A Visit to "A Taste of Woolwich" - An Evening of Local Food in St. Jacobs
On Monday we headed out to "A Taste of Woolwich", an evening dedicated to foods produced in Woolwich County. It was held in the Woolwich Community Centre, in St. Jacobs.
The agenda for the evening, posted on the door.
Woolwich County is Mennonite country - if we hadn't known that already, the cloakroom would have made it clear.
We went with a friend, who had been there last year. She said there were a lot more people there than last year - perhaps twice as many. We quickly gave up on trying to hear the speakers - there was just too much noise and bustle in the rest of the room, and all the seats had been taken early, so we couldn't get close enough to the stage to really follow the speakers. Pity, as the snatches we did hear sounded interesting.
An uncharacteristic open space gives a good view of a table full of maple syrup. The little pastries by the vendor are mini ice-cream cones filled with maple taffy. I had one; wow! Rich and sweet. It was delicious, but one was more than enough. Pure maple taffy right to the bottom.
Martin's is a very large local producer and processor of apples. You don't have to be local to find their apples, but they also have an outlet on their main farm, just outside of St. Jacobs.
Sheep cheese - it's the next big thing, or rather has been for a couple of years and is just getting bigger. This table is from Monforte Dairy; their flyer indicated that they make pecorino fresco, halloumi, Bauman's smoked (a version of oscypek), ricotta fresh and smoked, "sheep dip", plain and flavoured chevre as well as yogurt and cottage cheese. I tried a firm cheese flavoured with chive blossoms, which I don't see on their list but which was delicious. I'll be back for more!
Woolwich County is full of market gardeners, Bowman's Organic Produce being one of them.
There was a table for the Elmira Produce Auction. This is a very important conduit for local produce. Farmers who don't want to or can't get to farmers markets can sell their produce here; conversely, many sellers at local farmers market buy their wares here. Farmers who sell their own produce also often use it to expand the range of products they are able to offer at the farmers market.
The OK Egg farm was represented here. They are important locally because they not only produce eggs, but grade them. Ungraded eggs cannot legally be sold anywhere but at the farm gate, so they process eggs for many small local egg producers.
And finally, a few more eggs. These are from Stone Meadow Farm in Maryhill, where they raise a selection of standard and heritage breeds of chickens and ducks for both meat and eggs. Their petting zoo showed how the eggs vary in size and colouring.
The agenda for the evening, posted on the door.
Woolwich County is Mennonite country - if we hadn't known that already, the cloakroom would have made it clear.
We went with a friend, who had been there last year. She said there were a lot more people there than last year - perhaps twice as many. We quickly gave up on trying to hear the speakers - there was just too much noise and bustle in the rest of the room, and all the seats had been taken early, so we couldn't get close enough to the stage to really follow the speakers. Pity, as the snatches we did hear sounded interesting.
An uncharacteristic open space gives a good view of a table full of maple syrup. The little pastries by the vendor are mini ice-cream cones filled with maple taffy. I had one; wow! Rich and sweet. It was delicious, but one was more than enough. Pure maple taffy right to the bottom.
Martin's is a very large local producer and processor of apples. You don't have to be local to find their apples, but they also have an outlet on their main farm, just outside of St. Jacobs.
Sheep cheese - it's the next big thing, or rather has been for a couple of years and is just getting bigger. This table is from Monforte Dairy; their flyer indicated that they make pecorino fresco, halloumi, Bauman's smoked (a version of oscypek), ricotta fresh and smoked, "sheep dip", plain and flavoured chevre as well as yogurt and cottage cheese. I tried a firm cheese flavoured with chive blossoms, which I don't see on their list but which was delicious. I'll be back for more!
Woolwich County is full of market gardeners, Bowman's Organic Produce being one of them.
There was a table for the Elmira Produce Auction. This is a very important conduit for local produce. Farmers who don't want to or can't get to farmers markets can sell their produce here; conversely, many sellers at local farmers market buy their wares here. Farmers who sell their own produce also often use it to expand the range of products they are able to offer at the farmers market.
The OK Egg farm was represented here. They are important locally because they not only produce eggs, but grade them. Ungraded eggs cannot legally be sold anywhere but at the farm gate, so they process eggs for many small local egg producers.
And finally, a few more eggs. These are from Stone Meadow Farm in Maryhill, where they raise a selection of standard and heritage breeds of chickens and ducks for both meat and eggs. Their petting zoo showed how the eggs vary in size and colouring.
0 Response to "A Visit to "A Taste of Woolwich" - An Evening of Local Food in St. Jacobs"
Post a Comment