Brooklyn Life

Five Unique Brooklyn-Made Foods From the Cheers NY Festival

This weekend marked the inaugural Cheers NY show at Industry City, in which dozens of New York–based craft beverage produced shared their products. The drinks portion of Cheers NY was tempting, but Brownstoner was in it for the food. For the past two years the Chamber of Commerce has hosted a massive food trade show…

by Laura Leebove

10/05/2015 4 minute 0

This weekend marked the inaugural Cheers NY show at Industry City, in which dozens of New York–based craft beverage produced shared their products.

The drinks portion of Cheers NY was tempting, but Brownstoner was in it for the food.

For the past two years the Chamber of Commerce has hosted a massive food trade show called Brooklyn Eats, but this year it was pared down and rolled into Cheers NY, billed as the Brooklyn Eats Marketplace. Each booth had samples as well as goods available for purchase.

Brooklyn Eats is worthy of its own massive event, and we hope it’ll come back on its own, but the collection of nearly 20 food makers on hand was still a great chance to taste new products.

Industry City was a fitting locale for the event, as it’s become one of the largest food-production hubs in Brooklyn. In addition to production facilities, the complex has a growing food hall whose roster currently includes Colson Patisserie, Steve & Andy’s Organics, Blue Marble Ice Cream and Liddabit Sweets.

It was also recently announced that the Brooklyn Flea and Smorgasburg will move to Industry City for the fall and winter, beginning October 17.

Here are some highlights from Saturday’s Brooklyn Eats offerings.

Trees Knees spicy maple syrup by MixedMade (Bed Stuy): Smoky maple syrup with a kick. Also keep an eye out for their gochujang sriracha, which wasn’t for sale because the most recent batch sold out — it’ll soon be sold at Whole Foods and other places around the city.

White chocolate green tea stars from JoMart Chocolates (Midwood): Smooth chocolate with a strong matcha flavor. JoMart Chocolate started in Brooklyn 69 years ago; other Brooklyn Eats visitors loved their chocolates with ghost pepper salt and caramel.

Orange marmalade with star anise by Steve & Andy’s (Sunset Park): This marmalade is sweet, with bitterness from orange peels and a hint of savory flavor from the star anise. The spiced mango chutney was excellent, too, and either would be a next-level addition to a peanut butter sandwich.

Daikon kimchi from Mama O’s Premium Kimchi (Bed Stuy): This is a fantastically mild sort of gateway kimchi, for anyone who finds the smell of cabbage to be a little too pungent. All Mama O’s fermented offerings are great, though, and they also sell a kimchi-making kit for novice cooks looking to try it at home.

Jasmine tea ginger ale from Bruce Cost (Bushwick): Light, carbonated jasmine tea with a kick of ginger. Cost’s ginger ales — which can be found in countless places around the country — began in San Francisco, but the brewing process now happens in Bushwick.