Review: Nutmeg Brand Kielbasa

I don't remembrer liking kielbasa much when I was a kid. - I remember it being kind of aggressively greasy and harshly spiced. And it always seemed "tough," somehow like, sure, it's a sausage but it's not like breakfast sausage or Italian sausage, it's kind of like pepperoni because it's kind of hard and more difficult to cut.

That's because my mother, who barely had two nickels to rub together, usually bought an already-inexpensive national brand made even more inexpensive with coupons. It was cheap and shitty and tasted it.

It wasn't until I got older that I discovered how good kielbasa could be, and that was thanks to the big variety of locally-made brands I discovered starting when I was in my teens and continuing even now.

Like Nutmeg Brand, for example. I had never tried Nutmeg before, which is distributed by Manchester Packing Company/Bogner Meats. (Once upon a time, it was made by them, too, but these days most of Bogner's meat processing is done under contract by Hummel Brothers in New Haven using Bogner's recipes.) I'd left Nutmeg alone because it was so pale looking that I thought it was a fresh kielbasa as opposed to a smoked kielbasa, which I prefer.

Anyway, on a recent visit to Bogner, Maryanne and I were looking for something relatively quick we could make for supper, and she suggested a kielbasa. "I dunno," I said, "These look like fresh kielbasas. I thought we both prefered them smoked."

"When I was a little girl, my grandmother used to get both kinds," Maryanne told me. "Especially at Easter, because they used to like fresh kielbasa for cutting up into our borscht, and smoked to eat on our plate. They were both good. Go ahead and get one."

So we did.

Surprise! Nutmeg Kielbasa is smoked! Just not, apparently, as heavily or for as long a time as most of the other commercial kielbasas we've had in the past. There is smoke enough to give the sausage a decent and hearty flavor.  The meat is finely ground without any of the coarser chunks I often find in other locally-made brands, and there seems to be a pleasant-enough level of fat used in the blend (by that I mean that the kielbasa isn't excessively greasy, but on the other hand the meat isn't dry or crumbly either. They've done a good job.)

Served with potato salad and greens, it made for a very pleasant late-summer dinner, and it holds up well to my long-standing local favorite, Janik.

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Berry Picking at Kuras Farms in West Suffield CT

It was a beautiful day on Sunday - sunny and warm, but with low humidity - and we decided sort of on the spur of the moment to go berry picking. We were hoping for raspberries, even though the season is just about over. As we drove through nearby Suffield, we lucked out: Kuras Farms on Mountain Road was advertising raspberries and blueberries, ready-to-go or pick-your-own. At many of the local farms and farm stands, the raspberry season has already ended. Last year's unusually warm winter gave perennials like berries an early start, and the recent hot and rainless weeks have not been kind to growers.

We pulled in the gravel driveway and stopped at the sales shed and were told that the blueberries were in full swing, and there were still some raspberries available in fields near the top of the hill behind the barns. Off we went, following the farm's dirt tote road on it's winding path to the berry fields.

Blueberry season is in full swing, and we passed row upon row of highbush blueberry plants heavy with fruit. But since we were totally focused on raspberries, we decided to return later in the week for blueberry picking.

The path turns steep as the road climbs the hill to the raspberry fields. I was grateful for the traction of our SUV though the roadway was well-packed and dry, so we never needed 4 wheel drive. The road does get rough in a couple places, though, so be careful if you come in a low-slung car - keep your speed low and watch for ruts carefully.

We parked on a level, grassy spot and started the short hike to the raspberry rows. On the way I noticed a single row of blackberries to the left, and headed over to gather a basket of them while Lynnafred and Maryanne went for the raspberries. It didn't take us long to fill three two-quart baskets with berries.

The view east across the Connecticut River Valley from the raspberry fields was breathtaking on such a clear day.

Driving the road to the fields is a delight to the eye, and the farm is truly a local treasure. There are meadows with wildflowers, ponds, and fields of crops.  Barn swallows flit along the grassy fields and dip into the ponds as they zip by. We felt somewhat honored that the farms owners choose to share their beautiful landscape with us by opening up the farm for pick-your-own enthusiasts, rather than just offer a roadside farmstand. The kids working the picking and sales shacks are friendly and helpful. Visiting here is just a wonderful experience.

Raspberry season is just about over, so if you plan to go you should do it very soon. It looks like the blueberries will be there for a little while yet. The Kurases also sell vegetables grown there. 

