to your local location. Sure. And you try to infuse it with local products to make it very unique to you. So that was a missing market. The popcorn was a missing market. So we're trying to fill those voids for our small town to get people to come and stay.

Cliff Duvernois: 00:08:20

So now when we're talking about popcorn We're not just talking about like movie theater style popcorn. 'cause you've got. All kinds of flavors that are going on. Talk to us about, what it's first talk to us, leah, about how do you come up with the flavors

Kathy Twarty: 00:08:34

right and that's why it's called Cultured Pop. Because it's bougie popcorn or it's popcorn with culture. Is what I like to say. So I start with that Michigan grown non G M O red corn and I only pop in coconut oil. And one of the reasons that I only pop in coconut oil is because it's a much healthier oil than a lot of what your other traditional popcorn is popped in, which is not even really oil, right? It's a synthetic. And because I have a background in health food, I wanted to make sure that I was starting with a really healthy product. And then I came up with all of the ingredients just by traveling, by being places and trying different food, trying different drinks. Sometimes if I even have a coffee or a latte, I'll look at Steve and say, I can put this on popcorn. Like this would just make sense to do honey and lavender on popcorn. 'cause if it's yummy in my coffee, I can put it on corn.

Cliff Duvernois: 00:09:27

Nice.

Steve Twarty: 00:09:28

Sometimes we just sit around and throw ideas out. Yeah. So like, maybe with a glass of wine. We'll just say, what about this? This? Yeah. I don't think so. But what about this? Yeah. And And that's where quite a few of them came up with. Yeah.

Kathy Twarty: 00:09:43

Yeah. Yeah. The most recent one this year is dragon fruit and Lime, because if you've ever been to Badger State Brewing Company in Green Bay, there's a, and it's a locally owned brewery. They have a dragon fruit and lime seltzer. And we were there a couple months ago and I said, this is one of the most refreshing seltzers. I can put this on popcorn. And so they go really well together. It's almost like a crushed up. I hate to make it sound simple, but it's almost like a crushed up sweet tart on your popcorn, but better and prettier.

Cliff Duvernois: 00:10:17

So then for these different types of flavors, do you just buy the spices? and figure out what magical combination works?

Kathy Twarty: 00:10:23

Yeah. yeah, and in fact, I make my own dill pickle like all by hand. And so I have a recipe that he wants to keep in a lockbox.

Cliff Duvernois: 00:10:32

I won't ask you to betray any recipes or anything like that.

Kathy Twarty: 00:10:35

No, and I've actually, that's I've had people who wanna work for me so that they can learn my recipes and I'm like, no, it's not that easy.

Steve Twarty: 00:10:45

Even your sister.

Kathy Twarty: 00:10:46

Even my sister. No, sorry. Yep. Yep.

Cliff Duvernois: 00:10:51

so now you come in here and you do the popcorn. Obviously it is a success because how long have you been doing this now?

Kathy Twarty: 00:10:57

Oh, this is our eighth summer and right. Eight? Or is it seventh? Okay. So seventh summer. And I've developed such a following that people will drive for. last weekend I had a group of three girls. They come up three times a year from Traverse city. When they get here, they put in their special orders with me, and then between the two days that they're here, the three girls probably buy 24 bags of popcorn. That

Cliff Duvernois: 00:11:22

That is incredible.

Steve Twarty: 00:11:24

and the great thing about popcorn is the way that, that she makes it and packages it, it lasts for a long time. Like last year we did an experiment. We just kept a bag at our house and we didn't open it until, so she popped it in October. We opened it in, I think March. And it was still good. The flavor was there. it was a little bit softer. chewy, yeah. Yeah. Than it normally is. but it was very good.

Kathy Twarty: 00:11:51

And a

Cliff Duvernois: 00:11:52

because that

Kathy Twarty: 00:11:52

has to do with the oil.

Cliff Duvernois: 00:11:55

oh, okay. cause that was gonna be my question is, 'cause it's like for me, popcorn has a very small window. cause I can't go back and eat popcorn the next day.

Kathy Twarty: 00:12:02

Yeah. And so that's the oil, the coconut oil does a really good job of penetrating the whole kernel and it keeps it crispy still. So it doesn't make it soggy, but it keeps all of that flavor intact and that crunchiness intact. So when you pick up the bags, they feel hard as a rock. We sometimes we call 'em little bricks.

Cliff Duvernois: 00:12:21

Okay.

Kathy Twarty: 00:12:22

Okay. Be because the oil just really clings to the corn nicely.

