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In just one year, Big Mama’s Backyard Garden’s Calamondin Vinaigrette Dressing has become the rage in South Florida. Since launching sales last year, Big Mama’s has sold 1,700 hand-crafted bottles of dressing. The evolution of the Big Mama’s culinary invention is an interesting story.
According to Pinecrest resident Ethan Shapiro, son of Lois “Big Mama” Shapiro, the dressing recipe was developed by his mother from the fruit of a neighbor’s calamondin trees. Calamondin is a small tangerine/lime-like citrus fruit native to Southeast Asia that is high in vitamin C. Family and friends raved about the taste of her homemade dressing so much that Ethan encouraged her to produce more and sell it.
In 2021, Big Mama’s Backyard Garden launched the dressing locally. Sales skyrocketed to the point where the product is now being made in a commercial kitchen in Miami. The dressing is completely natural and is made with fresh ingredients grown in Big Mama’s backyard garden. It contains no preservatives, artificial flavors, cholesterol or added sugar. It’s also gluten and dairy-free and only 20 calories per serving.
“In early 2021, we sold out of three dozen bottles in a day and a half,” says Ethan. “A few weeks later, our next six dozen bottles sold out in four days. It was clear we were on to something. In July 2022, I left my career of 23 years to run Big Mama’s Backyard Garden full-time.”
Shoppers can find the dressing at Pinecrest’s Wayside Market on Red Road, at Key Largo Fisheries and at www.bigmamafoods.com
A lifelong gardener originally from Cleveland, Ohio, Lois Shapiro moved to Florida in the late 1970s with her husband Howard and settled in Pinecrest. Having studied botany in college, she planted her backyard garden with
orange, lime, pomelo, lychee, star fruit, avocado and mango trees. A neighbor introduced her to the zesty calamondin fruit and over the years she perfected her dressing recipe.
As children, her sons would wake in the morning before school and rush to the backyard to pick fresh oranges. Big Mama even successfully planted a blackberry bush, which is not native to South Florida. The boys enjoyed this fruit as well.
In addition to using the dressing on salads, customers raved about how delicious it is on pasta, drizzled over grilled salmon and chicken and using it as a marinade. Parents are thrilled when their children ask for the dressing as a dip for vegetables, according to Ethan.
Big Mama’s Backyard Garden is completely family-owned and family-run. Every family member has something to help. Even the grandchildren put labels on bottles, apply shrink wrap, and write gift and thank you notes for
orders.
For more information about Big Mama’s Backyard Garden, please visit www.bigmamafoods.com
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