Yummy Yammy

100 Requests to Carry Yummy Yammy

LisaJohnson — Mon, 20 May 2013 03:06:03 +0000

We recently had a booth at Boston’s Wine Festival.

Wowee, do the people of Boston LOVE Yummy Yammy!

It was such a treat to sample our food out to people who really love delicious food. They asked a lot of questions, bought a LOT of jars, and … believe it or not, took time out to write 100 postcards to their favorite Whole Foods, coop store, Roche Brothers, Hannaford’s… a hundred! All asking them to carry Yummy Yammy so they could easily pick it up there.

Here are some of their wonderful words, in their own writing…

Thanks so much, Boston, for your passion for Yummy Yammy! We are in 3 Whole Foods there so far, plus one Foodie’s and Volante Farms in Needham.

So keep rooting for us, so more fabulous, health and taste minded stores will pick us up!

Yammily yours,
Lisa Johnson, Yambassador, Yummy Yammy

Share/Bookmark

“I will tell you what it’s made of, but first I want you to try this salsa!”

LisaJohnson — Sun, 19 May 2013 17:21:31 +0000

I recently asked customers and fans to tell me how they recommend Yummy Yammy, and someone said this: “I will tell you what it’s made of, but first I want you to try this salsa!”. It’s the perfect description of what happens when I do a tasting. As soon as people try it, they’re hooked.

So I bring you our 5 sweet potato salsas, the first sweet potato salsas in the world:

1. NEW! Tuscan Sweet Potato Salsa, w/ Roasted Red Pepper, White Bean & Basil

Tuscan Sweet Potato Salsa

This is such a fresh, delicious taste! If you think all salsa has tomato and a ton of cayenne, think again.

This goes on your bruschetta, on your pasta, on your eggs, on fish or chicken, with pita chips or rice crackers, on your burger for a mini trip to the Tuscan countryside.

And, like all the others, 250 calories in the whole jar, no fat, and tons of nutrition.

2. NEW! Moroccan Sweet Potato Salsa, with Curry, Lentil & Kale

Moroccan Sweet Potato Salsa

Not your typical tomato and onion salsa, this is like nothing you’ve ever put on a chip before!

If you love the rich flavor of curry, and the simple and elegant lentil, you’ll love this. Plus, add in the superfood of kale, and you’ve got a savory, delicious new salsa!

Enjoy this one on your rice, on your eggs, in a pita with falafel, on your eggs for a scrumptious breakfast, over salmon, with pita chips or rice crackers, on your meat or veggie burger for an exotic, flavorful (and powerfully nutritious) meal.

3, 4, 5. Mexican Sweet Potato Salsa, with Corn, Black Bean & Chipotle (in Mild, Medium & Hot)

Mexican Sweet Potato Salsa – Mild

Mex. Sweet Potato Salsa Medium

Mexican Sweet Potato Salsa Hot

Now this salsa will taste more familiar to you, just better.

My time living in Mexico led me to want to put lime all over everything, so creating a Mexican flavor came naturally.

This one’s great on top of your nachos, inside your quesadillas and burritos, in a breakfast burrito, over rice, atop salad, and fabulously on top of any kind of burgers.

I hope you will love them all! Enjoy!

Lisa Johnson, Yambassador, Yummy Yammy

Share/Bookmark

Why Use a Co-Packer?

LisaJohnson — Fri, 17 May 2013 14:29:19 +0000

Yummy Yammy has just taken a huge step. Really huge.
I’m having our food made by a co-packer.

A co-packer (short for “contract packer”) is a business that specializes in making your food for you to your specifications. Typically they also produce their own products, and making food for others offsets the extraordinarily high costs of equipment, maintenance, labor, regulatory compliance, etc. So it makes sense for them, especially when they’re good at the production end, to use those assets to earn income.

But why does it make so much sense for me? Why not just make it myself?

Well, I have, for 3 1/2 years now. I started, as many of you know, in my own home kitchen which I had certified by the state of Vermont. It worked for a couple of years, or, more honestly, it worked well for about a year, and it worked pretty badly for about a year. If you have kids getting off the school bus at 3:30, running a food business in your house that requires sanitized surfaces only works if you can be done by 3:30. At a certain point in Yummy Yammy’s development, that wasn’t true any more. It’s no fun for anyone when kids come home and, instead of, “Hey, girls, how was your day? ”, it’s, “Hey, girls, don’t touch me, don’t come near the kitchen.” Yech.