Kuras Farms LLC

1901 Mountain Road

West Suffield CT 06093

860.668.2942

Vecchitto's Italian Ice Is Open

Vecchitto's Italian Ice, on Dekoven Drive in Middletown, opened for the season over Memorial Day weekend.

We stopped in for ices this afternoon. They're just as awesome as always. If you're anywhere near Middletown, take a detour down CT 9 and stop in - it's totally worth it.

(I tried the banana ice today and it was delicious.)

Pekarski's Sausage, South Deerfield MA

Lynnafred and I were headed north on US 5 in Western Massachusetts on other business when we spotted a small hand-lettered sign at the junction of US 5 and MA 116, promising us a visit to a smokehouse if only we would take a short 2-mile side quest.

That was too tempting to resist, so off we went.

Sure enough, we soon found Pekarski's Sausage, a small company that makes good, honest sausage and smoked meats in small batches by hand.

I can't even begin to list all the products they had available, but I can give you an idea of what they had in the twin display cases running the length of the store...along with a few reviews, since we bought a bunch of stuff to try out.

In photo of the meat case on the left, you can plainly see their kielbasa. It's awesome. The spice blend and smoke is absolutely perfect. Many commercial kielbasas are either runny with grease, or so dry that they crumble. Kudos to Pekarski's, because they have the most ideal ratio of fat to meat I have ever tasted in a kielbasa. 

In the background, just barely identifiable, are Daisy Hams.  If you're from New England, you might be familiar with them - in the 1970's, they were very cheap and common in the supermarkets here. They used to be a boneless pork shoulder, rolled tightly, cured and smoked, and they were sold in tight little plastic-wrapped cylinders that needed only to be boiled with some spuds, carrots, and cabbage for a traditional New England Boiled Dinner. As time has passed, Daisy Hams have gotten a lot more expensive, and a lot crappier. The last time I bought one in the supermarket, it seemed to be a conglomeration of meat scraps and chunks of random pork fat, and it wasn't very good.  Not so here at Pekarski's. Their Daisy Hams are rolled and smoked in a mesh sleeve, and it is totally obvious that they're making them the old-fashioned way, out of boneless pork shoulder. We didn't buy one on this trip, but we plan to pick one up next time.

Pekarski's slab bacon is excellent - much better than the usual supermarket bacon, and easily the equal to my own homemade dry-aged bacon. We bought a pound of it and had the butcher slice it at nice and thick. Next time I think we should get two pounds.

On the other side of the case were various sausages and links.

Their breakfast sausage is, to use a wicked overused term, amazing. The links are roughly twice the size of ordinary breakfast sausage links - about the same size as a hot dog. They fry up wonderfully - moist and delicious and not at all greasy. The spice blend is excellent; I was able to identify sage, thyme, and maybe a bit of coriander and some pepper. Really top-notch.

Lynnafred couldn't resist picking up some chorizo, which turned out to be far and away the best tasting chorizo EVAR. Plans are in the works to use Pekarski's chorizo in a batch of arroz con gandules.

Also available the day we were there: Back bacon (aka Canadian bacon), bratwurst, unsmoked (fresh) kielbasa, fresh pork ribs, smoked pork ribs, smoked pork chops, whole smoked chickens, and whole smoked Cornish game hens. And probably more stuff that I either didn't notice in my wide-eyed wonderment or have forgotten about.

I spoke to the butcher when we were there, curious to find out where they are sourcing their pork. I sometimes have trouble finding good quality pork belly when I make my bacon, and was wondering if they had a local source. They told me that most of their pork comes from farms in New Hampshire. Cool - keeping it regional.

Seriously, Pekarski's is a hidden gem of the Pioneer Valley, and even though it's a good forty-five minute drive from my house to get there, the trip is worth it (and besides, if you get off the highway and take MA 116 all the way there, the back-country drive is gorgeous.) The prices are slightly higher than what you'd pay for mass-market stuff in the supermarket, but the vast improvement in quality and freshness more than makes up for that.

