Flavor Magazine Aug/Sep 09 by Flavor Magazine

aug. / sept. 2009

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seasonal • local • sustainable • artisanal • unique

c i n a Org The White HouseVGarden So What?

48 38 22 features columns

A Provocative Kitchen Garden

The Obamas’ garden has gotten a lot of attention. And it has made some people angry. But has it done anything for the local food movement?

Market Research

Let us introduce you to three vendors from the Dupont Circle farmers market—Eco-Friendly Foods, Everona Dairy, and Tree and Leaf Farm.

Tales from the Field A.O.D.

Are the farmers at the market acting a little twitchy? Here’s the medical report.

Tomato, Tomahto

Nebraska Wedding. Banana Legs. Moneymaker. Radiator Charlie’s Mortgage Lifter. Aunt Ruby’s German Green. Casady’s Folly. Czech’s Excellent Yellow. Tiny Tim. Alberto Shatters. Green Sleeves.

marian burros

zora margolis

Rebel with a Cause Noble Farming

The quality of our food is directly related to how well we honor those who grow it.

joel salatin

michael clune

In the Food Desert Not Quite What I Was Looking For

This look at D.C.’s Common Good City Farm is the first installment of a new, multi-perspective column on urban gardening.

paul seamus ryan

sherri fickel

in every issue Terroir, our wine section, starts on page 53. 59.

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From the Publisher & the Editor Letters from Readers & Eaters Seasonal Table theresa curry

The Guest List Advertiser Directory www.flavormags.com

departments 9

18 43

Local Grazings Happenings on the Foodie Front

From farm dinners to food hubs, from activist chefs to apps for locavores, we’ve got news for you. And check out our Mindful Living section, too, because it’s not just about food.

Artisans & Entrepreneurs Artisinal Baking Former magazine art director Brian Noyes brings his eye for beauty to his baking and his new retail store. trista scheuerlein

Flavor Café The Redemption of Fast-Food

Can you have a successful chain of restaurants without selling your soul to the devils of industrial food?

lucy nunn

jennifer conrad seidel

In the Garden Gardening Gurus

Master Gardeners share their knowledge and volunteer thousands of hours in gardens across the commonwealth.

tracey crehan gerlach

Groundbreakers Local Food for the Whole Community

The Jefferson Area Board of Aging is serving more locally grown food because it is better for clients’ health and better for the community’s economic health.

julie ulrich

Cover photo of okra growing in the White House organic kitchen garden taken by Molly McDonald Peterson.

from the publisher & the editor This issue, our sixth, comes out just after the first anniversary of launching Flavor, and we have much to celebrate. Our dream is to share the stories behind the local food and wine culture in this region, and the welcome we’ve gotten from readers, farmers, chefs, and wineries has exceeded our expectations. We began last summer as a quarterly magazine with a focus on Virginia’s Piedmont region, but over these 12 months, we more than doubled our circulation and greatly expanded our territory in response to the huge demand. We now cover what we are calling the Capital foodshed—from west of Baltimore, into to the District, and down through most of Virginia—and we already print more than 50,000 copies of each bi-monthly issue. Our initial goal was to print 100,000 copies annually, but we are now printing more than 250,000 copies a year. And even so, we have run out of every issue. Another thing that has expanded this year is our advisory board. These people hold us accountable to our mission, they have important knowledge of the food and wine industry in our area, and they make sure we know what’s going on in their part of the local food movement. Some of our newest members are cookbook author and New York Times reporter Marian Burros (who wrote the cover article for this issue), Bernie Prince, co-founder of the FreshFarm Markets in D.C., and John Fox Sullivan, CEO and group publisher of Atlantic Media, which includes the Atlantic Monthly. We are grateful for their time, advice, and contribution to both Flavor and the local food movement in our region. Thank you, dear readers, for your enthusiasm for Flavor and your unfailing support for local food, sustainable agriculture, and Virginia wine. Please continue to patronize our advertisers—they make it possible for us to offer this beautiful magazine free of charge. Please let them know you’ve seen their ad in Flavor and tell your other favorite establishments about the magazine, too.

PUBLISHER

Melissa J. Harris EDITOR

Jennifer Conrad Seidel ART DIRECTOR

Nora Monroe Molly McDonald Peterson recipe editor Theresa Curry editorial intern Lucy Nunn proofreader Laura Merricks

photographer

Tara Griffin Travis Bjorklund & Karen Liot Hill advertising intern Annie Arnest office manager Savannah Masters circulation & distribution manager Christopher Harris advertising & events coordinator

account executives

CHIEF INVESTMENT & BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT OFFICER

Lynn Sullivan ADVISORY BOARD

Matt Benson, Marian Burros, KeriAn Dodson, Sherri Fickel, Stephanie Giles, Sandy Huckstep, Hal Hunter, Kevin Kraditor, Jim Law, Tom McSherry, Cliff Miller, Bernie Prince, Maggie Rogers, John Fox Sullivan, Melissa Wiley, Chad Zakaib SUBSCRIPTIONS & ADVERTISING

Melissa J. Harris

Jennifer Conrad Seidel

A one-year, six-issue subscription is $28. Send subscription and advertising inquiries to Flavor Magazine P.O. Box 100 Sperryville, VA 22740 (540) 987-9299 (540) 518-9190

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info@flavormags.com www.flavormags.com Copyright ©2009 by Flavor Magazine. All rights reserved. Reproduction without permission of the publisher is prohibited. Flavor is not responsible for unsolicited manuscripts and photographs. Flavor is an independent, bimonthly publication created in VIRGINIA and is not affiliated with any nationally franchised publications.

P.S. We also want to give a special thanks to the interns who joined us this summer, Lucy Nunn and Annie Arnest. They were invaluable to us during this season of quick growth, and we could not have brought you this issue without their help—and the continued dedication of everyone on the Flavor team. 6

flavor magazine • aug./sept. 2009

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letters from readers & eaters Some comments from our Facebook page We think it’s wonderful! — Blair Cledwards, Washington, D.C. Such a helpful and enriching magazine! I have read recent issues with delight and gained a few extra educational tidbits along the way. Very good writing and publishing makes this mag a two-thumbs-up. Thanks for the rewarding stimulation! . . . Keep the good work coming. I do look forward to getting each new issue and reading all the great info. — Chris Keyser, Rappahannock County, Virginia

We want to know what you think of Flavor and Terroir. Send your letters, suggestions, and questions to editor@flavormags.com and become a fan of Flavor on Facebook

Beautiful magazine that speaks to those of us who care about food and farms in our own back yard. — Rebecca Thomas Snyder, Washington, D.C. I love reading each new issue line by line! I always find out about new, fun, local food, wine, people that I never knew about! We need more than one place in Richmond with Flavor! I always grab a big stack and drop them off at local restaurants to share the info! . . . Love love love Flavor mag! I’m now in love with Daniel the jam guy! — Wendy Gray Ogden, Richmond, Virginia I love the latest issue. I really like the jam article. [“Jam Session,” June/July 2009 issue] I think preserving food is the missing link to eating locally as a lifestyle. Flavor has definitely helped me eat more locally, find more sources, and the foods I cook. The chicken pot pie recipe in the first issue should be on the back cover of each magazine. Pure goodness. — Matt Darring, Charlottesville, Virginia

I love this magazine too, but am not always near drop spots to pick it up. Are there any on the Downtown Mall? — Jenée Libby, Charlottesville, Virginia We often get asked where the magazine is available. For a list of current locations, visit our website at flavormags.com. If you want to see Flavor at your favorite store, vineyard, or restaurant, tell the proprietors that you’d like them to carry the magazine and then drop us a note, too. The magazine has been extremely popular, so we will continue to increase the number of copies available.

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local grazings

Happenings on the Foodie Front Lucy Nunn

Celebrity Chefs Use Their Star Power

nigel barker

Apparently, chefs from some of Virginia and D.C.’s most beloved eateries have not only kitchen smarts, but also hearts for Canadian seals: the chefs of Restaurant Eve, Equinox, Vidalia, The Majestic, and Bastille are boycotting Canadian seafood in conjunction with the Humane Society of the United States’ “In Our Hands” campaign to end Canada’s commercial seal hunt. The campaign is targeting the Canadian seafood industry because most seal hunters are also commercial fishermen who draw only a small portion of their income from the sale of seal products. Through the boycott, the Humane Society aims to apply enough pressure on the Canadian government that it will ban the cruel practice. At the campaign’s launch party on July 21 at the posh Policy Restaurant and Lounge in D.C., America’s Next Top Model photographer and host Nigel Barker photographed the chefs for the campaign. Humane Society ProtectSeals Campaign (800) 536-8173, www.hsus.org/protectseals

So on a Farm Tour, Is the Docent a Cow? Never been on a farm tour? You’re missing out. These events give local producers the chance to show off their craft and give you the opportunity to see how your food is grown or made. And there are often samples of yummy food and fun activities for kids, too, such as a meet-and-greet with the animals. This fall, there are a couple of family-friendly tours worth attending.

 Neighboring Fauquier County will host its own Fall Farm Tour on October 10. It invites the public to visit an organic dairy farm, an all-natural ranch, lavender and alpaca farms, orchards, wineries, a solar-powered equestrian center, and an historic farmstead with the hounds of the Casanova hunt—free of charge. For children, the tour will offer hay and pony rides, corn mazes, and petting zoos.

The Rappahannock County Farm Tour (Sept. 25–27) promotes “sustainable agriculture and land stewardship” and kicks off at the Link, Sperryville’s charming community center (a 100-year-old schoolhouse) with a special viewing of the film Fresh and local vittles for sale. The tour includes stops at more than 20 vineyards, orchards, and farms, as well as presentations about rural life and a dinner and barn dance in the lovely Gid Brown Hollow.

Rappahannock County Farm Tour (540) 675-5330, farmtour.visitrappahannockva.com Fauquier County Fall Farm Tour (540) 349-5314, www.visitfauquier.com

Local + Yogurt = Logurt Lynsie Watkins has garnered rave reviews for her handmade Perfect Flavor ice cream. In March, she began crafting cheese made from local, sustainably grown ingredients as well, in varieties such as fromage blanc, mozzarella, queso blanco, and yogurt—considered a type of cheese—which she calls “logurt,” since it is made from local milk. Watkins says that cheesemaking fits perfectly with the company’s green philosophy. “It’s very economical and also saves waste,” she explains, “because for every 30 gallons of whole milk we were purchasing to make our ice cream, we had 24 gallons of skim milk left over after taking the cream out.” She didn’t want the milk to go to

waste, but due to government regulations, she couldn’t sell or donate it, even though it had been pasteurized. Now, all of the leftover skim goes into the cheese that has tripled Watkins’s sales and is helping her business move toward its zero-waste goal. Perfect Flavor cheese is now served in restaurants like Mas, The Local, and Zynodoa, and is available for purchase at retail locations around Virginia. Perfect Flavor Cheese (888) 209-0966, www.perfectflavor.com

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Please Pass the Dirt! Todd Courtney would like the world to eat dirt—that is, Todd’s Dirt, his popular seasoning: a 100 percent natural blend of 14 herbs and spices that can be used in just about any savory dish. Despite its impure-sounding name, however, the mixture does not contain MSG, sugar, or gluten, which distinguishes it from most store-bought seasonings. “It’s been the most successful item in my store,” says Victoria Stagner, owner of Victoria’s Fancy Foods in Severna Park, Maryland. “And in my household, it’s the new Mrs. Dash.” Courtney has also crafted two other versions of his product: Crabby Dirt for seafood and a spicy new Bayou Dirt. Visit the website for more recipes and retail locations in the Maryland and D.C. area. Todd’s Dirt www.toddsdirt.com

Foodie Fun on the Farm Veteran local vintners and chefs will collaborate with the budding chefs of Rappahannock County High School’s culinary arts program for the 11th annual Taste of Rappahannock on September 12 at the Belle Meade Schoolhouse in Sperryville. The food and wine festival and auction will feature a multi-course meal made from locally sourced ingredients and will benefit Headwaters, the Rappahannock County Educational Foundation. The organization runs the county schools’ Farm-to-Table Program, which teaches students to care for the earth through horticulture and hands-on experience at local farms.

 On September 15, at the historic Whitmore Farm in Emmitsburg, Maryland, Chef Brian Voltaggio of Volt will prepare a sixcourse meal and wine pairing to benefit the Frederick County 4H Club. He will lead guests on a walk in the fields of the farm itself, so that they can “not only taste the lamb that we will feature as part of the menu, but see where it comes from and the care that goes into raising it.” The Whitmore Farm Dinner menu will showcase products made in Frederick County along with local wines like Black Ankle, Elk Run, and Chrysalis. In D.C., Chef Cathal Armstrong will team up with other top area chefs for the FreshFarm Markets 2009 Farmland Feast at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel on November 9. The chefs’ five-course seasonal dinner and wine tasting will accompany an auction at the gala to benefit FreshFarm, an awardwinning organization promoting “food with a place, a taste, and a face in the Chesapeake Bay Region.” The group runs eight farmers markets in the D.C. area, an edible schoolyard program, and a donation program for farmers’ leftover harvest. Taste of Rappahannock (540) 987-3322, www.headwatersfdn.org The Whitmore Farm Dinner (301) 696-8658, www.voltrestaurant.com FreshFarm Markets 2009 Farmland Feast (202) 362-8889, www.freshfarmmarkets.org

flavor magazine • aug./sept. 2009

One Fish, Two Fish, Trout Fish, Salmon Fish Have you been casting about for fresh, local fish? Look no further than Horse & Buggy Produce, a local foods cooperative with pick-up sites in Charlottesville, Crozet, Lynchburg, and Richmond. It offers shares of produce, pasture-raised meat, eggs, goat cheese, baked goods, and now spring-raised rainbow and brook trout. The trout come from the headwaters of a mountain in Goshen, Virginia, and are raised a few hundred yards away at Casta Line Farms in natural waters from their native springs. They are certified disease-free by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and are delivered whole and completely gutted to co-op subscribers. u The Locke Modern Country Store in Millwood, Virginia, applies similar principles of sustainability to the wild-caught seafood it sells on Fridays, with a different variety featured each week. Offerings have included shrimp and Alaskan salmon, black cod, halibut, and smoked salmon. The store’s seafood purveyor, Deb Charters, delivers the fish on ice and personally knows the Alaskans who catch the fish and must follow their state’s strict harvesting guidelines aimed at ensuring the species’ survival. The store, which stocks many local products, plans to sell local seafood in the future, as well. Horse & Buggy Produce (434) 284-1084, www.horseandbuggyproduce.com Locke Modern Country Store (540) 837-1275, www.lockestore.com

Hubba, Hubba! Charlottesville Gets Its Local Food Hub Operating on the wisdom that “the best way to preserve farmland is to make it profitable,” Kate Collier, owner of Feast, has joined with other food activists to create the Local Food Hub, a non-profit wholesale distribution hub for local farmers. In early July, the organization opened its outfitted warehouse in Ivy. It aims to save local farmers time and money by offering rentable refrigerator and freezer space, providing liability insurance, assisting with charitable food donations, and delivering goods to grocery stores, schools, senior facilities, and restaurants. Farm Services and Development Coordinator Marisa Vrooman says the community response to the hub has been wonderful so far and adds, “Our phone has been ringing a lot.” Next year, organizers hope to add a processing facility to help farmers preserve their goods in products like jams and salsas. The Local Food Hub has also started an educational garden in Louisa County.

cheri bowling

Local Food Hub (434) 244-3276, www.localfoodhub.org

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local grazings For (Inedible) Apple Lovers Ever find yourself browsing the farmers market hungrily but wishing you had brought along a cookbook? Or would you like to know what’s in season—in your home state or across the country—without even leaving your house? Buster Benson’s Locavore iPhone App automatically detects the state you’re in, tells you what’s in season (and for how long), where your nearest farmers markets and farms are, and links you to Wikipedia articles and recipes on Epicurious.com for 234 different fruits and vegetables. You can also browse all 50 states in the U.S. and connect to Facebook with the “I Ate Local” tab to see what other locavores are loving. Benson, a popular Seattle-based blogger, says his inspiration for creating the app came from his “desire to become more aware of what was in season around me.” He worked with the Natural Resources Defense Council and LocalHarvest .org to develop “the simplest working application that could explain local food availability to the non-expert.” The app reached #1 on the Apple Store’s Paid Lifestyle Apps list.

The Endangered Local-Business Act We need to save the family-owned stores on Main Street before it turns into a ghost town during these tough economic times. With the mission of “saving the brick and mortars our nation is built on,” the 3/50 Project is taking a homegrown approach to saving regional economies, asking consumers to pick three of their favorite local independent businesses and spend $50 total at them each month. Why? Because according to the project’s website, “For every $100 spent in locally owned independent stores, $68 returns to the community through taxes, payroll, and other expenditures. If you spend that in a national chain, only $43 stays here. Spend it online and nothing comes home.” So pick something up at a local indie business you think you’d miss, and show your local economy a little love. It’s not only good karma, it makes sound economic sense. The 3/50 Project www.the350project.net

Screenings in your area: Charlottesville, VA – August 2 Washington, VA – September 25 Old Town Alexandria, VA – October (TBA) Leesburg, VA – October (TBA) Sponsored by

Check out www.flavormags.com for time, dates, locations, and ticket info.

12 flavor magazine • aug./sept. 2009

mindful living local grazings Green Vacation, Green Stay-cation Hate feeling like you leave all your green convictions behind when you travel? Virginia Green Travel, a partnership between the Virginia Tourism Corporation and the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality, has just made it easier to plan an environmentally conscious vacation in our fair commonwealth. The statewide initiative awards certifications to hotels, businesses, and other tourist attractions that take “voluntary actions to reduce harmful impacts on the environment.” Its website lists green-certified cab companies, restaurants, B&Bs, spas, and wineries.  Between your green vacations, or during your staycation, make your home more eco-friendly with help from the Washington, Virginia–based online store The Clever Bean. The company tests and hand-selects environmentally sound products for quality and value, offering goods like American artisan-made reusable produce bags, chemical-free sippy cups, all-natural cleaning products, and biodegradable trash bags. Even if your home still doesn’t feel like a luxury resort, it will be a little closer to paradise.

