Roots On The Record

We recently got a very nice write-up in the Helena Independent Record in a story called “Roots Kitchen and Cannery: Getting Back To The Basics Of Food”. Writer Donnie Sexton visited our canning facility outside of Bozeman and interviewed our head canner Patrick Burr. They discussed how Roots got its start and our ongoing commitment to supporting local farmers and producers. You can read an excerpt of the piece below:

From “Getting Back To The Basics Of Food” - Helena Independent Record

Roots Kitchen and Cannery was born out of a passion for healthy eating, supporting locals and agriculture sustainability.

Patrick Burr, a Bozeman native, and Orion Bellorado from Jackson, Wyoming, founded the company in 2013. They met at MSU, where both studied physics. After returning to Jackson, Orion had a farmer’s market booth that sold pies and quiches on Saturdays.

While the idea of starting a food-focused business was tossed around, Patrick and Orion knew they didn’t want to open a restaurant or catering business. But they were keen on extending the availability of local produce on a year-round basis. Willi Brooks, also a native of Wyoming and a longtime friend of Orion, joined the team in 2014. The trio has successfully crafted a unique range of canned goods using locally sourced fruit and produce.

I had a chance to visit with Patrick at the canning facility in Belgrade and was curious how he learned food preservation via canning. I figured he had grown up in a family where his mom or grandmother canned and had learned from them. But no! He chuckles as he tells me, “I opened up a cannery before I knew how to can. It was totally a trial and error process. It seemed like a cool way to preserve food.”

The beauty of Roots is their ability to support local farmers involved in growing high-quality produce, including beets, carrots and cucumbers. Towne’s Harvest, a three-acre student-run educational and research farm near the MSU campus, is one of their largest sources of vegetables. Roots also relies on Amaltheia Dairy, their next-door neighbor in the canning facility, which operates a sizable vegetable garden outside Belgrade. A significant amount of their produce ends up in the canning jars.

You can read the rest at helenair.com!