The Meat Market: A Butcher Shop Goes Back to the Future
When Rural Intelligence first reported two years ago about Jeremy Stanton’s dream of opening a butcher shop in Great Barrington devoted to locally raised meats, he had yet to meet Ruth Reichl, the editor of the late lamented Gourmet magazine, who spends her weekends in Columbia County. In July 2010, Reichl hired Stanton’s Fire Roasted Catering to produce a pig roast for her husband Michael Singer’s birthday, and she was blown away by Stanton’s artistry and passion for real food. She pledged to invest in his next venture. With her moral and financial support, Stanton was able to finally assemble a group of investors to back The Meat Market, which officially opens on Monday, August 29.
As someone who’s made his living by grilling over open flames no matter what the weather, Stanton is a bit of a daredevil—the Evel Knievel of cooking. So it comes as no surprise that he may or may not have steaks for sale on opening day. “We have some beef in the walk-in, but it may not be ready to sell—it takes 14 to 21 days for an animal to relax,” he explains. “We’ll open with the best we can offer, including a lot of sausages, pork chops, liver sausages and chickens.”
The Meat Market wiil be more than a butcher shop. “We will have an assortment of prepared foods that you can eat here or take home,” says Stanton, who vows to serve the best egg-and-sausage sandwich in the Berkshires all day long. “We’ll serve it with coffee made in a Chemex server. It’s what I like to drink, and I like that Chemex comes from Pittsfield. But we are not going to have an espresso machine and we are not going to be a coffee shop. Everything we do will be about meat with a focus on local and artisanal products. I’ll sell mustard and capers, but not granola.” He will have a lunch counter where he’ll offer customers a chance to eat exactly what he and his staff are having for lunch that day such as a Philly cheesesteak, a North Carolina-style pulled pork sandwich, or a bowl of spaghetti Bolognese. “There will be three ways to experience the shop. Buy the ingredients to cook at home. Buy prepared food to eat at home. Or eat it here.”
As any locavore knows, eating responsibly and seasonally means not necessarily being able to have what you want when you want it. “I probably won’t offer baby back ribs except by special order because I would rather sell bone-in pork chops and you can’t get both from the same animal,” he explains. “But I will have spare ribs.” Like an old-fashioned neighborhood butcher, he and his staff will be teachers, explaining the difference among various cuts and offering cooking advice as well as recipes.
Located in the old Gypsy Joynt space (near Cafe Adam and across Route 7 from Price Chopper), The Meat Market is surprisingly stylish. “Ritch Holben, who’s an architect and our neighbor in Southfield, helped us source the chairs and subway tiles and gave us lots of advice about colors,” says Stanton. “We both like that chic industrial look of soft woods mixed with hard metals.” The snappy logo was designed by Greg Klee, another friend. While Stanton hopes to be open seven days a week, he will adjust his schedule based on how much meat he’s selling and how much he has on hand. “We are not going to be afraid to run out,” he says dare-devilishly.
The Meat Market opening August 29
389 Stockbridge Road (aka Route 7), Great Barrington
413.528.2022
Daily 11 a.m. - 7 p.m.
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Posted by Dan Shaw on 08/24/11 at 11:45 AM • Permalink
In Great Barrington, a Store That’s Worth Its Weight in Salt
by Talk about your niche markets. In May, the HimalaSalt shop, devoted primarily to pink salt from the Himalayan mountains, cropped up next to The Triplex Cinema in Great Barrington. While more geographically focused than the ballyhooed global salt shop, The Meadow, that opened this January in Manhattan, HimalaSalt offers much more than you can shake a grinder at.
It goes without saying that the shop offers pink Himalayan table salt in various forms: fine and course, in shakers, jars, boxes, and grinders; and as cubes and chunks that can be grated onto your food. To complement the salt, shoppers will find an array of peppercorns, all organic and sustainably sourced, from across the globe, including heirloom, shade-grown Culeb and Long pepper from Indonesia, Brazilian pink peppercorns, and Indian white, green, and Tellicherry peppers, sales of which help support a school for children of farmworkers.
The beauty of the shop is that it goes far beyond table salt and into tableware made of solid pink salt, which resembles rose-colored quartz, thanks to the presence of iron, calcium, magnesium, and other minerals. Thick pink salt slabs—round, rectangular, or square—conduct heat and can be used for cooking on the stovetop or the grill, and even in the oven. They’re perfect for preparing and serving food that benefits from a touch of salt, such as grilled seafood, vegetable kebobs, or even thinly sliced meats.