 What do you get when you cross a green vacation and a home greening project? The Washington D.C. Green Festival. The festival, which will take place on October 10–11 at the Washington Convention Center, is advertised as “the largest sustainable-living event in the world.” A joint effort between Global Exchange, a human rights organization, and Green America, a green business group, it is a fabulous educational and community-building opportunity with entertainment for all ages, with green home and building demos, a film festival, organic beer and wine, a Green Teen Pavilion, fun activities for kids, and a green marketplace with over 350 unique vendors selling fair-trade and ethically made products. Virginia Green Travel (800) 847-4882, www.virginia.org/green The Clever Bean www.cleverbean.com Washington D.C. Green Festival (800) 584-7336, www.greenfestivals.org/washington-dc

OCTOBER 3 & 4, 2009 10 A.M. TO 4 P.M. HARVEST TIME FUN FOR KIDS OF ALL AGES •Wagon Rides •Hay & Corn Mazes •Pony Rides •Live Music& Good Food •Train Show •Wine Tours & Tastings www.culpeperag.org/farmtour2009

Culpeper County Office of Economic Development 540-727-3410

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local grazings On Your Way Down the (Grocery Store) Aisle

Sometimes you can’t make it to your nearest farmers market every week, but you still want to buy healthful food that hasn’t been trucked in from thousands of miles away. Luckily, you can find some Virginiamade products on store shelves, too. In the produce section, you will find Shenandoah Growers Organic Living Culinary Herbs like dill, basil, and mint in tiny plastic pots with their roots still attached. If you put them on your windowsill and keep them watered, you can enjoy fresh herbs at home for several weeks even if you don’t have a garden.

A few aisles over in the freezer section, look for Agnes’ Very Very Bake’mmm Organic Bagels, which come in a variety of delectable flavors. These bagels are boiled but not baked before they are frozen. Pop them in an oven for about 12 minutes, and you’ll have delicious, freshly baked—not reheated—bagels. (Your houseguests won’t want to leave.) They are vegan and koshercertified, and as a result of their patented recipe, they are glucose free, and they have 60 percent less sugar than regular bagels.

Shenandoah Growers (540) 896-6939, www.freshherbs.com Agnes’ Very Very (866) 248-0908, www.agnesveryvery.com Mom Made Choice Organics (877) 512-1800, www.mommadefoods.com

On the Line since 1976 RESTAURANT

Dining in the old world charm of a former railside diner the C&O has been delighting its guests for more than three decades. Innovative dishes showcasing local produce, meats, and handmade cheeses crafted by some of Charlottesville’s most ambitious and focused chefs. 434-971-7044 515 East Water St. 14 flavor magazine • aug./sept. 2009

Also in the frozen section, you’ll find the Mom Made Choice Organics for Children product line, which comes to the rescue of health-conscious parents with hectic schedules. The Alexandria-based company offers pre-strained fruits and veggies for babies and dishes like Cheesy Mac and Fiesta Rice that are sure to be hits with picky older eaters, too. And despite the reputation of other convenience foods, these contain no added sugars, colors or preservatives, and they taste homemade, so you’ll feel like you’re feeding your little ones the old-fashioned way, but without leaving work early.

Lucy Nunn, Flavor’s editorial assistant, grew up in Atlanta and is currently studying English at Tufts University. Her family taught her to love cooking, and a semester off spent working at the amazing Oakhurst Community Garden Project in Decatur, Georgia, inspired her interest in local food.

fred first

· fragmentstfromfloyd.com

rebel rebelwith withaacause cause

Noble Farming Joel Salatin

If you want responsibly raised food, encourage the next generation’s best and brightest to become farmers.

’ll never forget my guidance counselor’s apoplectic fit when I announced to her that I wanted to become a farmer. It was the last fit I let her have on my account, the first one having come the previous year, when I elected to take typing instead of physics. At the tender age of 16, I had already decided to be a farmer-writer and needed typing skills more than physics, but that did not fit in her paradigm for National Honor Society college-bound students.

farmer is a long way from Jefferson’s vision of the agrarian intellectual. When a culture assumes that farming is beneath the dignity of its A and B students, it consequently entrusts its most precious natural resources—air, soil, water—to the least thoughtful and innovative minds.

Recently, I judged a 4-H districtwide public-speaking contest. One of the young men competing gave a speech about how poorly he’d been treated by his school’s guidance counselors and administration when he announced his intentions to be a farmer. As he verbalized his soul’s anguish, I relived my own experiences and by the end of the speech wrestled with twin emotions: sadness for being disrespected and anger toward a culture—and especially its academic elitists—who dare to question the nobility of farming. (I wish I had a nickel for every middle-aged farmer who starts his story with a self-deprecating, “I stayed on the farm, so I guess I was the dumb one. . . .”)

I overhear a mom proudly proclaim,

molly mcdonald peterson

A few years ago, one of our apprentices returned to his small family farm near Spokane, Washington, able and willing to make a go of it. At a church-related summer camp, he met a young woman from British Columbia, just across the border. When they decided to marry, they had to fill out Immigration and Naturalization Service paperwork so she could join him in his farming enterprise. When he filled in the line for occupation with farmer, the INS rejected the request because, according to them, farming is not a valid occupation. In order to bring his bride across the border, he had to agree to pursue a five-year bona fide—that is, non-farming—occupation. He’s now a truck driver, but he has quite an animal menagerie on his small acreage.

I’ll know a cultural shift has come when “My Johnny is going to be a farmer!” I suggest that the reason farmers believe industrial food superstitions—for instance, that crowding chickens in “concentrated animal feeding operations” does not encourage disease—is that we’ve had an agrarian brain drain for several generations. Maybe that’s because the dot-com revolution recently, and the industrial revolution in the past, siphoned off creative entrepreneurs and left a bunch of notso-independent thinkers tending the food system. The intellect required to grow food has gradually been subcontracted to multinational businesses that extract wealth from the countryside and depend on duplicitous farmers to do little for themselves. “Composting to grow and create your own soil can’t work,” farmers are told. “Buy fertilizer—made with petroleum from the Middle East—from us.” Another common line? “To be efficient, you must crowd your animals into factories that require copious amounts of energy, concrete, and steel . . . and ultimately pharmaceuticals to keep the animals from dying . . . and fuel to haul feed in and manure out.”

The stereotype of the redneck, hillbilly, trip-over-the-transmission-inthe-front-yard, tobacco-spittin’ hick Children gathering eggs at Belle Meade’s summer camp in Sperryville, VA.

Unless—and until—our culture begins honoring and respecting agrarian pursuits as noble and viable occupations for the best and brightest, our food system will continue to be held hostage by industrial

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How do we prepare the next generation of farmers? We start by getting our kids off the computer and into the kitchen and the garden. Today’s children are growing up with an unprecedented assumption of control: In video games, dead guys come back to life; if your car wrecks, you wait a few seconds and get another one; if you don’t like this game, you can create another one. When you inhabit a virtual world that is subject to your whims, you enter life with an incredibly jaundiced view of nature and reality.

PAUL HARRIS Tree & Stone Works

harristreecare@verizon.net 540-987-9871

In the kitchen and in the garden, however, we learn that the universe is bigger than we are. I’m not always in control. My carefully tended squash plant may suddenly wilt and die from a vine borer. A hailstorm may wipe out the corn just as it silks. And I cannot undo my mistakes: When a tomato plant dies because I didn’t shield it from frost, it won’t heal up overnight. When chickens die because I neglected to give them water, they won’t be there to greet me tomorrow. If we hope to raise a generation with more humility and less hubris, our work needs to begin in the soil and at the sink. Adults who spent their youth raising things and observing the power of nature appreciate those who tend the fields and flocks. I played trumpet in high school and thought myself pretty good. But when I hear professional trumpeters, I’m in awe, because I have a sense of how hard it is to do what they do. Likewise, the best way to instill respect for those who provide our food is to grow some ourselves. When eaters grasp the work and skill that brings food to their plate, they will no longer assume that only the daffiest and dumbest are worthy of producing our food. Our food quality is tied to, and can never exceed, the honor we give to good, thinking farmers. The quality of our food is a direct result of our nation’s attitude toward agrarianism. Let the attitude shift begin. Internationally acclaimed conference speaker and author Joel Salatin and his family operate Polyface Farm in Augusta County near Staunton, Virginia, producing and direct marketing “salad bar” beef, “pigaerator” pork, and pastured poultry. He is now also co-owner, with Joe Cloud, of T&E Meats in Harrisonburg. Visit www.polyfacefarms.com for a list of restaurants and stores that feature Polyface products, a calendar of Joel’s speaking engagements, and information on his many books.

16 flavor magazine • aug./sept. 2009

molly mcdonald peterson

superstition. I’ll know a cultural shift has come when I overhear a group of soccer moms postulating about whose prodigy will go farthest in the world and one mom, without batting an eyelash, proudly proclaims, “My Johnny is going to be a farmer!” Rest assured that the day parents are proud of sons and daughters who farm, thinking people will again be stewarding our precious air, soil, and water.

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artisans & entrepreneurs

artisanal Baking Trista Scheuerlein

Photos by Dwight McNeill

Brian Noyes brings his experience as an art director to the kneading board.

t started as a little friendly bake-off competition between Brian Noyes, then a publication director living in California, and his uncle in Florida. But it stirred up a passion for baking that would lead Noyes to pursue formal training and a second career in fine pastries and baked goods. This is how it worked: Noyes and his uncle would send homemade baked goods to one another, including the recipes with each shipment. When Noyes would open his package from his uncle, not only would he find cookies and the corresponding recipe, but he would also rediscover the recipe he had sent his uncle before, now covered in red ink with his uncle’s recommendations for improvements. Years later, when Noyes moved to Florida to be the art director of Tampa Magazine, he and his uncle developed a recipe for honey whole-wheat bread that is now a customer favorite at Noyes’s new enterprise, Red Truck Bakery. “It drove my aunt crazy,” he recalls. “She had to clean up all the messes we made in the kitchen.”

Art and Food Intertwined Brian Noyes launched Red Truck Bakery as he shifted gears from being an art director for publications such as Smithsonian Magazine, Preservation, and House & Garden to being a farm owner and baker in Orlean, Virginia. “I think every art director wants to design something for himself,” Noyes says. “This 18 flavor magazine • aug./sept. 2009

business is my chance to do that.” Noyes has been working out of his farmhouse kitchen and selling via mail order and at select area stores for two and a half years, but the new storefront in Old Town Warrenton will allow him to increase production, variety, and availability of his artisanal products. The red truck logo is Noyes’s own design, inspired by his love for red antique farm trucks. When he and his buddy Dwight McNeill purchased a small farm in Fauquier County, Noyes began looking for the perfect truck online. He found a great deal on consignment in New York. Not until Noyes showed genuine interest in the truck did he discover who its owner was: fashion designer Tommy Hilfiger. After Noyes purchased the truck, he received a personal note from Hilfiger with anecdotes about the truck. The bakery’s signature red truck, which Noyes uses for local deliveries and events, will be parked outside the bakery on Waterloo Street in Old Town Warrenton, wonderfully symbolizing the bakery’s origin on Noyes’s Orlean farm, his close ties to local agriculture, and the building’s original manifestation—an Esso filling station circa 1921. “Half the fun is in the packaging and marketing,” he says, noting the confluence of his present career and his experience as an art director. The other half of the fun, of course, is in the baking. Noyes’s artisanal breads and pastries are enough to make even the

“I want to know who grew the peaches, have him come in, give him a piece of pie.” —Brian Noyes

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strictest carb counters swoon. Noyes trained at the prestigious Culinary Institute of America twice, specializing in pastries and in café, artisan, hearth, and specialty breads. He also trained at L’Academie de Cuisine near Washington, D.C.

Artisanal Defined When asked what distinguishes an artisanal bread, Noyes explains that his breads are hand-crafted in a European style. “It takes time to get the flavor,” he says, explaining why he will not use any accelerants or conditioners—chemicals which speed up the rising process and create smooth and uniform textures—in his breads. “Good bubbling yeast breads ferment for days. You can watch the bread dough live and move. When you put it in the oven, that life becomes the streaks and holes— that’s where all the flavor hides.” He also pledges not to use any pre-packaged fruit fillings in any of his products, opting instead for seasonal and local goods. “We live in the middle of some fertile farmland here. I want to take advantage of that,” Noyes explains. “I make a pretty darn good cherry pie, using what’s fresh at farmers markets or from my own trees. When it’s gone, it’s gone.” In addition to offering customers’ year-round favorites—foccacia, harvest wheat bread, and rum cake—Red Truck Bakery sells sandwiches and soups influenced by the local bounty. A large common table is situated in what was formerly the garage area of the service station. Here customers can meet for coffee, pastries, and lunch fare. Noyes also carries other local artisanal products including honey, Virginia

Red Truck Bakery Persimmon Cookies The arrival of these homemade cookies, sent by my grandmother each fall and winter, is one of the highlights of my childhood. I haven’t found any kid who doesn’t like them—they have a good but subtle hint of holiday spices and are chock-full of raisins and walnuts. S For best results use local persimmons, which are usually available at farmers markets (or from your neighbor’s tree, if you ask nicely) in autumn. Persimmons are very acidic until beyond ripe, so store them in a brown paper bag until extremely soft and squishy. The pulp is then easy to remove: Just cut off the top and squeeze into a bowl, scraping the insides of the fruit with a spoon. The pulp freezes well and can be used as needed; just bring to room temperature. One persimmon yields approximately ½ cup fruit. —Brian Noyes Makes 20–24 cookies.

Reach over 250,000 locals a year with an ad in

1 teaspoon baking soda

½ cup unsalted butter, room temperature 1 cup sugar 1 egg, room temperature 1 cup raisins 1 cup chopped walnuts

¾ cup persimmon pulp (see note) 2 cups all-purpose flour ½ teaspoon ground cloves ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon ½ teaspoon ground nutmeg

½ teaspoon salt

Preheat oven to 350 F. Dissolve baking soda in persimmon pulp and set aside. Sift flour, spices, and salt together. Set aside. Cream together butter and sugar until fluffy. Beat in egg and persimmon mixture. Stir in dry ingredients. Stir in nuts and raisins.

advertising@flavormags.com 540-987-9299 20 flavor magazine • aug./sept. 2009

Drop heaping tablespoonfuls onto greased cookie sheet. Bake for 15 minutes.

Chutney made in Rappahannock, hot pepper jelly from near Newport News, cheeses from Everona Dairy in Rapidan, and Virginia peanuts. “I am open to having more local foods available,” says Noyes. “I want to know who grew the peaches, have him come in, give him a piece of pie.”

Striving for Sustainability Using local foods is perhaps the first but certainly not the only green aspect of Red Truck Bakery. Noyes has gone the extra mile to try to make environmentally sound choices in all aspects of the business. He and his new five-person staff will provide biodegradable forks and knives, recycled and recyclable coffee cups, and unbleached bags and napkins. The bakery will not use plastic bags or non-recyclable clamshell-style packaging, and it will offer discounts for reusing thermoses. “It’s been a little bit of work to search out alternatives to plastic, and my distributor looked at me like I was crazy when I asked for unbleached napkins, but they’re out there,” Noyes says. He is even opting for renewable energy in his Warrenton store through Dominion Power. “I want to be as green as possible, as local as possible, and as friendly as possible,” Noyes vows. Now that’s a good recipe for a rising business. Trista Scheuerlein is program director of the Headwaters’ Farm-to-Table Program at Rappahannock County Public Schools. She has worked on several small-scale farms and with agriculture-related NGOs from Virginia to Oregon and Chile. She earned her bachelor’s degree in English with minors in biology and sustainable development from Appalachian State University.

Red Truck Bakery & Market 22 Waterloo Street at Courthouse Square, Old Town Warrenton (previously the home of Mom’s Apple Pie Co.) (540) 347-2224 www.redtruckbakery.com If you are not near Warrenton, you can order Red Truck baked goods online or find them at more than 15 stores and wineries throughout the region. A list is at the Red Truck website. www.flavormags.com

A Provocative

Kitchen Garden

Is the White Houseâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s organic kitchen garden more than just a photo op? Marian Burros

molly mcdonald peterson

22 flavor magazine â&#x20AC;˘ aug./sept. 2009

hen the White House announced Michelle Obama would be planting an organic vegetable garden on the South Lawn, cynics claimed it was nothing more than a photo opportunity to burnish the new First Lady’s image. They could hardly have imagined how a 20-by-50 plot of snap peas, kale, tomatoes, and squash would have such a profound impact on the politics of food. Obama’s simple act of connecting the dots between food and health got everyone’s attention, even the attention of those who would never dream of planting a garden. For champions of local and sustainable food and of teaching children about healthy eating habits, the garden has been just the catalyst they needed to get the movement off the ground.

Big Ag Responds It’s even been a wake-up call for the chemical pesticide industry. The industry is worried that local food and organics are not fads but are here to stay. The Mid America CropLife Association (MACA), an organization that represents companies manufacturing and selling chemical pesticides and fertilizers (such as Monsanto and Dow), was so upset by the garden that it begged Obama not to forget conventional agriculture. In a letter addressed to Mrs. Barack Obama—a form not used since ladies wore white gloves—they euphemistically refer to chemicals as “crop protection products.” To make sure the message was received, the organization asked its members to start a letter-writing campaign to the First Lady. On the MACA website, the request noted that “Bonnie McCarvel, executive director of the Mid-America CropLife Association and Janet Braun, CropLife Ambassador coordinator, ‘shuddered’ at the thought that the White House garden will be organic and asked: ‘What message does that send to the non-farming public about the “crop protection products”?’” Enough Rope to Hang Themselves The blogosphere gleefully provided answers that heaped scorn on MACA for even asking the question. But it was Jon Stewart who offered the pesticide supporters an opportunity to make even greater fools of themselves, inviting them to appear on The Daily Show. A spokesman for the American Council on Science and Health—a group that generally sides with industry in health and environmental matters and that has been funded at one time or another by Coca-Cola, Pepsi, Procter & Gamble, Exxon, and Dow Chemical—agreed to discuss the White House garden in a segment titled “Little Crop of Horrors.”