There is plenty to do in the area if you want to make a day trip of it. You can wander around in the Yankee Candle store, smelling Man Candles and more until the overwhelming scents give you a headache. There's Historic Deerfield, where you can wander around in the village and take tours of the cool old Colonial-era houses.  And if you're into bugs flying all around you and landing on you and crawling up your arms and whatnot, you can also visit the Magic Wings Butterfly Conservatory and Gardens, which is a big damn glass building filled with flowers and butterflies which delight in invading your personal space (yeah, I know - they're butterflies, so what's the big deal? Well, butterflies are still BUGS, dammit, and I don't want dozens of them on my SKIN, thank you. I'd go again if they'd only let me in with that can of Yard Guard I brought.)

Pekarski's Sausage

293 Conway Road (MA 116)

South Deerfield, MA 01373

413.665.4537

No credit or debit cards accepted - cash or check only.

Grote & Weigel Out of Business

For over 120 years, Grote & Weigel has been making sausages, hams, smoked turkeys, and hot dogs in Connecticut, under their own brand and as private label products for various companies in New England.

No longer.  The business is closed and all the Grote & Weigel product that will ever be made is out in the retail pipeline right now - when it's sold out, it's gone forever.  The building and all the meat processing equipment are to be sold at auction in February, bringing a century of Connecticut food tradition to a close.

Kielbasa from Strum's Deli & Meats, Holyoke

Strum's Deli and Meats is a little hole-in-the-wall butcher shop on Westfield Road in Holyoke.  Lynnafred and I visited it last week when, after months of having driven by the place and saying "Hey we oughta stop in there sometime," sometime finally arrived.

It's a decent store, much bigger on the inside than it looks from the small storefront. They've got quite a variety of cuts available, and they do some sausage making as well.  I'll write more about the store in coming weeks - I want to go there again and sample some of the other stuff they offer - but today I'm going to tell you about their kielbasa.

Strum's kielbasa is very good. The spice blend is traditional and not too salty, and the smoke is well-balanced and not overpowering. The pork they use is high-quality without gristly bits being evident. It's a bit less fatty than I'm used to, which makes for a dryer sausage, but being a little leaner didn't detract from the flavor or enjoyability of the kielbasa - and it made it somewhat easier to grill without huge uncontrollable flareups.

Seriously, if the only kielbasa you've ever had is the crap packaged by Hillshire Farm, you owe it to yourself to find a good, small-label kielbasa, and preferably one that's made practically in your backyard (like Strum's if you live in Holyoke, or Janik if you live a little south of there in Enfield.) You'll be blown away by how awesome the local stuff is, and you'll wonder why you put up with that mass-marketed garbage for so long.

Strum's Deli & Meats

502 Westfield Road

Holyoke, MA 01040-1633
(413) 532-8020

Local Chicken

When was the last time you tasted chicken?  I'm not talking about the bloated, watery battery-raised birds from Perdue or Tyson here, I mean real, locally-raised and freshly-processed chicken, the kind your grandparents might have had back when most poultry was raised on small farms a stone's throw from their house.

Late last week, I stopped at Impoco Poultry Market to pick up a couple - of all things - beef tongues (more on that later) and while I was there I bought one of his locally-raised broilers for supper.  His chickens come from his own poultry farm right here in the Connecticut River Valley, and they are killed and dressed on the day of sale - minimal processing, no shrinkwrapping, and no sitting around a supermarket display case for days or more.  I took the bird home, cut it up, and grilled it over an applewood fire.

The difference between Tony's chicken and standard supermarket chicken is striking.  The juicy white meat is firm and solid, and the dark meat is dark the way it's supposed to be, not pale and limp.  And not to be a wiseass, but it tastes like chicken.  Factory agriculture might have done wonders for food production, but that often comes at the expense of flavor, and the washed-out flavor of commercially processed chicken is a great example of that.  And here's the kicker:  the price for one of Tony's awesome chooks is comparable to the supermarket variety.

Small markets like Impoco highlight the best reasons you can find for buying food grown in your own area.  I know that's not always practical - hell, if I had to rely on New England-only food, we wouldn't see a green vegetable on our plates from November to June - but every time you make a decision to buy veggies at the farm stand on your way home from work, or go a few minutes out of your way to a place like Impoco to buy a chicken, or stop at a neighborhood butcher for a couple pounds of fresh ground beef ground right there and not eight hundred miles away at E. Coli & Son's Industrial Meat Processing Plant, you are not only helping yourself eat better, you're helping your community by helping local agriculture remain viable.

