NOTABLE EDIBLES

Fruits of Summer

Oh Currant!

Black currants are making a comeback. After nearly disappearing from the American culinary canon, this tart and earthy berry is again generating excitement for chefs and growers alike. Black currants were banished for over five decades to protect white pines from blister rust during the lumber industry’s peak. Reintroduced with more diseaseresistance, these cold-hardy, shade-loving shrubs are great understory fillers for integrated fruit cropping systems. In the last few years, chefs and agroforestry researchers, like the Savanna Institute, Chef Odessa Piper, and the chef team at Cadre in Madison, have teamed up to advance uses for black currants in the market.

Expect to see black currants on a menu at one of your favorite restaurants soon as kitchens find new connections with black currant farmers. Black currants can be used to make jellies, jams, syrups, wines, liqueurs, sorbets and ice creams, and so much more!

Visit our website to learn where you can find black currants growing locally.

Wisconsin Food Forests

Wisconsin Food Forests mimic forest ecosystems by planting gardens of trees, shrubs, and plants that provide food in spots that are accessible to urban neighborhoods. They are a project of Madison Traffic Garden, a non-profit organization made up of sustainable landscape designers, gardeners, locavores, naturalists, and enthusiasts who aim to plant the seedlings for food forests all over Dane County and beyond.

Find Them. You can find Wisconsin Food Forests projects at the Lansing Food Forest on the corner of Starkweather Drive and Richard Street in the Eastmoreland neighborhood. It’s a diverse food forest in an otherwise underutilized park space, including plants such as currants, stone fruits, herbs, rhubarb, and asparagus. You can also spot their projects at Troy Farm and the Farley Center.

»» wisconsinfoodforests.com @wisconsinfoodforests

Ripe Finds

Ice Cream Social

Ice Cream Social creates small-batch gluten-free ice creams with playful names and unique mix-ins, and donates a portion of its proceeds to important social justice causes.

Watch for summer menu for classics like:

Crowds return every weekend to find new and creative seasonal flavors, so you might want to bring friends for company while you wait in line.

»» icecreamsocialwi.co @icecreamsocial_wi m

I’LL LAV ANOTHER Lavender ice cream with blackberry swirl

SWEET CORN WITH SALTED BUTTER CARAMEL Sweet corn ice cream with salted butter caramel swirls

THE BEST IS YET TO CRUMB Buttermilk ice cream, strawberry jam swirls, and cinnamon sugar caramelized bread crumb pieces

Chrysalis Pops

There’s no better way to spend a summer evening in Wisconsin than cutting the heat with a fruit popsicle. At Chrysalis Pops, individuals living with mental health challenges are offered meaningful paid work experience. Participants in the enterprise are involved in all steps of the process: growing, harvesting, producing, and selling organic fruit pops made with local ingredients.

Taste all of their unique flavors: Rhubarb Ginger, Strawberry Lemon, Cold Brew Coffee with Salted Vanilla, Raspberry Basil, Wisconsin-classic Sweet Corn, and more.

Tart Baked Goods

Ana Luyet and Carissa Mangerson of Tart Baked Goods make small batch pastries inspired by the bounty of our midwestern seasons.

For an extra punch of summer produce, check out their sweet and savory galettes filled with stone fruits, strawberries, cherry tomatoes, and other in-season fruits fresh from the harvest at Carandale Farms, Tree-Ripe Fruit Co, Forenoon Market, Door Creek Orchard, and many local vendors at farmers’ markets around town.

»» tartbakedgoods.com @tart_bakedgoods

Ugly Apple Café: Food Waste to Fruit Leather

Ugly Apple Café is making food waste into fruit leather. Using simple ingredients from fruit overstock at local orchards, they’re maximizing perfectly edible fruit that would otherwise go to waste and recovering it in a wholesome, sweet snack. Try their Apple Straps in fun flavors like Apple, Apple Cranberry Ginger, and Apple Chia Seed Spice.

»» uglyapplecafe.com/fruit-leather @uglyapplecafe

Want to snag our ripe finds at a spot near you? Check out ediblemadison.com for more info!