Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
You're listening to Food for Thought with Billy and Jenny,
brought to you by the Box Center. For more than
fifteen years, this dining duo has been eating their way
through New England, mixing it up with top chefs, jumping
behind the line of the hottest restaurants, and giving you
the inside scoop on where to wine, dine and spend
your time. So get ready, it's Food for Thought giving
you something to chew on.
Speaker 2 (00:21):
Hey, everybody, welcome into Food for Thought, brought to you
by the Thought Center. I have a person that I
have so much respect and have such high feelings of
regard for. Her name is Kim Gregory, and she has
a company called Pure Pastry. I'm going to start today
by talking about actually reading the front of her website,
(00:43):
because I think it encapsulates exactly who she is and
exactly the amazing company that she's started. It says, once
upon a time, Once upon a time, there was a
passionate new mother who was determined to create whimsical sweets
for her daughter, who needed special care in the way
that she eats eats. The essence of Pure Pastry was
born from that desire to make a chocolate chip cookie
(01:05):
and embrace it for its simplicity. There is power in
the pure, natural and honest Our company speaks for itself.
Pure Pastry is pure love. We infuse only the purest,
most organic ingredients into our pastries, including homegrown herbs, fruits
and veggies from our garden, locally sourced butter and eggs,
and fair trade extracts, flowers and chocolates. All of our
(01:28):
pastry is baked in small batches, freshly made to order,
just for you, from farm to oven. So I had
the pleasure of meeting Kim, the founder of Pure Pastry,
a few years ago, and we had similar stories as
it related to our daughters, and similar stories as it
related to our desires of how we are able to
(01:48):
consume food. I think you've heard me on the show
a number of different times talking about the importance I feel,
and certainly do feel for my kids about what we
put in our body. And I remember the first time
I met Kim, it was like I had met a
long lost sister who felt exactly the same way and
was doing exactly what I was searching for. I wanted
(02:08):
my kids to be able to have cakes and pastries
and sweet treats without all the things that I knew
was terrible for them, and it was very hard to find.
And I used to try to cook and bake myself,
and I am just not that great a baker. Anyway,
it is such a pleasure, Kim to welcome you to
the program. Thank you so much for being here.
Speaker 3 (02:31):
Oh my goodness, I'm super super excited. So yeah, I'm
just I'm honest. You have yourself, so thank you.
Speaker 2 (02:40):
Well, we've had We've had you on the television show.
So I've been able to introduce you to folks that
you know, follow us on social media and follow us
on the TV show, and we had such a great
response from you, and I've been able to introduce so
many of my friends to you as well. And I
want to I want to start by doing a little
bit of a step back, because one doesn't fall into
(03:01):
the niche that you have, you know, sort of by
accident or on a whim. So can you tell us
a little bit of background, give us a little bit
of history of you on along your culinary journey.
Speaker 3 (03:13):
Yeah, Well, when I was really young, even in high school,
my gathering of friends every weekend, they always appointed themselves
to come over my house and eat my dinner. So
I ended up having dinner potties at a very early
age constantly, just because I'm Italian and I was raised
(03:36):
by my grandma, and it was very important to me
to always be in the kitchen and make amazing fees
even when I was young.
Speaker 4 (03:48):
I love that.
Speaker 2 (03:49):
So tell me, so, would you say your grandma was
one of your culinary inspirations and what did what did
meals look like growing up for you guys?
Speaker 3 (03:57):
Yes, my my grandma Other on my father's side, of course,
was all Italian, and I would spend every weekend with her.
Speaker 4 (04:06):
I had slumber potties.
Speaker 3 (04:07):
And I mean we were She'd pull up a little
stool in front of the oven and would we literally
stirre the plot of gravy every single weekend. And we
would be drying poster on on our beds with plastic.
And I used to say to my grandother, I can't
go to bed and the sort of leadies are on
(04:28):
the still, and She's like, well, go sleep on the couch,
you know. So we would have with making everything from scratch,
and not only from scratch, but my grandmother was self sufficient.
We never went to the supermarket. We never went to storage.
Everything was in the backyard right away, and it was
(04:48):
It was unbelievable. You know, I couldn't ask for a
bed of childhood.