With that motivation and lots of others, I lucked into the greatest timing: just when I needed another place to make my food, the Vermont Food Venture Center opened. For the past year and a half I’ve been in Hardwick, VT with the competent and amazing staff and equipment, together making my food according to our FDA-certified process necessary for it to be shelf-stable without any chemical preservatives or other junky additives.

There are many local businesses that do, I’m sure, run a profitable and successful business through the Venture Center, but mine isn’t one of them. It’s too complicated to go into every detail, but for me, the Venture Center served as an extraordinary test kitchen. In my 18 months there I was able to stabilize my recipes, marketing and production process. I learned more about sweet potato than I ever thought there was to know, because I handled them incessantly, in every stage of cooking, in every season of the year. My time at VFVC has, I can say without blushing, made me an expert in the making of my one-of-a-kind products, and somewhat of an expert in sweet potato.

But I lost money on every jar. Not due to the Venture Center, of course, but due to all the built-in inefficiencies of my process, the surprising costs of getting ingredients up to — and finished product out of — the Northeast Kingdom region, as well as the relatively small scale at which I was producing and selling.

Now, I’ve worked for nonprofits most of my adult life, and I’ve lived on less money than many US residents can imagine. For 10 years my husband and I lived in a cabin we built, no running water or electricity, read by candlelight, went without tv of any sort, hauled water, took lots of long walks in the woods. My jobs have not been the sort of high-paying ones most 20- and 30-somethings covet in the US, but they have been enriching beyond measure. I’m not money-hungry.

But I do have a family to support, and I do want Yummy Yammy to be around for the long term, so it needs to be profitable, and for me, working with an efficient, skilled, highly experienced team in an efficient, high-volume, centrally-located facility, is the logical next step.
• I’ve never wanted to own a food facility and manage food regulations.
• Once I developed and perfected the recipes, I don’t have a need to make our great sweet potato salsas every day. I like to create things, and usher them out into the world. So I want to build the company, reach more people. I want people I trust to make the food for me. (But don’t worry! I’ll be there watching every batch get made!)
• I need to move the production closer to Boston, because cities are where I’m going to reach the most people who can happily afford my not-cheaply-made products, and it’s crazy to spend tons of money to move things around the state of Vermont needlessly. Those costs add up, and fast.

The headquarters, spiritual center, ingenuity hub (and tax payments!) of Yummy Yammy is still and will always be in Vermont. This is home to us, our kids are in school here, we never want to leave.

I’m thrilled that, after spending about the past 20 years of my life working for local food and local economies, I see a plethora of businesses focusing on micro-local agriculture. It’s so gratifying! And I’ve known from the beginning that, unlike everything I’ve done in my adult life til now, Yummy Yammy was never meant to be a project about Vermont agriculture and Vermont buildings. Contrary to what many people from my past careers expect from me, I am now supporting all your efforts in that arena, and moving to a different purpose. I know, shocking! But it’s a valid purpose. Yummy Yammy isn’t a local agriculture project. Yummy Yammy is a national health project. I want to make it easier for people all over the country to eat more sweet potatoes.

And a national health project makes food differently from a local ag project. For me, at this time, I’m thrilled to be working with our new co-packer, as it’s going to enable me to work toward our mission of “Delightfully bring sweet potatoes to the nation.” Thanks for your support!

Yammily yours,
Lisa Johnson, Yambassador, Yummy Yammy

Share/Bookmark

Want to Help Pick the New Labels?

LisaJohnson — Sat, 23 Mar 2013 12:32:53 +0000

After over a year and a half with this lovely label, the Yummy Yammy label is ”growing up”!

* Want to see how beautiful and appealing they are, once they’re done?
Stick around. In a few weeks, I’ll show you the finished labels!

*** Want to be more a part of it BEFORE it’s final? Want to chime in on colors, design, etc.?
Hit reply, and tell me you want a backstage pass to the label adventure, and I’ll send you a pdf of the first two concepts from the designer, invite you to comment, and keep you posted as we decide the new face of the food.

Either way, thanks so much for your interest, and your support! We couldn’t have gotten this far without you!

Just for fun, here’s a little visual of Yummy Yammy’s label history…

Yammily yours,
Lisa Johnson, Yambassador, Yummy Yammy

Earliest samples of Yummy Yammy sweet potato products I gave to friends in exchange for feedback.

First day of sale: Yummy Yammy label for roasted sweet potatoes

Yummy Yammy label starting with the black background and new logo. Notice anything missing from this label??!!

Ah, NOW they know what it is! This was still a refrigerated product, sold in the dairy/deli coolers, near hummus.