About those beef tongues:

I've had a jones lately for corned tongue, but not a strong enough jones to pay $10.95 a pound for one at ShopRite (that's not a typo, that's the real price!)  Tony sometimes brings in specialty meats at the market and announces the availability on the store's Facebook page, and when he mentioned that he'd have fresh beef tongues for $2.00 a pound, I was there right after work, buying two.  

Right now, they're brining in the fridge.  In another couple days, I'll simmer one to perfection in a pot of broth, and smoke the other one to tender delightfulness.  And I'll have full instructions with plenty of photos for you in a brand new post.

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The Hartford Baking Co. Does It Right

New Park Avenue in West Hartford has seen some tough times in recent years.  A lot of the old businesses have folded or moved to new digs, and it's hard not to notice the many vacant and/or run-down buildings that line the road as you travel from Flatbush Ave to New Britain Ave.  Happily, however, there is some redevelopment going on in the area and new shops and storefronts are appearing.  

One such new store is the Hartford Baking Company at 625 New Britain Ave., an awesome new bakery and coffee bar recently opened by Scott Kluger and his mother Virginia.  I had gotten a "press release"-style email announcing the opening of the bakery from Scott early last week, and Maryanne, Lynnafred, and I had been looking forward to trying them out all week.

When we walked in on Sunday morning, we were immediately charmed by the bright and airy interior of the bakery; sunshine was pouring in through the front windows and the shop smelled mouthwateringly of baking bread and proofing yeast.  A wire rack behind the counter held crusty baguettes and rustic round loaves, and the display case beckoned with miniature baguettes, pumpkin muffins, ginger scones, sticky buns, and banana nut muffins.  We each wanted one of everything, but we settled for each getting a different item so we could "taste around" without making pigs of ourselves.  (Believe me - making pigs of ourselves would have been pretty easy here.)

Maryanne and I ordered coffees to go with our treats, and Lynnafred asked for a chai latte.  While we waited for the barista to prepare the drinks, I chatted with Scott.

"We've actually been open about three weeks," he said, "but we opened really soft, without any announcements or advertising.  We wanted to get everything just right before officially opening."

When our coffee and chai were ready, we carried everything over to a table in a corner of the seating area.  In dire need of immediate caffeine, Maryanne and I tried out our coffee before hitting the baked goods.  It was fair-trade Ethiopia Mordecofe, hearty and full-bodied without being burnt or bitter tasting.  It was so smooth, in fact, that we used somewhat less half-and-half than usual in the cup.  Meanwhile, Lynnafred sipped her chai latte and said, "That is the best chai I've ever had.  And you can make that a direct quote in the blog."

Awesome baked goods we sampled this time:

Banana Nut Muffin - delicately tender, bursting with banana flavor; as perfect a banana nut muffin as there ever could be.

Pumpkin Raisin Muffin - Rich pumpkin flavor, sweet and spicy, loaded with plump raisins.  It was perfect for a fall morning - like taking a bite of a harvest festival.

Ginger Scone - Delicious, tender and buttery and studded with chunks of candied ginger.  It was a great way to start off a Sunday morning.

As wonderful as all the breads looked, we had to pass on them, since we'd just picked up a couple of loaves at a bakery closer to home.  But you can be assured that we'll be stopping by again soon to sample them.  As we were leaving, Lynnafred said to me, "I can't wait until the next time I get together with my friends.  This place is on my Destination List."

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Impoco Poultry Market, Springfield MA - And Fresh Guinea Fowl

A couple of days ago, commenting on my "chicken paws" post, reader Marc recommended that I stop at Impoco Poultry Market in Springfield.  I had no idea that kind of specialty store existed so close to me, but a quick Google check got me plenty of info - location, street view, Facebook page, business hours.  I made up my mind that I was going to get over there that afternoon, right after work.

Impoco Poultry Market is located somewhat off the beaten path, at 468 Walnut Street in Springfield.  The single-story concrete block building stands back from the road, behind a gated fence and a small parking lot.  Lynnafred and I arrived about an hour before closing time.

As we entered the immaculately clean sales room, we were greeted by owner Tony Impoco.  I asked about guinea hens, and he brought out a beauty, which had been killed, dressed, and drawn that very day, on the premises.  You don't get fresher poultry than that.