Speaker 2 (04:54):
What a beautiful way to learn about some of the
importance of where food comes from. And we often talk
about how that feels like it's kind of missing from
a lot of society right now. We just assume that
we can. You know, that it's normal to go get
a kiwi from you know, that that would be something
that would be accessible to us when people don't really
understand how far that kiwi has had to traveled in order,
(05:15):
you know, to be in a grocery store. And that
idea of being self sufficient is not something we see
a ton of now. But I bet was so cool
growing up. And I know weekend meals for Italians was
always a big thing. Would you guys do a family
supper every Sunday or what would that look like?
Speaker 3 (05:32):
Yeah, my grandmother every Sunday, of course, had the whole
family over and it would take my grandmother and I,
you know, the full two days from Friday to right
up till people were coming to prep and prepare and
have the dinner table set amazing with fresh flowers and
you know, and she used to talk about what we
(05:53):
were going to talk about at the table, like in
the early morning on Sunday morning, and say, let's bring
up this because this was amazing that happened to us
this weekend. And let's tell them about the butterflies you
used to see, you know that you saw today, and
the goden picking the tomatoes. And it was just theincorporated
nature and made it a big deal. Like mother Nature
(06:14):
dictated what she grew every year, how she did it
when she needed to, you know, step in and help
the garden or step back and let it, let it
grow on its own. It was amazing. She was so
intuitive to her surroundings. And like I said that that
really was instilled in me because I have it today.
Speaker 2 (06:40):
Oh, you most certainly do. And we'll talk more about
that now. Like how big was the space outside with
the food that she was growing?
Speaker 3 (06:47):
Oh, seriously, it was not. It was like a two
six by six raised beds, that is it.
Speaker 2 (06:55):
I think, And I think that is what is so
amazing is there's this conception that it would be impossible
to do something like that without like a giant farm,
And the truth is, it is so possible to do that,
and you know, the whole visit is that more people
want to be able to do so because I think
I imagine sort of the richness and the understanding that
(07:15):
you had at such a young age, for this is
obviously what drove you to do so much of what
you're doing right now. We're going to take a break.
When this is our first break of Food for Thought
brought to you by the Box Center. We have Kim Gregory,
the very talented owner of Pure Pastry. We'll be back
in just a minute.
Speaker 1 (07:30):
You're listening to Food for Thought brought to you by
the Box Center and Salem Waterfront Hotel and Sweet So.
Speaker 2 (07:37):
Kim Gregory is our guest and Pure Pastry this week.
I hope you guys will all check out her amazing
website or visit her at some of the Farmer's markets
you can visit her at throughout the year. So, Kim,
we're going to get to where you are now, but
I want to stay for a second more. You know,
back in your history with your grandma and the home,
making these meals throughout the entire weekend, learning about the
importance of nature, and then I know that athletics played
(07:59):
a big role in your life as you grew older.
So talk a little bit about how just health and
fitness and wellness continued to be a big part of
your journey.
Speaker 3 (08:09):
Yeah, and then when I after, I would say during
all of high school, in my early years, I was
a gymnast, like a real sterious gymnast. And I do
have to say my immediate family, my mother, my father,
and my two sisters, they really weren't into eating pretty
pretty good or not. They weren't athletes. Of course, my
(08:33):
two sisters did other things, so nobody was really interested
in And I started to do research and reading a
lot as I grew up through high school and into
college about performance and how nutrition really really is a
vital part of it. And then I became a professional
bodybuilder for a long time and doing all these different
(08:55):
spots that required my body being most I grew more
and more interested in how to nourish myself and you know,
my surrounding loved ones, and that is we had kind
of more started getting deeper and deeper into that.
Speaker 2 (09:18):
Wow, And I know, and so and then you became
a mom, And why don't we fast forward to that
part of the journey where the idea of wellness became
crystallized in and even deeper form.
Speaker 3 (09:30):
Yeah, when I when my daughter, my first love, my
daughter was born in nineteen ninety seven. She they diagnosed
her after about a year and a half of like
a severe struggle at the first part of her life
that she had over like hundreds of foodologies, and at
that time in nineteen ninety seven, they weren't too keen
(09:52):
and knowledgeable on foodologies or what to do with them
other than kind of give them medicine and avoid everything,
which was of course understandable, but I knew there could
be a better way. On my daughter's verse birthday, I
realized I really didn't know how to bake. I was
always an organic chef for a long time, but baking
(10:15):
is a whole different entity, as we all know. And
I was dumped, and I was like, oh my goodness.
So every day I would walk to the library with
her in her little carriage and I would read because
there was no Google or real you know, Internet at
the time, and I started to read all on alternative baking,
and by the second year of her life, I started
(10:38):
to learn how to make cakes that were actually edible.
