Local Foods Archives | Page 16 of 16

Falling for Goat Cheese

May 27, 2009

I’ll be honest. The first time I had goat cheese I did not care for it. There was something about the tart and tangy taste that would take some getting used to for me. After my somewhat negative flavor experience I began to find myself sifting through beautiful recipes in the food blogging world and feeling like a bit of an outcast because I wasn’t crazy about goat cheese.

After a little research I’ve realized that my first encounter was with chevre – the fresh, soft, French-style. I haven’t had it in a long while so I can’t be sure my tastes haven’t changed, but because of this experience I’ve stayed away from goat cheeses.

Well, until a couple weeks ago.

At that time I was in the middle of my visit to Lexington, KY, where I lived prior to my move abroad. I was scheduled to run a 5K that Saturday morning, but I got up early just so I could make a round at the Farmer’s Market before heading out to the event. As I was walking down the street I noticed a cheese vendor out of the corner of my eye.

The gentleman manning the booth was in the process of setting out samples as he was speaking to a customer about his product. I overheard the conversation and quickly learned that it was goat cheese. But wait. It didn’t look anything like the goat cheese I had before.

It was sliced in wedges from a round wheel of cheese and had a beautiful molded rind around the exterior. I could smell the intoxicating aroma as he pulled the different varieties out of the box. After their conversation ended I took the opportunity to learn more about this goat cheese.

Well, first of all, it is a local Kentucky product from a company called Sapori D’Italia. Second, they are Artisan Cheese Makers producing authentic “old world” Italian cheeses. How authentic? Well, the Cheese Master is from Napoli. Who knew we had such wonderful Italian culture in good ol’ Kentucky!

I was given a sample, and remembering my past experience, I gave it a chance but was expecting the worst. The final call – I had some of the most amazing cheese I have ever tasted! I am not exaggerating. It was fantastic!

He had carefully removed the rind and you might expect that the flavor would go with it, but the herbs that encrusted the outside had seeped into the cheese giving it the most amazing flavor. The texture was somewhat crumbly like a feta, but the moment it hit your tongue it became creamy and smooth.

I later learned that I had sampled the Caciotta Alpina al Erbe, a variety encrusted and aged in Italian herbs. This is only one of six types they make, according their web-site.

After talking a bit about my work and food blogging I was given a generous sample of a wedge to enjoy later. Since I was in a hotel at the time I don’t have any fabulous recipes to share with you using it, but honestly this cheese needs no co-star.

I ate it by itself and enjoyed every bite. I can only imagine how wonderful it would be with some sweet fruit or atop a leafy green salad.

The good news is the availability of this goat cheese is spreading quite rapidly. In addition to the Lexington Farmer’s Market it can be found in many stores in Lexington and Louisville, KY as well as stores in Ohio including some Whole Foods. It is also served in a variety of restaurants in the area. You can find out more about availability here.

If you have the opportunity to get your hands on some of this cheese I would highly recommend it. I am happy to say that I am now truly a lover of goat cheese.

For the record that is my parent’s goat. Non-dairy, but she’s darn cute!

Setting My Own Guidelines

April 21, 2009

Lately my leisure reading time has been focused on the book Food Politics by Marion Nestle. The book is incredibly informative and revealing which is why I tend to cringe a bit each time I pick it up and progress through yet another chapter.

I have to admit that learning more and more about how food companies influence our government and the research which guides our nutritional guidelines as a country is discouraging. I would argue that it is even more discouraging to someone like me.

Why? Well, because I spent seven years of my life studying this very information; learning it backward and forward so that I could guide others in eating well and improving their personal wellness.

I wasn’t oblivious to the influences of corporations and food producers while in school. To be familiar with the USDA or work for them (indirectly) like I did, you know that food is an incredibly political topic which is influenced by many different powerful forces and talking dollars.

Marion Nestle’s book just takes things a step further for me and page after page I am continuously amazed by the fact that what we are told to eat is largely controlled, in one way or another, by food companies.

Don’t worry. I haven’t given up complete hope. I’ve known enough researchers at the university level to trust that there are people in this world who are focused on nutrition for the good of people despite the funding influences of companies.

I still think general dietary guidelines are a good place to start. I speak specifically of eating more fruits and veggies, whole grains and healthy fats. Those are all good things. What does bother me is the fact that some of the servings and suggestions of nutrients we need have ever so slightly been increased a bit to please the companies who produce such foods with those nutrients.

I’ve often felt that standards are bit high when it comes to nutrients. We seem to have reached a point where people feel they cannot get the nutrients they need without taking a fiber supplement or a vitamin of some sort. I get so disgusted with a certain fiber supplement commercial which suggests that the actor can’t possible get enough fiber from food alone or they would be forced to eat all day.

Aren’t we eating all day anyway? I think it is more the fact that we are eating the wrong foods.