The market carries a good range of poultry which varies a little depending upon availability.  Chickens and soup hens are usually available, and guinea fowl, ducks, and geese are offered for sale as they come in.  Impoco's price for fresh local eggs are unbeatable, and there are often guinea hen and duck eggs for sale.  I'm keeping my eye on the Facebook page for the announcement when duck eggs come in.  They're the best for baking (larger and richer than hen's eggs.)  I'm looking forward to Thanksgiving, I bet Impoco is going to have some top-notch turkeys.

Tony is a friendly and interesting guy.  The time passed quickly as he told us about his grandfather's poultry market which had been located a short distance up the street when it was founded in the 1920's, and about his current operation which includes a Pioneer Valley poultry farm.  I wouldn't mind sitting down with him at a barbecue and sharing a few beers and a conversation about his trade.  But it was getting near to closing time by the time he wrapped up and weighed our hens and we said our goodbyes. Awesome place.  I can see I'm going to be a regular here.

Impoco Poultry Market

468 Walnut Street

Springfield MA 01105

413.734.6359

Open Tuesday - Friday 9 - 6, Saturday and Sunday 9 -3

Link:

Impoco's Poultry Market Facebook Page

And now, a quick look at my guinea hens (Note:  Tony asked me if I wanted the heads and feet removed, and I said "no thank you."  I have plans for those flavorsome parts and to tell the truth, I am mighty pleased to find a place that leaves 'em on.)

Today, I will be trimming them a bit and giving them a brisk massage with a delicious and flavorsome rub before smoking them over a mixture of apple and citrus wood for a couple of hours. 

Click here to go to the post with the recipe and more pictures.

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Pulled Pork at Backyard BBQ, Enfield CT

My hometown has a brand-new barbecue take-out place.  It's called Backyard BBQ, and it's at the intersection of Brainard and Washington Roads in the north end of town, close to the state line.

I drive by that storefront every day on my way to work, and because there's been some activity there in recent weeks, I was keeping an eye on the site.  Glad I did, too, because they opened their doors Sunday.

Backyard BBQ is take-out only - the store is on the small side and most of it is kitchen, with a service area up front.  They have an amazingly delicious-looking selection of pastries on one side of the store, and a mouth-watering hot food service on the other side.  The mains include Half BBQ Chicken, BBQ spare ribs, pulled pork, and Angus beef sliders. (a limited menu, perhaps, but I'm sure they're keeping it simple for the nature of the place and to see how well it takes off.)  For this first visit, I chose to keep it simple and order something that I knew would give me a good indication of their quality - a pulled pork sandwich.

The photo doesn't do it justice.  As served, the pulled pork is absolutely marvelous - tender shredded pork with the occasional gorgeous chunk, slow-cooked over a hardwood charcoal fire, perfectly proportioned to the sauce it was served with.  This isn't the kind of place that serves you a pot of sauce with some pork swimming around in it, you get the real deal here.  The pork is piled high on a soft bulky roll, and I ordered extra sauce which was liberally doled out on the meat before the sandwich is crowned with the top half of the bun.  Let me tell you, it was pigmeat heaven.  These guys know their pork.  The only thing  that was a bit disappointing was the lack of bread-and-butter pickles for a sandwich topper, but I bet they add that to the menu as more people ask for them (and besides, I had some at home so we added our own.)

In short, I was favorably impressed with Backyard BBQ, and I'll be going back to try some more of their offerings - this Friday, for example, I plan to pick up some chicken and ribs for supper.  I also saw some really good-looking Greek spinach pie in the display case.  Might have to get some of that as well.

Backyard BBQ

240 Brainard Road

Enfield CT 06082

Take-out only

860.265.3910

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Grote & Weigel Kielbasa

In the area where I live, there is no shortage of excellent kielbasa (a variety of smoked Polish sausage.)  There's practically no reason to buy lowest-common-denominator junk like Hillshire Farm sausage around here because several local companies make a superior product.

One of those companies is Grote & Weigel of Bloomfield CT, a town a few miles south of me which was once mostly farmland but has now been pretty much swallowed up into the suburbs of Hartford.  Grote & Weigel is most famous locally for their exceptionally fine hot dogs.  I've had their little kielbasa links, which they call "kellies," and they were pretty good, but I'd never had a big "ring" kielbasa from them.

