If you’re a regular at Heartwood Provisions, you might remember smoked sugar from our s’mores back in the day. There, Chef Varin Keokitvon used smoked sugar in the near taffy-like marshmallow puff. Today, Chef Varin is more likely to use his homemade smoked sugar for baking or for pastry presentations. DIY: How to Smoke Sugar…

Recently, beverage director Amanda Reed was thinking spring drinking and Beaujolais—the light, red-fruited, gamay from France—came to mind. If the flavors of fresh strawberries and earthy mushrooms work so beautifully in those wines, she imagined they’d work well in a cocktail too. So, she added some grassy rhum agricole and savory fennel and a fresh…

It’s not just for salads anymore. At Heartwood Provisions we cook with it, we dress with it, we even finish with it. Extra-virgin olive oil is the highest quality olive oil you can buy. It’s unrefined, which means it hasn’t been altered by heat or chemicals, it has more of the olive taste than other…

Inspiration for menu items at Heartwood Provisions comes from more than just the pairings and the seasons: For both our chef and Beverage Director, Amanda Reed, alike it also comes from travels. And when you win a Hennessey Cognac cocktail competition—as happened to Reed—and get sent to Cognac, France, you come back bubbling with ideas….

Each year after the ball drops in Time Square, fireworks finish bursting in the sky, and the dust settles, Americans begin avowing change. They resolve to lose weight, to learn something new, to save money, and live life to the fullest. To all of these we have a solution: Start smoking. We aren’t talking cigarettes…

In 2011 Chef Varin was very fortunate to be selected for an ICEX Spain culinary scholarship, which allowed him to travel to Spain for nearly a year, learn about the cuisine, and work in two great restaurants—El Celler de Can Roca and Espai Sucre. It also allowed him to discover a great passion: jamon Iberico…