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Purple Daze Farm

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A former tobacco farmer, Robert Koprich now grows 17-acres of French Provencal lavender and English lavender on his 150-acre farm in Delhi in Norfolk County.  From the beginning of July to mid August the field is a beautiful blanket of billowy purple. Robert planted a large section of sunflowers in the middle of the purple to give his farm that “Monet look” as he calls it. I say it’s simply beautiful.

Like many other agricultural crops, there is good news and bad for this years harvest. The winter was very warm and the bushes didn’t get the blanket of snow they needed so there was some winter kill. The summer has been dry and windy resulting in only half the bloom of a traditional year, yet the colour is more intense. Like many farmers, Robert harvested early this year, which means he’s anticipating a second harvest from his crop. While this sounds like good news, the reality is that it will double his labour costs. Not good news for Roberts bottom line.

Lavender harvest takes place in the early morning hours before the sun evaporates the oils off the bushes. Robert removes about a foot off the top of the bushes that grow approximately 2-feet tall (English lavender) to 3-feet (Provencal Lavender). This year’s harvest is of super quality because the plants have an excess of oil, which means the dried lavender will have a much higher level of aromatics than in previous years – great news for lavender lovers.

Purple Daze (www.purpledazelavender.com) as Robert’s farm is now called, produces dried lavender buds, lavender honey, herbs d’provence, and lavender oil along with a variety of lavender bath products. There is an on-site retail store or you can find the Koprichs at the Simcoe Farmers’ Markets on Thursday, and the Port Dover and Brantford Farmers’ Market on Saturdays.

Lavender is a relatively new crop for Ontario. It loves dry, sandy, well drained soils, the same kind of conditions tobacco thrives on. So far there is approximately 100-acres of lavender beautifying Ontario’s agricultural landscape and it’s growing.

With the assistance of the University of Guelph, Ontario lavender growers are experimenting with the over 100 different varieties of lavenders in Ontario growing conditions. Currently, there are about 12 varieties that show promise.

Robert grows four of them; French Provencal, English, Melissa (white lavender, heavier in oil) and Purple Hidcote (super deep purple colour). An average lavender plant grows to 3-feet tall and English being the shorter variety at about 2-feet.

Second weekend in July Robert hosts the Purple Daze Festival that includes everything lavender, a community of artisans, yoga classes and belly dancing classes. “The colourful costumes of the bell dancers in the lavender field is just beautiful,” says Robert.

 

Purple Daze

2985 Rhineland Rd, Delhi

www.purpledazelavender.com

Retail store is open daily from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Lavender Coffee Cake

Recipe courtesy of Niagara Cooks: from farm to table (Epulum Books $29.95)

 

2 1/4 cups (560 mL) all-purpose flour

1/2 cup (125 mL) lavender scented sugar

2 1/2 teaspoons (12.5 mL) baking powder

1/2 teaspoon (2.5 mL) salt

3 tablespoons (45 mL) unsalted butter, chilled and cut into small pieces

1 tablespoon (15 mL) fresh lavender flowers (or 1 teaspoon (5 mL) dried)

1/2 cup (125 mL) whole milk

1 farm fresh egg, lightly beaten

1/2 cup (125 mL) apricot jam

4 tablespoons (60 mL) dried apricots, chopped

1/2 cup (125 mL) hazelnuts, chopped

Cooking oil

1 1/2 teaspoon (7.5 mL) sugar

 

Preheat oven to 375F (190C). Combine flour, sugar, baking powder and salt in a bowl.

Cut in butter with a pastry blender until mixture resembles coarse meal. Stir in lavender flowers. Add milk and egg, stirring just until moist. Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface. Knead 5 times. Roll into a 9 x 7-inch rectangle. Mix dried apricots and hazelnuts into preserves. Spread apricot preserve mixture over dough, leaving a 1/2-inch border. Beginning with long side, roll up jelly-roll fashion; pinch seam to seal (do not seal ends of roll). Form roll into a circle and cut roll into nine 1-inch slices. Twist each slice, cut sides up, in an 8-inch non stick round baking pan lightly coated with oil. Sprinkle the slices with sugar. Bake for 35 minutes or until golden brown.  When ready to serve, drizzle with sugar glaze and sprinkle with dried lavender buds. Makes 1 ring.

