New Business Cooks with Spelt

Cranberry oatmeal….chocolate chip (Ghirardelli chocolate pieces)….Wedding cookies….decisions, decisions!  This is what you will be deliberating over when you decide to try out Lenore Reinhart’s “Speltlicious Cookies.”  Made with spelt flour of course.  More on that later.  Lenore has always had a passion for baking, and she began experimenting and learning techniques as a teenager.  She owned a coffee house in Taos, New Mexico for six years and then as the pastry assistant at the Coyote Café. 

Over 20 years ago, Lenore was discussing the benefits of cooking with and consuming spelt flour with her Naturalpath.  Using spelt flour is making a comeback in North America.  Spelt is a non-hybrid distant relative to present day wheat.  Spelt’s uniqueness is derived from its genetic makeup and nutrition profile.  Spelt has high water solubility, so nutrients are easily absorbed by the body making it easy to digest.  It is significantly higher in protein and vitamin B than wheat, and spelt is high in both simple and complex carbohydrates.  It is a superb fiber resource.  But hey, enough about that, how do the cookies taste?  They are delicious…thus the name of her company…Speltlicious.  Lenore’s logo was created by artist David Woodman and is a caricature of her serving her freshly made cookies.

Lenore was providing cookies from a special recipe she created to friends and family.  They encouraged her to start a business and sell them to retail stores.  Lenore lives in LaJara and was quite familiar with the Taos area, so she began using the Taos Food Center, a commercial kitchen that has equipment, services and support to help the budding food entrepreneur get started.  She officially opened for business in November of 2008.  She also contacted the San Luis Valley Small Business Development Center for additional guidance and support.

Currently, Lenore sells her cookies in 6 stores in New Mexico and 10 stores in Colorado, mainly in natural food stores, independent co-ops or family owned grocery and gift stores, including Whole Foods in Santa Fe.  She is scheming about other product lines and is currently working on a web-based store.  The best way to contact Lenore is her cell phone at 719-588-9329.  The SLV SBDC may be contacted by emailing Donna Wehe at donna@slv-sbdc.com.  You can purchase her cookies at the Valley Co-Op in the Villa Mall in Alamosa or the Organic Peddlar in Del Norte.