Preparing Items Sold in More than 400 Supermarkets Muffins in Multiples.
Ron Williams has gotten to the root of a future with rising potential.
He's the creator of the ginseng muffin which the central bakery for O'Malia Food Markets has been producing four months now - with fantastic results.
"It's the hottest thing we've got going," says Williams, director of the markets' bakery operation at 200 S. Range Line Road in Carmel.
Used in the Orient for thousands of years, ginseng is a shade-growing herb associated with a variety of suggested health benefits - everything from reduction of stress and fatigue to lowering of blood pressure, says Dan Peters, a Watseka, Ill., farmer who is raising the ginseng used in the muffins. The root is ground into powder for use in food products.
In September, the O'Malia ginseng muffin took first prize in its category during the Indiana Retail Grocers meeting at the Indiana Convention Center.
At $54 a pound, ginseng is the most expensive ingredient Williams has ever used. It's worth the cost, he adds, and is being produced at a time when the bakery operation overall is doing well.
O'Malia's ginseng and other baked goods - rolls, breads and cakes - are sold in about 400 supermarkets in Indiana and seven other states. The number of stores is expected to top 600 by the end of the year, says Williams.
In addition, O'Malia's is selling frozen batter to St. Vincent Hospital and producing miniature bagels, hard rolls and muffins for USAir Express passengers.
O'Malia's, a family-owned chain, began its bakery operation about 15 years ago, with fresh bread at its 56th Street store. Today, the chain has a 25,000-square-foot centralized bakery facility in Carmel.
Williams started working on the ginseng muffin about a year ago, after meeting Peters. The president of the Illinois Ginseng Growers Association was looking for ways to get the herb into new food products. Williams saw it as a creative challenge.
"It smelled like dirt," says Williams of his first impression of the giinseng. But whhen he received a 50-pound case of ginseng worth $3,000, it gave him the incentive to continue.
"Everybody's tastebuds pick up on a different flavor," says Williams. Some taste orange, while others taste pineapple or coconut.
The recipe for ginseng muffins is a secret, but Williams says it calls for 30 percent fruit, as do all the muffin varieties O'Malia's bakes.
Carrots, apples included
The ginseng muffins also include carrots, apples and dates. The muffin is topped with a streusel date-and-sugar topping.
Since blueberry is the No. 1-selling flavor for muffins nationwide, Williams also created a blueberry ginseng muffin. The blueberry version really tastes like blueberry and has been gaining popularity among shoppers at the West 86th Street O'Malia's, says bakery department manager Bob Chrisman. He says consumers are curious about the ginseng and are asking for them more often.
About 8 ounces of ginseng goes into every 200-pound batch of muffins. Each muffin winds up with about 500 milligrams of ginseng - equivalent to the amount in most ginseng tablets, says Williams.
Peters says an increasing amount of research is being done in the United States and Canada seeking scientific proof for some of the health benefits that have been attributed to the herb. Researchers in Illinois - particularly at Southern Illinois University at Springfield and the University of Illinois at Champagne-Urbana and at Chicago - are involved in ginseng studies.
Peters says he's experienced at least one benefit of ginseng . When he's out working on the farm in the late afternoon and feeling tired, he'll chew a bit of the root.
"You just feel renewed, in a subtle, mild way."
Now that Williams has met the challenge of creating a ginseng muffin, he's pointing his energies in another direction - low-fat or nonfat muffins. His goal is to come up with a recipe that tastes good even after freezing. He thinks he's come up with an ingredientt - nonfat cream cheese - to substitute for the variety of gums often included in reduced-fat products.
He hopes to have four or five varieties of reduced-fat muffins ready for the market by the first of the year. In the meantime, Peters is keeping watch on how well the muffins do commercially. He also is considering how ginseng can be used in other products.
"I hope the American public starts to embrace it," says Peters, who's been involved in ginseng for over 10 years. "It's certainly something that can be explored further."
- BY : PATTI DENTON
- SOURCE : The Indianapolis Star1995.10.18
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