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CSA / Meals / Updates — No Comments
29
Aug 10

Stuffed roasted red peppers

peppers

This was a really satisfying, quick and easy lunch.

First we cut the peppers and removed the seeds, and stuck them under the broiler for about two and half minutes on both sides.

Meanwhile, we threw together a stuffing of feta cheese (Narragansett now sells theirs at Harvest Coops), two egg yolks, yogurt, garlic and parsley. We stuffed them, and topped them with just enough grated parmesan (the only non-local item) and threw them back under the broiler until the parmesan browned and bubbled. The whole affair took about ten minutes.

Updates — 1 Comment
22
Aug 10

White Oak Farm

We paid a visit to White Oak Farm in Belchertown on Saturday, to pick up grains some Boston people had ordered.  Here are some photos from the day.

(By the way, in the fourth photo down, behind the tractor, is a circular pattern in the dirt. This is a fresh tractor donut, that Arnie, the farmer in these photos, made to please us. It did.)

diptych2

diptych1diptych3diptych4

queen-anne

arnie1

beans — 3 Comments
15
Aug 10

Home-grown black beans

blackbeans1

These are the first of our black beans to dry and be ready for harvest. There will be another one or two harvests of this size to follow. We grew them for fun and out of curiosity in our community garden plot.

Aren’t they freaking adorable??!!!

Cheese / Updates — 2 Comments
10
Aug 10

Cheese, the wrap up.

cheese-tri

Thanks folks for the tremendous turnout at this year’s tasting. By 4:30, there were well over 100 of you hanging out in the Growing Center — a bit more than we anticipated, so our apologies for those of you who came later and missed out on a few.

Here’s this year’s lineup! Please support these talented and generous cheesemakers by visiting these shoppes, the best places to buy local cheese in the area: Sherman Market, Formaggio Kitchen, Central Bottle, Harvest Co-op, Dave’s Fresh Pasta, Dairy Bar@Kick Ass Cupcakes, City Feed and Supply and Don Otto’s Market.

Cheese Tasting 2010
–starring –

Cabot Clothbound -— An approachable but sophisticated cheddar aged in the magical caves at Jasper Hill in Greesnboro, Vt.

Cabot Vintage Choice — An extra sharp cheese made with cow’s milk and aged up to 24 months in the Cabot caves.

Cabot Private Stock — Cabot’s smoothest, most even cheddar. Smooth maybe to a fault.

Crystal Brook Chevre — A mild chevre from a herd of very happy goats in Sterling, Mass.

Crystal Brook Australian Ginger — See above, and add some zing. Yes, that’s ginger from Australia!

Fiore di Nonno Mozzarella — Made fresh daily here in Somerville with cow’s milk from farms in upstate New York and Mass.

Foxboro Cheese Fromage Blanc — A soft, creamy cheese made with pasteurized milk in the shadow of Gillette Stadium, flavored with honey and lemon.

Narrangansett Feta — A tangy, “old world” style feta that’s gently brined in sea salt, made from Rhode Island’s only cheese producer.

Narrangansett Ricotta — A kettle-heated, hand-dipped and absolutely divine ricotta.

Jasper Hill’s Moses Sleeper — A rich, buttery cow’s cheese that’s been likened to a fresh glass of milk.

Shy Brothers Cloumage — A fresh lactic curd made with cow’s milk in Westport, Mass.

Shy Brothers Hannahbells — Tiny hand-made thimbles named for the Shy Brother’s mum, Hannah. (The Shy Bros. are two sets of fraternal twins. Seriously.)

Vermont Shepherd — An aged raw sheep’s cheese made only during pasture season, when the sheep graze on clover, grasses and wild herbs.

– and introducing –

Matt from Sherman Market — A semi-ripened man aging on the other side of the hill in Somerville. Very knowledgeable about cheese. The Sherman Market carries all kinds of regional goodies, and he’ll be sampling some of their cheeses today. Be sure to visit him.

Community / Dairy / Updates — 6 Comments
2
Aug 10

Attention Davis Sq. area yogurt and community-lovers

We got an email that might interest you recently. It’s an interesting idea. If you want to email with Sam, the organizer, drop us a line at info at bostonlocalvores.org and we’ll hook you up with his contact info:

One quart of homemade yogurt per week for only $2!

I am seeking members for a Davis Sq. based yogurt making coop. Members will receive a weekly supply of home-made yogurt with a minimum of cost and effort by sharing the work among the whole group. Additional benefits include reducing waste by using only reusable glass bottles for milk delivery and yogurt production, learning to make yogurt, a shared community around making food and a model for an expanded cooking coop.

The initial yogurt coop will offer twelve shares. Each share will receive one quart of yogurt per week and require four nights of yogurt making per year at a shared kitchen. The cost per share will be approximately $96 or $2 per quart. Note that this only accounts for 48 weeks, due to a variety of limitations such as keeping the math simple and the size of the canning pots.

Please let me know if you are interested and feel free to forward this message.

Cheese / Events — 3 Comments
2
Aug 10

Cheese, the tasting.

WHAT: 3rd Annual Local Cheese Tasting
WHEN: Sunday, Aug 8 from 3-5ish
WHERE: The Growing Center, 22 Vinal Ave, Somerville
COST: Free, but we welcome a small donation to help cover our costs

Three summers ago we were doing some volunteer weeding at the Growing Center when we met Lisa Brukilacchio, a board member and founding organizer of this sweet little garden space in Somerville.

We had just launched this site and were relatively new to the area and somehow it got proposed that it might be fun for us to organize an event with the Growing Center, to amplify what we were doing and meet more like-minded folks. And in a couple of weeks, we were hosting a cheese tasting.

We’d never done this sort of thing before and it was kind of a spectacular turnout for us, who didn’t really know anybody then, and for the nascent local food scene, which had been gaining steam for years, of course, but was certainly gaining momentum by some confluence of food scares, Michael Pollan books and growth in farmers markets.

About 50 people showed up, snacked on cheese and introduced themselves to strangers. We met people that night who have become some of our closest friends and best allies. It was a lovely evening. We’re still grateful to everyone who showed up that year, as well as last year — which was just as lovely — and to the Growing Center for continuing to partner with us and providing such a warm space.

We’re continuing the tradition for the third straight year now. We promise, we’re slightly more organized and we’ve got several new types of cheese to share. We’ve got a special celebrity guest: Matt from the cheese counter at Sherman Market!

Over the course of the week we’ll be finalizing the stars of this year’s tasting, but for certain, you can count on seeing stuff from these generous producers:

-Crystal Brook (Australian ginger goat cheese)
-Foxboro Cheese (lemon honey fromage blanc)
-Narrangansett (feta or ricotta)
-Cabot (cloth bound, private stock and vintage choice cheddars)
-Fiore di Nonno (mozzarella)
-Shy Bros Farm (Hannahbells and cloumage)

also probably stuff from…
-Jasper Hill
-Vermont Shepard

See. You. There.

Meals — 2 Comments
12
Jul 10

Anatomy of a local meal: July 11

meal

Fruit / Preserving+canning — 3 Comments
2
Jul 10

Raspberry jam

raspberry

We now know that we are simply incapable of following a canning or jamming recipe. Oh well.

We looked around online for ideas, consulted Putting Food By, and asked our Facebook friends. All said we could forgo pectin if we could be happy with a runnier preserve. But Putting Food By said that some lemon juice in will help low acid fruits gel. So, here’s the don’t-follow-this-recipe-yet recipe:

22 cups whole, uncrushed raspberries (it cooked down to a lot less volume than this)
5 cups sugar
3 tablespoons lemon juice

The recipes we looked at were calling, for, like, a one to one ratio of fruit to sugar! That just wasn’t going to happen. It’s super sweet with just the five cups.

There was one jar that wasn’t quite filled, and so didn’t get processed. But as it’s cooling, it’s gelling up. So, fingers crossed…

jam

Community / Farmers markets — 12 Comments
15
Jun 10

Wowie, a farmers market calendar

calendar

We just spent a couple of hours putting this together: A Google calendar of all* the farmers markets in the city for the 2010 season. Please, go use this.

…Because we are geeks. Because we like using Google apps. Because this is open and free and you can add to it and make it better. (Tell us what vendors are there! What you like. When it’s best to go. That sort of thing.)

*We did our best to get every market on there, but, you know, online records of what’s happening when and where are a bit inconsistent. Help us fill the holes?

And if you want it, here is the public link to the calendar.

Milk / Raw milk / Updates — 3 Comments
6
Jun 10

Raw milk still legal, for now

We just got the following email from Winton Pitcoff and the NOFA Raw Milk Network. It indicates a victory for those of us who made a lot of noise after the Mass. Department of Agriculture proposed new regulations on raw milk and milk buying clubs. But it also indicates that those who would like to further restrict the sale of raw milk might be gearing up for an even bigger battle later on.

We get the sense that the pro-farmer contigency at the Dept. of Ag at least exists and truly sees the economic value of raw milk to Massachusetts dairies, but is facing a big beast of opposition from the industry… we mean, the Department of Health.

Check it out:

… Commissioner Scott Soares said that the department will not hold additional hearings on raw milk regulations at this time, and the regulations as they are currently written will stand during what he said he expects to be a lengthy process leading up to any changes. Soares indicated that as a result of internal review and comments that have been collected regarding this issue thus far, adequate examination will exceed the current resources and capacity of the agency. “In the interest of providing sufficient attention to matters associated with raw milk,” said Soares, “the agency will indefinitely postpone any further public work around regulatory changes that were proposed in April.”

That said, Soares told NOFA the cease and desist orders that were sent to formal buying clubs, like Just Dairy, still stand. However, it seems like there’s a glimmer of hope that regulators will come to some resolution that might provide a safe and “legal” space for such operations.

Soares said that as the Department continues its examination of the regulations, “everything is on the table. We will consider extended sales and what it would take to make those sales safe.” He reiterated MDAR’s commitment to on-farm raw milk sales, and said that there have been no discussions to eliminate or further restrict such sales.

It’s interesting to take a look at these FAQs on raw milk the Dept. of Ag posted after the May 10 hearing, where, by the way, hundreds of raw milk supporters turned out to provide several hours worth of comments and testimony. For more info on that hearing and the discussion that followed, we direct you to Alex Lewin’s thorough roundup. (All told, there were 285 comments submitted and all but one of them were in opposition to the Dept. of Ag’s proposed regulations. The one comment in favor came from the the Dept. of Health.)

We owe a lot to the Raw Milk Network at NOFA and especially to Winton Pitcoff for translating what all of this means for us raw milk consumers. So if you’re the kind of person who, you know, doesn’t have to work or can spare a few vacation days, you should take a trip out to the Pioneer Valley this summer and support the work they’re doing. The Raw Milk Network is hosting a symposium at UMass on Aug. 13. and there’s a fundraiser at Cook Farm in Hadley the day before, where we can assure you, you will be in proximity of some very delicious ice cream.

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