Large pink salt serving bowls (6-inch diameter for $44; 8-inch for $47) are the ideal vessels for guacamole or gazpacho. Chill one in the freezer and it adds a new dimension to fruit soup or sorbet.
Uses for the petite square tapas plates, which come in sets of five for $24.95, are limited only by your culinary repertoire: chill for serving sushi, paté, or smoked salmon, or use them at room temperature for cheese, fruit, and crudité. Presenting warm chocolate cake on these dishes is sure to impart that addictive sweet/salty flavor combination.
Charming cups seem tailor made for tequila, margaritas, and other frosty drinks, and also for cocktails of the shrimp or fruit variety, especially after they’ve spent some time in the freezer. Available in sets two for $21 or four for $37, they’re just the thing for finger foods like olives, edamame, or slender tempura fronds, such as green beans or sweet potato sticks. A cup of chocolate mousse? Divine.
Pink salt tableware is easy to care for – simply wipe items clean with a damp cloth and thoroughly dry them. And they’re durable, if gently tended. Cautions Kushi, “If they are cared for rather roughly, they could crack, similar to glass, or if they’re soaked in water instead of rinsed quickly and dried, that will certainly shorten their life span.”
Eventually salt serving ware will wear thin, but that doesn’t render it useless. Kushi says that when her pink salt cups have thinned at the bottom, “I fill mine with candles that line the bathtub. When that’s done, they get plopped in the bath, until at last, they finally dissolve.”
You won’t have to wait until you wear out your dishes to enjoy a relaxing soak in the tub. HimalaSalt also sells organic lemongrass bath salts and salt scrubs, as well as artisan-carved salt “stones” that can be heated or chilled for a deep, therapeutic massage.
These items and more are available on HimalaSalt’s website, and many can be purchased at stores across the country such as Whole Foods markets, Wegman’s, Kings, and Big Y, or locally at the Berkshire Co-op, Guido’s, Hawthorn Valley Farm, and other independent stores. The Great Barrington shop is HimalaSalt’s first retail outlet, and it’s likely to be the only one. “We are manufacturers and not necessarily retailers,” says Kushi. “It’s more for a branding presence and for educating people on the benefits of using HimalaSalt versus processed table salt or sea salt from today’s polluted oceans.”
And though the salt is mined from a mountaintop across the globe, the HimalaSalt line is locally made; Kushi manufactures HimalaSalt products in Great Barrington, in a 7,000-square-foot wind-powered facility. If that’s not enough of a feel-good story, Kushi claims the salt is sustainably sourced, and five per cent of profits are donated toward environmental causes.
It seems to be a formula for success. Kushi says that in-store sales have been solid; the grilling plates are the top sellers, followed by gourmet gift sets. Despite the government’s repeated warnings about sodium intake, there seems to be a growing appetite for salt, at least of the pink variety. Kushi reports that overall, wholesale business is up about 25% from where it was last year at this time, the same growth rate she has experienced since founding her company four-and-a-half years ago. It would seem that the Himalayan sky is the limit.
HimalaSalt
70 Railroad Street
(Adjacent to The Triplex Cinema)
Great Barrington, MA
Hours: Tuesday - Sunday, 11 a.m. - 5:30 p.m.
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Posted by Bess Hochstein on 08/09/11 at 09:21 PM • Permalink
In Rhinebeck, A Pop-Up Market That’s Here (Please) to Stay
by Kathryn Matthews
Aha moments often occur under duress. Last December Elizabeth Ryan was desperately trying to figure out how to keep her staff from Breezy Hill Orchard intact through the winter. It had been a challenging year. In fact, for several years all Hudson Valley growers had been having a tough time, with the problems of the ongoing recession compounded by unpredictable crop yields, a consequence of volatile weather conditions.
As Ryan stepped onto East Market Street in Rhinebeck, she spotted a sign, “Room for Rent,” on a former barber shop directly across from the municipal parking lot where the farmers’ market is held from spring through fall. Never slow to add 2 plus 2, she suddenly also recalled something a friend had recently said: “Honey, I just want to be able to buy an orange in this town!”
