Good as Gold

The Garden State Gift Basket is filled with the state’s bounty.

By: Susan Van Dongen
   A New Jersey entrepreneur and purveyor of regionally grown foods wants to say "bite us" to a Big Apple big shot. Bob Gold, founder of Gold Farms in Roosevelt, recently sent a gift basket filled with specialty food items from the Garden State to David Letterman — and he dares the late-night talk-show host to say Jersey stuff doesn’t taste good.
   Some of the excellent edibles in the gift basket include Original Trenton Oyster Crackers, packages of Rutgers’ Heirloom Tomato Seeds — reputed to be the best-tasting tomatoes in the world — James Salt Water Taffy from Atlantic City and Jersey Popcorn from Sansone’s Farm in Hopewell.

"The gift basket demonstrates that we have a lot to be proud of," says Bob Gold, founder of Gold Farms in Roosevelt.

   Mr. Gold sent the basket to Letterman because he thinks he epitomizes generations of wise guys who’ve taken pot shots at the Garden State.
   "New Jersey has been the butt of jokes on so many talk shows," Mr. Gold says. "The gift basket demonstrates that we have a lot to be proud of."
   The Garden State Gift Basket is also available to the public via Gold Farms’ Web site, www.goldfarms.com. The baskets come in two sizes and cost $39.95 and $69.95.
   Other items in the basket include Old Monmouth Peanut Brittle, which has been made in Freehold since 1910. There’s a bottle of thick, smoky Hoboken Eddie’s BBQ Sauce, fresh from the birthplace of Frank Sinatra, Paul Simon and baseball. Jersey Blueberry Ice Tea is the result of a collaboration between Rutgers’ Cook College and various blueberry growers in Atlantic County.
   Reached by cell phone, Mr. Gold was en route to Bahr’s Landing in Atlantic Highlands to sample the restaurant’s clam chowder. He’s already thinking of putting together a basket filled with specialty foods from the Jersey Shore and therefore has the task of testing the prospective goodies. Somebody has to do it, after all.
   Mr. Gold came up with the gift basket idea to promote regionally grown foods and to pump some life into New Jersey’s farming and agricultural community, an offshoot of his purpose in founding Gold Farms two years ago.
   A lifelong resident of North Jersey, Mr. Gold didn’t know anything about Roosevelt’s history as an experimental community in the 1930s and ’40s. All he knew was, he was a Jersey guy, disgusted with the way the state’s beautiful farmland seemed to be disappearing more and more to development.
   "I wanted to do something about it," he says. "About five years ago I contacted the Monmouth County (Department of) Agriculture and they told me about this project in Roosevelt, how they were trying to save their village. I ended up buying the land, preserving the farm, converting it into an organic farm and then doing this distribution. I didn’t know anything about the history of Roosevelt, but I think it’s fitting that we’re doing this kind of work here."
   The farming itself has yet to take off, but Mr. Gold’s system of distributing products from other farms has really hit its stride.
   "We’ve put together items from 30-40 different farms in the state," he says. "We distribute the products to restaurants in Princeton, New Brunswick, Red Bank, North Jersey and even into Manhattan. Tre Piani (in Plainsboro), Triumph Brewery and Mediterra (both in Princeton) have all been very supportive of locally grown Jersey products. In New Brunswick, Clyde’s and Nova Terra were big supporters."
   Overseeing an organic farm and distributing various Jersey agriculture products is quite a switch for Mr. Gold, whose previous professional life involved founding and developing companies like Starpoint Solutions, a multi-million-dollar software and multimedia consulting company. He also is the founder and president of Level 8 Systems, a software company. In addition, he owned the Emmy Award-winning animation studio Magnet Pictures.
   Mr. Gold has a bachelor’s degree in economics from Rutgers University and a master’s in computer science from Fairleigh Dickinson University in Teaneck. He lives in Manalapan with his wife, Florie, and three children — Scott, Ilyssa and Jessica.
   The Garden State Gift Basket is a real labor of love for Mr. Gold, who seems to generate "up-with-Jersey" ideas even when he stops for a donut.
   "I got a blueberry muffin at Dunkin’ Donuts and I started to think, ‘How about a special promotion where Dunkin’ Donuts in New Jersey would make their muffins using blueberries grown here?’ All it takes is a little creativity and marketing skill to put an idea like this together."
   For the basket, Mr. Gold and his friends "drove all over the place, scouring all the little towns, trying to find things that represented farming, the Shore — all the stuff that makes Jersey special," he says. "We got a little food history from a few of our cities, such as Atlantic City, Hoboken and Trenton. For example, these Original Trenton Oyster Crackers go back to 1848. They were first introduced by Ezekiel Pullen, a Trenton baker who peddled them through the streets of Trenton from his pushcart."
   There are no foods from Gold Farms in the gift basket — not yet, anyway. Mr. Gold says that wasn’t his intention, however.
   "My goal is to develop and promote farming in the Garden State — not just Gold Farms," he says. "I’m really enjoying this because we’re doing something good, both for the farming community and the consumers. You can eat better-tasting, fresher and more nutritious food if it’s grown right here in your own backyard."
The Garden State Gift Basket is $39.95 and $69.95, and is available by calling (609) 426-0435. Gold Farms on the Web: www.goldfarms.com