We’ve been making these amazing cookies for over twenty-five years now! Ginger Jump-Ups have long been one of my favorites! Every time I taste them, I’m reminded anew at just how full-flavored and amazing they are.
Ginger Jump-Ups are another testament to how much of a difference good ingredients will make. There are a million ginger-molasses cookies out there to be had and visually, most look pretty similar. These, though, have a depth of flavor that is truly exceptional; layers of complexity, a lovely long finish, and nice balance. It’s sweet but not overly so. The ingredient list explains a lot of that. We use that same magically marvelous organic Muscovado brown sugar from the island of Mauritius that helps to make the Bakehouse’s Pecan Pie and the Roadhouse’s Butterscotch Pudding so special. They’ve got lots of chopped bits of crystallized ginger and ground ginger blended with butter, eggs, and freshly-milled organic soft wheat flour (the fresh-milling at the Bakehouse makes a BIG difference in flavor and nutrition both), and organic all-purpose flour. Cinnamon and cloves add complexity and depth. Before baking, they’re dusted with Demerara brown sugar to give a lively delicate crunch to contrast with the softness of the cookie.
The Ginger Jump-Ups have been duly acclaimed over the years on all sorts of food blogs, as well as in national publications like Eater. I mostly just eat them out of hand. They are nut free, so they might make a big hit for school lunches. I think they’re terrific for breakfast—great with a cup of the Costa Rica Natural Process Reserve I wrote about last week. If you want a sweet and savory mash up, spread them with some of the Creamery’s super tasty handmade Cream Cheese. Great with gelato for sure. And they’re lovely with a little bit of lemon curd as well. In fact, they’re so good that I forecast in the years to come the Ginger Jump Ups will slowly but surely continue to become one of our signature items. They are truly something special!
In 1982, Ari Weinzweig, along with his partner Paul Saginaw, founded Zingerman’s Delicatessen with a $20,000 bank loan, a Russian History degree from the University of Michigan, 4 years of experience washing dishes, cooking and managing in restaurant kitchens and chutzpah from his hometown of Chicago. They opened the doors with 2 employees and a small selection of specialty foods and exceptional sandwiches.
Today, Zingerman’s Delicatessen is a nationally renowned food icon and the Zingerman’s Community of Businesses has grown to 10 businesses with over 750 employees and over $55 million in annual revenue. Aside from the Delicatessen, these businesses include Zingerman’s Bakehouse, Coffee Company, Creamery, Roadhouse, Mail Order, ZingTrain, Candy Manufactory, Cornman Farms and a Korean restaurant that is scheduled to open in 2016. No two businesses in the Zingerman’s Community of Businesses are alike but they all share the same Vision and Guiding Principles and deliver “The Zingerman’s Experience” with passion and commitment.
Besides being the Co-Founding Partner and being actively engaged in some aspect of the day-to-day operations and governance of nearly every business in the Zingerman’s Community, Ari Weinzweig is also a prolific writer. His most recent publications are the first 4 of his 6 book series Zingerman’s Guide to Good Leading Series: A Lapsed Anarchist’s Approach to Building a Great Business (Part 1), Being a Better Leader (Part 2), Managing Ourselves (Part 3) and the newly-released Part 4, The Power of Beliefs in Business. Earlier books include the Zingerman’s Guides to Giving Great Service, Better Bacon, Good Eating, Good Olive Oil, Good Vinegar and Good Parmigiano-Reggiano.
Ari regularly travels across the country (and world) on behalf of ZingTrain, teaching organizations and businesses about Zingerman’s approach to business. He is a sought-after Keynote speaker, having delivered keynotes for Inc. 500, Microsoft Expo Spring Conference, Great Game of Business Gathering of Games, Positive Business Conference at the University of Michigan Ross School of Business, American Society for Quality (ASQ), and the American Cheese Society. Most recently, Ari and Paul Saginaw were invited to address an audience of 50,000 for the University of Michigan 2015 Spring Commencement.
One of Zingerman’s Guiding Principles is being an active part of the community and in 1988, Zingerman’s was instrumental in the founding of Food Gatherers, a food rescue program that delivers over 5 million pounds of food each year to the hungry residents of Washtenaw county. Every year Zingerman’s donates 10% of its previous years profits to local community organizations and non-profits. Ari has served on the board of The Ark, the longest continuously operating folk music venue in America.
Over the decades, the Zingerman’s founding partners have consistently been the recipients of public recognition from a variety of diverse organizations. In April 1995, Ari and Paul were awarded the Jewish Federation of Washtenaw County’s first Humanitarian Award. In 2006, Ari was recognized as one of the “Who’s Who of Food & Beverage in America” by the James Beard Foundation. In 2007, Ari and Paul were presented with the Lifetime Achievement Award from Bon Appetit magazine for their work in the food industry. Ari was awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award by the American Cheese Society in 2014. And Ari’s book, Building a Great Business was on Inc. magazine’s list of Best Books for Business Leaders.
Notwithstanding the awards, being engaged on a daily basis in the work of 10 businesses and 21 partners, writing books on business and in-depth articles on food for the Zingerman’s newsletter, Ari finds time to be a voracious reader. He acquires and reads more books than he can find room for. Ari might soon find himself the owner of the largest collection of Anarchist books in Ann Arbor outside the Labadie collection at the University of Michigan library!
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