Steve Twarty: 00:12:26

Nice. Well, and the, and the farmer that we get the corn from is very, He wants his products to be top of the line and so he takes many extra steps to wash, to make sure that every kernel is washed. Because if they've got dust on them from the stalks It, they don't pop they point. And that's why when you buy, cheap popcorn and pop it, there'll be 25 kernels at the bottom. Of the, I did not know that. The pan. And that's why, so when she pops it, there might be one and the popcorn is I don't know, it just explodes and it's really crisp and it's really white

Cliff Duvernois: 00:13:06

Now. How did you go about finding. I know cause I know you said you go all the way down to Ann arbor, which is the other side of the state. How did you go about finding this farmer?

Kathy Twarty: 00:13:15

We had been working with him from the health food store because the health food store, you need to bring in higher quality products. So we've already been carrying his non G M O corn. And so then we started buying it in bigger bulk. yeah.

Steve Twarty: 00:13:30

Well, and he actually, the original connection was they had a house on Sugar Island, which is, right next door to Sault Ste Marie. yeah. So we knew them. Right. You know very well. And we still do. I enjoy going down to their farm. Their farm is absolutely beautiful.

Cliff Duvernois: 00:13:47

What are some of the, like the, most popular flavors

Kathy Twarty: 00:13:50

Good question. So Himalayan sea salt, of course is really one of the top flavors I would say that. And then it goes down the line, lime sea salt's really popular. And then so is Dill pickle, and then truffle parmesan. Oh, you can't we can par parm raw. Yeah. And we use, that's my love language right there. Oh, right.

Cliff Duvernois: 00:14:09

Oh, right. I love truffles.

Kathy Twarty: 00:14:10

And we use our own truffle oil that we get from Italy. And then I don't use Parmesan cheese because I like Pecorino Romano even better. And then that's dairy free because it's sheep,

Cliff Duvernois: 00:14:20

right?

Kathy Twarty: 00:14:21

people who may have a dairy allergy can have the truffle Parmesan and not have to worry about an allergic

Cliff Duvernois: 00:14:27

there's a lot of thought that's gone into this. That's a lot of thought. I wouldn't even think about that. For our audience, we're gonna take a quick break and thank our sponsors. When we come back, we're gonna talk a lot more about oil and vinegar.

Kathy Twarty: 00:14:38

great. Sounds good. Yes.

Cliff Duvernois: 00:14:40

We'll see you after the break. Are you enjoying these amazing stories? Michigan is full of people that are doing some pretty extraordinary things. If you want these amazing stories sent directly to your inbox, head over to total michigan.com. Enter your email address and get them today. What are you going to get? I'm glad you asked. First, you're gonna join our awesome Michigan community and it is quite awesome. Second, you will get an email that includes the top five interviews from the show sent directly to your inbox. This is going to include the powerful lessons that we've learned from these amazing people. Third, you're gonna get exclusive behind the scenes information about the show. There's a lot of things that are happening to grow this movement beyond the confines of just a radio show and a podcast. You'll get advanced notice of upcoming guests and early access to their interviews. You'll also get a link to our Facebook group. Now to get all these goodies, just head over to total michigan.com/join. Enter your email address and join our awesome community today. Hello everyone and welcome back to Total Michigan. I'm your host Cliff DuVernois. Today I'm sitting with Kathy and Steve Twarty of Cultured Pop. And before the break we were talking about, the ridiculous amount of delicious popcorn that you've got how you make it here. Secret recipe. Yeah. Which we will not disclose. But you also mentioned too, steve, about the oil and the vinegar that you guys carry here. So I know you said before that it was about finding, what isn't here and then bringing it. But I got, I still gotta ask the question, why the olive oil, yes it's missing, but I can imagine there's a lot of things that are missing. So what made you focus in on oil and vinegar?

Steve Twarty: 00:16:21

I we're foodies. Yeah, we love, there you go. We love to cook. she loves to cook. I love to eat. And we have, and through our travels, we've come across a couple of little local shops in, in other states and that's what they were, was an oil and vinegar. And they had all these really cool infusions and we always bought some, And we thought that would be something that would be really fun that we would want to do. And so when the opportunity came, we just said, okay, let's do it. And, it's been a lot of fun. It's one of, along with cultured pop, it's one of the most fun things that we do, 'cause We get to meet people from around the state. we're moving all of our infusions at least everything that we can to Michigan grown, ingredients, like the cherries And peaches and, lavender and stuff like that. yeah, it's just been a lot of fun.

Cliff Duvernois: 00:17:16

So there's a cherry infused olive oil?