I refuse to believe that we cannot get the nutrients we need from food alone. I don’t feel our bodies were designed to rely on artificial sources. It is about eating real food in the form and from the development that nature intended.

So I started thinking, since I’m having all these concerns about what other people are telling me to eat, perhaps I should come up with a set of guidelines for myself; things that I should strive to do when it comes to eating.

So here you have my personal dietary guidelines.

Reduce (preferably eliminate) all artificial and chemical sweeteners.

Use natural sweeteners most often such as honey and maple syrup.

Choose meats and dairy from humanely treated animals who consume the foods that nature intended them to eat. Don’t be afraid of the fats that come from these animals.

Choose local and in-season, naturally grown produce. Garden if you can.

Savor each bite. No excuses.

Celebrate food. It is meant to be enjoyed with others and represent family. There is nothing wrong with sharing in this practice together.

Make time to make your own food. Your health depends on it. Simplify your life to create more time for your health.

Eat from a variety of cultures and be adventurous with your food. Some countries have had it right for decades. Learn about their foods and see what you have been missing.

Avoid obsessing about guidelines. If you eat a variety of real foods from natural sources your body will get all of the nutrients it needs.

What are your personal guidelines? Have any to add?

This post has been submitted to Fight Back Fridays at Food Renegade.

Photo credit goes to my nature-loving niece, Abigail

Lovely Limes

April 10, 2009

If you give me the choice of a lemon or a lime, I’ll likely choose the lime every time. This goes for the twist I put in my sparkling water as well as for flavors in desserts.

I just happen to be in the world’s most perfect place for a lime lover. I might mention that this is a good thing since there are no lemons where we live in Brazil.

I’m not sure about other areas of the country, but most people here really aren’t familiar with lemon. Many of the (Brazilian) English teachers we have met translate limão to lemon, but this is not correct. Limão is a lime, not a lemon so we try to clear up this confusion when we get the chance.

My appreciation for the lovely limes here came to mind on Wednesday night as I shopped at the local farmer’s market in town. Many of the vendors there sell a variety of items. For example, a booth that has lettuce will also have carrots and herbs. However, there is this one particular booth manned by an older couple and the product they offer is limes, just limes.

These are some of the largest, brightest limes I’ve ever come across. I buy from them every week and I am amazed each time they place my bag on the scale and tell me the price. This week I paid 30 centavos for these limes. That is less than fifteen cents. Fifteen cents for five beautiful limes! That is a far cry from the 44 cents each I saw on my last trip in the US.

I’m typically a lover of rich and heavy desserts, but I have found since being around all this fresh lime juice my dessert preferences here in Brazil are very different. I love the variety of desserts using lime and my favorite is the Torta de Limão, Lime Pie. It’s sort of like a Key Lime pie, yet that still doesn’t adequately describe it. It is something that I will likely always associate with Brazil.

There is a catch, though. I have had Torta de Limão that I didn’t care for. As you probably guessed, this dessert calls for sweetened condensed milk (what would a dessert in Brazil be without it?). Some varieties use too much milk and not enough lime for my tastes. I like that tart, almost bitter flavor and prefer that the sweet flavor doesn’t take over.

One of my favorites has been the one I’m picturing here. An individual serving we picked up at a local bakery. So no, I didn’t make this, but I did take the photo. Isn’t it beautiful?

The truth is, I’ve never made Torta de Limão, or at least I haven’t yet. I do, however, have the recipe.

After just a few months of living here a girl in town contacted me through my ex-pat blog. She taught at an English school, it was Thanksgiving time and she wanted a recipe for pumpkin pie. I was happy to help, but secretly wanted something of my own out of the deal. I asked her for a recipe for Torta de Limão.

She shared with me her recipe for Lime Mousse. This is the filling for the pie and can be eaten by itself if you so desire. To turn it into pie form, use your favorite pie crust and bake it through. Add this filling, and then you can top it with meringue. Pop it in the oven to brown or dry the meringue and there you have it. It is similar to any meringue topped pie although served room temperature or cold.

I should mention that here, they often use a packaged whipping cream instead of the beaten egg whites. This browns up nicely and is creamier, but I really don’t know what the equivalent would be in the US. I’m not sure if whipped cream would brown up/harden or not.

Also, aside from this little one I’ve showed you, the torta I have come across here don’t resemble pie in the US. The crust is typically made in a tart pan so the whole dessert is rather flat and thin, not like our deep dish pies in the States.

Mousse de Limão

1 can of sweetened milk
1 can of creme de leite (Her description: “It’s like sour cream but less sour.” I’m not sure we have an equivalent in the States. Maybe crème fraiche?)
1 cup of fresh lime juice (about 4 limes)

Mix in a blender until gains a firm appearance. It can be refrigerated before eaten or use it to put together your own Torta de Limão.

