DATE:    2/5/01
CONTACT: Christian Thormose, (864) 888-4643
         Scott Whiteside, (864) 656-6246
WRITER:  Diane Palmer, (864) 656-4741

Clemson Extension helps local
chef package gourmet butters

     SENECA - Take a little butter, and add a little spice. 
Everything it touches tastes oh so nice!
     That could well be the theme song for Christian Thormose,
executive chef at Cross Creek Plantation in Seneca. He has a knack
for making compound butters, which he markets under the name of
DairyWise Gourmet Butter. A bit of packaging help from Clemson
Extension Service has been a big key to getting his business off 
the ground.
     His butters are high quality and flavored with spices. They 
have a variety of uses in the kitchen, from topping off a New York
strip steak with Blue Cheese & Cracked Peppercorn butter to sauteed
crab cakes in Creole butter.
     "I've wondered for years why no one has ever made these 
compound butters, said Thormose. "If no one else was going to 
do it then I decided I would."
     The butters are already being used in meals cooked in the 
kitchens of Cross Creek.
     Thormose is also on the advisory board for culinary arts at
Hamilton Career Center in Seneca for high schoolers. He knew Ron
Thomas, head of the Packaging Science Department at Clemson 
University so Thormose asked Thomas if he could bring a group of 
the high school kids from the center to tour the packaging 
science department.
     While on the tour, Thomas mentioned to Thormose that the 
Clemson Extension packaging science program helps people with 
starting new businesses with packaging problems, especially food
businesses.  
     So, Thormose told Thomas about his idea for compound butter. 
Thomas was very interested.  
     The chef invited Thomas, Scott Whiteside, Extension packaging
science specialist, and Johnny McGregor, head of the Food Science 
and Human Nutrition Department over for lunch one day. He used 
the butters on the meal, and they were impressed.
     Thormose wasn't sure how to move to the next step.
     "I wanted to find a small butter producing dairy, but there 
are no local dairies that are producing butter anymore," said 
Thormose. "The Extension folks suggested that I start small, buy 
the butter, make the gourmet butter myself and find a way to 
package it."
     Thormose began to look at packaging, and noticed how sausages 
and cookie dough are packaged in the grocery stores.
     He contacted Snow Creek, a sausage making company near Seneca, 
to see how they packaged their sausages since he wanted to package 
his butters the same way.
     "Scott Whiteside went with me to Snow Creek and watched how 
they did it," Thormose said. He and Whiteside made a batch of the
gourmet butters using Snow Creek's machine, which Thormose later
purchased from the sausage company, since the company was expanding 
and wanted a larger machine. 
     "The first problem we had to overcome was determining whether 
the machine Christian was looking at could actually package the
butter," said Whiteside. "Then we had to select the appropriate
packaging film to use."
     Whiteside helped Thormose with finding the right packages.
     "We tried several of them," said Thormose. "There are so many
different styles and sizes. The thickness of the plastic packages 
is very important." But with perseverance they finally found the 
right combination.
     Then, labels were needed. "The labels were harder than I 
thought they would be," Thormose said. "I wanted bar codes on 
the package in case a major grocery store chain would want to sell 
my product."  
     Today, Thormose purchases butter and blends in the spices in 
the kitchens of Cross Creek, then packages and refrigerates the
finished product.
     Thormose is ready to start selling his butters. "I would like 
to start with specialty restaurants because chefs already know 
what this product is," said Thormose.  He already owns an Internet
spice business. The 10 different custom-blended gourmet seasonings 
can be purchased through his website at www.spisewise.com.
     Last year he took the ServSafe foods program that is offered 
by the Clemson Extension Service. ServSafe is a program teaching 
food handlers how to cook and store foods safely. Clemson Extension
specialist Libby Hoyle coordinates the program. "Libby was a wonderful
teacher," said Thormose. Whiteside also teaches part of the program.
     Thormose is originally from Denmark, where he did his
apprenticeship. He worked as a chef in Paris and Denmark. He came 
to New Jersey in 1981 and was an executive chef with Club Corporation
of America, which owns more than 200 private clubs. He even owned 
his own restaurant for a few years in Daytona Beach, Florida.
     Thormose loves his job at Cross Creek, where he is also food 
and beverage manager. "This is the first club I've worked for that 
is owned by one man, Jack Shadwick."
     Thormose already has a verbal agreement with a local food
distribution company, to sell his product. The paperwork just needs 
to be completed. He's also been talking with several local food
brokerage companies. 
     The butters are packed in 10 oz. packages in six different 
flavors -- Blue Cheese & Cracked Peppercorn, Burgundy, Creole,
Pistachio, Sun-dried Tomato & Basil and Scampi. 
                                END