The current Yummy Yammy labels for our sweet potato dips.

Share/Bookmark

Lisa, Stop Arguing With Your Customers!!

LisaJohnson — Sat, 23 Mar 2013 02:58:27 +0000

Have you ever called Yummy Yammy “salsa”?

Well, after gently disagreeing with you all for 3 years now…
(“Well, yes, except there’s no tomato in it.”
“Sort of, except it’s much more nutritious because it’s made of sweet potato instead of tomato.”) …
it finally dawned on me… Why am I arguing with my customers???

So, what we have been calling Mexican Sweet Potato Salsa is now going to be called…

Fire-Roasted Sweet Potato Salsa!

It’s the exact same flavor you’re used to, still in Mild, Medium & Hot. We’ll just call it the Black Bean, Corn & Lime flavor.

So, I promise, I won’t argue with you on this point any more!! And thanks for giving me the (obvious, now that I think about it!) best name for the product. You guys are the best.

Yammily yours,
Lisa Johnson, Yambassador, Yummy Yammy

Share/Bookmark

Cherry Chocolate Truffles Recipe

LisaJohnson — Sun, 03 Mar 2013 14:07:53 +0000

This recipe has no sweetpotatoes at all! But it’s yummy, so it half-qualifies to be here.

Brought my new cherry chocolate truffles to my friend’s party last night, and people asked for the recipe, so here ya go!

Warning: all ingredients from me should be followed by the word “about”.

* 2 cups dried cherries (1/2 tart, 1/2 sweet)
* 10 pitted dated
* 2/3 c roasted cashews
* 3 T orange juice
* 1/2 tsp cinnamon
* 1/4 c dark chocolate chips
* 4 T coconut flakes

Mix everything in the food processor. Form into balls. Roll in shredded coconut if you like (I didn’t have shredded, so I didn’t). Refrigerate to firm them up. Then eat them up!

Yummily yours,
Lisa Johnson, Yambassadors, Yummy Yammy

Share/Bookmark

Our Last Norwich Farmers’ Market

LisaJohnson — Fri, 01 Mar 2013 02:43:28 +0000

Yummy Yammy at Norwich Winter Farmers’ Market

We were lucky to earn an occasional spot at the Norwich Farmers’ Markets over the past couple of years. It’s an outstanding market, with high standards and eager local shoppers.

But — bittersweet — this upcoming indoor winter market on March 9 will be our last.

Why? Because we have made our last batch of Yummy Yammy in Vermont, and like most markets the Norwich Market requires vendors to grow or produce your product around here. And next time it will be made in a facility outside the state.

This hasn’t been an easy decision. I was born in the Upper Valley, I’ve lived here much of my life, my graduate degree is in Community-Based Economic Development, I’ve worked to build the local economy most of my adult life, and I like to do business where I live.

Lisa with Connor, George, and Annie of the Vermont Food Venture Center

We have been so lucky to have had the Vermont Food Venture Center available for the past year and a half, an incubating and processing facility where I stabilized the production process, labeling, flavor profiles, quality control, inventory sourcing, product management, cost management, and sales development.

As a test kitchen, it was flexible enough that I could test very small batches of new products (especially handy when the test fails!), and scale up the successful ones. As a hotbed of food activity, there I could share equipment and supplies and hundreds of ideas with my colleagues, both in the facility and after hours. As a center of economic development, it gave me access to business and economic advisors. Through all these contacts, I met some fabulous food luminaries in Vermont and continue to gain powerfully helpful advice from some generous visionaries and warm-hearted industry leaders in all stages of business.

If I wanted to open a processing facility, I could consider becoming a fixed tenant at the Center. But because I want to build the business nationally, it doesn’t make the most economic sense. Plus, I really don’t want to run a manufacturing plant. I want to run a business and get food to zillions of people. So, we’re at that certain point (this is why it’s called an “incubator”) of choosing to leave the collective warmth of the nest. It’s time now for me to step out a bit from the safety of this group and get others to make my food super efficiently.

Once we sign everything and get the first batch made, I’ll tell you more. But for now, come to the Norwich Farmers’ Market this Saturday March 9 from 10-1, and I’ll sell you some of my Vermont-made dips. The stores are also all carrying the same products, and will until probably April or early May, when we make the first batch elsewhere.

I’m excited that with this growth step we’ll be able to reach more people with the mission of “help busy people eat better by delightfully bringing sweetpotatoes to the nation”, but for now, I take time to celebrate all the people, places, help and ideas that have gotten us this far. Thank you for your part in it!