Lavender Créme Brulée

Recipe courtesy of Niagara Cooks: from farm to table (Epulum Books $29.95)

 

4 cups (1 L) heavy cream

1 tablespoon (15 mL) dried lavender flowers

8 farm fresh egg yolks

1/2 cup (125 mL) sugar

4 tablespoons (45 mL) sugar

Preheat oven to 300F (150 mL). Butter 8 ramekins or custard cups and set them into a glass baking dish. In a large, heavy saucepan over medium heat, put cream and the lavender flowers; heat the cream until tiny bubbles appear around the edge of the saucepan. Remove from heat and allow lavender flowers to infuse with the cream for 30 minutes. Strain cream mixture through to remove lavender flowers. Reheat cream over low heat. In the meantime, whisk together the egg yolks and sugar until light and creamy. Slowly add the hot cream to the egg mixture, whisking continuously. Divide custard among the ramekins. Pour hot water into the baking pan to come half-way up the sides of the ramekins. Bake 1 hour or until set around the edges but still loose in the centre. Remove from oven and leave in the water bath until cooled. Remove cups from water bath and refrigerate at least 2 hours.

When ready to serve, sprinkle sugar over each custard. For best results, use a small hand-held torch and hold the torch 4 to 5 inches from the sugar, maintaining a slow and even motion. Stop torching just before the desired degree of doneness is reached, as the sugar will continue to cook for a few seconds after flame has been removed. If you don’t have a torch, place custards 6 inches below the broiler for 4 to 6 minutes or until sugar bubbles and turns golden brown. Refrigerate créme brulée at least 10 minutes before serving.

Maple Syrup – as luscious as Italian Truffles?

agriculture, black truffles, butter tarts, Canadian food, cooking, cuisine, culinary tourism, Dining, facebook, farm, farm fresh food, farmer, food, food obsessions, Italian Cuisine, Italy, Le Grotte del Funaro, lynn ogryzlo, Maple Syrup, Niagara local food, Ontario local food, seasonal food, social media, The Ontario TableLeave a comment

In the Umbrian hillside there are pigs that are trained to sniff out the ripest, most delicious truffles. They’re special pigs with long noses that unearth the prized tartufo. Truffle farmers wrestle the pigs to the ground and pull the big black orbs out of the pigs mouth – you see, pigs love truffles as much as humans do – why do you think their so eager to dig them up!

Truffles are cherished all over Italy, prices are as high as gold, truffle crimes are punished with real jail time and dishes made with tartufo are embraced with rapture.

In the village of Orvieto, Le Grotte del Funaro make a pasta and truffle dish that is out of this world. The warm pasta brings out the truffle aroma that wafts in your direction commanding your immediate attention. Slip a few strands into your mouth and the warm, luscious, brown mushroomy richness strokes your pallet before fluttering down your throat like feathery ribbons of silk. With the heat of your body, the flavours expand, filling every inch with pure pleasure. Local food doesn’t get any better than this.

Unless of course, you live in Ontario. There is a sap that drips from frozen maple trees in the forests when the frigid Canadian winter decides to ease up a bit. Maple producers patiently collect the sap, one drip at a time and transform it into one amazing Canadian treasure. Pour the glistening syrup over panna cotta, candied bacon ice cream or a stack of corn cakes and you will swoon over it as an Italian would be euphoric over tartufo.

The luscious, burly liquid luxuriates across the palate releasing flavour of warm, sensuous spiciness with a flicker of tangerine that play through the layers of sultry sunlight. It slowly moves down your throat like velvet gold caressing your entire body filling all of your pleasure centres with strokes of satisfaction, contentment and amusement. This is Ontario maple syrup at its best.

Dressed with high boots, maple syrup farmers walk the winter forests blanketed with snow and check the trees for the right time, the perfect time when their frozen veins thaw and express themselves. Each tree is tapped and buckets placed to catch every drip of clear, thick liquid from the trees as they wake from a long winters nap. Then as the snow is cleared away, the fires lit, the liquid is transformed into a luscious enchanted nectar.

Long ago, maple syrup was poured over pancakes to give them flavour, to soak up all of the syrup to make a spongy, delicious dish. Today, maple syrup has risen to the sophistication of elegant dishes and adorns flavours like cooked custard, eggy soufflés, and candied bacon brioche. Maple goes further to round out savoury dishes like roasted squash with caramelized maple, barbecued ribs with maple glaze and grilled salmon with a maple crust. There is no end to the different ways maple syrup can pleasure your palate and your favourite foods.

Each country has one product that it heralds as the one sublime experience you can’t get anywhere else. And when it’s wrapped around terroir it becomes more than a culinary ingredient, it becomes an expression of authentic Canadian culture. How lucky are we to live in such a rich agricultural province, Ontario. Celebrate every day by buying local and supporting our culinary treasures and edible heritage that give Canadians as much pleasure as Italians.

Click here for maple syrup recipes and delicious ideas.

The Ontario Table-Cloth Dinner

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In celebration of Ontario's finest food and wineIt was one of those perfect July days, only it was June, mid-June to be precise. The scene was a well manicured vineyard, a long, 50-foot table ran along side the rows with 80 chairs flanking each side. On the table was a very special tablecloth.