I think the Obama garden should come with a warning label. It’s irresponsible to tell people that you should have to eat organic and locally grown food. Not everyone can afford that. That’s a serious public health concern. —Jeff Stier, American Council on Science and Health

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A Parent’s Concern The White House did not respond to the letter-writing campaign, but to clarify, Obama never suggested everyone had to have a garden and eat organic food. In an interview with me in March, she acknowledged that not everyone can plant a garden. “You don’t have to bite off more than you can chew, because sometimes that is also daunting for a working family. You can begin in your own cupboard by making different choices about what you eat, in trying to cook a meal a little more often, trying to incorporate more fruits and vegetables. But you can also extend it into shopping at a farmers market, if it’s accessible, or even thinking more broadly about developing a community garden.” She also said the idea for the garden came out of her experi-

Recipes from the White House Kitchen Adapted and tested by Marian Burros Tomato-Cucumber Salad with Mint, Almonds, and Feta

Cold Cucumber Soup This soup is refreshing and summery with a hint of fennel. The toasted almonds add a sweet note.

Buy the best peppery olive oil you can find, and use only the most flavorful tomatoes.

6 to 8 servings.

6 servings.

1 large handful slivered almonds 2 cups milk 2 pounds cucumbers, peeled, seeded, and coarsely cut 1 medium-large fennel bulb (10 ounces), trimmed and coarsely chopped 3 ounces Greek nonfat yogurt 2 tablespoons coarsely chopped dill Salt and white pepper to taste 2 tablespoons toasted, slivered almonds per serving Additional yogurt and dill for garnish

Combine handful of almonds with milk. Scald and then steep for 10 minutes. Let cool, leaving the almonds in. Combine almond milk with cucumbers, fennel, yogurt, dill, and salt and pepper in blender and puree until smooth. (You may have to do this in batches). Chill for several hours or overnight. Serve garnished with toasted almonds, a dollop of yogurt, and a sprig of dill. 24 flavor magazine • aug./sept. 2009

1 pound cucumbers 1½ pounds heirloom tomatoes ½ cup feta cheese, broken into small pieces 1 heaping tablespoon roughly chopped mint 3 tablespoons peppery extra virgin olive oil 3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice Sea salt and white pepper to taste Large handful of toasted slivered almonds

Peel and slice cucumbers lengthwise. Seed and cut into ¼-inch-thick pieces. Trim and quarter tomatoes. Cut each quarter into ¼-inch-thick slices. Place in large mixing bowl with cucumbers, feta, and mint. Whisk together olive oil and lemon juice and toss with salad. Season with salt and pepper. Serve with almonds sprinkled on top.

· below: samantha appleton left: molly mcdonald peterson

The narrator set the scene: “This seemingly harmless 20-by50-foot token gesture has created a firestorm.” Jeffrey Stier, associate director of the council, called the Obamas “organic limousine liberals” and then went on: “I think the Obama garden should come with a warning label. It’s irresponsible to tell people that you have to eat organic and locally grown food. Not everyone can afford that. That’s a serious public health concern.” Because? “People are going to eat fewer fruits and vegetables. Cancer rates will go up. Obesity rates will go up. I think if we decide we’re only going to eat locally grown food, we’re going to have starvation.” Obesity and starvation simultaneously?

Setting the Record Straight Dozens of stories about the new kitchen garden compared First Lady Michelle Obama to Eleanor Roosevelt, who was given credit for planting a Victory Garden at the White House during World War II. But she didn’t. Roosevelt never claimed the garden was hers, though she did make an announcement that there would be one. In fact, the files at the Eleanor Roosevelt Center at Val Kill, her home in New York’s Hudson Valley, contain newspaper articles showing pictures of the young girl, dressed in overalls, who actually planted the 20-square-foot garden on the South Lawn. The girl in that picture is Diana Hopkins, the 11-year-old daughter of Harry Hopkins, special assistant to President Franklin D. Roosevelt, who lived on the third floor of the White House with her father and stepmother. Today Diana Hopkins Halsted lives in Vienna, Virginia. The garden, described by the Washington Post in March 1943, as “not big but exclusive,” was not Halsted’s idea, she said in a telephone interview. “I have no idea whose idea it was. The people who worked at the White House helped me plant it.” Halsted remembers the green beans: “I was there long enough to see seedlings, but then I went up to summer camp.” Still an avid gardener, she has nothing but happy memories of the three years she lived in the White House. “Mrs. R. was wonderful to me,” she said, “telling me to have friends over on the weekend and telling me to swim in the pool. I helped run the switchboard. At cocktail hour, I went in and sat on the President’s lap. I played with Fala,” FDR’s famous black Scottish terrier. “It was wonderful fun living in the White House.”

ences as a working mother having a difficult time feeding her daughters healthful foods. “We were eating out three times a week. I could cook one day, then we’re ordering in pizza, then maybe they’d get one sandwich. You’d have a hodgepodge of food. And we were starting to see the effects of some of those decisions, just on our bodies.” The family pediatrician told Obama to start thinking about diet and nutrition and that her daughters, Malia and Sasha, needed to slim down. “He raised a flag for us,” she said of the doctor’s warning. “Kids’ approach to food is simple: How does it taste? What I’ve learned is if you buy it fresh, if it’s grown locally, it’s probFirst Lady Michelle Obama and a student from Bancroft Elementary School planting seedlings in the White House garden in April.

ably going to taste better,” she explained. “And a really fresh carrot tastes different from a carrot that was bought, picked, and grown weeks ago. And children know the difference.”

Personal Becomes Political When the White House garden was ready to be harvested in June, Obama invited the fifth-graders from Bancroft Elementary School in Washington, who had helped dig and plant the garden in March, to do the harvesting and use the ingredients to cook a meal. And, for the first time, she took the opportunity to make the point that a vegetable garden and healthful eating are directly related to politics. They are tied to two important pieces of legislation currently under consideration: health care reform and the reauthorization of school lunch that calls for providing healthier food in schools’ meal programs. “The President and Congress are going to begin to address health care reform, and these issues of nutrition and wellness and preventative care [are] going to be the focus of a lot of conversation,” she said. She ticked off diet-related diseases— diabetes, heart disease, high blood pressure—noting that nearly one-third of American children are either overweight or obese. These diseases cost the country $120 billion a year. If children ate more nutritious food and exercised more, costs would go down, she said, adding that it would help if there were more school gardens and community gardens, particularly in poor communities in urban settings. “We need to improve the quality and nutrition of the food served at schools,” she urged. “We’re approaching the first big www.flavormags.com

Marian Burros was on staff at The New York Times for 27 years and still writes for them. She has lived in the Washington area since 1959 and remembers when there were no farmers markets. At one time or other, she worked for the The Washington Post and the late lamented Washington Star and Washington Daily News. She was also a consumer reporter for D.C.’s WRC-TV. The author of 13 cookbooks, she has been writing about small farms and the pleasures of local food since the 1980s.

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So What? Washington is not the only place the White House garden is having a significant impact. When the Obamas announced their plans for the garden this spring, sales of vegetable seeds rose across the country and nurseries ran out of seedlings. Gardener’s Supply, of Burlington, Vermont, saw a 25 percent increase in unique visits to its online Kitchen Garden Planner. “People are connecting school gardens and farm-to-school programs with this very tangible, concrete example,” said Abby Nelson, director of Vermont’s Food Education Every Day (FEED). “If the First Lady can do it, our little school can do it. It brought to the attention of parents, teachers, and even legislators that kids want to grow food and want to know where their food comes from. “It increased the level of importance because it was connected to what the First Lady thought was important. It is not just a cute, faddish effort.” Now the question is whether Obama can use her high approval ratings to further her agenda: to make healthy eating part of the health care debate and what children are Tserved in ural • goo a school. Jocelyn Frye, Obama’s policy director, and nSam Kass,D

White House Food Initiative coordinator and an assistant chef, are exploring the next steps. “The job is not done,” Kass said. “We are finding ways to reinforce and elevate the connection between food and Assistant Chef and White House Food Initiative Sam Kass greeting visitors at the health. We are looking Coordinator White House garden. for new approaches, working on practical tools people can use in their daily lives.” When Obama returns from vacation in September—and her children return to school—food activists and agribusiness executives alike will be watching to see how she advances the crusade she began last March.

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opportunity to move this to the top of the agenda with the upcoming reauthorization of the child nutrition programs. In doing so, we can go a long way toward creating a healthier generation for our kids.”

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hFarm Market Dupont Circle Fres rg www.freshfarmmarkets.o St., th In the 1500 block of 20 Ave. and Q St. ts set chu ssa Ma between Sundays, 9 a.m.–1 p.m. Apr. 5–Dec. 27, 2009 • . Sundays, 10 a.m.–1 p.m Jan. 3–Mar. 28, 2010 •

Market Research Zora Margolis

Have you met the farmers who produce your food? Shopping at the farmers market isn’t just about getting fresh ingredients. It’s also about transparency and community— knowing who grows and makes your food. Every Sunday, these three dedicated people travel from the Virginia countryside, across the Potomac to the Dupont Circle FreshFarm Market in Washington, D.C. Started in 1997, Dupont Circle was the first produceronly farmers market in the greater D.C. area, and it remains the largest and most successful among the many markets that have proliferated in the region. It’s 9 a.m. on a sunny, early summer day, and the starting bell is about to ring . . . 28 flavor magazine • aug./sept. 2009

Eco-Friendly Foods mend o ta , V i r g i ni a

“Come on over and get Bevved-up!” Bev Eggleston sports an impish grin as he calls out to passersby at the Dupont Circle market. He doesn’t need the carnival barker routine to promote his Eco-Friendly “beyond organic,” grass-fed beef, pork, lamb, and chicken. He’s just having fun. Early-morning regulars at the market crowd around, eagerly sorting through the ice-filled bins of vacuum-sealed packages, while exchanging greetings, family news, and recipes with Eggleston, his business associate and former chef Bruce Saunders, and their helpers. On weekends since 1999, Eggleston (or Saunders, who signed on in 2005) has made the four-hour trip from the southern end of the Shenandoah Valley to sell meat at the Arlington Courthouse market on Saturday and across the Potomac at the Dupont Circle market on Sunday. In 1990, after living in California for several years, Eggleston, a native of Charlottesville with deep roots in North Carolina, moved his family to a farm in Mendota, Virginia, forging a 10-year working relationship with Joel Salatin of Polyface Farms. In 1999, they began selling at the Dupont Circle market, with Eggleston packaging, transporting, and marketing meat and eggs from both his own farm and Salatin’s. It soon became clear that

in order to have enough variety to sell on a weekly basis and to develop a self-sustaining business model with a reasonable profit margin, they would need more product than their two small farms could produce. They developed a network of small farmers who followed Salatin’s “beyond organic” grass-farming model of animal husbandry and could provide a steady supply of additional

“I need to stay close to my customers. Knowing them, knowing their children, has fed me in a way that I get value beyond money.”

freshfarm markets

jonathan alderfer

— Bev Eggleston, Eco-Friendly Foods animals for Eggleston’s marketing efforts. There was an initial period of friction between their business model and the philosophy of the founders of this producer-only market, whose concept of transparency and accountability, according to Eggleston, did not allow vendors to sell farm products that someone else had raised. The disagreement caused Salatin to instead focus his marketing efforts in the Charlottesville area, closer to his own farm. Eggleston, however, persisted. “I wanted to be in D.C., in ‘the belly of the beast,’ and affect public policy here.” Eventually, he reached an agreement with FreshFarm that accommodated both the founders’ philosophy and the reality of his circumstances. He was at that point deeply committed to developing and building a USDA-licensed and -inspected meatprocessing plant in Moneta, near Roanoke, that would meet the needs and requirements of small-scale farmers who practiced pasture-raised, humane animal husbandry. He was also deeply in debt. Eggleston’s struggle to open his plant was chronicled in Michael Pollan’s The Omnivore’s Dilemma. After Pollan’s book hit The New York Times best-seller list, Eggleston was able to jump all of the hurdles placed in his path by the USDA and open his plant in 2004. Pollan’s book and word-of-mouth recommendations from D.C. chef Ann Cashion and Peter Kaminski, author of The Perfect Pig, led to calls from New York City chefs who were eager to feature Eco-Friendly products on their menus. Now, every Thursday, Eggleston loads and dispatches a refrigerated truck and two trailers from Moneta to Manhattan, delivering Piedmontraised grass-fed, humanely slaughtered pork, beef, and lamb to Potomac Vegetable Farm in Loudoun and to chefs in the District and the Big Apple (see sidebar). Three-quarters of Eggleston’s business is restaurant sales, and

he works with 35 farmers who raise the animals for that part of his business. Four farms form the core group that provides his market products. Selling directly to the public involves higher labor costs and a slim, if any, profit margin. “Produce guys have it easy, compared to what I do,” claims Eggleston. “They rub the tomato on their shirt and put it in a box.” He starts with live animals and “breaks them down,” as he euphemistically describes the slaughtering and butchering process. Then he packages, weighs, and labels the meat and transports it—all the while keeping everything cold. It’s an ongoing challenge to make his multi-species, multi-market model work. “Everyone else at the market who sells meat has an additional source of non-farming income to sustain themselves—except me.” So why does he come to the Dupont Circle market? “Energetically, it keeps me going. I need to stay close to my customers. Knowing them, knowing their children, has fed me in a way that I get value beyond money.” He is also a man on a mission (“the Bev-olution,” he calls it) and describes his role as “a bridge from the meadows to the mainstream.” “I’m trying to build militia members in the clean food revolution,” Eggleston declares. His market customers are all potential

Zora Margolis became a devotee of farmers markets in the early 1980s, when she lived in Santa Monica, California. She moved to Washington, D.C., in 1996, and has been shopping at the Dupont Circle FreshFarm Market since its earliest days. She co-hosts the farmers market forum on www.donrockwell.com, D.C.’s popular food-lovers’ discussion site.

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recruits. “I want to see two or three [processing] plants like mine in every state, with 50 farmers per plant. I’d like to see 5,000 new young farmers each making a $100,000 a year.” Among his D.C. market customers are people with proximity to decision makers. Not long ago, one arranged for Eggleston to testify before a congressional committee about agricultural policy and USDA regulation of meat processing. Just since December 2008, he’s been written about in three national food magazines and The Wall Street Journal. He also mentions the names of two prominent writers who have approached him about chronicling his mission and the journey he’s on. Financially, Eggleston’s not on solid ground yet, but he’s tapped into a current of energy in the American zeitgeist and has the vision, desire, and charisma to make an impact on the future of our culture of food production.

Eco-Friendly Foods 3397 Stony Fork Road, Moneta, VA (540) 297-9582 letsmeat@ecofriendly.com www.ecofriendly.com Also found at the Arlington Courthouse Farmers Market; Potomac Vegetable Farms’ stand in Vienna (www.potomacvegetablefarms.com); and more than 50 restaurants in New York City and D.C., including José Andres’s Zaytinya and Todd Gray’s Equinox (see www.ecofriendly.com for complete list).

30 flavor magazine • aug./sept. 2009

Tree & Leaf Farm Waterford, Virginia

Zachariah Lester from Tree and Leaf Farm in Waterford, Virginia, is putting the finishing touches on his display tables— heaped with colorful bunches of beets and basil—and setting out more radicchio, endive, and chicory for the avid shoppers who are crowding around. Lester, his wife, Georgia O’Neal (who worked for Martha Stewart in the late 1990s), and farm manager Katherine Stewart are relative newcomers to the Dupont Circle market. In 2007, they took over a vendor’s space occupied since the earliest days of the market by Chip and Susan Planck’s Wheatland Farm. A few years ago, when the Plancks decided to limit the acreage they would cultivate and the number of farmers markets on their schedule, Lester leased a part of the Plancks’ Loudoun County farm to grow vegetables, flowers, and herbs and became the heir to the Plancks’ legion of loyal Dupont Circle customers. “Being at the Dupont Circle market is great on every level,” says Lester, who had two decades of farming experience before moving Tree and Leaf to the Plancks’ property. “The management of the FreshFarm organization is exceptional. They give us a lot of support.” After spending a few years selling at a small farmers market in the District’s Mount Pleasant neighborhood and attuning his growing pattern to the desires of his customers there,

jonathan alderfer

Lester is adjusting to the international cultural mix and sophistication of Dupont Circle shoppers. “We’re re-inventing ourselves. We have people who come back year after year, looking for the same things that they love. And there are people who are always looking for something new. They inspire me.” Vegetables that Lester doesn’t sell at the market go to a friend with a large CSA.

“We have people who come back year after year, looking for the same things that they love. And there are people who are always looking for something new. They inspire me.” — Zachariah Lester, Tree & Leaf Farm Lester’s relationship with the other farmers at Dupont Circle is a mixture of cooperation and respectful competition. “There’s such professionalism here. There are farmers who have a lot more infrastructure, like big packing sheds and work crews to help them pick and prepare for the market. I have to work hard

to keep up.” On the other hand, during the slower winter months, he alternates Sundays with another farmer so that they aren’t competing for a smaller number of customers and can both better manage their businesses. The biggest advantage of coming to the Dupont Circle market, according to Lester, is the volume of sales. “We make more money here and sell more quantity [than at other markets]. On a summer Sunday, when all of the vegetables are in, there are masses of people here,” he says. “Our record is 63 bushels of tomatoes in four hours.” Despite the downturn in the economy, business at the Dupont Circle market has improved.