It took a while, and shot the ship cookies and
just the basics that little children I feel really need
to go up with, you know, but in a better way.
Speaker 2 (10:55):
I can't imagine what it felt like to go through
that in the nineties. You know, I've talked about this
in this before, but our stories are very similar. My
daughter was born with an immune disease that doesn't have
a traditional name. She just had a very overactive immune
system where she saw everything both that she put into
her body and things in the external world is a
(11:16):
threat to her survival. And it was incredibly paralyzing. And
so I know, I know that feeling, Kim. And I
also know that even in twenty twenty four, you know,
medicine knows is now sort of just prioritizing what to
learn about food allergies and its contribution to the immune system.
So it's still new even thirty years after you went
(11:40):
through it. And I can't imagine how hard that was.
And yet you didn't stay in the fact that it
was hard. You kind of plowed through and made something
amazing about it. And can I can also imagine that
at that time, finding literature about alternative ways to bake
was just it just wasn't as accessible as it is now,
so so I imagine it was harder to dig through
(12:02):
all those things and then kind of make sense from
it based on what you needed to for your daughter's allergies.
You know, we you and I have both exchanged stories
about how our kids are healthy and thriving. And you know,
my daughter is lucky enough to say that she eats
completely freely, which is just magic considering what what you know,
what we were told when she was so young, And
(12:24):
so I guess this kind of tells the story of
how important it is what we put in our mouths,
and and and and how it can actually nourish people
to health. So but you're right, the hardest thing for
me to find was a cake, a great cake to
be able to have my daughter celebrate her birthdays and
feel like, you know, I wasn't going to you know,
(12:46):
cower on the side with you know, with with with
various things that she was putting into her body. And
you've done that so well, So like talk about what
that process was. You went from being an organic chef
in an organic cook and your you know, your own
kitchen with a lot of your familial recipes to sort
of really breaking down the baking world, and then that
became way more than just a little passion project for you. Yeah.
Speaker 3 (13:10):
I mean when I graduated college, I decided to turn
careers around.
Speaker 4 (13:15):
I was studying and I wanted to be.
Speaker 3 (13:17):
A lawyer, and I found myself cooking a lot for
all the.
Speaker 4 (13:21):
Lawyer firms in their kitchens, and they.
Speaker 3 (13:24):
Were like, you got to do this for a living.
So when I graduated college, I decided to open a restaurant.
And I did a restaurant in my hometown in Winthrop,
and it was all organic bombed the table, just like
my grandmother brought me up, and not alternative baking at
that time. And I did that for about thirteen years,
(13:47):
and then I liquidated and came up to Beverly and
got married and had my child. But when my marriage
started to crumble, I decided, since I had a couple
of years under my belt of baking for my daughter
and all her friends and her pools that she used
to go to Montassori School. So I did a lot
(14:08):
of work with a Montessori stood and educated the staff
and educated all the kids in their in their parents
how to bake better for their kids, you know, with
volunteering and stuff like that. And then when my marriage ended,
I decided to go out in the real world and
(14:29):
become a pastry chef. And so I would do you know,
small Waters. I got a cottage license out of my home,
and I worked for a several other restaurants around the
north Shore while I was developing Pure Pastry.
Speaker 4 (14:47):
And every couple of months I.
Speaker 3 (14:49):
Would go to an employee and say, I used to
quit because they had four jobs, and I said, because
Pure Pastry is getting bigger and bigger. And now like
years later, here I am, Oh my.
Speaker 2 (15:03):
God, it's such a beautiful story. I mean, I can't
I I mean, there's I think I love the story
because it wasn't easy, you know, like there's so much
about what uh you know, about what you had to
create that was not you know, you were doing so
many things, but you were following a passion that was
certainly not something that was wildly appreciated or accepted. But
(15:26):
now that you and I have become friends, I can't
tell you how many times I, you know, I reference
to you and other people who are like minded as
the two of us say, oh my god, she's the best.
She's you know, she did this for me. I met
her here and your energy is just supremely infectious. So
so I we're gonna in the next couple of breaks
(15:46):
unpack what makes pure pastry pure pastry. But I also
know that you've done a variety of research on you know,
different modalities. You and I shared that we both are
interested in ire Veda and and so and so. Talk
a little bit about the different things that you've studied
throughout the world that have helped you sort of hone
your craft.
Speaker 3 (16:07):
Yeah, you know, not only I mean I love Arabatic principles.
