Move over McCormick — there’s a new, locally sourced spice game in town.
This past March, Water Mill-based twin brothers Matt and Nico Potoker founded Twin Forks Spice Co., an ample arsenal of handmade, artisanal spice blends utilizing some of the best bounty the East End has to offer. Initially started to bring a better spice blend alternative to their mother for taco night, the twins’ spice company now practices the larger effort of preserving what they call “incredible produce” either through dehydration or through salt.
“The original idea was to go to the farms and take their surplus garlic, take their surplus tomatoes, and make a local garlic powder or a local tomato powder, and have a singular ingredient that is local to each farm, or we choose a specific farm to highlight for the garlic or for the tomatoes,” Matt says. “We wanted that to be a shelf stable version of that premium product, so if you don’t live in the Hamptons, or even if you do and you want Halsey tomato powder for the winter, we can provide that for you. That’s kind of the hole in the market that we saw, and what we wanted to fill, and that’s kind of how things came about.”
Sourced from local farms — predominantly Balsam Farms and Share the Harvest Farm in East Hampton, the Green Thumb and Halsey Farm in Water Mill, and Serene Green in Sag Harbor — produce and herbs are washed and dehydrated for eight to 10 hours before being ground. Additional spices and ingredients that cannot be sourced locally are mainly from Burlap and Barrel and Diaspora Spice Co., “both single origin, premium products that have been tested and traceable and are transparent about their process, so we can rest easy knowing that we’re using good stuff,” Matt says.
A love of gardening and preserving the East End’s local bounty are at the heart of Nico and Matt Potoker’s Twin Forks Spice Co. (Photos courtesy of Twin Forks Spice Co.)
“We definitely saw a need not just for local spices, but across the spice industry, even high-end spices that use really great ingredients still load their products with salt and preservatives because it increases flavor and increases shelf life,” adds Nico, noting a good portion of their spice blends are salt-free. Presently, eight spice blends are available along with seven specialty seasoned salts. Click here to shop their current online offerings.
“I’ve always been making blends for my friends and family, so it’s kind of where the idea came about. I saw a hole in the market and kind of matched it with something that we already loved to do,” Matt says. “Most of our blends were created out of not seeing the exact product that we wanted on the market, whether it be truly chemical free, truly seed oil free or just made with good ingredients, and so that’s kind of how we came up with a lot of it.”
Testament to a longtime interest in the food and beverage industry, the New York City-born brothers are the creative duo behind the popular epicurean-based Instagram account and food blog @Myphoneatsfirst, highlighting food and drink-centric products, places, people and events across both the Hamptons and NYC. After spending their entire lives visiting family based in Southampton, the twins moved out East full time during the COVID-19 pandemic, finishing college remotely and beginning to enter the work force. After working locally for a few years, they landed a gig at gourmet food store Farm & Forage in Southampton, working in the store and assisting with the craft beverage program, often collaborating with other food and beverage businesses, creating specialty cocktails and infusions that consistently utilized ingredients native to the East End.
“Last year was a great learning experience to understand what works out here, what to do in a business, what not to do, and how to position yourself as a local business that benefits from the community,” says Nico. “We love collaborations and partnerships with other local businesses and really thrive when everyone works together.”
All spice blends and salts are made out of the twins’ Water Mill home. Additionally, they’re working on a line of syrups, jams, dips and salad dressings that are made at Plate Date “The Shop” in Springs, where their small batch spice blends are also available. Twin Forks Spice Co. products can also be found at Share the Harvest, Farm & Forage, the Amagansett Farmers Market (Fridays from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m at the Amagansett Square) and the Sag Harbor Farmers Market (Saturdays from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. in front of the Breakwater Yacht Club).
Next up is an all-day popup on Sunday, Aug. 23, at Marilee’s Farmstand, located at 698 Sagg Main St. in Sagaponack.
“We’re getting some pretty wide reaches,” Matt says. “We wanted to make something that was a love letter to the wonderful produce out here. So far, it’s been really affirming.”