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Heirloom Tomato Gazpacho This recipe from Le Dôme in Los Angeles, California, is adapted by Tree and Leaf Farm’s Zachariah Lester. Serves 8. 6 large heirloom tomatoes, all varieties and colors, seeded and diced into ¼-inch cubes (reserve seeds and juices) 1 medium red onion, cut into ¼-inch cubes ¾ cucumber, peeled and cut into ¼-inch cubes 3–4 sweet peppers, cored, seeded, and cut into ¼-inch cubes

¼ cup fresh parsley or basil, roughly chopped 2 tablespoons red wine vinegar Juice of 1 lemon ½ tablespoon Tabasco Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper ¼ cup extra-virgin olive oil ½ cup aged balsamic vinegar

In a bowl, combine tomatoes (with seeds and juices), onion, cucumber, and peppers. Add herbs, red wine vinegar, lemon juice, and Tabasco. Add a few pinches of salt and black pepper, to taste. Using your hands or two forks, squish vegetables into a juicy soup, leaving a few big pieces. Add oil in small increments, tasting as you go. Refrigerate for at least 1 hour before serving. Ladle soup into bowls and drizzle with balsamic vinegar.

“My gross sales are up 30 percent in the past year,” reports Lester. The cycle of growing and selling is intense. His wife is just returning to work, having stepped back three years ago around the time of the birth of their son, Eoin. Lester relies heavily on Stewart, his farm manager, to help him coordinate planting, cultivating, harvesting, supervising his crew of six workers, and traveling to markets. Lester has plans to eventually buy his own farm, farther from the city, and when he does, Stewart—who started as a farm intern six years ago after a two-year stint in the Peace Corps—will be a partner in the business. For now, Tree and Leaf Farm is in Loudoun County, only 47 miles from Washington. The proximity makes it convenient to travel to the market, although being surrounded by encroaching suburbs is not ideal. “The Piedmont is rich in pastoral tradition,” Lester says, “not as much in row crops.” And Loudoun County has little of its agricultural history left. “I’m looking to have a sustainable business,” he says. “My economics as a leasing farmer are complicated.” Tree and Leaf Farm Not open to the public (540) 882-9656 treeandleaffarm@gmail.com www.treeandleafcsa.com Also found at the Falls Church and Mount Pleasant farmers markets.

For Eco-Friendly Foods’ Herb Grilled Chicken Recipe visit flavormags.com /enhanced.

Everona Dairy R a p i d a n, V i r g i ni a

Submitted by Everona Dairy’s Dr. Pat Elliott. This recipe gives the proportions for one serving and can be easily multiplied to serve many guests. 1 medium Yukon gold or other thin-skinned potato, scrubbed clean A 10-inch sheet of aluminum foil 1 tablespoon finely chopped onion

1 teaspoon chopped fresh herbs (cook’s choice) Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper ¼ cup shredded Everona Piedmont or other sheep’s milk cheese

Using a mandoline or food processor for uniform slices, slice the potato thinly. Arrange potato slices on half of the aluminum foil. Sprinkle with onion, herbs, and salt and pepper. Cover with shredded cheese. Neatly fold the foil into a sealed packet. Place foil packet on grill at medium heat, turning every 10 minutes. Check for doneness after 30 minutes. If not yet completely cooked through, leave on grill for 5–10 more minutes. Allow diners to open their own packet, so that they can enjoy the great aroma as it is opened.

32 flavor magazine • aug./sept. 2009

Dr. Pat Elliott, owner of Everona Dairy in Rapidan, Virginia, is cutting slivers of her prize-winning farmstead sheep-milk cheese for a curious customer to taste. She’s set out a chalkboard announcing the varieties she’s brought to sell today at the Dupont Circle market: Piedmont, Stony Man, Blue Ridge, Shenandoah. Bins full of pre-wrapped and pre-weighed wedges are laid out in front of her. Elliott also sells home-baked crackers, olive spread, and fig membrillo to accompany her cheeses—as well as blankets woven from her flock’s wool. An accomplished woman, Elliott is a practicing medical doctor who says proudly that she hasn’t bought a loaf of bread since she was in medical school—she’s always made her own. In the early 1990s she was raising a Border collie pup who needed something to do, so

molly mcdonald peterson

Grilled Cheese Potatoes

Elliott and her four employees milk her flock of 140 Friesian dairy sheep twice a day and market farmstead

jonathan alderfer

cheeses and other products. Elliott acquired some sheep. Looking for a way to give the sheep a more purposeful existence inspired her serious study of cheesemaking in Wisconsin and Greece during the mid-1990s. Today, Elliott and her four employees milk her flock of 140 Friesian dairy sheep twice a day and make and market farmstead cheeses and other products. (She is building a new cheesemaking facility on her farm and expects to produce four tons of cheese this year.) Featured on menus at high-end restaurants like the Inn at Little Washington and sold in cheese shops throughout the mid-Atlantic, Elliott’s masterfully crafted cheeses have won several awards from the American Cheese Society. Elliott, now 80 years old, has turned over the primary cheesemaking responsibilities to her daughter-in-law Carolyn Wentz, but she still travels to farmers markets on a regular basis. She drives an hour and a quarter from her farm near Culpeper to get to Dupont Circle. “I understand it is one of the best markets. I called and asked, and they made a place for me,” Elliott says. When she first came to the market in 2006, several other cheesemakers were already there, selling cows’ milk and goats’ milk cheeses. Despite the dramatic growth of artisanal cheesemaking in the U.S. in recent years, farmstead cheeses made from 100 percent sheep’s milk are still quite rare. The Dupont Circle market appears to be an ideal venue for her products. “People there tend to know cheese and are appreciative,” she says about her customers.

Everona Dairy 23246 Clark Mountain Rd., Rapidan, VA (540) 854-4159 everona@vabb.com www.everonadairy.com Also found at the Charlottesville, Columbia Pike, Penn Quarter, Silver Spring, and Williamsburg farmers markets; Feast, Foods of All Nations, and Rebecca’s Natural Foods in Charlottesville; Cheesetique in Alexandria; Cowgirl Creamery in D.C.; and Kybecca Wine Bar in Fredericksburg.

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The Redemption of Fast-Food Chipotle’s success proves you can have your responsibly created burrito and eat it, too. Jennifer Conrad Seidel Photos by Molly McDonald Peterson

When conversation turns to restaurants that buy seasonal ingredients from area farms, what often comes to mind is an intimate setting with white tablecloths and a diverse menu that changes weekly, if not daily. Chain restaurants do not usually come to mind, unless as a contrast to the ideal farm-to-table eatery. But what do you get when the owner of a nationally expanding “quick-service environment” (don’t call it fast-food) restaurant becomes convinced his company needs to start using meat that is humanely raised and slaughtered and produce that is grown locally? You get someone who is going where no national chain has gone before. 34 flavor magazine • aug./sept. 2009

Flavor Conversion When Steve Ells opened his first Chipotle Mexican Grill in Denver in 1993, he knew that his success depended on the fresh, flavorful ingredients in the restaurant’s hand-prepared salsas and guacamole and on the marinade and dry rubs used on the neverfrozen chicken, pork, and beef grilled on-site. But despite his best culinary efforts, Ells was disappointed with the flavor of his carnitas (braised pork). Then he read Ed Behr’s article on Niman Ranch’s naturally raised hogs in Behr’s quarterly magazine, The Art of Eating. As Ells describes it in the company’s website, “I

flavor café knew that the trouble with our carnitas wasn’t the recipe. It was the commodity pork we had been using.” The company went on to change its procurement methods for pork and then for chicken and beef as well. In the eight years since Ells’s conversion, Chipotle has managed to find naturally raised chicken and pork for all of its 886 stores. Chipotle has not yet been able to provide every location with naturally raised beef—the national figure stands at about 60 percent—although 100 percent of the beef served in its restaurants on the East Coast is naturally raised.

Above and Beyond It should be noted that for Chipotle and its suppliers, naturally raised animals are those served vegetarian feed and given neither antibiotics nor added-growth hormones. This goes far beyond the USDA’s requirements for “natural” meat, which it defines as “a product containing no artificial ingredient or added color and is only minimally processed.” “Another point,” says Northeast Regional Operations Director Phil Petrilli, “which is to me extremely paramount and that often gets lost on people, is the whole concept of animals’ being raised humanely. You can do all that stuff [use vegetarian feed, etc.], but if you do it in a way that abuses the animals or provides conditions that really are not humane, we don’t want to be a part of that.” He adds that Chipotle’s staff or its proxies visit all the farms the company does business with. “And we do so routinely, so it isn’t a one-time, initial inspection. We want to see the conditions for the animals, and we want to see the conditions for the work-

ers. We want to see the type of people working on the farm and the respect they have for the animals.” Such requirements have led Chipotle to partner with many smaller farms and ranches. “We’ve been able to accomplish this by sewing together a network of relatively small-medium to medium-size farms,” explains Petrilli, describing producers such

“We’ve been able to accomplish this by sewing together a network of relatively small-medium to medium-size farms.” — Northeast Regional Operations Director Phil Petrilli as Niman Ranch and Bell and Evans. “The co-ops are groups of independent family farms that raise animals in a way that’s consistent with the protocols established by the larger brand.” Chipotle received a lot of press when it arranged to have pork for its Charlottesville, Virginia, location brought over from nearby Polyface Farms, run by locavore-darling (and Flavor columnist) Joel Salatin, who estimates that he currently delivers 300–400 pounds of pork each week. “He has a good size farm, and he is still only able to service one, soon to be two restaurants,” says Petrilli. Recent sales figures show that the Charlottesville restaurant sells about 50 percent more carnitas than other locations—evidence that these customers prefer local meat

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when it’s available. (The second store to serve Polyface pork is opening near James Madison University in Harrisonburg.) “The real opportunity will come when we can convince smaller farms to pull together in these co-ops. It’s not just that the supply will increase, but that you can consolidate the way the dairy industry does. One of the challenges for small farms,” says Petrilli, “is getting animals up to the locker plant. It doesn’t make sense for someone to run up two hogs every other weekend for slaughter. It just doesn’t pay for itself. “But what if there were a service like the dairy industry has, where they have a tanker that goes and stops at 10, 12 farms?” he asks. “What if you had someone who could go to 10 of these small hog operations, get the pigs, go to slaughter, and pay everyone according to the undressed weight of the hogs?”

36 flavor magazine • aug./sept. 2009

Goal-Oriented From its inception, Chipotle has used fresh produce—diced tomatoes and onions in the salsa, avocados in the guacamole, cilantro and lime in the rice. And recently, it has started setting goals for purchasing produce from local growers. “Last year we committed to buying at least 25 percent of at least one item locally for all of our restaurants,” Petrilli points out. “This year the goal is 35 percent. We exceeded that goal last year, and I’m sure we’ll exceed it this year.” How does that play out in the Capital foodshed? “In the mid-Atlantic at this time of year, we’re still getting a little bit of romaine. We’ll be getting into red onions, green peppers, and jalapeños, and some of our fresh herbs like oregano. We’d love to find someone to do cilantro for us on a larger scale on the East Coast.” Asked about regional growers, Petrilli answers, “In the D.C. area, I work with Kenny Brothers Produce. It’s clearly a large produce house, but it’s a top-notch operation. They’ve been doing as much local sourcing as they can for years, and they do it for all the reasons we want to do it.” Yet Chipotle still works with small suppliers, fully aware that there might be hiccups along the way. Roundabout Farm, in Virginia’s Albemarle County, had made arrangements to sell romaine to the Charlottesville store earlier this summer. “We were supposed to get 150 heads on a Tuesday,” reports Petrilli,

flavor café “but [owner] Megan Weary called me on Monday to say the deer had decimated the fields.” They will try again next year. Some ingredients, like avocados, just cannot be found locally. “It’s my understanding that we are the second-largest single purchaser of avocados in the world—after Wal-Mart. And they buy them to turn them into frozen pulp.” He notes that whereas the best-tasting peppers are those picked at their peak and eaten quickly, not those picked before ripeness and shipped over long distances, the best-tasting avocados are found in California, in Mexico, and in Central and South America. “Local sourcing is great, but in the end, the food has to taste fantastic.”

Money Talks With its buying power—it will purchase about 60 million pounds of naturally raised meats this year—Chipotle is creating a demand that will make it possible for small farms to become financially profitable and for conventional farms to embrace sustainable, even organic, methods. The chain is always adding new suppliers. It’s obvious that Chipotle’s commitment to what it calls “food with integrity” cannot be cheap. Yet the publicly traded company is growing and had a net income of more than $35 million in the second quarter of 2009, up from over $24 million for the same period last year. So how does the company make any money? “We have the highest food cost in the industry for what we do,” says Petrilli. “And the only way that we’re able to sustain

ourselves economically is that the rest of our model is laden with efficiencies. We knew we were going to spend more on food and less on everything else.” The company’s success has come because customers will pay a little more for great-tasting, fresh food prepared exactly as they want it—whether or not they are aware of the company’s commitments or have read the manifesto on its website. But you can be sure that hundreds of growers, ranchers, and farmers across the country are very aware of these commitments. Flavor Editor Jennifer Conrad Seidel lives in Charlottesville and always gets a burrito bowl with Polyface carnitas, black beans, rice, mild salsa, cheese, sour cream, lettuce, and guacamole. And she wants you to know that it’s pronounced “chih-POTE-lay.”

Chipotle Mexican Grill www.chipotle.com Chipotle has 48 locations in the metro D.C. area and another nine in other parts of Virginia. It will open eight more restaurants in Virginia between now and early 2010— including one opening soon in Terminal B at Dulles International Airport, where it will debut a breakfast menu.

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Tomato, Tomahto

You say Green Zebra, I say German Striped.

Sherri Fickel Photo by Molly McDonald Peterson

Ed Blase, Chef at Edible Garden, Richmond, VA sweet pea

The French name translates as “love apples”—it was thought to be an aphrodisiac. The species name means “wolf peach”—it was once considered poisonous to those predators. Opinions about this essence-ofsummer-to-the-foodie-set can still vary widely, so Flavor asked local chefs and gardeners to name their favorite tomatoes and tell us how they best like to eat them.

Taste: Sweet and balanced • Appearance: Very small (¼-inch long by ½-inch wide), brownish red “It is literally the size of a pea and just the most wonderful, delicious little tomato,” describes Blase. He was introduced to it this season and likes it in stir-fry, salads, and individual tartlets. Blase points out that because this tomato looks like a little berry, it makes a savory tomato tartlet look like a dessert. Rachel Bynum, Co-owner of Waterpenny Farm, Sperryville, VA arkansas traveler

Taste: Sweet with a balance of acidity • Appearance: Medium-sized, reddish pink “Its flavor is sweet with a good balance of acidity,” Bynum says. “It’s great for any use, and it cans or freezes well.” Bynum likes to eat Arkansas Travelers tossed with garlic, basil, Parmesan, and olive oil and served over pasta. Patrick Dinh, Chef at Tuscarora Mill, Leesburg, VA brandywine

Taste: Sweet, soft, meaty, and juicy • Appearance: Red, yellow, or pink This is one of Dinh’s favorites. He likes them all the same way— raw, with a little toasted cracked pepper, sea salt, crushed coriander, and burrata cheese.

Sherri Fickel is one of the proprietors of Hopkins Ordinary Bed and Breakfast in Sperryville. She worked as a reporter for newspapers in the Midwest, where she grew up on a family farm. 38 flavor magazine • aug./sept. 2009

Taste Them for Yourself! How can you determine what your favorite tomato is? Go to your local farmers market in season and sample the offerings, or find a tomato tasting event hosted by your community supported agriculture (CSA) farm or other venue. You could even host one for your friends, just as you would a wine tasting party. Waterpenny Farm in Sperryville has been doing tomato tastings for the past 10 years, sampling about 30 tomatoes grown on the farm with their CSA and market customers, according to co-owner Eric Plaksin. About 15 to 40 people participate every year and rank their favorites, including the Comstock Sauce and Slice, the Brandywine, and the Pineapple. Thomas Jefferson’s home in Charlottesville, Monticello, has also been conducting a summer tomato tasting for almost 10 years now and has ranked entries since at least 2001 (results at www.monticello.org). “We want to showcase the tomato,” explains Peter Hatch, director of gardens and grounds at Monticello. “We’re not here to sell tomatoes. We just celebrate the tomato.” Held in early August, the event is part of Monticello’s Saturdays in the Garden series and is open to the public for a nominal charge. So which tomato ranks consistently in the top three at Monticello and ranks high at Waterpenny? A cherry tomato called Sungold, which is orange and sweet. Ironically, Hatch points out, it is a hybrid, not (technically) an heirloom. But eating one is like popping healthy candy into your mouth. tomatoes provided by the farm at sunnyside Craig Hartman, Executive Chef at Keswick Hall, Keswick, VA german striped

Taste: Complex fruity flavor • Appearance: Yellow with red shading “I adore tomatoes—all tomatoes,” Hartman says. “All colors, sizes, various degrees of ripeness. But my favorite—or should I say, the most memorable—is the German Striped tomato grown by the Coles Family in Keswick. The sweet juice and meaty texture make for a succulent treat.” Hartman’s favorite way to eat it? Sliced, drizzled with the finest olive oil and Balsamico Tradizionale, and sprinkled with fresh cracked black pepper and fleur de sel. He tops it with shaved Stony Man cheese from Everona Dairy and serves it with a freshly baked garlic roll. “Oh my, that is living,” he exclaims.