The first thing I noticed about Grote & Weigel's kielbasa is the color.  Other locally-made kielbasas are darker in color, some almost mahogany in color, thanks to long, slow smoking that gives the sausage part of tis distinctive character.  Grote & Weigel's is paler and more frankfurter-like in color. It also has a "smoother" texture - they obviously use a smaller gauge grinding plate when processing their meats for the sausage.  Although these differences make for a different flavor than some of the more traditionally styled kielbasa I buy, the end result is very good.  The kielbasa is nice and juicy, with a good  but mild balance of garlic and seasonings.  And although Grote and Weigel uses no MSG and less salt than just about any other commercial maker, there is no sacrifice in taste or quality.

In a sort of wishful anticipation of Springtime, I made a batch of potato salad to go with the sausage, and put brown mustard and fresh horseradish on the table as well.  It was a fine supper for a mild late-winter night.

Link:

Grote & Weigel's website.

Vintage Sunday: Killingworth Cranberries

Connecticut has never been a huge player in the cranberry industry, and I have to admit that until my sister Fran gave me this cool little late-1950s cookbook, I had no idea that cranberries had been commercially harvested in Killingworth, a small town south of Middletown on CT Route 81.

A little bit of research revealed that a cranberry bog on Pond Meadow Road in Killingworth has been tended by the Evarts family since Cyrus Evarts first purchased the land and planted cranberries in 1896.. 

Today, the Evarts family still raises cranberries in a small, 3-acre bog.  The berries are packaged and sold locally at Bishop's Orchards farm market in Guilford, CT.

Here are a couple of the more unusual recipes from this 16-page bookel:

Cranberry Marbles

2 cups sugar

2 cups water

When boiling add 1 pound Killingworth Brand Cranberries. Cover and set back 5 minutes.  Then put on to cook 5 minutes. Remove from stove and let cool with cover on. Don't open the lid.

Steamed Cranberry Pudding

2 cups Killingworth Brand Cranberries

1 1/3 cups flour

½ teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon cinnamon

¼ teaspoon cloves

¼ teaspoon cmace

2 teaspoons soda

1/3 cup hot water

½ cup molasses

Halve cranberries; add to flour, salt, spices and soda. Combine hot water and molasses; blend with first mixture.  Transfer to well greased pudding mold. Cover and steam for 2½ hours. Unmold; serve with your favorite sauce.

Link:

Bishop's Orchards - Location, hours, and information about the farm stand, orchards, and winery at Bishop's.

The Evarts family does not maintain a website for their cranberry production.

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The 4H Fair, and Cheeseburger Cake

My wife Maryanne and I went to the local 4H Fair last Saturday; it's the smallest of the regional agricultural fairs, but one that's important to us because the exhibitors are all kids from local farms showing off their budding skillz, and we want the kids to know that we appreciate their contribution to sustainable local farming.

We went through the livestock and poultry exhibits, playing with the chickens, petting the goats, and visiting with young dairy farmers and their prize cattle. My amazing Animal-Fu™ was at 100% power - the goats were being extra-friendly, most of the chickens came up to the edge of their cages to have their heads scratched, and even the cows wanted to nuzzle. Don't accuse me of being Dr. Doolittle, I can't understand a word they're saying, but I genuinely like beasts and they seem to like me most of the time, too.

The poultry exhibit was bigger this year than it's been for a few years. I love chickens, and we had a great time visiting the hens. Kids from a couple of local dairy farms were there with their cows, and there were a lot of goats. Mostly nannies, actually, because this area is seeing rising demand for goat's milk and goat's milk cheeses. We chatted with some of the young goatherds and gave the goats scritchies and belly rubs. The goats behave a lot like friendly dogs. Well, friendly dogs with hooves and big wobbly lactating udders who like to grab the edge of your sleeve and give it a nibble if you don't pay enough attention to them. I wonder if I'd be able to get away with keeping a goat on my half-acre suburban property?

When we were done with the animals, we checked out the garden produce and the "household arts" exhibits. The pickles and preserves were delicious-looking as usual and therfe was quite a selection of jams, jellies, pickles, and canned tomatoes. Maryanne and I put up a lot of stuff every year as local produce shows up in the garden and at farm stands, so we're always inrterested in what the kids choose to can and enter in the competition.

This year, the baking competition was particularly interesting. In addition to the usual sheet cakes and layer cakes, there was a great-looking Cheeseburger Cake - a cleverly-decorated layer cake with fondant "fixin's" presented on a sheet of McDonalds burger-wrapping paper. Well done, and it won a Best In Show ribbon.

