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Posts Tagged ‘Vermont’

Julie’s freshly linked Italian sauasges.

I first joined Formaggio Kitchen as an assistant to Julie, our charcutière. As she taught me to make the shop’s range of sausages, pâté, and other cured meats, she talked a lot about sourcing—what she buys from farms in Connecticut, the turnaround time needed for an order of rabbit from Vermont, the best uses for bellies from Massachusetts-raised Berkshire hogs, and the like. For Julie, small, local farms are a natural and non-negotiable part of her work. (more…)

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The call time was 6 a.m., but our first guests — just as excited as we were — were standing outside our door at 5:40.

Gradually, the rest of our sleepy customers arrived, picked up their coffee and croissants, and by 6:30, all 32 of us were on the road, headed for high adventure in the Green Mountain State. Our destination was the Vermont Cheesemakers Festival, a gathering of about 50 local cheesemakers, 30 breweries and wineries, and a host of other food artisans making everything from mustard to nougat. The event, in its second year, was held last Sunday at the breathtakingly lovely Shelburne Farms estate outside of Burlington, and this year we organized a bus to bring our customers to the festival — a first-of-its-kind trip for Formaggio Kitchen.

The Shelburne Farms estate sits on Lake Champlain.

The Shelburne Farms estate sits on Lake Champlain.

We personally knew many of the cheesemakers at the festival and were excited not only to see them, but also to introduce them to our customers. (more…)

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Maple syrup samples

Early spring in Vermont is cold and muddy. It’s a time when the fields and forests are a muted brown and nothing is growing yet, but it is the time of year for one very important Vermont agricultural product: maple syrup. Maple syrup has a special place in my kitchen, as my family has deep roots in the Northeast Kingdom of Vermont. The trees in the maple grove on my mother’s farm are ancient and massive. My great-grandmother made heavenly maple glazed doughnuts and maple custard pies, all from a yearly supply of syrup made within the space of just a few spring weeks. (more…)

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