I mean I really I follow them personally. I truly
like to walk the walk of being organic, very mindful
in everything I do, very mindful where I put my
dollar personally and business wise. I'm heavy onto amazing spices
(16:31):
on freshly grounded you know, in locals. And I just
think that you could do so much more to food
if you just have the knowledge of understanding not only digestion.
And that's what Aragated principles. It teaches you how to
understand digestion and seasons and just to listen to your body.
(16:57):
And that's how like going forward today on where even
it's like my company constantly evolved in growth, like eat
even weakly. It's crazy how I have all these beautiful
ideas and knowledge that come in every week with something
new I learned or something I felt in my body
(17:19):
that I need. I know, I need to address those
shifts for the company and for people to have them
be able to be nourished and more at a different
level with great you know.
Speaker 2 (17:32):
Yeah, And I think that's why. And I think that's
why the name Pure Pastry is so perfect, because this
comes from such a pure place, and that is some
of what we try to get back to, is this
idea of eating from a pure place. We've just moved
so far away from that. We're going to take a
break and we'll be back with Ken Greggory from a
Pure Pastry in just a minute.
Speaker 1 (17:51):
You're listening to Food for Thought, brought to you Buy
the Box Center and Sale and Waterfront Hotel and Sweet
so Ken.
Speaker 2 (17:57):
We're going to talk about your whole menu. We're going
to talk about all of your offerings and where people
can find you. But I kind of want to know
what was the thing from the pastry perspective that really
launched you off. I mean, you had the restaurant experience,
you had the relationships throughout the state in the area.
But what was the item that really became so popular
(18:18):
for you that's still part of the menu today.
Speaker 3 (18:21):
Well, actually, Jenny did a couple of them, because when
I launched, I launched like four, I think three of them,
and one of them is called the cowgirl Cookie, and
it represents who my daughter is. He is truly a
cowgirl to owning a beautiful horse ranch no Cala, Florida.
But I put her on a horse when she was
about seven months old, with her diaper and her bakie
(18:43):
in her mouth, and she literally held on and.
Speaker 4 (18:46):
Never got off.
Speaker 3 (18:47):
And now she owns like seventeen horses and a horse
ranch that houses about one hundred and fifty horses. So
that Cowgirl cookie was just straight up all peanut butter, oatmeal,
chocolate chunk and unsweet and coconuts and it is beautifully
naturally free from dairy and gluten, and it's just superior.
(19:08):
We selled hundreds.
Speaker 5 (19:09):
Of some of.
Speaker 3 (19:11):
People I remember the time, didn't the business for some reason.
I wanted to live with day pure pastry at one time,
and somebody offered us a lot of money for that
Cowgirl cookie. So it is a very valuable access to
the farmer's marckets. People line up for just the cowgirl alone.
And then there's when my daughter was about two years old,
(19:35):
we could finally give her some solid food, which the
doctor's okay, because she had to stay stay away from
some solid food for a long time because of her allergies.
And I made her a vegan blueberry and an oatmeal
muffin and that was her first solid food that she
ever ate and it's on the menu today and it's
one of our best fellas too. So those oh my
(19:58):
gos yeah, represent my daughter in her roath and in
her beginnings.
Speaker 2 (20:07):
Oh and I love that Folco. Those are still there,
and I love the bus. Those are two of my
favorite Oh my god, the cow that cookie there is
nothing like you have ever experienced. And here's the thing, guys,
you will have zero idea that there is that it's
not packed, There is no refined sugar in it, and
you would never know. It tastes as sweet and as
(20:29):
delicious and as scrumptious as every other cookie you've ever
had in your life. That's packed full of things that
really don't make you or your body feel good. And
I can't get excited enough about that, and also have
to say that God that blueberry scone is also one
of our favorites. We're going to take a break. We're
going to talk much more about her menu and offerings
(20:51):
when we come back.
Speaker 1 (20:51):
You're listening to Food for Thought brought to you by
the Box Center, and Sale and Waterfront Hotel and.
Speaker 2 (20:57):
Sweet Welcome back to Sweet for Thoughts brought to you
by the Box Center. I'm assuming that last break started
to make everyone very hungry, as it should. The Cowgirl
cookie is what This one of the signatures that kind
of launched Pure Pastry for Kim Gregory, who is our guest,
and I can assure you it will be one of
the greatest things you have ever put into your mouth. Okay,
(21:19):
so we talked about the scones, We've talked about the
Cowgirl cookies and how exciting that must have been for
your daughter when she was able to eat them. But
you have seasonal menus, like we discussed, the seasons are
very important to you, and you also have a forever menu.
