We are thrilled to announce that our parents, Camilla and Chat Nielsen, second-generation owners of Nielsen-Massey, have been selected for induction into the Specialty Food Association’s Hall of Fame, which “honors individuals whose accomplishments, impact, contributions, innovations and successes within the specialty food industry deserve praise and recognition.”

Chatfield Nielsen, Jr. joined his father at Nielsen-Massey in 1958 and took over as president in the 70’s. At that time, he had the incredible foresight to see the potential for natural foods and focussed Nielsen-Massey on becoming the Pure Vanilla Specialists, producing only natural, pure vanilla products. In the early 80’s, Chat oversaw another important milestone: our first product for the mass retail market (up to this point, we had been strictly working with food manufacturers and some restaurants). Soon after, he exhibited at the Specialty Food Association’s Fancy Food Show for the first time. So the story goes, since he hadn’t brought anyone else with him to man the booth, he survived on the meats (and camaraderie) of the sausage company in the next booth over. In 1992, Chat moved the company to our current facility in Waukegan, Illinois and then, unfortunately, passed away later that year.

Camilla Nielsen started working at the company in 1979 and took over management duties after the passing of Chat. Under her leadership, the company made many incredible innovations that would have a great impact on our business as well as the specialty food industry. This includes the creation of several revolutionary culinary products (Madagascar Bourbon Pure Vanilla Powder, Organic Madagascar Bourbon Pure Vanilla Extract and Madagascar Bourbon Pure Vanilla Bean Paste) and the opening of Nielsen-Massey Vanillas International, our manufacturing facility in Leeuwarden, Netherlands that improved our ability to cost-effectively distribute our pure vanilla products to Europe. In 2005, Camilla passed the company on to the third generation (Craig Nielsen as CEO, Matt Nielsen as COO and Beth Nielsen would join a year later as Chief Culinary Officer, Director-International) staying on as chairman of the board for several years. In 2009, Camilla helped found The Nielsen-Massey Foundation whose goal is to assist disadvantaged children and adults with education and leadership development, especially in the field of culinary arts.

Chat and Camilla will be honored, along with 47 other specialty food pioneers (many of whom are friends and customers) at a ceremony on Monday, June 27, 2016, 5:00 – 6:30pm conducted at the Summer Fancy Food Show in Special Events Hall, 1D, at New York’s Javits Center.

We couldn’t be more proud of our parents and their legacy. If you are planning to attend the Fancy Food Show, we hope to see you at the event or our booth (#1559).

– Craig, Beth & Matt Nielsen

We’d like to take a moment to remember the legendary Chef Phila Hach, the “Grande Dame of Southern cooking”, who sadly passed away earlier this month at the grand age of 89.

She hosted the first television cooking show in the South and went on to become a cookbook author, restaurateur, innkeeper and catering chef to politicians & military flights.

In addition to being a friend, we had the opportunity to interview her as our Featured Chef. You can read that story here. Or, take a peek into Phila’s inspiring life in this beautiful video by Southern Foodways Alliance on NPR.

We’ll miss our dear friend, Phila.
– Beth, Craig and Matt Nielsen
3rd-generation family owners of Nielsen-Massey Vanillas

Photo of a 2008 chef dinner in Phila Hach’s honor. From left to right: (second row) Joseph Settepani of Pasticceria Bruno, Matt Nielsen, Scott Ewing of the International Sugar Art Collection, Chef Anil Rohira of Felchlin – World’s best chocolate, Biagio Settepani of Pasticceria Bruno, two unidentified chefs, En-Ming Hsu of The French Pastry School, Ashley Brauze of Boutique & cafe, Chef Nicholas Lodge behind Ashley, Ebow Dadzie of New York Marriott Marquis. (front row) Robert Ellinger, Franz Ziegler, Phila Hach, unidentified chef, Ewald Notter and Beth Nielsen.

We’re sad to note the passing of Chuck Williams. He was a culinary innovator who built a lasting legacy on a simple idea: provide top quality cooking and ingredient essentials to chefs and home cooks.

Over the last year, we’ve had the privilege to work with the Williams-Sonoma team in celebrating Chucks’ 100th birthday. It has been a fun look back at his life and achievements as well as how he has affected our own lives and company.

Our company has been crafting fine vanillas and flavors since 1907. But, up until 1980, we focused on working with bakeries, chefs and food manufacturers. After discovering our vanilla at a cooking school, Chuck Williams had the insight that discerning home cooks would love our pure vanilla extract. We can actually remember the dinner conversation in which our dad, second-generation owner, Chat Nielsen, Jr. announced that “some guy” called and wanted to put our vanilla in his stores.

That phone call was the beginning of a successful business relationship (we’re a Williams-Sonoma Heritage brand and have been their exclusive vanilla ever since), but it also began our long-lasting friendship with Chuck. We’ll greatly miss him. And yet, while he may no longer be with us, his influence will live on in our hearts and our kitchens.

– Craig, Beth & Matt Nielsen
3rd-generation family owners of Nielsen-Massey Vanillas

We honor the memory of our friend, Charlie Trotter, and his impact on the culinary world. He passed too soon, but his legacy will live on in the long list of esteemed chefs he mentored, many of whom are now, in turn, mentoring those who will become the esteemed chefs of tomorrow. Even more, we respect and greatly appreciate the philosophies he advocated: paying close attention to every detail, using the best ingredients, and elevating food to its highest level. We’ve seen how these ideas have changed food over the last few decades and thank him for his part in bringing these concepts to the table.

Read (and/or hear) more about his legacy in this NPR report: http://n.pr/1hjncV3

In November 2012, Chef Eric Lanlard (a.k.a Cake Boy), a UK Chef, TV host, Master Pâtissier and cookbook author, performed demos of two recipes from his newest cookbook, Tart It Up! for students of Chicago’s French Pastry School. The two dishes, a Salmon, Whole-Grain Mustard And Dill Tartlet and a Pecan Pie showed off the savory and sweet side of our vanillas.

In the December issue of Bon Appétit, the publication listed 50 products in four categories that “will upgrade every aspect of your culinary life, guaranteed” and awarded them the Bon Appétit Seal of Approval. We’re both honored and excited to have had them choose our Madagascar Bourbon Pure Vanilla Extract as the recipient of the Bon Appétit Seal of Approval for Best Vanilla Extract.

The complementary write up cites our vanilla’s “aromatic” nature and points out that we source our beans from Madagascar before going on to say that “even with only a few drops at stake, there’s no cookie, confection, or whipped cream you should make without it.”

We could not agree more.

Click here to see the article on Bon Appétit’s website, complete with the full list of “approved” products.

Or, now that you know which vanilla is the approved choice of one of the premier epicurean publications, maybe you just need some recipe ideas:

Chocolate Chip Cookies
Pecan Pie
Not So Blonde Brownies

What are you baking this time of year? We’d love to hear your ideas.

We love to talk about food so we’ve devoted this section of our site to discussing the delicious results that can occur from different flavor, cuisine or ingredient combinations.

We’ll be posting prompts, such as “How would you combine Pure Orange Extract and Pure Almond Extract. We’ll be sharing some of our ideas (mmm, how about Biscotti?) and hopefully, you’ll share some of yours as well. It’ll be a way for us all to discover new recipes and push ourselves to try new techniques and flavor combos.

So that said, how would you combine Orange and Almond? We’d love to hear your ideas.