It had been years since Rhinebeck Village had had a food market. Like nearly all the villages in the region, high rents and competition from the supermarkets in the strip malls outside of town had made the ma-and-pa grocery a relic. But times and priorities had recently changed. There was a new customer, bent on buying local, sustainable, and organic, and willing to pay the price. Three days after working out a favorable agreement with the landlord (who, as luck would have it, is a staunch Breezy Hill Orchard customer), Ryan opened the Breezy Hill Market.
Today, Ryan and her passionate and knowledgeable staff sell local broccoli, Swiss chard, just-picked purple asparagus, and not-local Valencia oranges seven days a week to what she describes as “a core group of wildly supportive customers,” who have also come to rely on Breezy Hill for their grass-fed organic meats (frozen), local milk, cream, and eggs, cheeses, prepared foods, such as pasta and potato salads, as well as pies and pastries. In Ryan’s view, the farmers who help keep the bins and refrigerated cases filled are joined by these loyal customers as partners in the business: “It’s one of the best ways that people can invest—for very little money—in a green, local and sustainable economy.”
Ryan comes from a long line of farmers, and the bug bit her early—and hard. In 1984, as a 24-year-old fresh out of Cornell, she single-handedly bought Breezy Hill in Staatsburg, a 35-acre dairy farm that she has since transformed into a diversified orchard. Then—as now—she was a passionate advocate for local and sustainable agriculture. Breezy Hill is now in its second year of transitioning to certified organic—one of the few orchards in the Hudson Valley doing so. (Under the Breezy Hill imprimatur, Ryan also operates Knoll Krest Farm, best known for its eggs, and Stone Ridge Orchard in Ulster County.)
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A founding member of the New York City Greenmarket farmers’ markets, Ryan also helped found the Rhinebeck Farmers Market, where, in season, Breezy Hill’s stand is a mainstay, selling apples, pears, peaches, plums and raspberries, as well as apple cider, donuts and fruit pies.
Though Ryan isn’t making any rash promises, her customers naturally hope that Breezy Hill Market is here to stay. “It’s a challenge to be open seven days a week,” she hedges. Nonetheless, she appears to have settled in, fitting the cozy, light-filled space with a 19th-century countertop she salvaged from an old store in Newburgh. The place exudes a quaint, old-timey charm that suggests it has always has been—and always should be—part of the Rhinebeck village scene.
Breezy Hill Orchard Farm Market
54 E. Market Street, Rhinebeck
856.876.7606
Open daily, Saturday - Thursday 9 a.m. - 6 p.m.; Friday 9 a.m. - 7 p.m.
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Posted by Marilyn Bethany on 07/01/11 at 02:16 PM • Permalink
Alternative to Shopping: The 21st Century Root Cellar
by Betsy Miller
Before there were refrigerators, even before there were ice boxes, there were root cellars. Homemakers knew how to preserve their summer harvests for safe consumption in the dark of winter. And they didn’t pay a cent for energy.
Root cellars were a common part of every home. Whether free-standing, like the picturesque one above, or incorporated into the basement (below), it was once customary, in fact, necessary, to have a place to store all the produce that was harvested during the summer. It was quaintly called, “putting food by.”
These days, home owners are interested in root cellars for other reasons—to save the expense of electricity, to preserve an over-abundance of seasonal local produce, and to get back to basics. On Saturday, June 25th, there will be a Root Cellar Workshop at Hancock Shaker Village in Pittsfield, MA. Instructor Jack Kittredge will discuss the types of root cellars used in this region during past centuries, as well as those that can be easily created today. “He’ll talk about ways to make sure there is proper light, heat, cool air, and moisture,” says Danielle Steinmann, Associate Director of Interpretation and Public Programs at the Village. “Jack has taught a number of these workshops and knows how to adapt early storage techniques for contemporary homes.”
Included in the course will be ways to retro-fit a storage space for food into existing conditions. A root cellar can be created in a basement for little expense. And outdoor storage takes surprisingly little (if any) pick and shovel work—a mound of earth can keep a number of root vegetables fresh for months. By encasing these vegetables in straw or newspaper or just in loosened dirt, the root crops will be preserved all winter long. And the need for a freezer will be substantially reduced.
In recent years, there has been a resurgence of interest in energy-free ways to preserve crops. The Shakers were leaders in such innovations. Says Steinmann, “By incorporating Shaker history into this workshop, our goal is to make the connection between their values and contemporary life. They were interested in sustainability, the good use of land and responsibility to the earth. And they didn’t like to use energy unnecessary.”