Patrick O’Connell, Chef-Proprietor of The Inn at Little Washington, Washington, VA

Peter Hatch, Director of Gardens and Grounds at Monticello, Charlottesville, VA

cherokee purple

purple calabash

Taste: Tart and acidic • Appearance: Round and ribbed, deep purple burgundy Hatch’s choice is a “pre-heirloom” tomato, one of the several ancient varieties grown at Monticello. In a sandwich with cheddar cheese, mayonnaise, and whole wheat bread is his favorite way to eat it. Sandy Lerner, Owner of Ayrshire Farm, Upperville, VA green zebra

Taste: Acidic • Appearance: Olive yellow with deep green zebra stripes, round and smooth Describing her favorite, Lerner says, “It has a very intense tomato flavor and provides a beautiful contrast to the usual reds, oranges, and yellows in an heirloom tomato salad. The bottom line, however, is that it is simply the best-tasting tomato I’ve eaten. I’m growing several bushes of it this year.”

beefsteak

Taste: Varies, but usually sweet and meaty • Appearance: Large, wider than it is long Says O’Connell, “I am happy with any old beefsteak tomato, still warm from the sun, perfectly ripe and never refrigerated, eaten like an apple while hanging over the sink, with a little salt and pepper, a pinch of sugar, and a dribble of olive oil.” Rob Wiedmaier, Executive Chef at Brabo, Alexandria, VA Taste: Sweet and smoky • Appearance: Dark, dusky rose-purple, dark red inside Wiedmaier’s prescription for the perfect summer tomato? “At perfect ripeness, I like the Cherokee Purple’s texture and sweetness for a simple summer salad: on a cold plate, quarter-inch sliced Cherokee Purple, fried capers, Rocca cheese, Maldon salt, and finely chopped red onion, drizzled with extra virgin olive oil and pesto.” Ann Yonkers, Co-Director of FreshFarm Markets, Washington, D.C. black cherokee [aka cherokee purple]

Yonkers likes to pick the Black Cherokee mid day at her farm, take it inside, slice it, add a little salt and pepper, pour on a touch of great olive oil, and eat it while it’s still warm from the sun.

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in the garden

Gardening Gurus Tracey Crehan Gerlach

Tomatoes rotting on the vine? Compost confusing you? Call a Master Gardener.

ome attribute it to recent food-contamination scares. Others say it’s related to the movement toward more sustainable living. Anecdotally, it seems to be a response, at least in part, to the economic slowdown. Well, whatever the reasons behind it, the increase in food gardening in the United States is undeniable. Many of the gardeners supplementing grocery store purchases with produce from their kitchen garden are first-timers. In Virginia, these newbies are turning to Master Gardeners (MGs), a terrific go-to source for novices and experienced gardeners alike. All benefit from enriching projects sponsored by the Master Gardener Program such as plant clinics, workshops, and classes, hotlines and help desks, and demonstration and community gardens.

A Community Service As the landscape of the country transitioned from farms to suburbs in the latter half of the last century, the USDA’s Cooperative Extension Service (CES), originally conceived of as a resource 40 flavor magazine • aug./sept. 2009

for farmers, adjusted to also serve many small-scale gardeners. With the increase in home gardeners, CES became a mainstay horticultural resource and needed to enlist more experts and educators familiar with various regions and their gardening challenges. In response, extension agents across the country began replicating the volunteer-driven Master Gardener Program that had begun in Washington State in 1972 to handle questions from their communities. According to Virginia State Master Gardener Coordinator Dave Close, the Virginia program was founded in

According to the Piedmont Master Gardeners Association’s website, its members logged over 6,000 volunteer hours in 2008.

molly mcdonald peterson

1979 in Arlington by an extension specialist from the Virginia Tech Department of Horticulture. Today, each state has a Master Gardener Program. The USDA estimates that the country’s 94,865 MGs volunteer more than 5 million hours a year. Virginia alone has 5,000 MGs. Avid green thumbs earn Master Gardener status from their state cooperative extension agency after completing 50 course hours and volunteering 50 hours that same year. MGs continue to volunteer about 20 hours each subsequent year.

Tending Plants in the Piedmont “What Master Gardeners do is what good neighbors do for each other,” says Ann Foster of the Piedmont Master Gardeners Association, which serves Albemarle, Fluvanna, Greene, Louisa, and Nelson counties. With its force of 170 MGs, this local group staffs horticulture help desks at various area farmers markets. Volunteers also organize an annual plant sale in the spring that includes unusual heirloom tomato plants. New this year, Piedmont MGs manned a help desk at the sale specifically for vegetable gardening. The money raised from the sale goes to fund a student pursuing a degree in horticulture at Piedmont Virginia Community College. According to the group’s website, its members logged over 6,000 volunteer hours in 2008 alone.

Teaching Horticulture in Henrico County In Henrico County, MGs work alongside families in the community garden through the Gardens Growing Families program. Local families can rent plots and, under the nurturing encouragement of master gardeners, grow their own food. As Henrico County Virginia Cooperative Extension Agent Lisa Sanderson explains, “A group of Master Gardeners laid out and planted a vegetable garden slightly larger than the average garden plot, which is designed to act as a ‘role model’ for the families who are gardening this year. “The approach with the garden,” Sanderson adds, “is to provide garden space at a minimal cost to qualified families to improve family nutrition with fresh fruits and vegetables, with exercise, and with families gardening and eating together.”

left: sheela maccumber

· right: lisa t. sanderson

Grace Harrison, an MG involved in the Gardens Growing Families program, grew up in the country amid farm animals and vegetable gardens. After moving to the city as a teen, she herself sought out rentable plots to cultivate. “I feel very strongly that more people The Chesapeake Master Gardeners sponsor a Plant-a-Row for the Hungry program and collected over 8,000 pounds of food for the food bank last year (left).

Master Gardener Nancy Batiste tends the Virginia Cooperative Extension community garden in Culpeper.

should be doing things such as gardening to help us get through this era of trying times. Growing your own vegetables is very rewarding in lots of ways.”

Educating Novices in NoVa The Master Gardeners of Northern Virginia started an organic, urban vegetable garden at Potomac Overlook Regional Park in Arlington as a demonstration garden for the community. Visitors can see the work of these horticultural rock stars in action and learn more about organic vegetable gardening techniques. The MGs happily field questions while they are working. Jane Wickens, an MG in Northern Virginia since 2005, has gardening roots that go back to her childhood, when she would pick Japanese beetles off her grandmother’s roses. Her organic interests include crop rotation, making (and using) compost, and pest identification.

Master Gardener College For Master Gardeners’ continuing education, a week-long Master Gardener College is offered each summer at Virginia Tech. At this year’s college, food gardeners would have found much to sample. Among the all-day tours was a two-part visit, first to a university-run farm transitioning from conventional to sustainable organic practices and then to a local market-going organic vegetable and herb farm. Half-day options included a look at Tech’s soil lab and a guided tour of community gardens in Roanoke. Workshops carried titles like “Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle in the Landscape,” “Kitchen Gardening from a Chef’s Perspective,” and “Organic, Natural, Local: What Does It All Mean?” The breadth of topics (remember that these are only a sample of the many food and ornamental gardening workshops offered) reflects the program’s richness and its relevance to gardeners throughout the commonwealth, whether those gardeners are MGs themselves or are among the thousands who receive advice and instruction from MGs in their community. —Jennifer Conrad Seidel

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Virginia’s 5,000 Master Gardeners can be found gardening, advising, and instructing from the Piedmont (left) to the Tidewater region (right).

Virginia Cooperative Extension (540) 231-5299 www.ext.vt.edu Virginia Cooperative Extension works to provide the people of the commonwealth with practical, scientific knowledge based on research done at the commonwealth’s land-grant universities, Virginia Tech and Virginia State University. VCE partners with public and private organizations—including county and city offices, 4-H centers, and agricultural research centers—to educate the public on a diverse range of subjects. Information on local extension offices can be found at the website under the “Local Offices and Research Centers” tab.

42 flavor magazine • aug./sept. 2009

Knowledge and Zeal Master Gardeners are accessible and wise but still curious. They are simultaneously learners and educators. This passionate approach to gardening makes them invaluable contributors and support systems for the grow-your-own efforts sprouting up in yards throughout the Capital foodshed. Tracey Crehan Gerlach is an organic garden coach and lives in Sugar Hollow, west of Charlottesville. She writes about her own gardening adventures at www.lifeinsugarhollow.blogspot.com.

Virginia Master Gardener Program (540) 231-2714 www.hort.vt.edu/mastergardener Information on the many regional groups can be found under the “Local Offices” tab.

· right: sheela maccumber

She encourages residents of Northern Virginia to check out what the MGs are up to, saying, “Stop by the garden and see what’s growing at various times. Call or come into the Virginia Cooperative Extension office in the Fairlington Community Center or stop by one of our plant clinics—Saturday mornings at the Arlington, Del Ray, and Alexandria farmers markets.”

left: molly mcdonald peterson

“[It’s] always fun to identify insects on the plants,” she enthuses, “checking for good guys versus bad guys!”

groundbreakers

Local Food for the Whole Community Julie Ulrich Photos by Cheri Bowling

One of Charlottesville’s leading local-food advocates brings the harvest to the area’s low-income and aging populations.

very Saturday from April to October, hundreds come to a downtown Charlottesville parking lot for the City Market, which celebrates the region’s diverse agricultural bounty. Most of the shoppers strolling among the dozens of stalls filled with local produce, cheeses, and meats are unaware that many items remaining at the end of the day are donated by vendors to foodinsecure families, some of which live only blocks away from the thriving market.

Not Just for the Wealthy The Jefferson Area Board for Aging (JABA), has teamed up with other area agencies to ensure that leftover food from the market is put to good use. This method of food recovery, also known as gleaning, distributes fresh food to those in need and follows a basic humanitarian ethic: Food not eaten should not go to waste. This is just one of many JABA initiatives launched over the past 18 months to bring healthful, locally sourced foods to underserved populations, including the elderly, in Charlottesville and surrounding counties. JABA has recognized that because it buys produce in such large volume, it can be a catalyst in developing a sustainable, resilient regional food system that will ultimately strengthen the local economy and improve health among the aging population. Left to right: JABA’s Community Nutrition Manager Judy Berger gleans 40 pounds of produce from Richard Bean and Jean Rinaldi of Nelson County’s Double H Farm. Top Broccoli Chef Sarah Lanzman creates a soup with fresh tomatoes and herbs and roasted peppers. The lunch served to JABA client Annette Pinto includes Lanzman’s soup alongside freshly prepared quiche and roasted vegetables.

In fact, representatives from JABA can be found presenting compelling arguments for such a food system at events in the five-county area it serves—such as a conference on farm-to-school programs and a roundtable discussion with Congressman Tom Perriello.

A Change for the Better In response to requests for healthier food from seniors at one of its rural centers, JABA began to redesign its lunch menus to be healthier and turned to local sources to procure fresh food. This brought enhanced flavor to the plate and, at the same time, reduced the amount of additive-laden processed food being offered, which was a positive change, especially for JABA clients suffering from, or at risk of developing, conditions such as heart disease, diabetes, and obesity. Last year, JABA expanded on this idea and set out to revamp its own in-house food system with a goal of producing 20 to 25 percent of all meals from local sources. This is no small feat. JABA currently serves over 3,500 meals a week to patrons of its seven senior centers and beneficiaries of its home-delivered meal service. The organization teamed up with the University of Virginia’s School of Architecture and the Darden School of Business in 2008 to analyze JABA’s local food-procurement patterns. This study, known as the Harvest Now Project, informed positive alterations in JABA’s purchasing by listing which non-local ingredients could be replaced with local ones at an equal or only slightly higher cost, such as replacing bananas with Virginia-grown peaches during July and August. www.flavormags.com

groundbreakers JABA learned a great deal in the first year of its efforts to use fewer processed foods. Not surprisingly, eating fresher and healthier comes at a cost: Local food was on average 20 to 30 percent higher in price than conventional items, and storage space is needed to increase longevity of fresh produce. According to Community Nutrition Manager Judy Berger, JABA has increased and revamped refrigerator and freezer storage areas to store boxes of farm produce. It has also used grants to purchase preparation equipment like food processors, steamers, and pans, since food no longer comes already prepared. However, Berger says the added costs of getting and cooking local ingredients are completely worth it. “First, food handled by fewer workers in the harvest process means less chance of contamination, so it’s safer. Second, better-tasting food perks up the appetites of our clients, so they’re eating better. Third, a diet of fresh, local food picked at the height of its nutritional value offers many health benefits that—in the long term—will help lower health care costs.” JABA’s staff are the driving force behind this series of initiatives and are proud of their wide-ranging community impacts. There is an organization-wide understanding that nutritional choices made by younger generations today will affect their quality of life as elders, which will affect JABA’s ability to successfully meet their needs in the future. These initiatives have served as a platform for developing a local food distribution process for those living in public housing. And in addition to gleaning surplus farmers market produce, JABA is

Left to right: JABA’ s kitchens supplement purchases from area farms with donations from growers such as Michael Clark of Planet Earth Diversified, staff-grown produce, including Lanzman’s chard, and other donated items like raspberries picked by chef Kim White at a relative’s property.

championing both the acceptance of Electronic Benefit Transfer cards (food stamps) at area farmers markets and the creation of a local currency that low-income households can use at these markets.

“Localicious” Fare Earlier this year, JABA found another way to bring more local food to Central Virginians. Its catering service, Top Broccoli, began offering its services to the public after great success in-house. Top Broccoli serves what the staff calls “localicious” fare to private and public groups and organizations in and around Charlottesville. Using as many local ingredients as possible, the catering business supports local farmers even as it raises funds for JABA’s seniors: All revenues generated benefit the senior meal program. This creative business

Trivia CONTEST

What does this phrase mean, and who coined it?

MOB STOCKING HERBIVOROUS SOLAR CONVERSION LIGNIFIED CARBON SEQUESTRATION FERTILIZATION Email your answer to info@flavormags.com with the subject line “L’etoile”

First two to answer correctly win a $100 gift certificate for l’étoile restuarant! 817 West Main St

44 flavor magazine • aug./sept. 2009

Charlottesville, VA

model supports the community financially, preserves farmland, improves health, and raises money for area seniors—even as its customers enjoy a delicious meal that introduces them to regional farms and food artisans. Top Broccoli’s head chef, Sarah Lanzman, chooses ingredients based on their taste, nutritional value, and ability to promote overall health. A cancer survivor, Lanzman has over 30 years’ experience as a professional chef and is a certified natural health professional (CNHP) who believes in the healing qualities of nutritious meals. This philosophy plays out in her creations for Top Broccoli, where she uses local, natural, and organic foods for every recipe. Four months into its inception, Top Broccoli sources from over 25 local producers and farmers—an impressive achievement for a nascent business.

Jefferson Area Board of Aging Locations throughout Central Virginia (434) 817-5222 www.jabacares.org

Top Broccoli Catering jberger@jabacares.org (434) 817-5234

Making It Happen JABA is an organization that understands the importance of relationships. The relationships it has built—and continues to forge—with clients, staff, volunteers, and farmers are helping to redefine the organization’s work and mission. What is emerging is a working model of a sustainable food system that meets the needs of all individuals in a community, not just the young and financially secure. Julie Ulrich is a writer, community-based designer, and urban planner with a lifelong love of food and cooking. A transplant from Portland, Oregon, she has spent years working on a variety of local food–related projects.

The Center for Christian Study and Flavor Magazine present

Holy Cows and Hog Heaven: An Evening with Joel Salatin of Polyface Farms Thursday, September 17, 7:30pm McLeod Hall Auditorium at the University of Virginia More information at

www.studycenter.net

“From field to fork, food carries a sacred dimension. . . . A moral, ethical thread connects the field to the plate, a soulsatisfying thread that connects both farmers and eaters in nobility and sacredness.”  Joel Salatin

Photo: Molly M. Peterson

www.flavormags.com

tales from the field

Michael Clune

This time of year, farmers may act a bit abnormally.

My name is Michael C., and I suffer from A.O.D. There. I said it. It’s time to expose this secret affliction for what it is: a disease whose symptoms appear out of nowhere, causing sufferers numerous hours of hand-wringing, night terrors, ranting, and (always embarrassing) talking to themelves in public places. I have come to accept my disease, fully realizing that there are no medications, 12-step programs, or posh rehab clinics for intensive therapy. But the time has come to speak out, to meet this debilitating monster and defeat it. My name is Michael C., and I suffer from Agriculture Obsessive Disorder. Given my embellishments in previous columns, you may think I’m joking. But A.O.D really exists. I hear the symptoms in conversation with my fellow farmers. The hushed tones, the wide eyes, sweat forming on the brow of the sufferer as he or she relates a particular agricultural anxiety that has advanced beyond concern into a true numbing fear. Fear of what, you ask? Well, it could be a fear of bugs—an attack of Colorado potato beetles that decimate a potato field. For others, it is the fear that a late blight currently destroying tomato crops in Pennsylvania and Maryland will spread farther south. These obsessions bend sufferers’ minds, causing the afflicted to spend countless hours dwelling on the problem, looking for any solution (no matter how bizarre), and lying awake at night and staring at the ceiling, wondering whether an office job would really be that bad.

46 flavor magazine • aug./sept. 2009

Even the owner of our farm, the most even-tempered person I have ever met, has become a victim. His particular obsession? The weather. At any given moment, he can tell me about every cloud formation in a 20-mile radius of the farm and its intention. He intently studies weather radars on both his home computer and his ever-present Blackberry. Much like a weather alert system, he will advise us if a hazardous event is approaching, allowing our team time to run for cover before we get hit. Thanks to his vigilance, I didn’t re-enact Dorothy’s travels to Oz. While repairing a broken electric fence in a lightning storm, his phone call warned me of a tornado that had been sighted a few miles from the farm. Needless to say, I beat a hasty retreat from the cherry orchard—thanks to his A.O.D. I know, I know. I can see the raised eyebrows. Exactly what kind of insane moron tries to fix a wire fence in a lightning storm? It’s not insanity, but the manifestation of my own form of A.O.D.—my obsession with predatory animals. Now I’m not talking about lions, tigers, or coyotes, but about the cute little bunnies, the woodchucks, the deer, and agh! the bears.

I often fantasize about advancing, Rambo-like, around the perimeter of the farm and eradicating anything with four legs that likes to eat fruits and vegetables.

