Welcome to another “From Michigan, With Love” article featuring the best that Michigan has to offer! We have some exciting news – we are now a Pure Michigan company and are in two new TV markets – Grand Rapids and the upper part of the Lower Peninsula on stations 9 and 10.
As always, our monthly articles highlight three different delicious treats from all around this beautiful state we call home. We’ve traveled the main roads and back roads, from the U.P. to Traverse City, Mackinac to Holland and Battle Creek, Beulah to the central part of the state, Grand Rapids, the tri-cities area, the thumb, many places in between, and of course Southeast Michigan. Wherever you go in Michigan you’re sure to find something unique and we hope to highlight as many as we can. And remember, BUY MICHIGAN! If we all simply replaced $40 per month, per household, on Michigan-made items, the strength of our economy would truly blossom!
You can see more of the great things our state has to offer at www.frommichiganwithlove.com or www.facebook/frommichigan. We have frequent contests on our Facebook page where you could win sampler packs from a featured company, plus lots of videos from our monthly TV appearances. In this installment we will feature Better Made Snack Foods in Detroit, Rozie’s Foods in Marquette, and The Holland Bowl Company in Holland.
Better Made Snack Foods
Better Made is celebrating its 90th anniversary and just released its new Signature Detroit Mix Popcorn. Founded in 1930 as Cross and Peters Company, Better Made has blossomed into one of Michigan’s best-known iconic brand names.
Better Made continues to support the community by raising funds for The National Multiple Sclerosis Society, Michigan Medicine CS Mott Children’s Hospital, frontline workers battling COVID-19 at various hospitals, police and fire stations, The American Red Cross/Michigan Flood Victims Relief Program, and other charities.
The company recently took first place in three divisions in national and international publications: Best Original Potato Chip and Best Wavy Potato Chip from www.thekitchn.com, a U.S.-based online daily food magazine, and Best BBQ Flavored Potato Chip in the United States from The Wonderful World of Chips & Crisps 2020, a UK-based annual guide written by Paul Cassella.
Part of Better Made’s success is the development and release of delicious new products. Earlier in 2020 the company released a jalapeño cheddar flavored popcorn and peanut butter filled pretzels, and just released its new delicious Signature Detroit Popcorn Mix – a combination of buttery caramel corn and real cheddar cheese flavored popcorns. The new products are available wherever Better Made products are sold. The company has plans to launch between six and eight more products by year’s end.
Got a pet? Better Made hosts a monthly pet contest and you can enter and order products at www.bettermade.com. Better Made continues to develop and provide a wide variety of high-quality, award-winning snack foods, including assorted regular and flavored potato chips and potato sticks, gourmet popcorn, pretzels, tortilla chips, pork rinds, and more. The family-owned company uses locally grown Michigan potatoes and trans fat-free cottonseed oil. For more information, visit www.bettermade.com. You may also follow Better Made on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and the Better Made App for iPhone and Android devices.
Rozie’s Foods
Rozie’s Foods makes a delicious product called RelSa, created by Rozie Tiepila, hence the name of the company.
Rozie lives in a small community called “Suomi Location,” four miles south of Palmer in the Upper Peninsula. She lives on what is referred to as a “40” – in other words, lots of garden space. She has always had a passion for gardening and canning, and in the summer of 2000 she wondered how it would taste if she put her favorite vegetables together in a blender. Instead of cucumbers, Rozie used peppers as her base vegetable, and her first product, RelSa, was born. She tried it and liked it! She shared it with family and friends and they liked it, too.
Rozie has been making her secret topping since then, and decided it was time to share it with the world. She named her vegetable blend “RelSa” and created a hot and mild version. You can enjoy your favorite variety by purchasing it through the Rozie’s Foods online store. Or if you’re in the U.P. near the greater Marquette area, at a local grocery. (She hopes to soon have her product available in the Detroit market.)
Rozie’s Mild RelSa is the perfect blend of farm fresh ingredients to enhance the flavor of your favorite foods: on a pasty, add ketchup and top with RelSa, as a topping with any type of cheese and crackers, and an excellent topping for pork chops, baked fish, beef and chicken. The hot version adds a powerful flavor burst for any entree or appetizer. Rozie has these serving suggestions: mix in hamburger before making patties for a southwest burger, a dip for tortilla chips, a tasty topping for bruschetta, a topping or side for spaghetti, and as a topper for any appetizer. For more information visit www.rozies.online/ or call 906-235-7495.
The Holland Bowl Mill
The Holland Bowl Mill, located in the heart of Holland, creates some of the finest heirloom bowls you will ever find. The company started out as the Holland Wooden Shoe Factory in 1926 and then began turning handcrafted bowls from exotic woods. Bowl turning is an American tradition that began over 150 years ago when wooden bowls were an important part of everyday life. Today, turning wood bowls is a vanishing art form, with Holland Bowl Mill being one of only a few commercial producers left in the United States.
The Holland Bowl Mill recently expanded and updated its customer showroom and still gives tours to anyone at any hour of the working day. It is the best and largest solid wood bowl production facility in the world, making beautiful solid hardwood bowls, cutting boards, wooden kitchen utensils, and other items of the highest quality, the same way they were made over 150 years ago.
Holland Bowl Mill sells its products all over the world and were on the Discovery Channel’s “How It’s Made” program hollandbowlmill.com/how-holland-bowl-mill-bowls-are-made/
To learn more about Holland Bowl Mill, visit www.hollandbowlmill.com.
Franklin Dohanyos is a 30-year PR professional and writer in Oakland County. He and his family have traveled extensively throughout Michigan and loves visiting his favorite place – Copper Harbor! If there’s a sweet treat, goodie, or a good burger to be found, he’ll find it! Franklin is also a musician, actor and public speaker.
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