The workshop includes a discussion of which vegetables lend themselves to root cellar storage, a tour of two or three of the Shaker root cellars on the grounds at Hancock Shaker Village, and a presentation by Kittredge of alternate designs that can adapt to nearly any situation. The lecturer will also discuss his own cellar, in use since 1982. Mother Earth News called it “the Cadillac of root cellars.” (Kittredge swears the magazine meant high quality—not energy guzzling).
With a root cellar, next winter, when the roads are bad, the wonderful tastes of summer will be close at hand. How great is that?
Root Cellar Workshop
Hancock Shaker Village
Pittsfield
Saturday June 25, 1 - 4 p.m.
Members/$55; non-members/$60
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Posted by Marilyn Bethany on 06/17/11 at 05:40 PM • Permalink
Don’t Shop! Save the Environment, Become a Forager
Photos below courtesy of Russ Cohen.
By Betsy Miller
Food forager Russ Cohen has a shopping list that’s a little different. This week he’ll be looking for Dame’s Rocket Flower (left), which is currently rife along the margins of fields edging wooded areas. When he finds the white or purple flowers, he’ll pick some to liven up a salad or serve as an attractive and tasty garnish. But he’s just as apt to pop a few flowers in his mouth right there. The flavor, he says, is a little bit of radish with some garlic undertones—one of his favorites. “Don’t confuse these plants with phlox,” he says. “Dame’s Rocket has four petals. Phlox has five.”
If Cohen comes across pokeweed shoots, he’ll grab those, too. By the end of his forage, his rucksack will also bulge with grape leaves for stuffing, and black locust flowers that he’ll use to make fritters. Then, if there is any room left, he’ll harvest the developing flower stalk of the burdock plant. Once it’s peeled and chopped, he’ll boil it for 5 or 6 minutes, then use it in any artichoke-heart recipe, especially “that dip with parmesan cheese, mayonnaise and breadcrumbs,” he says.
Strawberry knotweed pie (above), is a favorite of his, too. His guests like it better than the strawberry-rhubarb variety. And sulphur shelf mushrooms (basket below) are a great substitute for the breast meat of chicken. Says “chef” Cohen, “Cook at low temperature with oil, then, treat it like chicken. Make Sulpher Shelf Paprikash, Fajitas or Sulphur Shelf Tetrazzini.”
Welcome to the wonderful world of wild edibles, as lived by foraging expert Russ Cohen, left, author of Wild Plants I Have Known …and Eaten and guest speaker at the Berkshire Botanical Garden’s Field Study/Workshop on June 4th. (He also will appear at a Columbia Land Trust event at the Hawthorne Valley School that has already sold out.) The Arlington, MA resident has been wandering the highways and byways for over 40 years, “shopping” for his own food, and teaching others how. Early on, his students were hippies, seeking to live off the land. Today, would-be foragers are more likely to want to know how to find wild food so they can sell it to restaurants.
Always eager to lead folks away from the garden path, Cohen is also mindful of preserving indigenous plants and fragile species, whether they make good pasta or not. “I don’t like the fact that restaurants are paying top dollar for huge amounts of wild plants, without regard to foraging techniques,” he explains. “Selling wild edibles to chefs only makes sense if the foragers leave the roots intact for the next guy, or the next year.”
He’s less protective of invasive species, such as the aforementioned Dame’s Rocket, and promotes harvesting them as aggressively as possible, encouraging restaurateurs to join the cause. “A few years ago in Kalamazoo, MI, they had a problem with Garlic Mustard Weed,” Cohen says. “We have it, too. Somebody on the staff of Sanctuary Magazine approached local chefs and asked them to start experimenting with this plant to see what dishes they could come up with.” The results appeared in a recipe book, From Pest to Pesto. It’s now in its third printing and Garlic Mustard is less of a threat.
At home, Cohen’s freezer brims with foraged foods: stinging nettles (both raw and par-boiled), Japanese knotweed crumb cake, strawberry-knotweed pie, shortbread-knotweed squares with custard on top, and milkweed egg puff—a cross between a soufflé and an egg casserole, made from the milkweed flower bud. Then there are all kinds of nuts—shagbark hickory, black walnut, hazelnut. Recipes are included in his book. For example, here’s what he says about the giant puffball he’s holding at right. “Cut it open…., Cohen with a puffball. “Cut it open, and it should be chalk white inside. Then, cut into 1/2” slices, dip in beaten egg, then breadcrumbs, and fry in butter or olive oil. Presto! Pan-fried puffball steak.”