Given that I spent most of my teenage years working for a veterinarian, caring for sick and injured animals, it is sad that I often fantasize about donning a flak vest, wrapping a bandana around my head, and advancing, Rambo-like, around the perimeter of the farm and eradicating anything with four legs that likes to eat fruits and vegetables. As this is totally against the philosophy of what we’re doing on the farm, I’m embar-

molly mcdonald peterson

A.O.D.

rassed to admit this. But after countless hours of putting up fencing, chasing bears on four-wheelers, and barking at deer, I’m at my wit’s end. The little varmints are like pesty younger siblings: They’re annoying, but you can at least tolerate their activities in limited doses. The deer and bear however, are like a scourge, as are large rats that not only eat everything we’re trying to grow, but destroy trees and plants in the process.

A Name to Remember… A Meal You’ll Never Forget.

I have begun to take it personally. I now scout the orchards nightly to keep the bears from ruining any more of our beautiful fruit trees. My last encounter in the peach orchard has fueled my commitment. Revving up the four-wheeler to chase yet another bear from the peaches, I was amazed to see the 250-pound beast stop running, turn toward me, and, unaffected by my yelling, make an obscene gesture with his right paw before sliding under the fence and to the safety of the woods. I was flabbergasted and then enraged. The war is on. I have attended seminars on bear behavior and studied their movements. I sent a memo that was ignored. I met with Mother Nature, who basically said I was on my own. I continue to conduct research, to try new non-lethal methods, to wring my hands—and to wonder whether being a greeter in a major retail chain store might be a more rewarding career. The point is, my friends, that if you should go to your local farmers market and find that your favorite farmers aren’t acting normally, they are probably suffering from Agriculture Obsessive Disorder. July and August are when the symptoms worsen, so be patient. We should all be better around September. Until then, continue your patronage, as market day seems to minimize some of the symptoms. As for me, I plan to start a support group.

restaurant 219 E Davis St, Culpeper www.fotisrestaurant.com (540) 829-8400 -Tom Sietsema, The Washington Post

Michael Clune is the director of farm operations for the Farm at Sunnyside in Washington, Virginia. A former firefighter and paramedic, he is an ardent advocate of local, sustainable agriculture.

Local Ingredients. Transformed.

Old Virginia Tomato Mountainview Farm Neersville, Virginia

Smoked Tomato Salad

with feta, olives, micro basil and cucumber jellies

Occasions Caterers Washington, DC

occasionscaterers.com 202-546-7400

www.flavormags.com

in the food desert

Not Quite What I Was Looking For Paul Seamus Ryan Photos by Molly McDonald Peterson

This urban farm grows food not because it’s trendy but because it’s needed.

didn’t grow up on a farm. I grew up on the north side of Scranton, Pennsylvania—not quite as far from a farm as you can get, but pretty far, nonetheless. I’ve lived in urban areas nearly all of my life. But part of me has always been drawn to farms and farming or, more modestly put, gardening.

I remember several springs in Scranton, when I made room—among the trash cans on the narrow strip of dirt between the base of our house and the asphalt driveway—to grow a few tomato plants. Fast-forward 20 years: After a stint in Los Angeles, where I tended a much more respectable garden that produced food year-round beneath a layer of

smog, I moved to D.C. and, for the first time in my life, found myself living in an apartment building with no outdoor growing space, not even a balcony. So I prowled on the Internet and biked around my neighborhood looking for a community garden where I might grow some food. To my surprise and disappointment, few community gardens exist in D.C., and those that do exist have years-long waiting lists for plots. However, in my wanderings online, I stumbled on the website of the 7th Street Garden in D.C.’s Shaw neighborhood. The 7th Street Garden wasn’t quite what I was looking for but, for lack of other options, I got involved. And I’m really glad I did. The project has since moved to a bigger location in D.C.’s LeDroit Park neighborhood. It changed its name to Common Good City Farm and steadily expanded its programs and its operating budget. The Common Good City Farm is an urban farm and education center that is growing food for low-income residents in D.C. and providing educational opportunities for all people to help increase food security, improve health, and foster environmental sustainability. Its core program is the Green Tomorrows Program, through which low-income community members work two or more hours per week on the farm in exchange for a share of the food that’s grown. Approximately 60 percent of the food grown on the farm is consumed by program participants and their families. The remaining 40 percent is sold at the Bloomingdale Farmers Market, a half-mile from the farm. Volunteers harvest food on the farm every Sunday morning and transport it to the market, where the food is then sold by another volunteer who uses the opportunity not only to raise some money, but also to tell community members about it. The LeDroit Park neighborhood, where the farm is located, is teeming with curious youth who descend upon it whenever the gate is open. We highly value the relationships we’re building with young folks in the neighborhood and are fortunate to have a core of youth program volunteers who welcome and engage the youth with a goal of mutual education and recreation. The farm’s youth program has

Common Good City Farm (202) 330-5945 info@commongoodcityfarm.org commongoodcityfarm.org

48 flavor magazine • aug./sept. 2009

seen the most substantial growth of all of the farm’s programs since our move to our new home in LeDroit Park. We couldn’t be happier about the involvement of these eaters and farmers-of-tomorrow. We look forward to the day they’re running the organization. The farm also offers hands-on Growing Gardens Workshops to teach participants about urban food production, container and raised-bed gardening, composting, rainwater harvesting, food preservation, and other aspects of community food security. These workshops are open to the general public on a monthly basis during the spring, summer, and fall and are offered for a sliding-scale fee. Finally, the volunteer program is open to interested individuals who do not meet the low-income requirement of the Green Tomorrows Program but who nevertheless wish to support the work of the farm. (This is how I got involved with the organization.) This program keeps the organization running. Volunteers do not take home garden produce, but they do learn farming skills and help grow fresh food for others. The farm also needs off-farm volunteers to help with the behind-the-scenes work of a nonprofit community organization. So, having stumbled upon the Common Good City Farm, I’m once again growing food in an urban food desert. It’s not quite what I was looking for when I arrived in D.C., but it is more than I ever dreamed of finding. And we’re just getting started. Paul Seamus Ryan is a volunteer and member of the board of directors of the Common Good City Farm.

Carl Rollins (left) is a farm and education coordinators on staff at Common Good City Farm.

Farm to Table Food Organic Drinks

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Farm: practicing sustainable agriculture eggs, produce, beef, pork, chicken, turkey

We want to hear from readers and eaters! Bed and Breakfast: beautiful views, farm-fresh food

bellemeade.net • 540-987-9748 • 353 F.T. Valley Road, Sperryville, VA 22740 50 flavor magazine • aug./sept. 2009

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seasonal table

Pears Theresa Curry

Each time I taste Poire William, the Bartlett pear brandy (they’re called Williams Bon-Chretien pears in Alsace, where Poire William is made), I’m sure the distiller captures the very soul of this late summer fruit. Capture is literal for the fruit in this French eau de vie: orchardists use an ancient low-tech practice of tying a bottle on the pear tree around a blossom and letting the pear grow inside. Once plucked from the tree, the trapped pear is drenched in brandy that was pressed and distilled from the less perfect pears in the Williams BonChretien orchard. A taste starts me thinking. Sometimes the best way to preserve true flavor is in a form far different from the fresh fruit we enjoy in season, which grows soft when stored, limp when frozen, and soggy when canned—tasting not at all like September. A gentler brew than brandy, but one that also preserves the delicate pear taste, will soon flow from the presses of Albemarle CiderWorks. “Perry” is the name given to the sweet and fermented juice of pears, and this refreshing drink will join the apple cider now being pressed at Rural Ridge Farm. Charlotte and Bud Shelton officially opened the cidery in July, after years of planting the best apple and pear varieties for pressing and fermentation. Until now, perry has been virtually unheard of in this country, Charlotte Shelton says. Those searching for a perfect fresh pear in Virginia face some obstacles. Pears on the tree are often hard and bitter. Once fallen, they’re beset by insects and rot. At the fruit stand or orchard, test the stem end for a little give, and choose pears that are still firm and fat below

and that smell like pears. Their peculiar cellular structure can make a mouthful of pear feel like a mouthful of grit, so bakers often poach pears before putting them on top of a tart or shortcake. A gentle simmer in water and sugar—perhaps with a little red wine, lemon, and honey—makes pears tender and adds the moisture that they sometimes lack. Poached pears make a fine dish all by themselves, too. You can stud them with a few cloves or place one strategic whole clove on the stem end. Chef Alice Waters purees poached pears and stirs them into mashed sweet potatoes. Chocolate lovers might serve them for dessert, with a spoon or two of fudge sauce. For a first course or a September lunch, the sturdy crunch of a pear is welcome in chopped salads, especially when combined with cucumbers, cheese, dried cherries, and pecans. The subtle taste of pears is a good contrast with the sharper taste of ginger. With gingersnaps and Gouda, thick pear slices make up a perfect cold platter. Chef Jerome Andureau, co-author of Once Upon a Tart, puts huge chunks of pears and lots of ginger in his Pear Ginger Raisin Muffins (recipe on page 52), and seasonal bakers add a sprinkle of ginger to their pear crisps and cobblers. Freelance feature writer Theresa Curry contributes to a number of publications, including The Virginian Pilot, The Charlottesville Daily Progress, The Augusta Free Press, and The Harrisonburg Daily News Record.

pears from quaker valley farm photographed at the mount pleasant farmers market by ariele foster

www.flavormags.com

seasonal table Pear Ginger Raisin Muffins Once Upon a Tart by Frank Mentesana and Jerome Audureau, full of wonderful salads, soups, muffins, and scones, is one of my favorites. It has the recipes used at the popular New York restaurant by the same name. I love muffins, and I’ve learned that filling the muffin tins almost full (rather than half full, as most recipes say) makes a beautiful, rounded muffin. Start-to-finish time: 50 minutes Makes 6 large muffins Soft butter for greasing muffin tins 2 cups unbleached all purpose flour ½ cup whole-wheat flour 1 teaspoon baking soda 1 teaspoon ground ginger

Chopped Pear & Cucumber Salad I love the nutty taste of the Highland Swiss cheese made by the Middlebrook Cheese Company, sold at the Staunton Farmers Market. It goes perfectly with the mellow taste of pears. Sherry vinegar is important in this salad, so try to find it if you can. Dried cherries add a sweet note, though you could substitute dried cranberries, which are more readily available. Preparation time: 15 minutes Serves 2

½ teaspoon salt 3 large eggs ¾ cup sugar 1 cup vegetable oil 1½ teaspoons vanilla extract 1 large, ripe Anjou or Bosc pear, peeled, cored, and cut into ½-inch cubes ½ cup dark raisins Position your oven racks so that one is in the center, and preheat the oven to 400 F. Smear 6 big muffin tin cups with butter. Whisk the flours, baking soda, ginger, and salt together in a medium-size bowl. In a separate, big bowl, whisk the eggs to break up the yolks. Still whisking with one hand, pour in the sugar with the other. Continue whisking for a few minutes, until the eggs begin to pale in color. Whisk in the oil and vanilla. Gradually add the dry ingredients to the wet, stirring gently with a wooden 2 tablespoons olive oil 1 tablespoon sherry vinegar 1 medium cucumber, peeled, seeded, and diced 1 medium red bell pepper, roughly chopped 1 pear, cored and chopped ½ small sweet onion, minced ½ cup dried cherries 1 head romaine lettuce, chopped 4 ounces Middlebrook Highland Swiss cheese, cut into cubes ½ cup pecans, toasted and coarsely chopped Salt to taste Ground black pepper

spoon until there is just a little flour visible. Scoop batter up with your spoon, using a rubber spatula to scrape the batter off the spoon into the cups of the muffin tin, filling them almost to the top. Divide the batter evenly between the cups. Place the tin on the center rack of the oven and bake the muffins for 35–40 minutes or until a small knife or toothpick inserted deep into the center of one comes out clean. Remove the tin from the oven, and place it on a wire rack. Let the muffins sit for a few minutes in the tin, until they’re cool enough to touch. To remove the muffins, flip the tin upside down and let the muffins fall out onto the wire rack to cool. Or, even better, serve warm.

Whisk oil and vinegar together in a large bowl. Add cucumber, bell pepper, pear, onion, and cherries; toss and let stand at room temperature to blend flavors, 5 minutes. Add romaine, cheese, and pecans, and toss to combine. Season with salt and pepper and serve.

pears from quaker valley farm photographed at the mount pleasant market by ariele foster

52 flavor magazine • aug./sept. 2009

Scotch Eggs Commonwealth, Washington, D.C.

Remove the eggs. Once they have cooled, unwrap the plastic.

Chef Jamie Leeds updates this British pub standard with a flavorful dipping sauce. For best results, use eggs that are at least five days old and bring them to room temperature before cooking.

To finish the eggs 2 eggs, slightly beaten ¼ cup milk 2 cups Japanese bread crumbs (panko) 1 quart canola oil

Preparation time: 45 minutes Cooking time: 25 minutes Serves 6 as an appetizer

Make an egg wash by combining the eggs and milk. Dip the eggs in the wash, and then roll in the Japanese bread crumbs. In a large, deep pan, pan fry the eggs in the oil until golden brown. Remove and let sit.

For the hard-cooked eggs 6 farm eggs Water to cover Put eggs in pot large enough so they form one layer on the bottom. Cover with cold water. Bring to a boil quickly, turn off heat, cover, and leave on the burner 15 minutes for medium eggs, 17 minutes for large eggs. Drain and then immediately cover with cold water and let cool for 5 minutes, changing the water as it warms from the eggs. Peel and salt. For the coating 1 pound pork sausage For each egg, flatten 2 ounces of pork sausage until it is ¼ inch thick. Wrap sausage around each of the eggs, so that they are evenly covered. Using plastic wrap, wrap the eggs and sausage, tightly twisting the edges to ensure they are snug. Poach the wrapped eggs in boiling water for 3 minutes until the sausage is set.

For the dipping sauce 2 bunches Italian parsley 1 bunch scallions 1 bunch chives 3 shallots, chopped 6 cloves garlic, peeled 4 anchovy filets ½ cup capers 1 cup extra virgin olive oil Salt and pepper Combine all ingredients and mix into a blender until smooth. Salt and pepper the sauce to taste. Assembling and serving To serve, cut the eggs in half to show the yolk and white of the egg. Serve with the dipping sauce on the side.

farm-fresh eggs photographed at the charlottesville city market by kristen taylor

flavor magazine • winter 2009

www.flavormags.com

seasonal table

peaches from quaker valley farm photographed at the mount pleasant farmers market by ariele foster

Chilled Southeast Asian Peach Soup 24 Crows, Flint Hill, Virginia Veteran pastry Chef Heidi Morf says to use ripe, fragrant peaches for this refreshing cold soup. Youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ll need about nine medium peaches to equal three pounds, and one juicy lime for the two tablespoons of lime juice. Start-to-finish time: 30 minutes Serves 6

54 flavor magazine â&#x20AC;˘ aug./sept. 2009

3 pounds ripe peaches, peeled and sliced 2 tablespoons fresh lime juice 2 tablespoons toasted sesame oil 2 tablespoons seasoned rice vinegar 4 teaspoons chili paste with sweet basil (available in Asian markets) 1 tablespoon nam pla (fish sauce) 2 tablespoons chopped fresh mint 2 tablespoons chopped fresh Thai basil 1 tablespoon palm or brown sugar (more or less, depending on the sweetness of your peaches)

Prepare a bowl of ice and water. Dip peaches in boiling water for one minute, and then plunge into the ice water bath. The peel comes right off and its rosy color transfers to the fruit. Remove the pits, and puree the peaches with the other ingredients with an immersion blender or food processor. Chill until very cold. Garnish with a sprig of Thai basil or a grilled shrimp.

Peach Parfait with Blueberry Tuile Occasions Caterers, Washington, D.C According to chef Sina Molavi, the key to this delicious dessert is the peaches. This recipe can be made with any type of peach, but make sure they are from a reputable source and are very fresh. Occasions Caterers uses sweet white peaches from Toigo Orchards in Shippensburg, Pennsylvania. Start to finish time: 1 hour, 15 minutes Serves 6 For the peach compote 10 peaches peeled, pitted and cut into cubes 1 vanilla bean 1½ tablespoons sugar 1 teaspoon cornstarch 4 tablespoons peach juice Peel, pit, and cut the peaches over a bowl to collect the juice. Place the cut peaches in a medium saucepan. Split vanilla bean in half, scrape out all the seeds, and add this to the saucepan. Add sugar and cook over medium heat until sugar is dissolved. Mix in cornstarch and peach juice and continue to cook, stirring until it has a thick consistency. For the biscuit 1 cup all-purpose flour 1 teaspoon baking powder ½ teaspoon salt 2 tablespoons butter or shortening 1/3 cup milk Preheat oven to 400 F. Sift flour once, measure, add baking powder and salt, and sift again. Cut in shortening or butter. (You can use your hands by rubbing it into the flour.) Add milk gradually, stirring until soft dough is formed. Turn dough out on a lightly floured board and gently knead

for 30 seconds, enough to shape. Roll out ½ inch thick and cut with 2-inch floured biscuit cutter. Bake biscuits on ungreased sheet for 12–15 minutes. Use any leftover biscuit for the topping. For the blueberry puree 1 cup fresh blueberries Puree blueberries and then pour through a strainer into a small bowl and mix into the tuile as follows. For the blueberry tuile 1½ cups granulated sugar 3 cups flour ¼ cup orange juice 5 tablespoons blueberry puree 5 ounces unsalted butter, melted Preheat oven to 375 F. Place a sheet pan in the oven to warm. Combine the sugar and flour in a medium bowl. Add the orange juice and blueberry puree. Mix in the melted butter. Drop the batter onto a silicone baking mat using a 1½-ounce scoop as a measure. Spread the batter into a thin strip with a spatula. Transfer the baking mat to the warm sheet pan and return it to the oven. Bake 8–10 minutes or just until the edges turn golden. Immediately flip each tuile over and shape it around a straight-sided glass and let cool. Assembling and serving Vanilla ice-cream Split the biscuits. Put half a biscuit in a martini or wine glass and spoon the peach compote on top. Repeat the layering process. Use any leftover biscuits or crumbs to garnish the top and then add a small scoop of ice cream to top it off. The blueberry tuile can be laid across the top or placed in the center.

