Shore Cultural Centre in Euclid hosts many businesses inside the historic building as nonprofits and small startups line the halls.
In between are lockers that serve as a reminder of the building’s past as Shore High School. In addition to those relics, moving through the partially underground passages that connect to the kitchens of the center one can see paintings from schoolkids past.
And then the sounds of metal on metal and the smell of gas give life to a kitchen that once fed hundreds of kids.
Now, Saidah Farrell, owner of Marshmallow of the Month Club, and Jeff Morsfield, owner of Jeff’s Candy Shop, are using the kitchen to launch their own ventures.
The EUC Flea Art and Vintage Market event on Dec. 1 and local seasonal markets are on the horizon limiting the time both of them have to prepare for the busy season. But they both say they are grateful for the large space that the kitchen provides during the rush.
Farrell is also kitchen manager of Shore and is excited that the commercial kitchen —which opened in June — already has people in line to rent the space.
“We have large ovens, stoves and lots of storage space,” she said. “We have two businesses right now the first of which is the Marshmallow of the Month Club, which is mine.
“The second company is Jeff’s Candy Shop,” she continued. “He makes a toffee bar with chocolate and pecans which is absolutely delicious. He comes two days a week and we have a couple more people who are getting their paperwork together so they can come on board as well.”
Farrell started her Marshmallow of the Month Club as a way to give monthly surprise treats in a fun package.
She went on to say that she likes coming up with all kinds of different flavors every month and tries to bring a fun new theme to each box. Each box could have her fresh-baked graham crackers to make smores or even packets of her homemade powdered hot chocolate.
She said that she started with marshmallows, but thanks to the size of the kitchen, she has been able to expand into making the other candy and baked goods that come in each month’s box.
“I learned from (Food Network personality) Alton Brown,” Farrell said. “I studied his recipe, figured it out and started making marshmallows from there. I’m a huge marshmallow fan regardless, so it was kinda like ‘okay I made vanilla, now can I make it with wine? Can I make it with fresh fruit?’ So, I decided to not use any artificial flavor or color.
“I just made a plum Prosecco marshmallow,” she added. “I’m cooking down the plums inside of it. That one is super fun and I’m also doing a strawberry one this morning.”
Farrell said that she gets around 300 subscribers to her monthly box by the end of the holiday season, and she hopes to expand into physical stores soon.
Jeff Morsfield of Jeff’s Candy Shop mostly sells his product online, but now he has also started going to different flea markets and farmers markets where he also sells candied nuts and specialty giant lollipops.
Morsfield started the candy shop after being inspired by his mother who made toffee once a year. Her toffee became so well known that Morsfield felt like he had to take up the tradition as well to fill the demand.
“My mom would always make English toffee growing up around the holidays,” Morsfield said. “Everyone really liked it, but she would only make it for two weeks at a time and that would be it for the year. I enjoy making toffee and that kind of stuff.”
His toffee-forward candy bar has layered chocolate and pecans. He said that it puts the caramel first when most put the chocolate upfront.
“I call it the Jeff Bar,” Morsfield said. “But it’s a toffee bar. It was my mom’s recipe growing up but it’s in the form of a candy bar so it’s a little more marketable.
“It’s a real good recipe because I think it really showcases what toffee really is because when you get some other commercial candy bars that have toffee in it a lot of times its really just a chocolate bar with toffee in it,” he added. “This is really toffee forward.”
In addition to the Jeff Bar, Morsfield says that he tries to replicate childhood favorite candy bars in his own style. He said being a small candy maker gives him the freedom to produce candy that wouldn’t survive in big stores.
“I make these giant lollipops and sell them at the farmers markets,” Morsfield said. “There isn’t anything quite like seeing a kid’s reaction when they see a lollipop the size of their own head.”
“They can’t sell them at a lot of regular stores; they break on the shelf. So, it’s nice to do something different.” Morsfield continued.