So I want to start by talking about the forever
menu that you have with Pure Pastry and also get
(21:42):
into sort of weddings and events. As well.
Speaker 3 (21:45):
Yeah, afevan menu highlight like twelve to fifteen different kinds
of pastry that stay on the menu all year along.
And the reason why they do is because a lot
of them don't have any fruits or anything that would
be pertaining to the season. So it doesn't put stress
on the environment because we're rarely trying to focus going
(22:08):
forward not only being climate friendly recipes, but also sustainable
recipes that we're not putting the hardship on the particular
time we're making the you know, an individual pastry. So
I picked these out that they could stay all year
long and not truly harm the environments or make a
(22:29):
major impact. So that is what the Forever Menu is
all about. And it's it's cool because it has proven.
I mean, we haven't changed it in twelve years. Everyone
is happy. All our wholesalers, they never get bored from it.
Speaker 4 (22:45):
But of course, like you said.
Speaker 3 (22:46):
We do these seasonal menus and that highlights what represents
going on in our own backyards and that is very
important to me.
Speaker 2 (22:58):
Oh god, the season stuff I get excited about. And
the best part is is that I've actually been with
you sometimes where you're like, oh my god, you got
You've got to come try this. You gotta come try this.
I just figured this out, and there's constantly things that
you're adding. So it's I know, your brain never stops,
which I'm sure people can appreciate in hearing and hearing
you talk right now. But let's dig a little bit
deeper into the forever menu. So we talked about the
(23:19):
Cowgirl cookie, we talked about the scone, and and let's
talk a little bit more about some of my other favorites.
There's your breakfast cookie and then your there's your mindful muffin.
And I know those have some Arabatic principles, but oh
my god, are they so good.
Speaker 3 (23:36):
Yeah. The Mindful Muffin is definitely completely developed on the
Aravatic principles. It's the way we put the herbs and
spices and how they interact with each other and how
they interact with your body. A lot of it we
like to do with the strength and the michel biome
in your belly, with the herbs and spices, in the
(23:58):
way we use our age and grains and no refined
sugars and no dairy. So that mindful muffin is extremely popular.
It is a grain free gluten free, dairy free, you
find sugar free item that is truly loved at each
and every Bombas market. It's very unique. It's it's different
(24:20):
tasting from a regular muffin. But and when I say unique,
it's not it's not something that it would turn somebody off.
It's something like quite a little bit of addicting, you know,
it's very addicting.
Speaker 2 (24:34):
And I think I think the conversation of spices is
so important. I think, you know, the idea of iron rata,
like you said before, is this idea of building your
digestion so that it operates at an optimal level. And
that happens because of these spices. And I think a
lot of people shy away from cooking with spices because
they don't understand them, they don't think they like them.
(24:54):
And I think what you do so well in your
baking is you enable people to know, yes, I can
use a lot of ginger in there. Yes I can
use sort of coriander and cinnamon and some of these
flavors that and cardamom like things that like I wouldn't
necessarily be using, and make them feel so good and delicious.
But what it does is upon eating it you get
(25:16):
to go right to the digestion process. It doesn't sort
of sit in your body like you feel like when
you eat majority of other pastries. And that's I think
the thing that I appreciate most about your baking is
I never feel sick. My children never feel sick. My
children don't have that kind of like up and down,
like zippity craziness that somebody gets when they eat a
bunch of you know, you know, unrefined sugars and a
(25:39):
lot of the food dies. Like those things just don't
happen to my kids when they eat your pastry, which
is one of the reasons I'm so I just love
supporting you so much. Okay, I want to mention the
carrot cake squares. They are the most delicious things ever.
The coconut haystacks, there's the cinnamon puff like everything that
you can dream of from your you know, your your childhood,
(26:00):
in your pastry fantasies. They're all here. They're just here
without the stuff that we don't want in our bodies.
I want to take a quick minute to talk about
your your wedding cake section of your business. Talk about
some of your offerings there.
Speaker 4 (26:15):
Yeah, what we do is we pretty much.
Speaker 3 (26:18):
We do have a basic cake menu that we offer
our brides in a mini pastry menu because I believe
when I have been, when I have gone through so
much of my catering years, it's so much waste with
its Nobody wants the full slice of the cake anymore.