Recipes for Baked Meatballs with Blackberry Chili Sauce from Mount Vernon Farm in Sperryville, VA, and for Condijun from Coppi’s Organic Restaurant in Washington, D.C., are at flavormags.com/enhanced.

Where can you pick up a copy of Flavor? Find a list of current distribution sites at flavormags.com

www.flavormags.com

the guest list Summer Solstice Farm Dinner at Mount Vernon Farm Sperryville, Virginia June 20, 2009

Flavor joined Gourmet Rappahannock Food & Wine Consortium, the County of Rappahannock Office of Tourism, and the Piedmont Environmental Council in hosting a farm-to-table dinner en plein air, presented by Chef Cathal Armstrong of Alexandria’s Restaurant Eve. Net proceeds benefited the Rappahannock County Farm Preservation Program. photos by molly mcdonald peterson

Martin Woodard, John Lesinski, John McCarthy, and Heidi Lesinski

Jim Nedohon, Brian Noyes, Susanne Louisell, Dwight McNeill

Anthony Danti and Theresa Kim John Fox Sullivan and Beverly Sullivan

Lynn Sullivan and Julie Hahn Cliff Miller and Lucile Miller

Cathal Armstrong and Melissa Harris

A Chicken Choosin’: Heritage Breed Chicken Tasting at Ayrshire Farm

Jack Bagley and Senator J. Bennett Johnston

Tony Esnault, Rob Townsend, R. J. Cooper, Akiko Katayama, and Bob Perry

Upperville, Virginia July 13, 2009

“An historical and culinary first,” this chicken tasting featured 10 heritage breeds and was presented by Ayrshire Farm, the American Livestock Breeds Conservancy, Humane Farm Animal Care, Slow Food U.S.A., and Chefs Collaborative.

Don Schrider, Mark Reinhardt, and Laurie Smith

Susie Hass and Katrina Gugenberger

Heather Stouffer and Warren Howell

photos by molly mcdonald peterson

Omar Miskinyar

“In Our Hands” Summer Soiree to Save the Seals at Policy Restaurant & Lounge

Todd Gray, Nora Pouillon, and Ellen Gray Melissa Harris and Nigel Barker

Michel Richard

Washington, D.C. July 21, 2009

The Humane Society of the United States hosted the national launch of the “In Our Hands” campaign to end Canada’s commercial seal hunt. Premier D.C. chefs and restaurateurs joined together for a group photo shoot with America’s Next Top Model photographer Nigel Barker and also added their handprints in red paint to a large canvas that will be shown at galleries around the country.

Amanda Phillips Manheim and Ann Yonkers

photos by molly mcdonald peterson

56 flavor magazine • aug./sept. 2009

Wayne Pacelle and Bethenny Frankel

Mark Kuller and Maddy Beckwith

Albemarle CiderWorks Grand Opening North Garden, Virginia July 13, 2009

Diane Flynt

County Supervisor David Slutzky, the Shelton family, Robert Bloxom, and Governor Tim Kaine

Michael Shaps

Governor Tim Kaine and Delegate David Toscano

The Shelton family, owners of Rural Ridge Orchard, welcomed guests at the opening of their new cidery. Governor Tim Kaine gave the keynote address, which was followed by tours of the cidery, tastings, and a reception in the tasting room. photos by laura merricks

Summer Harvest Celebration at Whipple Farm Rixeyville, Virginia July 26, 2009 Frank Farrell, Joe Steger, Aman Ayoubi, and Doug Whipple

Kevin M.

Steven Greenwald, Rachel Martin, Nikki Stevenson, and K. Manuel Simpson

Kevin Jones, Ruth Kao, and Adam Barr Josh Tulkin and Dave Haffner

Whipple Farms and Peroni International hosted a Summer Harvest party at which Local 16â&#x20AC;&#x2122;s new Executive Chef Eric McKamey presented a farm-to-table banquet. The event benefited the D.C. Central Kitchen and the Civilian Arts Projects gallery. photos by molly mcdonald peterson

Aman Ayoubi and Eric McKamey

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and all

aM -6 pM

(434) 984-4272

www.SugarleafVineyards.com 3613 walnut branch lane n o rt h ga r d e n , Va 2 2 9 5 9 58

â&#x20AC;˘ Aug./Sept. 2009

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August/September 2009

Features

68 Virginian Bordeaux Boxwood Winery is translating Old World winemaking techniques to a modern, New World setting. Grace Reynolds

Departments 63 imbibe Jack in the Bottle

Laird’s, the country’s oldest distillery, continues to make excellent spirits using apples from the Shenandoah Valley. Alexander Lowell

76 winemaker’s notes Andrew Hodson Virginia wine is getting better, but there’s still room for improvement—both in the bottle and in the industry itself.

74 pairing Drawing Out the Flavors of Summer Pairing suggestions for Virginia wines and beer and the ever-versatile tomato. Jason Miller

Columns

78 blind tasting Summer Whites Our panel chooses the perfect white wine for an evening on the screened porch. Kevin Kraditor

60 72

flights drink seasonally molly mcdonald peterson S boxwood winery

Flights

Lucy Nunn

u The Shelton family has opened the long-awaited Albemarle Ciderworks on their property in North Garden, south of Charlottesville. The tasting room opened to the public on July 15, with special guest Governor Tim Kaine giving the keynote address. The family makes artisan hard cider from heritage varieties of apples that thrive in the county, including some heirloom varieties that Thomas Jefferson experimented with at Monticello a few miles down the road. All the apples used in the cider are grown in Virginia, and many are grown at the family’s Rural Ridge Orchard. “We’ve lost the science and the art in this country,” says owner Chuck Shelton of cidermaking, which has become increasingly industrial. “Fortunately, it was preserved in small pockets and in Europe.”

In early November, Pandit and Sedha Patel will open another tasting room to the public. This one is at their boutique winery, Narmada Vineyards, in Amissville. They will pair their wines, including Vidal Blanc, Chambourcin, and Chardonelle, with authentic Indian cuisine catered by Aromas Indian Restaurant of Arlington. “We’ve always had this dream to bring the two countries together,” says Pandit Patel of America and his native India, adding that a lightly spicy Indian chicken dish can complement dry white wine wonderfully. He and his wife have lived in the U.S. for over 40 years, and they have been learning to make wine for the past couple of decades. Albemarle Ciderworks (434) 297-2326, www.albemarleciderworks.com Narmada Vineyards (540) 937-6613, www.narmadavineyards.com

Monticello Gold Cup Awards Luca Paschina’s Barboursville Vineyards has triumphed at the Monticello Cup once again, as its

Octagon Ninth Edition (2006) won both the cup itself and a double gold award, following a Monticello Cup win in 2006 for the Octagon 2004. A panel of judges, including Richard Hewitt of Keswick Hall and Elaine Futhey of the C&O Restaurant in Charlottesville, also awarded a double gold to the 2006 Flying Fox Petit Verdot and the 2007 Jefferson Vineyards Meritage.

Pairing Up Without Spinning the Bottle  Chefs Pamela Zacha and Altrovese McClung hope to fill a niche with Vintner’s Chef, their new catering company. Vintner’s Chef offers meals to pair with local wines, since most vineyards lack commercial kitchens but still need fare to serve in their tasting rooms. The company has tailored custom menus for a number of Virginia wineries. At the popular Del Ray wine store Planet Wine, Evening Star Café chef Will Artley will match wines to local foods at The Farm Table, a private event space within the shop. The multi-course menus will “reflect the change in seasons and highlight the quality of local ingredients,” and clients can personally consult with the chef to customize the menu for their event or choose between the Market Menu (appetizers, a pasta course, two entrees, and dessert) or the Sunday Supper, a traditional southern fried chicken dinner with a fruit dessert and homemade ice cream. Vintner’s Chef (540) 364-4440, www.vintnerschef.com The Farm Table at Planet Wine (703) 447-1757, www.planetwineshop.com/farmtable

• Aug./Sept. 2009

laura merricks

Meeting the New Kids on the Block

“State’s Evidence: Virginia 1, California 0” It may surprise Napa Valley devotees to hear wine critics across the pond lavishing praise on Virginia wines. But seasoned wine writer and consultant Richard Leahy rejoices on his blog, Richard Leahy’s Wine Report, that Michael Broadbent—of Decanter, the U.K.’s premiere wine magazine, and founder of the wine department at Christie’s Auction House—has deemed Virginia wine superior overall to California’s in his most recent column, titled “State’s Evidence: Virginia 1, California 0.” For Virginia wine to receive a glowing review of such gravitas is “truly revolutionary,” Leahy writes, considering it receives little media attention beyond regional press (in part because it is not widely available for purchase). Broadbent discovered Barboursville Vineyards while visiting his son in Virginia and sampled the awardwinning Viognier and red Bordeaux blends. He raved about both, even going so far as to praise “the estate’s staggeringly good 2004 Viognier reserve” for having “the quality and flavor to match—even exceed—Rhône’s finest Condrieu.”

Open Daily for Tours and Tastings Afton, Virginia

www.veritaswines.com

540-456-8000

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Flights No Permission Slips Needed for These Field Trips Want to luxuriate in the beauty of wine country without leaving the state? Spend a few days visiting Rappahannock Cellars and Sharp Rock Vineyards by bike on the all-inclusive Tour d’Epicure, with worldclass cyclists leading the way but encouraging you to travel at your own pace. Participants stay at the lovely Foster Harris House in the foothills of the Blue Ridge in Washington, Virginia, and dine at the wineries, the Mediterranean-inspired Foti’s, and the Inn at Little Washington.

 If you’re only out in the country for a day, sip some Pinot Grigio between rounds of bocce at Gadino Cellars, also in Washington, Virginia. The vineyard now has two regulation-size courts for the Italian game.

Or you could simply learn to better appreciate favorite wines (and maybe discover some new ones) at Monday night wine classes at Tavola in Charlottesville. Former Enoteca manager Megan Headley will pair small plates from the Tavola kitchen with vino from various regions of Italy to “bring to life the magic of terroir-driven, old-world wines” in her two-hour weekly classes this August and September. Tour d’Epicure (540) 675-9924, www.tourdepicure.com Gadino Cellars (540) 987-9292, www.gadinocellars.com Tavola (434) 972-9463

Editorial Assistant Lucy Nunn also wrote Grazings on page 9.

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Imbibe

Jack in the Bottle

Alexander Lowell Photos by Laura Merricks

World-renowned spirit. Centuries-long history. Virginia apples.

n 2001, the Laird family won a prestigious award for the best New Jersey family business. “It took 221 years for us to get it, to finally be recognized,” quipped Lisa Laird Dunn about the honor, “but it was great. We felt very honored.” Laird’s isn’t exactly the “new kid in town” of the American liquor industry. Way back in 1760, George Washington requisitioned the Laird family’s applejack recipe—not for himself, you understand (it tended to stain his wooden teeth), but rather to elevate the spirits of his downtrodden, frostbitten soldiers. You might say Laird’s apple brandy fueled our victory over the port-sniffing redcoats. But while the company is based in New Jersey, several of its most successful products are made in Virginia with tree-ripened apples from the Shenandoah Valley.

The First of Its Kind In 1698, the Laird family came to the New World from Scotland, where at least one of its members was involved in the noble profession of distilling whiskey. The family settled in Monmouth County, New Jersey, an area sorely lacking in fields of grain—no barley, no wheat, no rye. What the Lairds did find, however, was acres and acres of apples, so they set about fermenting the fruit into cider and then cooking (distilling) that into what was then called applejack.

The Lairds did very well. Many colonists, fearing sickness and disease from the local water, preferred to slake their thirst with a tipple or two of spirits—beginning at breakfast. They also used apple and other fruit brandies in cooking, both as a flavor enhancer and as a killer of fast-breeding bacteria. That colonial recipe, though yielding a more refined product nowadays, has served as the blueprint for the Laird family’s success. The original distillery in Scobeyville, New Jersey, is the oldest in the U.S. (its license actually reads No. 1), and the business, still headquartered in the Garden State, is now involved in several aspects of the wine and liquor business. But over the years, those original apple orchards were plowed under to make way for housing developments and shopping malls. “We don’t have a single apple tree in New Jersey!” laughs Dunn, vice president in charge of publicity and a member of the ninth generation of the Laird family. “In 1941, we purchased the Virginia Fruit Distilling Company. All our apples now are homegrown in Virginia’s Shenandoah Valley.” And all of the distilling for Laird’s various interpretations of applejack is done in Albemarle County’s North Garden, a small rural community (pop. 2,154) just south of Charlottesville.

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Imbibe

In celebration of the Lincoln Bicentennial earlier this year, four restaurants in D.C. (Acadiana, Ceiba, PassionFish, and TenPenh) served AppleJack Old Fashioneds “in honor of Lincoln’s early career as a tavern proprietor,” during which he served Laird’s at his establishment in Springfield, Illinois. Their cocktail, which used Laird’s AppleJack and bourbon from Lincoln’s home state of Kentucky, was sold for $5—the bill on which Lincoln is featured. The following recipe is one of many food and drink recipes found on Laird’s website.

AppleJack Old Fashioned

Sugar Bitters Club soda

Ice Laird’s AppleJack

Stir ½ teaspoon sugar, 2 dashes of bitters, and a splash of club soda in an old-fashioned glass until the sugar is dissolved. Add ice cubes and 1½ ounces Laird’s AppleJack. Stir and garnish with an orange slice and a cherry.

NJ Recipe, VA Apples When brandy lovers first hear of Laird’s apple brandy, they wonder how it differs, if at all, from Calvados, a digestif that many connoisseurs prefer over Cognac or Armagnac. Calvados is made from dozens of varieties of highly aromatic but inedible apples in the Lower Normandy region of northern France. A good Calvados, especially one bearing the Pays d’Auge appellation, may spoil you for Cognac, whose white wine base is often polluted with a tad too much caramel.

There are two big differences between Laird’s and Calvados: First, apples used in France are bitter and acidic, whereas both sweet and tart apples are used in Laird’s. Second, Calvados is double-distilled, supposedly making it doubly refined. “Our brandy is at least tripleor quadruple-refined,” claims stillmaster Lester Clements, who runs the North Garden distillery. “We use what’s called a ‘continuous’ still, and we add finished brandy to the fresh cider as it goes through distillation.” In truth, anyone who really savors the taste of apples— Jonathans, Winesaps, Staymans, Pippins, Delicious—will prefer Laird’s over Calvados.

All of the distilling for Laird’s various interpretations of applejack is done in Albemarle County’s North Garden. Just as Calvados was fiery and unsophisticated in its beginnings, fit only for the rough-hewn constitutions of weather-hardened Norman farmers, the original applejack’s qualities were akin to the eye-opening jolt of a feisty backwoods moonshine. The taste of Calvados was always reminiscent of apples, but it was sharp and raw and consistently delivered the hefty kick of a mule. This kick, in the midst of a heavy meal, was thought capable of punching a hole in the stomach (le trou Normand, literally, “the Norman hole”) to make room for another course of ham or quail. Calvados has since become more refined and evolved into an elegant aperitif or after-dinner snifterfiller to be enjoyed with coffee. The same evolution can be claimed for applejack.

Like Them Apples? Laird’s produces three varieties of fine apple brandy in addition to its signature AppleJack (now blended with neutral spirits) that can rival any Calvados: a straight 100 proof apple brandy aged at least four

• Aug./Sept. 2009

years; the Old Apple Brandy, aged in barrels for at least seven and a half years and rated very good (85–89 points) by the Wine Enthusiast; and the limited-quantity 88 proof Rare Old Apple Brandy, aged for at least 12 years and bottled by hand one batch at a time, earning a superb rating (90–95 points). “At North Garden,” says Dunn, “we recently installed three modern 14,000-gallon fiberglass-lined tanks where the pressed apple juice is fermented. Then this cider is distilled with state-of-the-art equipment and finally aged in charred, freshly dumped, Kentucky bourbon barrels of white oak. It takes 30 pounds of apples to produce one 750-milliliter bottle of 12-year-old apple brandy. We buy three and a half to five and a half million pounds of Virginia apples every year!” Clements—who has 42 years on the job—explains that the eight to ten varieties of Virginia apples they use achieve different blends of sweetness and tartness. “Every year, as it is with handmade wine, our brandy has its own distinctive taste, different from every other year.” Again likening the process to winemaking, he adds, “If we have a rainy season, the apples aren’t so sweet. In a drier season, the natural sugar in the apples gets concentrated. Either way, it makes a damn fine eggnog at Christmas.” Alexander Lowell is a freelance journalist specializing in wine, food, and the arts. Under various pseudonyms, he has also published poetry, short fiction, and criticism. His first novel, Roll Away the Stone, has recently come out in Cyprus, his adopted second country.

Laird & Company Corporate Offices One Laird Road, Scobeyville, NJ (732) 542-0312 sales@lairdandcompany.com www.lairdandcompany.com Laird’s is available at ABC stores throughout Virginia.

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v i rg i n i a n

Bordeaux

Grace Reynolds

Photos by Molly McDonald Peterson

Boxwood seeks to marry its distinctive Virginian terroir with Bordeaux’s traditional approach.

ituated in the midst of picturesque Loudoun County estates, Middleburg’s Boxwood Winery is both right at home and far from the ordinary. The winery is the realization of a dream for owners Rita and John Kent Cooke, the former Washington Redskins owner and president, who bought the estate in 2001. The Cookes commissioned renowned architect Hugh Jacobsen to design a winery with modern, clean lines, but one that agrees with its surroundings. The result is a four-part complex that is stunning in its simplicity on the outside while filled with high-quality, high-tech streamlined inner workings. Boxwood is dedicated to making wines in the Bordeaux tradition, and as such the hillsides around the winery are densely dotted with vines of Bordeaux varietals, all certified by the French government.