The Ontario Table is a project to promote local food. The project leads with the $10 Challenge. It’s a challenge to all consumers to spend $10 a week on local food. If we all did this, there would be an additional $2.4 billion in our local economy and would create $10,000 new jobs. As the book tour travels from Windsor to Ottawa, everyone who buys a book and takes up the $10 Challenge gets to write their pledge to local food on a white tablecloth. Markets and farms who host a book signing get to draw their logo in the centre of the tablecloth. Everyone who buys a book can write their pledge on the cloth. Some people write about their favourite farmers, others write briefly but to the point; some people are drawing pictures and others both. Consumers sign in black, chefs in red, farmers in green and food media in blue.

To date, there are 16 tablecloths full of signatures, logos and pictures all a tribute to everything grown, raised and produced in Ontario. We call it The Ontario Table-Cloth and on this day we’re rolling it out, dining in the vineyard on food from neighbouring farms and wine from the vineyard.

People, inspired by what they read on the table began talking about their own region, the farmers they know, the markets they’ve been to and the farm experiences they’ve loved. Today they were creating one more memory. Food more than anything else in life brings people together to commune and share in each others life.

These sorts of meaningful meals are important to those who believe that the best part of life is not in accumulating material possessions but in seeking out the very best quality that life has to offer. Look for an ever growing listing of The Ontario Table-Cloth Dinners at www.OntarioTable.com

The photo album is right here.

 

Strawberry Curd Twitter Party

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Ok, so I realized that the idea for a twitter party came to me one day when I was testing a new recipe. The recipe I was working on wasn’t working out and I had no one to talk with. So I adjusted and fiddled, omitted and prayed. In the end it was much better, but I thought perhaps there are people out there that may want to help test some of these recipes – after all, I think it’s fun. So the recipe is pretty much untested. So here we go.

My neighbours Sue and Yvonne piled into the car and off we went to the Niagara-in-the-Lake Farmers’ Market. Today was a bit chilly and everyone was bundled in winter coats and mitts. There were lots of vendors at the market but no strawberries which was surprising because Quiet Acres is usually there with a table full of them.

After buying some vegetarian burger patties, we headed down Lakeshore Road in the direction of Quiet Acres. Their shelves were overflowing with ruby red, beautiful strawberries. Maureen McSween is owner of Quiet Acres and said she’d just come back for more berries because they sold out at the market. Quiet Acres is one of the best places in my neighbourhood to get strawberries. I swear Maureen hand picks each berry because they’re perfect, candy sweet, juicy and OMG – this is what I wait all year for! With a flat of strawberries in the trunk of my car, the 3 of us headed home.

Yvonne and I washed and trimmed them and we put 4 cups in a pot with half a cup of sugar. I cut the sugar in half because the strawberries were so sweet. It didn’t take but a minute for the strawberries to release their juices and I had lots of liquid in the pot. I added only 2 tablespoons of honey and Yvonne simmered the strawberries until they were soft, which was less then the five minutes suggested.

We looked into the pot and right away I knew we had way too much liquid. So I ladled the strawberries into the blender taking as little liquid as I possibly could. I pureed the strawberries and ended up with 2 cups of really, really sweet puree that had a really strong taste of honey. This was set aside.

Next I put a pot of water on the stove to boil. On the counter next to the stove I folded a kitchen towel and put a metal bowl on top. The towel keeps the bowl from sliding around when you begin whisking and it also frees your other hand to do other tasks.

I whisked the eggs and sugar until it was a smooth yellow colour. Then in went half a cup of the strawberry puree –the puree consistency was really good. I put the bowl over the now boiling water and whisked my heart out for about 2 minutes. I added the butter – not melted – why melt it when it will melt in the bowl? I continued to whisk for another 5 to 6 minutes, the butter melted and the curd was getting thicker and thicker.

You can tell how thick it’s getting because in the beginning your whisking a liquid, soon you’ll notice the whisk leaving a few track lines in the curd, then when you whisk really hard, it actually leaves crevices and finally, when you can lift the whisk and it leaves an imprint on the top of the curd, you’re done. This didn’t take as long as 15 minutes for me.

I poured the curd into a bowl feeling very disappointed with the colour that resembled milk chocolate more than strawberry curd and the flavour was ultra sweet – I mean over the top sweet and that’s not the result I wanted.

So back to the drawing board, I put one cup of fresh strawberries in a blender and pureed them – no sugar. Now with the fresh puree, I made another curd. I still only used half the sugar and I eliminated the honey. I mistakenly used all of the strawberry puree (I forget to measure out half a cup). So the result? The colour was much better, the flavour beautifully strawberry, the texture was equally thick (even though I added more puree than the recipe asked for) and it was the beautiful spring strawberry curd with a real strawberry punch I was hoping for – perfecto!

It took me two attempts but perfection came easily. I hope everyone else had fun in the kitchen. So now we all know that curd is not a real food on it’s own, so what do we do with it? My husband wants a spoon so he can eat it right from the bowl, but with all that butter, it’s all about moderation.

No, I’d swirl strawberry curd through ultra thick Greek-style goat’s milk yogurt. I think the tang and thick texture would work beautifully with the sweet, luscious strawberry curd. Of course, real Greek yogurt is hard to get but you can use a Greek-style yogurt, spoon it in cheesecloth and hang it for an hour or two. It’s amazing how much liquid will seep out and you’re left with a drier, tangier yogurt. It’s the same thing you’d do to make Tzatziki.

How would you use it?

 

Here is the pic of the two curds. In the back is the chocolatey-like darker curd made with cooked strawberry puree and in the front is the curd made with fresh puree.Try this delicious curd in tarts, cookies, ice cream and swirled into tangy yogurt.

Here’s my new recipe…..

 

Strawberry Curd

1 cup (250 mL) fresh strawberries, cleaned, quartered and pureed

3 eggs

½ cup (125 mL) sugar

¼ cup (60 mL) butter

In the top of a double boiler, beat eggs and sugar until yellow in colour and smooth. Add strawberry puree and whisk until fully incorporated. Add the butter and whisk until butter is completely melted and continue whisking until thick, about 6 minutes. Transfer to a bowl and allow to cool for a few minutes. Cover the top with plastic film to prevent a skin from forming. Makes about 1 ½ cups curd.

 

Eating My Way Through Los Angeles; Universal Studios

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Universal Studios

On the outskirts of Hollywood is the massive Universal Studios which is both a theme park and the actual working, television studios where films and tv shows are magically made. Tonight the entire complex was closed down for a private party and I was going. With a head count of over 6,000 it’s often difficult to prepare a dinner that would please on a quality level, but who would have thought that Universal’s Executive Chef Eric Kopelow could create a magnificent dinner with as much surprise and drama as they create in the movies.

Throughout the park there are food stations themed to the ride they sit next to. In this case each food station was turned gourmet for the night. Depending on where you went in the park, there was everything from roasted chicken and potatoes to the best electronic cigarettes giant racks of barbecued ribs. Pinks Hot Dogs, a Beverly Hills institution set up a booth and had long line-ups for a famous Pink’s  hot dog. There was a Thai food station near the Terminator ride with black bean chicken over rice or spicy Thai pizzas. In between the food stations were drink stations with a full selection of California wines, fancy cocktails that glowed and smoked and a great selection of local beers.

The night was one of nibbling, walking, sipping and of course having a blast going from one ride to the other. We were the first to try the new Terminator ride that was to open to the public the next day. I highly recommend the 3-D adventure, it was a blast.

In total there were 42 different desserts and you can see most of them here.

Top 10 Delicious Destinations in USA

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In April 2012, at the giant Los Angeles Convention Centre I attended the largest travel trade show in USA and after 3 days of marathon meetings, here are the most delicious destinations in USA. My top 10 picks.

Chicago is tempting me with donuts. They have the Donut Vault, Do-Rite Donuts, and Kinkles Bakery all donut destinations of fame. It’s also home to the deep dish pizza!

Washington, DC has one of the best food truck cultures in the country. You can follow them on-line, it’s called 125-meals-on-wheels. Also they review their restaurants by who eats there!

New Orleans is a culinary capital and they’re running a culinary tour for press in May – OMG!! Will I get an invite??

Caramel in Monterey County celebrates with an Artichoke Festival, Salinas has a Salad Bowl festival and the popular food are savoury cupcakes; meatloaf cupcakes stuffed with bacon and iced with creamy garlic mashed potatoes.

Arizona is promoting their wine industry and their Water to Wine Tour. They boast a strong farm to table culture, a Salsa Trail, Salsa Festival and downtown Scottsdale culinary tours. The HGH cuisine is Southwestern/Mexican, they have plenty of olive groves and a yummy flagstaff Ale Trail by the Grand Canyon.

Brooklyn, NY has a Food & Film Festival, a Wine & Food Festival and some of their best food tour guides are taxis!

The state of Georgia has a strong farm to table movement, they have a Vidalia Onion Festival, a Wild Shrimp & Gritts Festival (on Jekyll Island) and the celebrity destination of Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Café in Juliette.

Daytona Beach has a strong sports heritage with the Daytona 500. Now, how to get a great food story out of this? Great discussion – stay tuned.

New Hampshire has a Wine & Cheese Trail, a Chocolate and Martini Trail and a Brewery Trail. They have a tradition of claming on the beach and 4 of the oldest and grandest inns in the country.

The state of Kentucky of course has fried chicken and an old cuisine reinventing itself in new ways. Bourbon is big, the Kentucky Bourbon Festival takes place in September and their aging soy sauce in bourbon barrels – delicious

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