The only drawback to foraging is the time it takes. “Shoppers” need to clear a few hours in their schedules to tread through fields and woods, harvest fresh cuttings, roots and mushrooms, then, once back in the kitchen, clean and prepare them for cooking. If this is a sacrifice, the results are worth it. As Cohen says, “There is a sensuality about wild edibles. They connect the outdoors to the taste buds.” Somehow, that’s not an image that leaps to mind when shopping in a supermarket.
Berkshire Botanical Garden
Lenox, MA
Saturday, June 4;
1 – 5 p.m.
Members/$35, non-members/$42
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Posted by Marilyn Bethany on 05/23/11 at 09:10 AM • Permalink
The Return of the Farmers’ Markets 2011
Across our region, dozens the major farmers’ markets are back in business for the season. What might you find this weekend? Various lettuces, spring mix, mesclun, arugula, kale, chard, broccoli rabe, asparagus, rhubarb, peas, mushrooms, spring garlic and herbs. You can also shop for milk, cheese, poultry, meat, fish, honey, maple syrup, wine, flowers, bread, pickles, jams, pies. There will also be lots of bedding plants for your garden and cut flowers, including lilacs.
Adams Farmers Market
60 Columbia Street (Rte. 8)
June 24 - October 14
Fridays noon - 6 p.m.
Amenia Farmers’ Market
Route 22
May 20 - fall
Fridays 3 - 7 p.m.
Chatham Farmers’ Market
15 Church Street (Route 203)
June 3 - October 14
Fridays 4 - 7 p.m.
Clermont Country Farmers Market
1820 Route 9
May 28 - October 8
Saturdays 10 a.m. - 5 p.m.
Copake Farmer’s Market
Church Street Town Center Parking Lot
June 11 - October 22
Second and fourth Saturdays 9 a.m. - 1 p.m.
Cornwall Farm Market
Center of West Cornwall just up from the Covered Bridge
mid- May - late October
Saturdays 9 a.m. - 12:30 p.m.
Great Barrington Farmers’ Market
At the historic train station behind Town Hall.
May 7 - October 29
Saturdays: 9 a.m. - 1 p.m.
Great Barrington Farmers’ Market at the Nutrition Center
94 West Avenue
June 1 - August 31
Wednesdays 3 - 6 p.m.
Great Barrington Farmers’ Market at the CHP
442 Stockbridge Road
June 2 - September 1
Thursdays 4 - 7 p.m.
Hillsdale Farmers’ Market
Town Park behind Town Hall (Routes 22 & 23)
May 28 - October 1
First and third Saturdays plus July 30 9 a.m. - noon
Hudson Farmers’ Market
6th and Columbia Streets
May 7 - November 19
Saturdays 9 a.m. - 1 p.m.
Hyde Park Farmers Market
Town Hall Parking Lot, Route 9
June 20 - September
Saturdays 9 a.m. - 2 p.m.
Kent Farmers’ Market
Kent Green
May - October
Saturdays 9 a.m. - noon
Kinderhook Farmer’s Market
7 Hudson Street (Village Green at Route 9)
June 11 - October 8
Saturdays 8 a.m. - 12:30 p.m.
LaGrangeville Farmers Market
M & T Bank Plaza
June 20 - September
Saturdays 9 a.m. - 2 p.m.
Lanesboro Farmers’ Market
Old State Road/Berkshire Mall parking lot, Lanesborough
May 1 - November 6
Wednesdays & Saturdays 8 a.m. - 2 p.m.
Lebanon Valley Farmers Market
Town Center, Rtes 20 & 22
May 29 - October 16
Sundays 10 a.m. - 2 p.m.
Lenox Farmers’ Market
Shakespeare & Co., 70 Kemble Road
May 13 - October 14
Fridays: 1 - 5 p.m.
Litchfield Hills Farm-Fresh Market
Community Center, 421 Route 202
June 11 - late October
Saturdays 10 a.m. - 1 p.m.
Millbrook Farmers’ Market
Front Street & Franklin Ave
May 28 - October
Saturdays 9 a.m. - 1 p.m.
Millerton Farmers’ Market
Main Street & Dutchess Avenue
May 28 - October 29
Saturdays: 9 a.m. - 1 p.m.