Seamless and Serious Rachel Martin, daughter of the owners, studied winemaking and sensory evaluation in California and Bordeaux. She now manages and oversees the operations at the winery. To her, “It’s all about complexity and quality.” Painstaking work goes into achieving the complexity for which Martin and her team, which includes consulting winemaker Stephane Derenoncourt—one of Bordeaux’s greats—strive. One hundred percent of the grapes used in their wines are estate-grown, all of the harvesting is done by hand, and the primary sorting is done in the vineyard, meaning that only clean, ripe fruit is brought to the winery for further sorting before processing. Inside the winery, one encounters a remarkable harmony of architectural form and function that encapsulates the entire winemaking process, from start to finish—something not at all common in Virginia wineries. Each of the four buildings is dedicated to one step in the winemaking process: After being destemmed on the press pad, the whole, uncrushed grapes are brought into the chai, where they are transferred into custommade stainless steel tanks whose temperature can be monitored

and adjusted by computer, on site or remotely. The sort of wholeberry fermentation the grapes go through in the tank is done with nuanced flavor in mind. The fruit is harvested based on its ripeness and maturity, says Martin. “When berries are not crushed, wine ferments little by little and adds to the complexity.” Before its 21-day stint in the vats, 25 to 30 percent of the juice for the estate’s two red wines is bled away from the tank. “We’re reducing the ratio of juice to skins in order to extract more flavor,” Martin explains. Next, “punch-downs, pumpovers, and delestage”—techniques rare in Virginia wine that are used to gently extract juice from the berries—are performed, and the juice is then transferred to an adjoining building for the next stage. Stainless steel pipes run between all of the buildings, and the wine is transferred from one to the next through these pipes, cutting down on the use of hoses and adding to a more sanitary and controlled environment. After leaving the vats, the wine is pumped through the pipes into barrels in a circular underground cellar, an architectural jewel in itself. Here it ages, separated by varietal, for 12 months. The French oak barrels used are acquired from three very select cooperages.

Vine to Bottle Derenoncourt, acclaimed winemaker and consultant to toprated wineries in Bordeaux and beyond, determines the final blends for Boxwood’s wines, Boxwood and Topiary. Both of these wines are reds of traditional Bordeaux styles: Boxwood is in a left-bank style, made up of Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, and Petit Verdot. Topiary, a softer wine more reminiscent of Bordeaux’s right bank, comprises Merlot, Cabernet Franc, and Malbec. The winery also produces a limited edition Rosé, made of entirely Cabernet Franc with 24 hours of contact with the skins. The winery is designed to produce a maximum of 5,000 cases a year of all wines. Another element of the winemaking process at Boxwood that sets it apart from the herd is the on-site bottling facility that occupies one of the four buildings in the complex. It is rare

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Inside the winery, one encounters a remarkable harmony of architectural form and function that encapsulates the entire winemaking process, from start to finish. for a winery to have the capacity to take the grapes through the entire process from the vine to the bottle, but at Boxwood, stainless steel pipes again take the wine from the barrels back to the tanks for blending and then on to the bottling stage. Two months later, the bottles are released. Martin, who is dedicated to the Bordeaux tradition and passionately devoted to promoting Virginia wine on an international level, feels Boxwood’s wine is “a terroir-driven wine unique to Virginia, and I think it can go up against any highquality wine in the U.S.” Each year, she attends—usually as the only representative of a U.S. winery—the Bordeaux En Primeur tastings, a sort-of futures tasting for Bordeaux’s latest vintage. “The world now knows about Virginia wine,” she says, “and it’s been very well-received.” Boxwood’s three wines can be tasted at one of the winery’s satellite tasting rooms, in Middleburg, Reston Town Center, and soon in Chevy Chase, all overseen by Sean Martin, son of the owners. The winery itself is closed to the public but is available for tours by appointment.

A New AVA Another facet of Martin’s dedication to the product of her native Virginia is her two-year travail to put together a petition, submitted a year ago to the U.S. Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB), to establish Middleburg, Virginia, as an American Viticultural Area (AVA). If approved, this AVA will straddle Fauquier and Loudoun counties and is based on a composition of soil and geology that is unique within these tight boundaries. 70

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The outcome is an issue of quality: “It helps the [Virginia] wine industry be viewed as a real wine region,” Martin emphasizes. “It increases our reputation and our credibility.” In order to use the AVA designation on a label, a winery must use a very high percentage of grapes grown within its respective AVA in the final product, and it must adhere to other strict guidelines of quality laid out by the TTB. The review of the application is a two-year process, and so, after years of collecting data, consulting with soil and geology experts, and formulating her argument, Martin says that the petition was “well-received” by the TTB, but she must now wait patiently for the results. The award-winning architecture and sophisticated methods used at Boxwood may belie the grassroots approach taken by Martin and her very dedicated family to promoting Virginia wine. “We want Virginia wine to be on the international playing field,” she enthuses, but notes, “You’ve got to start at home. You have to increase your quality for your local consumer.” Grace Reynolds is a native Virginian who has spent nearly two decades in the food and wine industry, both locally and internationally. She also teaches English at several Virginia universities.

Boxwood Winery Tours by appointment only. State Highway 626 at Burrland Rd., Middleburg (540) 687-8778 contact@boxwoodwinery.com www.boxwoodwinery.com The Tasting Room Middleburg 16 Washington St. (540) 687-8080 Thurs.–Sun., 1 p.m.–7 p.m.

Reston 1816 Library Street (703) 435-3553 Daily, 11 a.m.–11 p.m.

Welcome to the Butcher’s Block, your Old Town destination for gourmet food, wine and beer! Stop in for lunch, take home dinner or join us for one of our many special events. Our butcher’s case is stocked daily with fresh meats, cheeses and salami. Our shop carries interesting and unique food items that Chef Wiedmaier uses in his kitchen along with hand selected wines to top off your dinner. Let us cater your next office lunch or party. Selections range from fresh sandwiches to house made chocolates to sweet and savory platters. Something for everyone! Mention Flavor Magazine for a 10% diSCOunT On CaTering and LunCh iTeMS

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Drink Seasonally

Photos by Molly McDonald Peterson

Summer Blush Marcia Vottero Mixologist at Bread & Brew Washington, D.C. 2 ripe blackberries 4 mint leaves ¼ ripe summer peach ¾ ounce simple syrup 1½ ounce Tru organic vodka 1 ounce fresh lemon juice Muddle berries, mint and peach well. Add remaining ingredients and shake well with ice. Pour into pint glass.

Blueberry Wasmund’s Rye Spirit Cocktail Todd Thrasher Sommelier-Mixologist at Restaurant Eve Alexandria, Virginia 1 quart lemonade 1 quart of blueberry juice (made from concentrate, available at health-food stores) Wasmund’s Rye Spirit Ice Mix lemonade and blueberry juice. Pour 1 ounce of rye into a highball glass filled with ice. Add lemonade-juice mix and stir well.

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Hazy Day Punch Gina Chersevani Mixtress at PS7 Washington, D.C. 1 bottle Horton Vineyards Viognier 20 verbena leaves 10 peaches, washed and sliced into eighths (peeling optional) ½ bottle of Cirrus Vodka ¼ pound superfine (10x) sugar 1 bottle of sparkling water Ice block In a bowl, combine the wine and verbena leaves. Refrigerate overnight. Remove bowl from the refrigerator, and strain out the verbena leaves. Pour wine into a punch bowl. Add peaches, vodka, and sugar, and stir all together. Let set for about an hour. Add a large ice block and pour sparkling water over top. (To make an ice block, clean out an old ice cream or milk carton, fill it with water, and freeze. When block is solid, peel the container off, and you have an ice block.)

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Pairing

Drawing Out the Flavors of Summer Jason Miller

Celebrate the tomato with these Virginia wines and beer. With summer in full swing, a few things are hard to miss. Shorter commutes to work because half the people who live in the area seem to be out of town at any given time. The dull roar coming from any neighborhood pool. Longer, warmer nights. Tomatoes. Everywhere you look—the farmers market, your CSA food order, your overgrown garden—there are tomatoes piled high. We are blessed with the rich soil needed to grow some the best tomatoes available. Here are 74

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just a few wine and beer suggestions to pair with a meal built around this long-anticipated summer treat. The first (and really the only) rule to follow when pairing food with wine or beer is this: Drink what you like. If you like a big, rich Cabernet Sauvignon with your sushi, so be it. Or if you enjoy a fine glass of Pinot Grigio with your T-bone, perfect. If you follow this rule you will never be disappointed. However, if you never try a particular wine with a

suggested food, you may miss the experience of food and wine playing off one another and creating something exhilarating. A fresh, locally grown tomato and basil salad with mozzarella from the Blue Ridge Dairy in Leesburg makes a great start to any meal. Paired with the 2007 Loudoun Valley Vineyards Viognier ($13)—with its fresh citrus fruit favors, its tangy, sweet herbal note, and its perfectly balanced acidity—the vibrant flavors of the tomato salad come alive. Just-picked tomatoes have a lot of natural acidity in them, so a nice, crisp white wine is a perfect complement. A second course of heirloom tomato confit on a grilled baguette from Albemarle Baking Company is great with the rich fruit and well-integrated “toastiness” of the 2007 Sunset Hills Reserve Chardonnay

($24). Since it is summer and this is a lovely, long outdoor meal we’re enjoying, let’s have a third course: a BLT panini with pesto and avocado paired alongside a bottle of Blue Mountain Brewery’s Full Nelson IPA ($11.25/6-pack) brewed in Afton. The fresh zip of this Indian Pale Ale transitions into a punchy and hoppy finish that is the perfect counterbalance to the bacony-rich goodness and sweet tomato tang of the sandwich. For an entree of grilled lamb chops from Fields of Athenry and balsamicglazed cherry tomatoes, you’ll need something a touch more robust, and the 2005 Octagon from Barboursville ($40) is exactly what

If you never try a particular wine with a suggested food, you may miss the experience of food and wine playing off one another and creating something exhilarating. the farmer ordered. The richness of the wine and its well-proportioned tannins ready you for another bite of the grilled lamb after every sip. For dessert? Since this is not Iron Chef, we will not attempt to impose our will on the tomato and force a dessert from it. Instead, go with chocolate-covered local apricots (also in season) and a bottle of Adieu from Grey Ghost Winery ($24). Simply sweet and delicious. Remember to always drink what makes you happy and to start canning some of those delicious red orbs before the season runs out so you can enjoy them on a cold winter night in a roast or soup. Jason Miller is one of the owners of the Wine Kitchen in downtown Leesburg, Virginia.

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Winemaker’s Notes

Andrew Hodson

Virginia wine will continue to impress national and international connoisseurs as its terroir is better expressed and its winemakers become allies. Photos by Laura Merricks

Andrew Hodson, a former pediatric neurologist, and his wife, Patricia, who owned a medical billing company in Florida, set out in 1999 to plant a vineyard and build a winery in Virginia. Veritas opened its doors for sales in June 2002. Their first vintage, the 2001 Cabernet Franc, won a gold medal in the Virginia Governors Cup. They went on to grow nine varietals, and current production is over 8,000 cases. In addition to creating award-winning wines, Veritas has become a destination winery, having been voted the most popular winery by C-Ville Weekly readers in 2007 and 2008.  Daughter Emily Hodson Pelton is now making wines alongside her father. She won the National Women’s Wine Competition in 2007 and took home a double gold medal in the same competition in 2008.

t the age of 52, I made a career change from pediatric neurology to winemaking. I had no formal training in grape growing or winemaking. To some people, my switch seemed incredible. But what to others seemed like a leap off a cliff was for me more like a leap off a curb, because, amazingly, things didn’t change that much when I segued from medicine to winemaking. And I use the musical term segue intentionally: To segue is to change from one theme to another using the same instruments or thematic approach. In both medicine and vineyard management, micromanagement—an almost obsessive attention to detail and endless paperwork—is the theme! Just as I carefully measured blood chemistries as a physician, I now obsessively check wine chemistries as a winemaker. And I prescribe antifungal sprays for my vines just as I used to prescribe antibiotics for my patients. I learned my new craft by doing and by surrounding myself with people who were far smarter than I in regards to grape growing and winemaking. In the early days of Virginia’s wine industry, the wrong varietals were planted in the wrong places. The industry learned by

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trial and error, thereby acquiring a somewhat negative image. However, the expertise of viticulturalist Tony Wolf and enologist Bruce Zoecklein (of Virginia Tech) and the explosion of information technology have brought about a paradigm shift. Now Virginia is growing the right grapes in the right places and making infinitely better wine.

Just as I carefully measured blood chemistries as a physician, I now obsessively check wine chemistries as a winemaker. No discussion about grape growing and winemaking would be complete without discussing terroir, a French term that encompasses the effect of soil, climate, and placement of the vineyard on the growth of the vines; this is then expressed in the

wine, defining the “typicity” or uniqueness of each individual wine-growing area. Finding the true nature of one’s own terroir is the ultimate goal of all winemakers. Terroir determines the uniqueness and, hence, the character and quality of the wine. Among winemakers in Virginia, I think perhaps only Jim Law at Linden and Luca Paschina at Barboursville have enough experience to know how their individual terroir expresses itself in the character of their own wine. Virginia is still a fledgling wine-growing region. We have yet to fully recognize the potential of our native yeasts and the inherent qualities of our soils. We have yet to age our wines in sufficient quantities and for a sufficient time to know how they mature and, in so doing, to find our place in those national and international markets. Winemakers and grape growers, like politicians and doctors (my former colleagues), are characters unto themselves. They are all single-minded and resist any loss of their identity. Getting them to agree is like herding cats. To make matters worse, right now we have two separate associations—the Virginia Wineries Association, on whose board I sit, and the Virginia Vineyards Association—that work together about as well as the cowboys and the farmers do in Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Oklahoma (which is to say not well at all). We also have the Virginia Wine Board, which allocates state funds; the Virginia Wine Marketing Board, which is funded through the Virginia Wine Board; and the Virginia Wine Council, which oversees legislative issues. An industry whose members are disunited is an industry easily divided and conquered by any interest group, from the wholesalers to the Virginia Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control (VABC) and especially to predatory entrepreneurs, such as some wine event coordinators and festival promoters. The Virginia wine industry needs a single voice and a single direction to bring the industry together. Ideally, this should come from the president of the single organization that best represents every aspect of the Virginia wine industry—but that person and that organization have yet to emerge. The most important factor for the success of Virginia wine is the quality of Virginia wine. Only by pursuing perfection will the Virginia wine industry gain recognition nationally and internationally.

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Blind Tasting

Summer Kevin Kraditor

Whites

Photos by Molly McDonald Peterson

Our judges pick the best Virginia whites for lazy summer evenings. A picture of summertime relaxation almost always involves porches, bare feet, rocking chairs, and a beautiful view. Maybe a hammock. And, of course, wine. It’s a bottle of white wine—beaded with condensation and chilling in a bucket of ice—sitting within reach. Maybe you are reading a book, or laughing with good friends, or doing a crossword puzzle. But you are definitely feeling yourself ease into the evening with a glass in hand. The wine is light, crisp, and delicious to sip either before dinner or with summer’s light fare. With this in mind, Flavor invited Virginia wineries to submit their offerings for a “summer white”—with the exception of Chardonnay and Viognier, since these had recently been blind-tasted. Not

• Aug./Sept. 2009

surprisingly, given such an open-ended request, there were six different varietals as well as a number of blends represented among the 18 wines submitted. Fittingly, the blind tasting was conducted outside on a patio, with a grill smoking in the background. The tasters were primarily wine professionals—sellers and buyers—but experienced amateurs with well-developed palates also participated. The bottles were covered in brown bags and numbered to avoid any prejudice. Some of the wines that were tasted were wonderful, but they didn’t fit into the summertime theme: They needed to be paired with food or were too heavy to enjoy on the porch. The wines that stood out had no oak, lots of fruit on the nose and palate, and clean, long finishes—the essence of refreshing. Notably, the top two picks were both from the same winery. Hats off to winemaker Luca Paschina of Barboursville Vineyards!

2008 Barboursville Vineyards Pinot Grigio ($15) Picked by all our tasters as a favorite, this wine is well-balanced with citrus fruit on the nose. In the mouth, honey and tangerine flavors are prominent. The finish is long and clean. You will be hard-pressed to find a better summer white from anywhere in the world.

2008 Barboursville Vineyards Sauvignon Blanc ($13) This wine is pale in color, but it has a beautiful floral nose. The body is elegant and substantial enough to support a summer meal. It has flavors of tropical fruit and melon and a clean finish that is exactly what the doctor ordered.

2008 Linden Vineyards Avenius Sauvignon Blanc ($23) This Sauvignon Blanc’s bouquet is refreshing with tropical fruit and ocean breeze. It is an excellent representation of its varietal—

The wines that stood out had no oak, lots of fruit on the nose and palate, and clean, long finishesâ&#x20AC;&#x201D; the essence of refreshing. a bit chalky with good minerality, and grapefruit on the palate. The lingering finish is clean and crisp.

2007 Glen Manor Vineyards Sauvignon Blanc ($21) This wine has subtle melon on the nose, with cantaloupe, Granny Smith apple, kiwi, and grass on the palate, but the fruit and acid are in balance throughout. The finish lingers with a hint of kiwi.

2008 Tarara Winery Charval ($20) This blend of Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc, and Pinot Gris is the only non-varietal wine that stood out to the tasters, and it deserves an honorable mention. Pear and honeysuckle are present on the nose. An off-dry wine, this offers a nice balance of fruit and acidity on the palateâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;a very refreshing summer white. Kevin Kraditor has worked in the wine industry for the past seven years, buying and selling wine, advising businesses on their wine purchases, and hosting wine and food-pairing discussions. He and his wife are the owners and proprietors of the Hopkins Ordinary Bed and Breakfast in Sperryville.

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