Willow and Garlic

  Well it was two weekends ago we opened for the very first full weekend of apples, but it was also another first for the family. Our long pregnant heffer Gillian finally calved and gave birth to the now week old Willow on Saturday September 5th. She is small still but warming to the family. It was a first for me and for most of my family; however everything went well. Gillian has calved many times before so she did most of the work through the birth while we stood by to make sure things went smoothly. So if you stop by the farm it would be worth taking a look at her and seeing the baby stage of what will be essential to the operation of the farm.

  For any of you locavores out there, now is the beginning of garlic season here in Ontario. I received quite a few questions from people this weekend about garlic uses, storage and selection and I hope to share some of my knowledge with you.

One of the least known facts about garlic is that there are many varieties out there; every one with completely different qualities that make them better suited to certain dishes. For example many of you will have been tempted, either as a child or in later years; to taste a raw clove of garlic. Soon enough you were most likely overpowered by spice and an intense burst of flavour and no sooner did it enter your mouth then it was spat out. Well garlic is a funny thing, it adds an unmistakable taste and aroma to foods and is also very healthy for you to eat but many people cannot stand the taste alone. That intense heat and strong flavouring is determined by the variety of garlic and believe it or not the stuff you get in stores is very mild. Our family grows quite a few varieties and we have noticed the difference. The majority of garlic strains tend to be much more strong then their store-bought counterparts but the heat and even flavour of the clove varies by variety.

Probably the hottest garlic we grow is a variety know as Chekoslovakian. The cloves are a deep ruby colour, and are a moderate size, however the whole thing looks rather messy. If you were to eat it raw you would probably feel as though you were dying. The heat resembles that of a super hot chili and the flavour lasts in your mouth for about four days after. Similar to this is the variety Spanish Roja; both of them store well compared to many other cultivars. If you are looking for a more mild taste you might consider varieties such as Magic or Susan Delafield. Both of them lack heat but have an incredible flavour. Magic will keep for about two weeks in a cold cellar while Susan Delafield will keep for up to six months; again it really differs by variety. So please the next time you stop by your local farm or are buying garlic talk to the farmer and learn the variety and its qualities so that you can choose how and when to use it.

I also got a few questions about storage. Some people freeze garlic to last over the winter, this is a rather radical step and will ruin the garlics texture and may effect the taste. My advice to you is to store your garlic in a brown paper bag in a moderately cool, very dry place. Contrary to popular belief drying garlic can actually enhance the flavour and make it better to cook with, while freezing will kill it. So I really hope this is helpful to all of you and hopefully you will get a chance to try some of our or any local farmers garlic soon because it will truly be worth it!

Well until next time everyone,

                Good Eating!

The Difference of Real Bread

As many of you already know, recently we have been experimenting with rustic breads. Now it is truly unfortunate but in North America the tradition of good bread has seemingly disappeared. So what makes good bread good?

Well there are hundreds of different types of breads that vary based on things such as size, shape, texture, taste and the ingredients used.

Now one group of breads we are focusing on are sourdoughs. True sourdoughs require a yeast culture as well as several days preparation before they are actually baked. The yeast reacts with warm water to start producing gas which adds not only flavor to the bread but traps air bubbles in the dough; developing those holes that exist when you cut bread. In order to develop the proper texture you must either allow the bread to rise a certain amount or prevent it from doing so. In order to develop some of the flavor of our breads, we let them 'retard' which means they are chilled to slow down the rising and the yeasts reaction, adding a more intense flavor to the bread.

After developing, shaping and rising the bread (the whole process of which takes about two days; not including growing the yeast culture), we bake them off in the wood oven. Again this takes quite a bit of preparation, it must be heated by small fires over several days before baking. The temperature must be absolutely perfect or you will either get a soft or rock hard crust and possibly ruin the inside of the bread. The same is true for any of the baked goods we sell, they all require different temperatures and different amounts of time to prepare for. 

However the labor is undoubtedly worth it, the flavor of the bread is incredible. It has a texture unlike any other and of course we have sourced out organic and almost entirely local producers of all the ingredients! In the future we also hope to move into specialty breads for people who are celiac or who may have allergies to common bread ingredients. So hopefully if everything goes as planned we will have more bread actually ready to sell for next weekend, and of course we will be selling pies and apples. Hopefully I will see some of you soon! 

Until then everyone,

Good Eating!