Norfolk Farmers’ Market
Town Hall, 19 Maple Avenue
May 21 - October 15
Saturdays: 10 a.m. - 1 p.m.
North Adams Farmers’ Market
Municipal Parking Lot, St. Anthony Drive, between Marshall and Holden
July 9 - October 8
Saturdays 8 a.m. - 12:30 p.m.
Otis Farmers Market
Parking lot Papa’s Healthy Food & Fuel
May 7 - October 8
Saturdays 9 a.m. - 1 p.m.
Pawling Farmers’ Market
Charles Coleman Boulevard
July 9 - September 24
Saturdays, 9 a.m. - noon
Philmont Farmers’ Market
June 5 - October 10
Sundays, 10 a.m. - 1 p.m.
Pine Plains Farmers’ Market
Rte 199 behind Stissing House
May 28 - September 24
Saturdays 9 a.m. - 1 p.m.
Pittsfield Farmers’ Market
Park Square Bank Row
May 28 - October 22
Saturdays 9 - 2 p.m.
Pittsfield Farmers’ Market at the Senior Center
June 9 - October 20
Thursdays 3 - 7 p.m.
Rhinebeck Farmers’ Market
Municipal Parking Lot, East Market Street
May 8 - Thanksgiving
Sundays 10 a.m. - 2 p.m.
Sheffield Farmers’ Market
Old Parish Church parking lot
May 27 - September 2
Fridays 3 - 7 p.m.
Stuyvesant Farmers’ Market
Railroad Station at Riverview Street
May 6 - September 23
Fridays: 4 - 7 p.m.
Thomaston Farmers Market
Seth Thomas Park, 100 South Main Street (Route 6)
July to October
Thursdays 2:30 p.m. 6 p.m.
Torrington Farmers Market
Staples Plaza, 100 South Main Street
June - October
Tuesdays 3 - 6 p.m., Saturdays 10 a.m. - 1 p.m.
Watertown Farmers Market
Watertown Public Library, 470 Main Street
mid-July - mid-October
Saturdays 9 a.m. - 1 p.m.
Williamstown Farmers Market
South end of Spring Street
May 28 - October 29
Saturdays 8:30 a.m. - 12:30 p.m.
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Posted by Dan Shaw on 05/15/11 at 02:21 PM • Permalink
The Passionate Farmer Behind Paley’s Farm Market
Charlie Paley is a fourth generation farmer who knows that the locavore movement in our region depends—ironically— on out-of-towners. “I can tell when the train has arrived at the Wassaic station,” he says cheerfully as he stand outside of Paley’s Farm Market on Route 343 on the Amenia/Sharon border. “We get a spike in business about ten minutes after every train comes in, especially on Fridays. More and more, we get customers from New York City who stop here on their way up to the Berkshires.” 
Although it appears from the road to be primarily a garden center, the farm market is the heart and soul of Paley’s business. “We grow heirloom tomatoes, all types of specialty potatoes, sweet corn, green beans, cucumbers, squashes and cut flowers,” he says as he offers a tour of his meticulous greenhouses filled with lush annuals and tender herbs and lettuces. What Paley can’t grow himself he purchases from other regional farms. “I do a lot of business with Migliorelli, the Farm at Miller’s Crossing and Sky Farm,” says Paley, whose family used to have a dairy farm up the road. He started growing sweet corn on his own as a teenager and selling it from a stand in the heart of Sharon. In the summer, he’s the local go-to source for regionally-grown stone fruit and berries. “People don’t realize how much fruit is grown in the Hudson Valley. I have good relationships with many farmers over there. The peaches were especially great last year,” he says. “I also go to a farmers’ exchange in Albany every Friday in the summer for vegetables that we don’t grow and to support those upstate family farms that are struggling. For blueberries, I have some great sources in the hill towns of Massachusetts.”
Paley allows that a being profit-minded locavore is tough at times. “Some people think we’re expensive, but I don’t think you can find better quality anywhere,” he says, noting that he’d prefer to be a purist “but sometimes I have to sell imported berries because I have customers who want their strawberries whether they’re in season or not.” There are plenty of delicious local reasons to shop at his market besides produce: cheese (from Coach Farm and Old Chatham Sheepherding), yogurt (Ronnybrook), smoked meats (Nodine’s) ice cream (SoCo Creamery), milk (Hudson Valley Fresh), and bread (Rock Hill Bakehouse and Bread Alone.) “We’re adding many new cheeses from small producers in Vermont, and we get the best mozzarella and soppressata from Brooklyn. In the summer, we sell three hundred pounds of mozzarella a week. You’ve got to have mozzarella when you sell tomatoes and basil!”