Kathy Twarty: 00:17:19

No, a cherry infused, balsamic vinegar. Oh, okay. Yeah. And we use Michigan montmorency tart cherries. And when we started working on that line, we just wanted to call it MI cherry as in mi cherry. But we wanted permission from the montmorency Cherry people to be able to use their logo. And steve reached out and sent them a bottle of the vinegar and they gave us approval to use the montmorency so, which is very cool.

Steve Twarty: 00:17:51

Yeah, they were very excited about, cause the Michigan cherry, industry has had a really tough time over the last five to 10 years with infusion of lesser quality cherries from, around the world. So they're excited about anything that promotes Michigan grown cherries.

Cliff Duvernois: 00:18:10

And let's explore that. 'cause you, made a comment before about how you're trying to bring your infusions all within the state of Michigan. Why is that so important?

Kathy Twarty: 00:18:19

really, I always like to say that Michigan could be its own country. Because we really have almost all of the agriculture here that we would need to sustain ourselves. And why would you wanna leave Michigan? We can get all of our meat products here grown. There's a few obviously, tropical fruits that you can't get in Michigan, but somebody could probably figure that out. I would need an avocado. but there's so much amazing agriculture here. We just wanna be able to use that and highlight and help out other farmers. Like right now we're working with a lavender farm out of wolverine and we take their lavender and I came up with a recipe to infuse oil and vinegar. Making a really unique product. Like we're one of the only people in the country making blackberry, lavender infused balsamic vinegar. And I have to, I do pat myself on the back all the time 'cause he said, what are you gonna do for a recipe? I said, I'll just figure it out. Just like I did the popcorn and she can't keep it in stock. So we have recently moved to a hundred gallon. hundred liter, not a hundred gallon, a hundred liter infusion tanks in order to keep up with the demand that she has. And she's a go-getter. The McCormick's she has reached out to. We're in a store in Manhattan, we're in Philadelphia. We're selling to California all over the country.

Cliff Duvernois: 00:19:44

That is incredible.

Steve Twarty: 00:19:45

Yeah. Yeah. So the name of the farm, it's mcc McCormick Farms In Wolverine. And they've been wonderful to work with. They reached out and asked if we could do this, and we're like, we think so.

Kathy Twarty: 00:19:58

But they got our names. So you should talk about the relationships

Cliff Duvernois: 00:20:02

Yeah, let's explore that.

Steve Twarty: 00:20:03

Yeah. So I, one of the things that we enjoy doing is, like for Cultured Pop, for example, everything in here is made in Michigan. It's grown here, or it's produced here. And we like to go and meet all of the people that we get these products from. So we really don't work with distributors. We don't just call someone up and go, can you ship me this? so in, in April every year we take a three day sojourn around the state. And just stop at all these places and say hi to everybody and pick up our orders for the summer Yeah, Yeah, and so, it's amazing how those relationships just keep at, they just keep leading to new relationships, So we had a customer for the oil and vinegar. They're in Manistee. It's the Northern Spice Company. Okay. And they picked up, I don't know, 10 or 12 of our flavors. and they've been doing really well with them there. And, Don and Matt McCormick also work with them, and Don said to. to them like, do you know anybody that could infuse vinegar and oil for us? And she goes, actually I do. And so I just got this call one day out of the blue and from Don McCormick and she told me about what they do and we just went from there and now we're talking about branching out into some new product lines And we're really having to expand. When we started the oil and vinegar, we were, we were using, I know you can't see it, but those little tiny little tank, those little stainless steel tanks to infuse, And now they're, four feet high by three feet wide. And we're even looking at expanding from there, so it keeps us busy for sure.

Cliff Duvernois: 00:21:54

it's interesting you that you say that you take the time to go around and visit, because I think it says something when you can go out and meet people face to face. But not only just meet them, but continue to build that relationship face to face versus just everything being on phone call. 'cause like you said, you were in corporate America, you can have relationships with people over the phone. Never meet em face to face. Absolutely. you've talked to them for decades, you

Kathy Twarty: 00:22:19

right

Cliff Duvernois: 00:22:20

and you know where they're going to college and everything else and never meet em. Yep. So that right there is something that's really special.

Steve Twarty: 00:22:26

Yeah,

Kathy Twarty: 00:22:27

Yeah, it's really great because then it makes it easier to sell their products as well. So one of the products, I haven't gotten it yet this summer, 'cause we have to drive to his house in Lapeer, but if you've never had Ned's Pretzels, Ned's pretzels are phenomenal and he doesn't work with a distributor. So i, we literally drive to his little bakery, his sister answers the door and gives us our order, and then he donates money to the local Lapeer system, to the Y M C A for anti-bullying. Anti-racism programs. And so if I have those products sitting on the shelf and somebody says, wow, $5 and 69 cents for a little bag of pretzels, I'm like, Hey, but guess what Ned does? And this is how he works with his local community and this is how we get the product. Which is such, it's creates such a unique relationship.

Cliff Duvernois: 00:23:15

Yes.

Kathy Twarty: 00:23:15

It's, it's, it.

Steve Twarty: 00:23:17

so everything in here, we're selling products that our friends make. And when a customer comes in and says, this is really expensive, or what is this, we can tell them more than they ever wanted to know.

Cliff Duvernois: 00:23:33

Right?

Kathy Twarty: 00:23:34

that

Steve Twarty: 00:23:34

product. where it comes from.

Cliff Duvernois: 00:23:35

It's not came from another country or something.

Steve Twarty: 00:23:38

No.

Cliff Duvernois: 00:23:38

no, this is made by Bob who lives outside of Holland or

Steve Twarty: 00:23:42

Yeah. And that's what we like to do. that's what we, we're small business owners, so we want to support and help other small business owners.

Cliff Duvernois: 00:23:50

Let's talk about the relationship in the community of Sault Ste. Marie. cause like you said, you've got four other, you've got four businesses total that you're doing. Talk to us about the relationships with the people in the area and how you're working with others and they're working with you.

Kathy Twarty: 00:24:08

it started out really when we got here. We came from corporate America, like you said, and we didn't really know what it understood to stimulate a local economy. A lot of times when we would pull into a town to visit, I was looking for the big chains. I was looking for if there was no, and I'm not gonna say any names, but if there was no big restaurant or no big store to shop at, I got very nervous. And so that, I think a lot of people have that mindset. So when we moved here, we were like, hey, if we only shop at Parker's Hardware and we never go to the big box stores like we know the Parker's. And we're helping put food on their family's table. We started out with let's stimulate a local economy. And then we started getting involved in our local government and we probably maybe did a little bit too much in that area

Cliff Duvernois: 00:25:02

maybe.

Kathy Twarty: 00:25:03

And we have since pulled back, but now, like I'm the board chair for our Tri-County community Action Agency. Nice. Very passionate about Meals on Wheels, very passionate about helping senior citizens in early childhood development and all the other programs that we do. So we stay involved in a lot of that stuff because it's gonna help just our friends and our families.

Steve Twarty: 00:25:25

Yeah, we volunteer, a lot, and we do work with, so even at the health food store, a lot of our product, like our Honey is local, our maple syrup is local. our coffee is local. All, yeah. All of our meat and fish and chicken all comes from michigan Farms. We just, anytime we're looking to bring something new into any one of our stores, the first thing we do is try to find someone who's producing it in Michigan and doing it well. Yeah. nine times outta 10 if it's made or grown or produced by. Someone like you or me, the quality is just gonna be better. But I like to eat and so we have food stores and so we try everything that we like. I've eaten everything that we sell, and if we don't like it, we don't sell it. Yeah.

Cliff Duvernois: 00:26:17

Ooh, I like that. I like that. So then you've made a really good tasting then of all the oils and the vinegars and everything else that have come through.

Kathy Twarty: 00:26:25

Oh Yeah, And we can talk about it. And the names are really fun. so when we first started, we started with the local artist. She's the one who made our logo for us, and it's an olive oil bottle splashing out oil into the shape of Lake superior. Nice. So if you look at the logo, which is really neat, and we paid her quite a bit of money for the hand-drawn logo. And then we started naming them after different ships. So one of our. My claim to fame, he's got the Ed edmund fig gerald, and it's a fig balsamic. And then mine is the got garlic after the Edwin h got, and it's not unusual for the Edwin h. Got to have the, got garlic on the ship. And the people who own Interlake, they have a, like a house, a corporate house not too far from here. They come in every summer and they buy all the inner lake ships like the barker basil, the trigger, the truffle. Got garlic and they keep em in their corporate house so that when their people from their company come to visit, they know that they're getting a locally produced product.

Cliff Duvernois: 00:27:29

Nice.

Steve Twarty: 00:27:30

Yeah. And we've created an environment where we can. so we do a few, private label, scenarios. So there's a store, in Presque Isle and, they have about 10 of our flavors, but rather than just buying our labels that, talk about ships and other things that are up based. They were like, we would like to highlight the history of our community. And so we created 10 new labels for them with unique names about people and places in their community. And we bottle it for 'em and package it and bring it down to 'em, and so it, it helps us A learn more about what, you know, all different places in Michigan. But it also provides, a just a really unique product and I, we'd like to grow that business into where, maybe it's more than just Michigan even, 'cause we can, we've got some really good people that, with design and creation of the labels and stuff to where we can market to anyone

Cliff Duvernois: 00:28:32

certainly. really. Yeah. Yeah. Awesome.

Steve Twarty: 00:28:35

Yeah.

Cliff Duvernois: 00:28:35

For your, olive oil, and vinegar. what are some of the, popular ones?

Kathy Twarty: 00:28:39

probably for the olive oils, we have a Tuscan blend that is typical garlic, basil, rosemary, sage, very well balanced. Not one of them is more powerful than the other one. So anything from like pasta frying and egg to dipping bread. So good. So good. That's word language right I know. Dipping bread a good olive oil. Yeah, me too. And then the two right after that are gonna be the garlic and the truffle. Like when we fell in love with truffle, I cannot make a flatbread or a pizza without drizzling. Just a little bit of that truffle on the crust because it just, it makes the flavors so much better. Yeah, right out there too. Ails pretty popular too. Yeah. And then for vinegars, our Michigan ones are really taking off, so we have the Michigan cherry, the Michigan Maple Syrup, which is like putting candy on your salad. It really is. Then

Steve Twarty: 00:29:26

It's really good on fish

Kathy Twarty: 00:29:28

Oh, yeah. Or pork or chicken or even like savory pancakes, which people, a lot of times they don't think about sweet food being savory. And so I'm like, make a savory pancake, make like a bacon and cheddar pancake. It doesn't mean like the pancake is your, it's your vessel to bring in flavor. That's the, just the carte blanche, but then you put that maple syrup on there. Maple syrup vinegar on a bacon and cheddar pancake.

Steve Twarty: 00:29:55

Yeah. Or Even I'm hungry. One of the, it's official, one of the strangest things that, that people can't get is, ice cream. so like when people are asking me like, what do you do with this vinegar? I'm like, that particular one, which we have an aged one. And so it's, in the aging process. it becomes more, thicker and almost like a glaze. And what I like to take vanilla bean ice cream and drizzle some of that aged balsamic on top of it. It's wicked good.

Kathy Twarty: 00:30:23

Yeah. Yeah. Fresh strawberries or grilled fruit. Grilled fruit is another like thing that people are getting into with their traeger grills. All that stuff. And so you drizzle a little bit of balsamic vinegar on that grilled fruit and it offsets like that. Char and sweetness at the same time.

Cliff Duvernois: 00:30:40

Because man, when you, cook fruit, whether it's bake it or grill

Kathy Twarty: 00:30:43

yeah. sweetness

Cliff Duvernois: 00:30:45

The, yeah, the sweetness and it's like almost like the flavor

Kathy Twarty: 00:30:48

so well. Yeah. So it's all

Cliff Duvernois: 00:30:49

rather than just eating a raw strawberry, so yes.

Kathy Twarty: 00:30:52

Yeah, So we talk about food. All the employees are always hungry by the end of their shift. They're all like, I need to go home and eat.

Cliff Duvernois: 00:31:01

Wonderful. so if somebody's listening to this and they want to check out what it is you guys are doing, come in here and try some of your popcorn, olive oil, whatever it is, your Michigan products, what's the best way for them to do that.

Kathy Twarty: 00:31:12

we are located at 3 41 A west portage street. That's the best way to find us. You can also find us on, Facebook under Cultured Pop Sault St. Marie, spelled like the railway, not s T e ss a i n t E. and we do check that fairly occasionally. I have a couple of other administrators who check that Facebook page as well. We will answer any question. We ship popcorn all over the country. We ship the oil and vinegar all over the country. I have one couple who come up here from Florida and they stay in AU for the summer, but Perry walks in here every summer and he's I'm just putting in my order. And he takes a case of vinegar back to Florida with him and they barely make it through the winter.

Steve Twarty: 00:31:55

Yeah. like we're old school. we don't do a lot of, social media and websites. And we, people say to me all the time, you should put this oil and vinegar on, on a website. You could sell, tons of it. And my response is always yes, we could, but there's only 24 hours in the day. And we like the brick and mortar, we like meeting people and we like having that interaction. And so we don't wanna, we don't wanna start selling online and then all of a sudden that becomes what we do, 'cause it would just take away from what we want to do.

Cliff Duvernois: 00:32:28

Kathy, Steve, thank you so much for taking time to chat with us today. Really appreciate it.

Kathy Twarty: 00:32:33

thank you so much for coming to the Sault. We're so happy you're here.

Cliff Duvernois: 00:32:36

I'm happy to be here as well. great yeah, it's nice meeting you. And for our audience, you can always click on over to total michigan.com and click on kathy and steve's interview to get all that yummy information that they just mentioned above. We will see you next week with another story of an ordinary Michigander doing some pretty extraordinary things. We'll see you then.