Good Morning Gourmet

Stephanie Hunsberger – Fancy Food & Culinary Products
March 2008

Quick and easy baking mixes make preparing oven-fresh breakfast goods a snap.

The pancake mixes from Brown Family Farm (866/254-8718), a division of Coombs Family Farms, can also be made by just adding water. Initially created to complement the company’s maple syrups, the Brown Family Farm pancake mixes are also made from all-natural ingredients. The pancake mixes available include Blueberry, Buttermilk and Apple Cinnamon Pancake Mixes. Although they are great with maple syrup, there is no limit to what you can add to the pancakes or how you top them. General Manager Arnold Coombs likes to add ingredients like yogurt, maple syrup or vanilla right to the batter.

Coombs is a seventh-generation farmer and part of a family that has produced pure maple syrup since 1840. The Brown Family Farm line offers a larger variety of maple products beyond the Coombs Family Farm label, from grilling sauces to maple candies, and is geared more toward specialty retailers. “We’ve grown as a company, but there are still a lot of family farms involved,” says Coombs. “When your name is on it, there’s a certain amount of pride that you should have, that we do have. The pride we have in the products rubs off on our employees, family or not.”