If You Are Ever in Lexington…

December 9, 2008

Yesterday I traveled back to Lexington, KY (where we lived before our move abroad) to take care of some business.

I really like Lexington and I thought I’d share with you some of food related experiences during my quick trip.

Downtown was decorated nicely for Christmas and my Dad and I met up with a friend at one of my favorite restaurants, Alfalfa. This place has been around forever, but just moved from UK’s campus to downtown a few years ago.

Why is it so cool? Well, it is like earthy health conscious meets comfort food. Yeah, that sums it up. I’ve never experienced another restaurant like it.

For lunch you can get anything from a meat loaf sandwich or chili and cornbread to an Indonesian tofu pita with peanut sauce. The variety is amazing! I settled on the Avocado Grill – mashed avocado, tomato and Swiss cheese on whole wheat bread. So tasty! I’m going to recreate it sometime.

Other highlights included a visit to Whole Foods. I’m not a regular shopper here, but love looking through the store for unique items. My hometown has only a few small health food stores which may be better to support, but also mean sky high prices. They even blow my views of Whole Foods being pricey out of the water.

So anyway, I finally got some affordable almond butter. I’ve had to hide it so I stop taking tastes! And believe it or not, I’m just getting around to trying Larabars. I picked up these two to take on an upcoming trip next week. I’ll let you know how they are. However, I don’t expect to be let down with all the rave reviews out there.

So if you ever find yourself in Lexington definitely swing downtown to Alfalfa and if you need some other suggestions for that area shoot me an email.

Kind of Like a Cherry

October 24, 2008

I got something interesting at our farmer’s market this week so I thought I’d go back to my “foods of Brazil” for this post. This week, many of the booths had bags toppling over, full of these little red fruits – acerola.

I’ve had acerola before in the juice form at the hotel breakfast here in town. Did I mention we lived in a hotel of a few months before getting into our apartment? Man, that breakfast got old!

Anyway, I had never ventured to try the actual fruit. I’ve only seen it at the market a few times and considering how fast they are going in my fridge right now, they aren’t the most stable of fruits.

Acerola appears to be pretty popular in the supplement world and is often sold in a powdered form. Its popularity comes from its utterly amazing amount of vitamin C content.

In a cup of the fruit there is 1644 mg of vitamin C! Compare that to 63 mg in an average-sized Florida orange. Wow!

How lucky am I to get to eat the actual fruit and drink the juice instead of sucking down a supplement!

Acerola is in the cherry family, but different than many fresh cherries I’ve had before. It is available in many other places in addition to Brazil. I saw some info that it is grown in California.

The texture to me was like a cross between a cherry and a peach. The flavor isn’t very distinctive. It isn’t overly sour or sweet, kind of bland. Each of the cherries has 3 seeds in it which makes it difficult to get to any of the flesh. I solved that problem by throwing it in the juicer.

It made a thick pulp to which I added water. It needed just a tiny bit of sugar to enhance the flavor and ended up being a great snack. I’ve still got a couple more cups in the fridge to finish. I’m stocked with vitamin C and ready to fight any infection that may arise!

Transport Dilemma

August 6, 2008

With all the efforts around to maintain more environmentally conscious habits, I’ve had food transport on my mind a lot lately.

I read this post last week on Tonic News Network which talks about some recent research and the energy consumed through food production and transport.

It provides even more support for reducing consumption of processed foods, but that is not why it has me thinking.

Buying local is becoming more and more important to me as I gain knowledge about its benefits to both health and the environment. However, there are a lot of healthy, real foods I love which are not local. These foods I love must be transported to my local supermarket or even Farmer’s Market.

I enjoy eating in season, as it is often referred to, but what happens when a specific food is never in season near you.

Many of you know I live abroad right now so I have access to a lot of unique fruits and veggies. However, when I travel back, and in less than a year, move back the transport issue poses a huge problem.

Here are a few things I enjoy that won’t be growing in my neck of the woods in the US any time soon.

Oranges
Pineapple
Limes
Lemons
Peaches
Cranberries
Bananas

I mean, do I make the decision to never eat these foods again because of the amount of energy it takes to get them to me? Not only do I like these foods, but they offer many nutritional benefits.

I have to say, I would really be sad to see them go, especially the cranberries at holiday time. I love cranberries. But I also want to be environmentally friendly at the same time.

I am sure there are efforts out there to figure out a way to transport using less energy. I hope so anyway.

I am just wondering if anyone else is feeling like this. What is the solution to the dilemma of buying local, being green, yet still enjoying some pretty great foods that are great for you?

Photo by mconnors, morguefile.com

Newer Posts

Local Foods

Falling for Goat Cheese

Setting My Own Guidelines

Lovely Limes

If You Are Ever in Lexington…

Kind of Like a Cherry

Transport Dilemma

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