Local Foods

Upper Valley food sources within our 100-miles

DAIRY This one’s easy! There’s local milk, buttermilk, cheeses, plain yogurt, heavy cream, creme fraiche, and butter. One “find” is the maple yogurt from Butterworks Farm. It’s made with local milk and maple syrup and available at the co-ops and Dan & Whit’s.  Strafford Creamery and Walpole Creamery make ice cream using local milk. Strafford makes a Smooth Maple ice cream using their own eggs, milk, and VT maple syrup (no cane sugar.) EGGS: The Upper Valley Food Co-op, Dan & Whit’s, and local farms carry VT/NH eggs from local small-scale producers. You can usually find eggs at the local farmers markets or perhaps you have a neighbor producing eggs? VEGETABLES In late spring, summer and fall, local veggies can be found at farm stands, farmers markets, CSAs, and the Co-ops . . . and maybe your own garden? The other months take planning: canning, freezing, root cellaring, or finding a CSA that offers winter shares. There are also monthly Winter Farmers Markets. An exciting new development from Neighboring Food Co-ops is frozen broccoli, green beans, corn and blueberries from regional farms. Be aware of sprouts as a source of “greens’ in winter; Gourmet Greens in Chester, VT, offers sunflower, snap pea, and radish sprouts available at the Co-ops. Wild edible foraging is another source of greens and other produce. FRUIT Summer offers us a bounty of berries and melons, and fall, a wide variety of apples. There are local pears, plums, cherries and peaches. We are lucky to have Poverty Lane, Walhowden, Moore’s, and other orchards in our midst! the food co-ops usually have a supply of local apples year-round. BEVERAGES Local milk is readily available. Local cider is available at the co-ops, pretty much year-round. If we grow and dry mint we can make our own mint tea. Vermont Sweetwater makes a delicious carbonated maple seltzer, available at the Upper Valley Food Co-op. There are local wines and hard ciders. Fruit smoothies with berries (fresh or from your freezer) and yogurt (and a little maple syrup?) Garrison Keiler makes fun of cider shakes but many of us think cider with Strafford Creamery Smooth Maple tastes great! BREAD * Trukenbrod breads can be found at Upper Valley Food Co-op – wheat, spelt, rye, sunflower seeds, and flax all come from Cedar Circle Farm. Baked each Tuesday. * Green Mountain Flour: “we have 100% local, breads made with Vermont organically grown wheat and corn. The corn is from Great River Farm in Windsor. The current batch of wheat is from Ken VanHazinga in Shoreham, VT, being stored for us by Jim Greer at Great River Farm. Check Green Mountain Flour’s Baking schedule for bread varieties – they also have GMF pizza shells and spelt pita bread in the bread section at the Leb and Hanover Co-ops. * Red Hen Cyrus Pringle bread – available at Hanover, Leb, WRJ co-op (on a schedule? It was at the Leb Co-op on Tuesday) * King Arthur “VT Grains bread” – baked on Tuesday – available at their store (and UVFCo-op?) Grains The co-ops carry local grains in the bulk department. (ie. whole wheat and spelt, sometimes cornmeal.) Cedar Circle sometimes has flour available at the Norwich and Lebanon farmers markets. VINEGAR AND OIL Upper Valley Food Co-op and Killdeer Farm Stand carry Honest-To-Goodness apple cider vinegar from Gingerbrook Farm in South Washington, Vermont. Cedar Circle Farm makes local sunflower oil, available at their farm stand and the Norwich Farmers Market. CONDIMENTS Local cider jelly is available at the co-ops and Dan & Whit’s. (Other jams and jellies are made with local fruit but contain non-local sugar.) The Co-ops have maple cream and maple butter. We can make our own salsa, catsup, pickles and relish. HERBS AND SPICES Herbs are fairly easy — parsley, mint, oregano, thyme, rosemary, basil, cilantro, etc., are seasonally available and may be growing in our own or a neighbor’s garden. Most can be dried or frozen (in ice cubes and popped into a soup or stew!) Spices are challenging; most come from other countries. Some of us use what we call Marco Polo wildcards for spices; use Frontier spices from the Co-ops’ bulk departments, a socially-responsible source. SWEETENERS Local maple syrup, granulated maple sugar, and honey are available in many places. On occasion, Jinny Cleland sells dried stevia leaves, a natural sweetener, at the Norwich Farmers Market. BEANS Cedar Circle Farm has been offering a variety of dried beans at Farmers Markets. The Upper Valley Food Co-op bulk department sometimes carries dried beans grown by Butterworks Farm. We can grow our own black beans, cranberry beans, Jacob’s Cattle beans, etc. (After planting, weeding, watering, harvesting, and shelling, we gain a greater appreciation for beans!) MEATS The Co-ops and Lebanon Health Food Store carry VT/NH meats, some of which were grass-fed and/or fed with locally-grown grains. (Many of these meats are in the frozen foods section.) Locally raised meats can also be found at some farmers markets. Misty Knoll: chicken and free-range turkey. Stonewood Farm (Orwell, VT): VT turkey sausage (sweet Italian, hot Italian, Cajun-style) and ground turkey meat. Maple Lane Farm (Cabot, VT): grass-fed organic beef. Muscle in Your Arm Farm (Etna, NH): lamb. Scottish Highland Farm (Orford,NH): stew beef and ground beef. Cavendish Game Birds (Springfield,VT): quail. Bowman Road Farm: ground beef and steaks. SOY Vermont Soy Company’s soy milks and tofu are available at the co-ops and other locations. Vermont Soy also makes toasted soy nuts for snacking and for salad toppings. Sadly, we have discovered no locally-grown coffee or chocolate . . . or local cinnamon, pepper, peanut butter,  limes, soy sauce, sesame tahini, oranges, bananas,  baking soda or olive oil! *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   * *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *