The sap has begun to flow and Dick and Gayl at Uncle Richards are working away to make sure we'll have maple syrup all year. But they took time to send us freshly bottled syrup - 750 ml. and litre bottles. The O'Briens also sell maple syrup making equipment, and I have now learned that the pointy thing that sticks into the tree is called a spile. Just a million more things left to learn.
Pastas and noodles are popular choices at Around the Sound. The Amish noodles are made from GrassRoots organic spelt, as are the Maria's spelt fettucines and rotinis, handmade from old family recipes. We recently added soba noodles - a buckwheat/wheat blend, made by a Montrealer who studied soba in Japan. They were given the stamp of approval by one of our customers with plenty of Japanese soba experience.
If tomato sauce is your favourite, the Pickle Guy makes it in both mild and zesty, but remember that Ken's idea of mild is zestier than most. We have Canadian organic sauces in portobello mushroom, garden vegetable and roasted garlic. Marketside pates - shitake mushroom, whitefish and sundried tomato - can all be thinned with stock or light cream to make delicious creamy sauces. And we've added their ZiipAstii. This is how they describe it on the label "Roasted peppers with heat. Use as a marinade, mix with stock or light cream for a robust entree sauce. It's spreadable, cheesable, sauceable".
I'm not sure cheesable is an actual adjective, but we have lots you can try. We have a new organic raw milk parmesan, and Axel's raw milk sheep cheese. Herbed chevre and cream cheese are spreadable, monterey jack and mozzarella are meltable, and old cheddars and peppercorn pecorino have bite.
On the returning favourites list this week: raw honey from Chatsworth Honey, cranberry-apple and raspberry-apple sparkling ciders from Finch Haven Orchards in Clarksburg, and sliced organic all-beef summer sausage from GrassRoots in Desboro.
What to do with root vegetables this week? Drizzle beets and parsnips with Palestinian olive oil or Canolive oil, sprinkle with local herb mix from Saugeen River CSA and roast with fresh garlic. Or mash equal parts of steamed carrots, turnip, sweet potatoes and parsnips with a mix of olive oil and organic butter.
What do you make with your favourite Around the Sound food? Send us your recipe or idea - we'll print it out and put it next to the ingredients for others to enjoy.
Spring is coming! Put your feet up with a cup of Around the Sound blend or new Winter Fairy tea and a ginger snapper and flip through the seed catalogues. And plan to plant a little extra for our store or kitchen.
Around the Sound is open Thursday and Friday from 10 until 7 and Saturday 9 until 5. See you there!
Anne
Around the Sound Local Food Market
685 6th Street East at the 7th Avenue lights.
www.aroundthesoundfood.com
519-370-2333
Read our blog at www.myowensound.com