Does he see the increasing number of farmers’ markets and CSAs as competition? “Not at all,” he says. “It raises the bar, and the farmers’ markets are only in business for a few hours and we are here seven days a week. And I think if you care about local agriculture, the best thing in the world you can do is to join a CSA.” Though Fridays and Saturdays are always the busiest days at the market from now until Columbus Day, Sundays are nearly as bustling. “We have a lot of customers who stop to buy plants and produce to take back to the city,” he says.
Paley’s Farm Market and Garden Center
Route 343, Sharon, CT; 860.364.0674
Daily: 8 a.m. - 6 p.m.
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Posted by Dan Shaw on 05/11/11 at 05:10 PM • Permalink
A Royal Opportunity for Harney Tea
The Harney family is living proof that you can create and grow a global business from our neck of the woods. The Salisbury-based clan who run their tea empire from headquarters in Millerton have developed some royal connections, blending special teas for Historic Royal Palaces, the independent charity that looks after the Tower of London, Hampton Court Palace, the Banqueting House, Kensington Palace and Kew Palace. Their newest tea in this line (which is sold at the aforementioned historic sites’ gift shops) is the Royal Wedding Tea ($12 for 30 sachets) that the Harneys describe as “Chinese mutan white tea buds, with almond, coconut and vanilla to taste, and a floral abundance of pink rosebuds and petals.” It joins other royal teas such as the Tower of London blend (Chinese black tea with honey flavor) and Palace Garden Chamomille (which has a hint of green apple.)
“We got the Royal Wedding tea ready just in time!” says Brigitte Harney, who manages the Millerton tasting room with her son Alex. Meanwhile, her son Emeric (right) is managing the big SoHo shop that the family opened last November on Broome Street in New York City. “Rob Bristow and Pilar Proffitt of Lakeville helped us with the design,” says Brigitte. “It’s very beautiful. It’s so much larger than our Millerton store that it feels more like a gallery than a shop. We’re going to make it a little more cozy.”
13 Main Street, Millerton, NY; 518.789.2121
Monday - Saturday 10 a.m. - 5 p.m.
Sunday 11 a.m. - 4 p.m.
433 Broome Street, NYC; 212.933.4853
Monday - Saturday 10 a.m. - 7 p.m.
Sunday 11 a.m. - 7 p.m.
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Posted by Dan Shaw on 04/20/11 at 03:42 PM • Permalink
A Deli in Disguise: The Great Barrington Bagel Co.
Judy and Marvin Lieberman at the Great Barrington Bagel Co.
Who knew?
If the Great Barrington Bagel Co. had hard salamis hanging from the ceiling over the counter, it would be immediately apparent that it’s more than a bakery selling sandwiches and flavored cream cheeses. But it wasn’t until I saw a sign posted for the Passover Menu—gefilte fish , charoset, tzimmes, chopped liver, brisket and macaroons—that I understood that this was a delicatessen for the diaspora—a soul kitchen. (Passover begins on the evening of April 17, and orders must be placed in advance.).
When Judy and Marvin Lieberman moved up to Great Barrington from Westchester County 17 years ago, they’d become fed up with their careers in the New York advertising world and they wanted to do something more authentic. “Marvin wanted to open a restaurant—he’s a real foodie—so we compromised on a bagel shop,” says Judy. They considered buying a franchise (like Einstein Bros. Bagels) but none of the chain bagels were as good as the bagels they remembered from growing up. “So we hired a bagel consultant,” says Marvin.
They spent six months learning how to make bagels the traditional way—boiling before baking. They learned how to balance the kitchen temperature depending on the season so the dough would rise consistently for bagels that are chewy and dense with flavor. “What the chains make are really rolls, not bagels,” says Marvin. As creative ad types, they have naturally given cute names to some of their original bagels, which are all based on traditional favorites: The “Black Russian” is a pumpernickel bagel with sesame seeds and onion; the “Blizzard” is an everything bagel with toppings on the inside, too; the “Sunnyside Up” is an everything egg bagel.