Yammily yours,
Lisa Johnson, Yambassador, Yummy Yammy

Share/Bookmark

How to Prep Kale – A Sample of the LIVEYummy Adventure

LisaJohnson — Mon, 04 Feb 2013 23:20:47 +0000

What is the fastest way to prep kale? And which parts do you eat? Which part goes to the rabbit?

Enjoy that video?

Today, Monday, Feb 11, at 8pm EST, I’ll host a live, FREE Curiosity Call.

It’s like a second kind of “free sample” from me. Because I want to help.

You want your kids to have great health, and that means eating well.

You know that while they don’t listen to (hardly) anything you say, they ARE watching everything you do like a hawk.

So you know that to help them eat more veggies, they need to see YOU eat more veggies. But of course, there’s more to it than that.

On today’s free Curiosity Call I’ll take you through the first, most important step of the upcoming 5-week

LIVEYummy Adventure,

and I’ll answer all your questions about this fun, delightful, exploratory journey where I help you and your family fall in love with veggies!

Together, on today’s live, FREE Curiosity Call, we will:
• Chart a course to True North for YOU
• Answer all your questions about the LIVEYummy Adventure
• Help you decide whether you’re going to continue on your own veggie path, or join the LIVEYummy Adventurers for our 5-week explorative journey of delight

Today’s free Curiosity Call is open to anyone, and there’s no commitment. My goal is to make it a valuable call for you, whether you decide to give yourself the full LIVEYummy Adventure or not.

So join us for a FREE Curiosity Call:
• Monday, Feb 11, 8pm EST
• Friday, Feb 22, 10am EST

Simply dial 218-339-9447 ~ Use code 209953 plus #

Everyone is welcome, anyone can benefit. The Curiosity Call is free and there’s no commitment. And my promise is to give you loads of value whether you decide to take the full Adventure or not. So schedule the call, and invite your friends!

Bring your questions, and something to take notes on. Together we’ll discover the True North for your LIVEYummy Adventure — the adventure of a lifetime.

Meanwhile, enjoy this simple video on how to prep kale. (Sister videos will cover why kale, how to choose your kale, and lots of meals to make with it. And that’s just one veggie of so many!)

“See” you on the free Curiosity Call tonight 8pm EST!

Simply dial 218-339-9447
Use code 209953 plus #

Lisa Johnson, Yambassador at Yummy Yammy, and Yumbassador at LIVEYummy

Share/Bookmark

Does Yummy Yammy Deserve a “Best Bite” Award for our Roasted Sweet Potato Dips?

LisaJohnson — Wed, 30 Jan 2013 18:50:09 +0000

So you already love Yummy Yammy sweet potato dips. Do you think they’re good enough for an award that is based on “foods that taste amazing, while keeping the ingredient list pure and natural—free of artificial ingredients, fillers, and binders”?

If you believe we should win, I invite you to nominate Yummy Yammy for the first-ever Best Bite Award.

Six of their categories could apply to us: Vegan Snack (the Mexican Sweet Potato Salsas for sure; the Lemon Gingers have honey — some consider honey vegan-enough, some don’t), Vegetarian Side Dish, Vegetarian Entree, Best Innovation, Best Single Ingredient Use, Best New Product.

Choose whichever you wish, but I expect Best Innovation or Best Single Ingredient Use might be our best bet.

Thanks for your vote!

Lisa Johnson, Yambassador, Yummy Yammy

Share/Bookmark

Celiac Disease and Gluten Sensitivity Now A “Disability”

LisaJohnson — Wed, 30 Jan 2013 17:25:48 +0000

A new ruling by the Department of Justice states that those suffering from celiac disease and gluten sensitivity qualify as having a disability within the reaches of the Americans with Disabilities Act.

As usually happens with this sort of thing, those with the experience are relieved to be taken seriously, and those who have no experience with it think it’s overkill.

Many people, me included, are eating less gluten. But that’s a choice. It’s not a medical imperative. I don’t have a disability, I have a preference.

But many people walk through a gluten-crazed world, just hoping to navigate it safely enough to not break into serious consequences. For those folks there have been few options and little understanding.

I hope this ruling will step up expectations for education among food service professionals.

For the record, Yummy Yammy has no gluten-containing ingredients, but it is not made in a gluten-free facility. I hope that in 2013 we will become gluten-free certified for our production process as well.

What do you think? Do you have celiac sufferers in your circles? How do you think this ruling will affect you?

Yammily yours,
Lisa Johnson, Yambassador, Yummy Yammy

Share/Bookmark