And it was so sad to just dump and dump
(26:39):
when I was a caterer. You know, the hod earned
baking of another bake is piece of cake that nobody
makes at wedding. So when I decided to gift the
pastry chef, I decided to offer small a versions. Like
people say, I want a cake for two hundred people,
and I said, we don't do that in more. That's
(27:00):
not sustainable for anybody, you know, when I try to.
Speaker 2 (27:03):
See and what you do, yeah, and what you do
do is so delicious, and you're right, it enables not
a lot of waste. We're going to take a break.
I want to talk more about the wedding cakes. I
want to talk more about the cupcakes and a lot
of your different offerings. Will take a break, will be
back with more Food for Thought In just a minute.
Speaker 1 (27:22):
You're listening to Food for Thought brought to you Buy
the box center and sale and Waterfront hotel and sweets.
Speaker 2 (27:28):
Okay, we didn't get to talk about the wedding cakes enough.
You were talking about how there were these giant cakes
that ultimately ended up getting thrown away and people weren't
necessarily appreciating what could be done with the cake in
sort of its purest form, and you figured out how
to do that. So tell us about some of the
offerings with the cakes.
Speaker 3 (27:47):
Yeah, like I said, we do off of the basic
pop and Dash, chocolate, golden vanilla, a beautiful frent lemon
tangerine carry cake. But I also when I start talking
to my drides and grooms, you know, I always take
an account what months of course, like hopefully all of
(28:09):
us should on when they're getting married.
Speaker 4 (28:11):
What is Mother nature offering us? How?
Speaker 3 (28:14):
Who are these people where, what are their backgrounds, what
are their takes, what are their allergies?
Speaker 4 (28:20):
You know, where have they come from?
Speaker 3 (28:21):
And how do they treat food? And I start to
like like offer themselves that I think that would really
bring them out at their weddings, you know, and them
having it to look forward to when they get to
eat it and make it even that much more special,
you know, It's funny when I talk to brides a lot,
(28:42):
I have to always remind them it's a day of
your youth, not a day of your mother, not a day.
Speaker 4 (28:48):
Of your your relatives.
Speaker 3 (28:50):
It's it's for you and your husband. And it's amazing
how many times I have to say that in a
conversation with them. You know, it's you know, and it's
it's not with somebody else, Like, let's really pay attention
to what you know is needed for the bride and
grooms and it becomes beautiful. And we offer them for
(29:12):
the for the gap, and they're called cutcake triangles, and
we offer them the smallest size in three to four bikes,
which is the one that you usually get Jenny for
your bodies. And then yeah, you know that, that's a
couple more bikes. And then we have a next size up,
there's a couple more bikes. So I always get compliments
(29:34):
and phone calls up and say that those cutscake triangles
are perfect size. Thank you for telling us to get them,
you know. And there's no ways people like everybody, there's
nothing left and that's what you want. Do we really
run out of food at any given body?
Speaker 2 (29:52):
No one? Right business no, and there's no I think.
I think you're so right. It's so funny. I I
I literally just had a birthday for my six year
old and you have done every single one of her birthdays.
You've done every single one of our family's big gatherings.
And I got a substantial order for this party and
it wasn't like it was that many people. And so
(30:13):
I started that day saying, oh God, maybe I overdid it.
And Kim, let me tell you, I did not overdo it. Luckily,
I was able to bring a few home for the
kids to have over the next couple of days, but
like most of it was gone. And the truth is
is it's because it's all digestible. It's not like it's
not something that people are gonna get full and feel
sick after. It's something that they can eat and enjoy
(30:33):
and yet feel nourished. I want to talk about one
of the things that I saw on your website and
I'm looking at it right now. You know, not only
do you believe in things that are nutritionally rich and
locally sourced, but there's so many focuses you have in
your company, Like I know it's a green business. I
know that you're plastic free, obviously certified, women owned, everything
(30:53):
is consciously sourced, sustainably packaged.
Speaker 4 (30:56):
You know you are.
Speaker 2 (30:57):
You're doing all of those things that we hear about,
but people don't necessarily orchestrate, like they don't necessarily put
that into their practice of uh of their business. So
I think, if you're getting married, if you have a
big party coming up, think about all of these components
that I'm talking about. And so, Kim, I want people
(31:18):
to know where they can connect with you. What are
some of the places that you're at. I know you
have an exciting new addition to your company that's coming
down the pipeline shortly.