To paraphrase the old Levy’s rye bread ad, you don’t have to be Jewish to love the Great Barrington Bagel Co. or its homemade chicken soup with matzoh balls, noodles, carrots and dill. A quart ($8.50) comes with a label that reads: “The Medicinal Miracle of Jewish Cooking. Referred to by most physicians as . . . JEWISH PENICILLIN.” It’s tongue in cheek, of course, but the soup is extraordinary, a clear taste of bygone Bronx and Brooklyn dinner tables. The Liebermans are perfectly serious about their Bagel Bones, which are snacks for dogs, and their Bagel Dog, which is a Hebrew National frankfurter wrapped in bagel dough ($3.60).
There’s nothing orthodox (or kosher) about the Great Barrington Bagel Co. “Two of our summer staples are gazpacho and lobster rolls,” says Judy. “We make our lobster roll [$14.95] exactly like they do at Lunch in Amagansett. And we sell out every day in the summer. They are very popular for day-after-the-wedding brunches.” The Liebermans do a lot of catering—big platters of smoked fish and chopped liver (traditional and vegetarian) for bar mitzvahs, oneg shabbats, family reunions, and funerals. They import knishes, black-and-white cookies, and babka from New York, but they make their strudel-like rugulah in house. “You can thank my Aunt Sadie for the recipe,” says Judy.
So what does a bagel shop do during Passover when observant Jews do not eat leavened bread? “We offer matzoh with our soups and salads,” says Judy. “But our business is very diverse and we stay very busy.” Indeed, the shop is open 364 days a year. “We’re only closed Christmas Day.” Though their business goes haywire in the summer, they are pleased that they are a business where locals and tourists can eat in harmony (and pick up a copy of The New York Times.). Says Marvin: “We always wanted this to be a melting pot.”
Great Barrington Bagel Co.
777 South Main Street; 413.528.9055
Monday - Friday 7 a.m. - 4 p.m.
Saturday 7 a.m. - 4:30 p.m.
Sunday 7:30 a.m - 4 p.m
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Posted by Dan Shaw on 04/06/11 at 08:02 AM • Permalink
Hudson’s First Indoor Market: It Might As Well Be Spring
It may take more than one swallow to make a spring, but one farmer’s market seemed to do the trick for Hudsonites on Saturday, March 5. It felt as if the entire town had turned out to celebrate this first-ever Indoor Spring Market held in the fellowship hall at Christ Church Episcopal on Union Street between 4th and 5th. In early January co-organizers Marilyn Cederoth and Chris Jones broached the topic with the Reverend John Perry, hoping he would agree to provide an indoor space for their market. Turns out, he and the church deacons were only too delighted to comply, citing as precedent the fact that historically churches the world over doubled as indoor markets. The Hudson Indoor Spring Market will continue every Saturday through April from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. The outdoor Hudson Farmers Market resumes in early May.
Kate Swift and market-co-organizer Marilyn Cederoth, both of Cedar Farm Cut Flowers in Ghent, with about-to-bloom potted bulbs, bay wreaths, blooming branches, and fresh-cut anemones and hyacinth; market co-organizer Chris Jones of The Red Barn in Ghent with her winning display of signature prepared foods, including Wicked Good Potato Chips.
Paul Pitman and Maria Crespo of Asia Luna make their essential-oil-based soaps and body scrubs at home in Philmont; Sue Decker of Blue Star Farm in Stuyvesant had spicy mixed greens, sprouts, cresses, bottled sauces (i.e., Tomato-Vodka for pasta) and relishes.
Shopper Erin Goldman of Hudson perusing Berkshire Mountain Bakery‘s pains au chocolates, baguettes, rolls, grainy breads and croissants; Dominique DeVito with a selection of Hudson-Chatham Winery‘s dry whites, reds, sparking white, hard cider and dessert wines.
Monica Jerminario of Tierra Farm in Valatie, roasters of nuts and fair trade coffees; Heather Kitchen and Robert Kitchen of Pigasso Farm in Copake, brought pasture-raised pork, lamb, chicken, and beef, plus breakfast sausage and fresh eggs.
Amy Brown, a partner in Red Oak Farm in Stuyvesant with dried herbs, teas and winter vegetables, promises to have certified organic micro-greens next week; Dale Berlin and Jake Samascott were selling Kinderhook’s Samascott Orchards’ cider, apples, baked goods and cider donuts.
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Posted by Marilyn Bethany on 03/05/11 at 10:44 AM • Permalink
