Savoring Kentucky took a back seat in recent weeks to savoring an election and savoring a wedding. Juicy tidbits piled up, unshared. Here, for your pleasure, we present seven items that cover the taste gamut: sweet, savory, bitter, salty, and maybe even the fifth taste, umami.
____________________
My Old Kentucky Ham: Happy to see New York Times T-Magazine’s Christine Muhlke write wonderful things about both Colonel Newsom’s Aged Kentucky Country Ham in Princeton and Scott Hams in Greenville. Both these producers offer excellent, authentic, traditionally cured, smoked, aged hams. Personal best recommendations:
- Colonel Newsom’s cooked country ham, available each fall; organic options occasionally available, and highly recommended
- The smoked sausage from Scott Hams
____________________
Doyle vetoes raw milk bill: That’s the governor of Wisconsin, who initially had said he would sign a bill that “would have given farms limited ability to sell raw milk directly to consumers. Farmers would have had to post a sign saying that raw milk is not recommended for certain people… The milk would have had to meet all the requirements associated with a Grade-A dairy farm license, and samples would have been tested for pathogens.”
____________________
Local food movement boosts local butchers’ business: This story from Seattle includes a good introduction to John’s Custom Meats in Smiths Grove, Kentucky, also home of the outstanding Au Naturel farm. John’s Custom Meats declares, “Kentucky Born, Kentucky Raised, Kentucky Fed, Kentucky Processed… direct from the farm, to our processing facility, to the consumers’ dinner table” and adds, “Buy local Kentucky. It’s 1000 miles fresher.”
____________________
Local food push ripe for debate: Not only is eating an agricultural act, as Wendell Berry famously declared, but it is becoming an agricultural policy act as well.
____________________
Beyond Shirley Temples: The New Maraschino Cherry: It’s sour cherry time in Kentucky (a bit early this year), and food writer Cara Newman says sour cherries as well as sweet ones can be transformed into Maraschino cherries easier than one might think. It looks as if we will harvest four Montmorency cherries from our new trees this year – if we are faster than the birds. Others with established trees have bumper sour cherry crops in Kentucky. It’s a good time for Sour Cherry Soup.
____________________
Edible Louisville: This splendid new publication, edited by Sarah Fritschner (fantastic food expert, local food advocate, and experienced food writer), already features a fine collection of Kentucky recipes and well-written stories. Bonus: a recipe for Sour Cherry Tart.
____________________
Farmers jump at chance to grow hops: These are North Carolina farmers. Perhaps their post-tobacco adventures with growing hops for emerging Tarheel brewers will be useful to Kentucky farms and farmers as well.
Related posts:
- Sour Cherry Soup The flavor of tart cherries, fresh in Kentucky in early June, in pies and soups – that’s probably one of...
- Col. Newsom’s Ham Goes Bilingual The best ham in Kentucky — Col. Newsom’s Aged Country Ham — recently joined the best dry-aged hams in the...
- In the Bleak Midwinter — Homegrown Cherries That’s cold cherry soup in the champagne glasses, second course for this year’s Campsie Thanksgiving dinner. I’ll come back to...