Speaker 3 (31:29):
Yeah, we we decided the past is to bring in
the company a little bit more. So we downsized and
we did it for the integrity of the company so
we could be more specialized and we can try to
be more mindful and like baking is a slow process,
and we were getting pushed so hot from you know,
(31:54):
from from the business being quite successful, and it was
I was losing myself. I was the staff is losing themselves.
Actually we're still doing it a little bit right now
because we're so crazy. But I am becoming at a
leader pulling back. I'm learning every day to be better
for the company and for the help of us, because
(32:17):
if we are not you know, sustainably structured right here
and morally with our you know, I don't know, sleeping
and things like that, you're never going to make exer
but E scale back on our We only do two
Foma's markets right now, and they are sale them and Rosindale,
(32:40):
and they kill us, kill us, you know, we just
we can't eat in the lives there. We come home.
I don't even come home with my shirt on because
that people want to eat that too. Sometimes. It is
amazing the turnout for us, and I'm very humbled by
(33:00):
the hundreds of people we touch each week and the
hundreds of people that come directly to our house because
I do have a cottage license out of my house
in Beverly, and people come and visit and pick up
all their pay street PF two when they can't come
and meet us at the market, and it's just and
(33:22):
they can come and see the gardens, like God, gardens
are amazing, Like we're a certified wildlife happenat on my property.
And that was the first station I got because I
believe that, you know, we need to we need to
honor mother nature before we even put a step, you know,
anything into the business. So you know, I know, I
(33:44):
know so many of your items are there. I know,
heirloom apple and pear trees. You got the zucchini, the rhubarb,
the strawberries and raspberries.
Speaker 2 (33:50):
All of these things are kind of are grown on
your property, so many different herbs. But then you also
work with a lot of farms and have another you
know a lot of other porters from other partners. What
are some of those that you're using for some of
your other items.
Speaker 4 (34:06):
Yeah, Flangwater.
Speaker 3 (34:11):
And they're right by us at they're kind of with
us at Rosindale.
Speaker 4 (34:16):
Farmer's Market, we use them.
Speaker 3 (34:17):
We use apple to farm in ipswitch. We use Russell's
orchid in ipswitch to. Miranda is amazing, mazing apple grower.
She teaches me how to better my apples and fried
my chocolate from Suaino's Chocolate and Watertown. She literally goes
(34:38):
to the rainforests each year for almost two months and
works with all the women growers and harvest the chocolate
she brings home the United States. I fully support that
because we switched up our chocolate because of all the
real not nice things that go excellent chocolate afficking. So
(35:02):
we completely switched our chocolate up. And I'm so proud
to have her chocolate. So we really really just just
a handful of people. But we all do good together. Now.
Speaker 2 (35:16):
I can't do it with all of them, and Christa well,
and it's a beautiful support to them. And I think
you're all following the same passions and the same ethos.
One of the things I just want to do quickly
is can you explain to people, I guess like tell
us how you sweeten What are some of the things
that you use to sweeten your items? And why is
(35:36):
this such an easy way to get the sweet as
opposed to the unrefined sugar, and and just like the
difference between some of these sugars that you use.
Speaker 3 (35:47):
Yeah, I mean, if you like seriously hunt you know
so far back my grandmother, you know, we were poor
and sugar is costly, and I learned from a very
very early age that there are alternatives, without even knowing
that this was going to be part of you know
who I am as I grew up. But just making
(36:08):
a simple form of apple sauce goes such a long way.
Not only can it sweeten and bind and create moisteness,
it has an attribute of an egg and sugar at
the same time. So you know, you can even go
vegan in a pastry because of it. So it's about
(36:30):
studying texture and taste and mouthfields of a pastry to
determine how how how you want to play, what kind
of unrefined sweetener you want to play in that pastry,
Like muffins really work well with the apple sauce or
maple syrupre or even honey. But we stopped. We stopped
doing honey a couple of years ago because I just
(36:56):
don't believe in touching my honey for my beehives. I
really in the environment, they were already struggling, and nobody
needs to take their honey. So I'm sorry about that.
Speaker 2 (37:09):
It's so important for people to know that there are alternatives,
and it's important to know that, yes, it originally started
as something that was expensive, but it actually is something
that's detrimental to our health. And so I think that's
the thing that I always try to drive home. And
you know, my daughters always say to me, Oh, is
this good sugar from Kim? Is this good sweet from Kim,
and just having them understand and be educated about the
(37:31):
difference is something that's so important to me. And you
have nourished so much of what you do, not only
to everyone that you work with, but everyone that you serve.
