The Toad & The Butterfly, a Blog

Mustard is almost as versatile as hot sauce. Think sausages, sandwiches, salads, pretzels, tofu, or stir fry. Or, do like my mom and spread on a wedge of cabbage.

We have three totally new microbatch hot sauces this month. They have only existed in our brains prior to their creation. And they are just yummy.

"Have you seen Food and Wine?!"

That was the opening line of the phone call I got as I had just finished setting up our booth at our first New York Fancy Food Show. I was tired and sweaty and definitely hadn't seen Food and Wine.

I'm Claire Georges, owner, founder and CEO of Butterfly Bakery of Vermont. I'm the one who sends out the newsletters and manages social media - I also wear about 50 other hats at any given moment, so my head is always warm.

Like many condiment lovers, I have a fridge door full of hot sauces, mustards, salsas and more. But I always have a rotating cast of current favorites that sit near the front and these are are what I'm noshing on now!

We are having a lot of fun in the kitchen these days! We get to be so creative and freewheeling with our micros and folks are gobbling them up fast this year! 

To all the mothers out there - mothers in all their forms - thank you for being you. It can be complicated, but the world is better for having mothers in it.

Small farms are more than just a place that grows food. They enrich the soil and the fabric of their communities while giving us a more resilient foodshed.

I came up with the idea of smoking onions in the summer of 2016, when my husband and I were testing out our new smoker with the "will it smoke" game. Pro-tip: Smoked bananas are ... not good. Smoked walla-walla onions, on the other hand, are just bliss.

Every single recipe we make has to be reviewed by a Scheduled Process Authority and submitted to the FDA. We have critical control points of temperature and pH. We save partial bottles from every batch for a few days after production for the 2 pH tests that we have to take from every batch.