If you enjoy local agricultural fairs, keep an eye open for your local 4H events. They draw significantly smaller crowds than the big "State Fairs" so they're easy to get around in, and it's easy to pass the time of day chatting with the young farmers and their parents. And you'll be showing the kids you care about their interests, local agriculture, and the future of farming in your region.

Links:

4-H website - Includes an interactive link to the 4-H organization for your region (it's not magic, a script on the page can tell your general location from your IP address.)

If you didn't understand that part in parentheses above, and want to know more about how a website knows where you're surfing from, click here.

4-H in Connecticut - Part of the UConn agricultural extension office.

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Real Cider Isn't Pasteurized

I love apple cider. Real apple cider: the kind that is pressed from freshly-picked apples which have been pulped and dumped into a press. It's crisp and carries the full flavor of the apple, and taking a drink of fresh, sweet cider is the closest a beverage will ever come to crunching in your mouth.

Traditionally, fresh sweet cider is truly fresh. It's pressed and bottled and refrigerated - no filtering and no cooking. A few years ago, though, some people took sick from drinking cider that had been improperly handled. The full might of the Food Police descended upon the cider industry, and because most New England cider mills are small, mom-and-pop operations, they didn't have the organization or money to fight the legislature. Because of this, all sweet cider sold in grocery stores today is pasteurized. Cider mills can still sell "raw" cider, but it must carry a "panic label" and has to be sold at the mill.

I don't like pasteurized cider. Pasteurization changes the flavor - it takes the "snap" away and gives cider a "cooked" flavor. It's like the difference between eating a fresh apple and eating applesauce. It doesn't bother me that lawmakers in many states took some action to be sure that cider stays wholesome and uncontaminated, but it does bother me that so many processors decided to just cave in and pasteurize all of their product because the government made it too onerous to provide the traditional stuff.

Luckily, I can still get unpasteurized cider. I have to drive a little further to get it, because I have to buy it at local cider mills and orchards since supermarkets only sell the cooked stuff, but the drive is worth it and at least I still have a choice.

The Berlin Fair, Berlin Connecticut

Since 1949, the Lions Club of Berlin CT has hosted the Berlin Fair on the former Connecticut State Fairgrounds in Berlin. It's still a traditional agricultural fair, with livestock judging and folks showing off their handicrafts and canning skills, and of course there's plenty of food.

Our first stop inside the fairgrounds is right inside the gate: Dough House's Giant Raised Donuts. They've been in this same spot at the fair since we first started coming here, almost twenty years ago. Giant donuts are typical "carny food": oversized, unique, and sold from a concession trailer. They're also pillowy-soft and fresh and delicately dusted with sugar - one of the only "sweets" we buy at the fair. And although they're huge, we limit the damage they do to our caloric intake by splitting one between us. (Actually, that's pretty much the way we graze through most of the fairs and events we visit - one of us will take a fancy to a certain food and then my wife and daughter and I will share the munchies and discuss what we like and don't like about what we're having.)

Giant raised donuts notwithstanding, the big food draw at the Berlin Fair isn't in the typical carny food booths. Many of the churches and and civic organizations from the Berlin area have permanent buildings at the fair where they serve various home-cooked foods to the crowds. One vendor I spoke with at the fair says that he really loves setting up at Berlin, because he doesn't have to eat "all that deep fried crap" for three days - there's delicious roast beef sandwiches, homemade mac 'n' cheese, beef stew, barbecued chicken, and even lobster rolls available from the many food buildings. There are far too many great foods to eat at the Berlin Fair even if we were to attend all three days, so I'll just hit some highlights as we go along - starting with the delicious mac-and-cheese made by the Kensington Congregational Church. Cheesy and creamy, it had the wonderful flavor of real cheddar cheese and was obviously scratch-made.It was also a lot better than the sad excuse for pasta e fagioli I bought at the same place. Shown at left, it was a watery mess of elbow macaroni with hardly any beans at all, lots of barely-cooked celery slices, coarsely ground black pepper, and far too much cheap dried oregano. Served with the tiniest "dinner roll" I'd ever seen, the Kensington Congregational Church charged me $4.50 and didn't even give me a pat of butter for the roll. They were also the only building at the Fair that was selling "homemade" baked beans, but I passed on them when one of the workers let it slip that the beans weren't really homemade, they just "opened up cans and added stuff to them." I wasn't about to pay $3.50 for a cup-and-a-half of B&M beans.