We're going to take a break. We have one more
break with Kim Gregory. We'll be back in just a minute.
Speaker 1 (37:42):
You're listening to Food for Thought, brought to you by
the Box Center and Sale and Waterfront Hotel in Sweet Okay.
Speaker 2 (37:49):
Well, this has been a thrilling hour for me. One
of my dear friends and someone that I respect so
wholeheartedly in this industry, Kim Gregory of Pure Pastry. Hopefully
we've given you plenty of vice, IDAs and and and
reasons to sort of switch here your bake goods to
something more nourishing and healthy. All right, So, Kim, you
(38:09):
have these two awesome farmers markets. I see you at
Rossendale all the time. Salem is also another really incredible one.
I mean, I will tell you you go to the
Rossendale farmers Market, which is a very well attended farmers market.
You know, for the majority of the year, I think
it goes through November. But you see pure pastry. You
see you there and you see a line wraps around
(38:32):
the whole corridor.
Speaker 5 (38:33):
I mean, I got there before the market even opens,
just in preparation for this, and there's.
Speaker 2 (38:38):
I mean there's already line. People are standing up and
ready for you before you even get get there.
Speaker 3 (38:43):
Yeah. They they sat lining up at eight o'clock when
it's a nine o'clock opening. I'm so humble, Ice, we.
Speaker 2 (38:49):
Had to go.
Speaker 3 (38:50):
You know, half the customers they invite Novakaginna. They bring
me sandwiches, they bring me hot coffee, we give me presents.
I'm like, oh my god, that's like, I can't believe
my clients. They treat me like the most amazing human.
It's just amazing. I'm just so honored.
Speaker 2 (39:08):
Well, you know, I mean the truth is you treat
all of them like like amazing humans. So the feeling
is certainly mutual now. And so, in addition to the
farmer's markets you mentioned, people can come to you and
Beverly obviously they can order directly from you. It's important
to know if you have an allergy of any kind,
you are able to work with them. Is that right?
Speaker 3 (39:29):
You know? No one has ever stump me Emma on
their allergies I have. And the funny thing is the
only person that's eeva stumpy is me. I still can't.
I just get my first birthday cake. I have not
eaten cake in thirty five years, and I finally ate
cakes this year. I finally did it on my birthday,
(39:50):
got the recipe downed it.
Speaker 4 (39:52):
I believe you.
Speaker 2 (39:53):
You're that's unbelievable now, I okay, So, and where can
people in touch with you?
Speaker 3 (40:02):
Well, we have a website Kim Gregory Purepastry dot com,
also Direct Pure Pastry and Beverly at you know, phone call,
old fashioned phone calls, old fashioned emails. It's on our website.
We have an online ordering store right on our website too.
But I know a lot of people when they have
(40:23):
food alogies, I like to call direct, and we honor
that because you need to talk to somebody about that.
You need a live person. We take things very seriously here.
I know what it is to have a food allergy
because I live it every day, not only as a mom,
but as a as a person. I have a million
food allergies and cross contamination. Everything is huge, and I'd
(40:47):
love to talk to the people's direct. So never feel
that you have to order online. Please speak to us
about any anything you got, anybody anything you know needs
with the alternative baking, and we'll be more than happy
to take care of that.
Speaker 2 (41:02):
Well. It's such a thrill to have you on. I
know that there's a food truck coming down the pipeline
that people will be able to see you more readily
and experience you more readily too. And for now, I
know that you and your awesome, tiny little crew are
doing working so diligently, so hard and so passionately. You know,
Pure pastry, like you said that in your website, is
(41:23):
pure love. And that's another aromatic principle is you should
be cooking with love, and I know that you do
that tenfold every single day. I feel so lucky to
have met you, Kim. You hope you know that, And
thank you so much for joining us on the show today.
Oh my goodness, you just made my whole year.
Speaker 5 (41:41):
You're the best.
Speaker 2 (41:42):
Everybody listening.
Speaker 5 (41:43):
Check out Kim Gregory, check out Pure Pastry, and I
promise you will never go back. You will never go
back to those package and sugary sweeps that you get,
because you will be nourished in a way that you've
always wanted, Kim, thank you so much and everybody, we
will see.
Speaker 2 (41:57):
You next week. Thanks so much for tuning in. We'll
be back with more food for a thought next week.
Have a good one.