One of our favorite sites at the Berlin Fair is the building holding the prizewinners from the baking and canning competitions. We like to compare our own canning results to those of the folks entering the competition, and we also enjoy seeing what types of home preserves are popular. There were rows of canned tomatoes and tomato sauces, strawberry jam, pickles, and jellies. I don't envy the judges - some of the differences between first- and second-place winners were pretty subtle.

One of the first-place winners was a display called "Hot pepper heaven" - a series of old-fashioned rubber-gasket jars, each filled with a different type of pepper. There were red cherry peppers, green cherry peppers, red ripe Hungarian hot peppers, and jalapenos. The four jars together made for a very nice display, and it was easy to see why the judges liked them.

One of the more unusual first-place winners was this jar of sweet basil jelly. Maryanne and I had never heard of this before, but a quick check on Google later showed me that there is no shortages of recipes for it on the Web. We might try making a batch of it later this year (fresh basil is nearly always available to us at our local greengrocer.)

There was also a truly amazing-looking hot pepper jam that someone had made with red cherry peppers. It was an angry-looking fiery red with clusters of seeds hovering near the top and looked like it really packed a kick. It was a blue-ribbon award winner in the "Any Other Vegetable Jam" category.

Another of our "foodie destinations" at the fair is the Roasted Peanut booth. This year, there were a pair of Scouts tending the gas-fired peanut roaster; they were roasting nuts in small, two-pound batches which was just enough to keep up with demand and provide everyone who stopped at their concession with a hot paper bag of freshly-from-the-roaster peanuts. As far back as we can remember, this has been one of the most popular snacks at the fair, and it's no wonder - the aroma of roasting nuts floats over the crowd as they come out of the handicrafts barn and head for the Midway.

Fries!

There are three excellent places to get fries at the fair, and each of them specializes in a different style of delicious fried potatoes. At the corner of the Midway near the cattle barn, the local Kiwanis Club sells marvelous ribbon fries - russet potatoes, thinly sliced in an "endless" spiral and fried to crispy perfection. Salt, pepper, vinegar, and ketchup is available for those who desire them (my daughter likes ketchup.)

Near the center of the fairgrounds, the Berlin Volunteer Fire Department dishes up thick-cut steak fries, crispy and mealy and very nice indeed. And just down the hill from them, close to the concert stage, is the East Berlin Volunteer Fire Department with their own food pavillion, serving up fantastic sweet potato fries that are crispy on the outside, hot and creamy on the inside - an indescribably delicious contrast in texture that makes for one of the most satisfying noshes at the fair. (The EBFD also sells deep fried Oreo cookies. I hope their kitchen equipment includes a defibrillator.)

Local Agriculture

We were disappointed that the poultry exhibit was so small this year - mostly bantams with a handful of standard breeds. I love chickens, and the poultry exhibits are my favorite part of the fair, so I was sorry to see that most of the barn was taken up with boring old rabbits. Still, I was able to have a little bit of fun, clucking at the hens and hand-feeding them their mash and even hypnotizing a few of them (yes, it really works. Check out this eHow article about it - that's pretty much the way I do it - and make sure you laugh at the end of the article where it warns you to wear "protective gear" because "chickens can cause bodily harm." LOL, what idiots.) But the sheep were surprisingly affectionate this year, some of them actually nuzzling our hands as we walked by, hoping to have their ears and noses scratched.

Giant pumpkins are always a crowd-pleaser at New England fairs. Berlin puts them at the back of the produce barn to help draw people in and through the exhibits.

Other prize-winning vegetables and baked goods were on display as well. Click on any of the thumbnails in the list below to bring up a bigger picture if you're curious.

• This clustered carrot won a blue ribbon for "most unusual" vegetable.
  
  



• We joked about this potato looking like a fetus, naming it "ProLife Potato." It got second place in the "most unusual" category.
  
  



• This seasonal apple pie was decorated with pastry oak leaves.




• Delicious cake is delicious.
  
  
  



• An amazing variety of hot peppers (mostly different kinds of habaneros.)
  
  
  



• Beautifully decorated carrot cake.
  
  




• The baked goods display, with the winning ribbons attached.
  
  




• Future bacon. Sorry this one's kind of blurry. The little bastards wouldn't stay still long enough for me to get a good, clear shot.




• Their milkshakes bring the boys to the barn.

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