Food

Discover the best food, farms, and dining in the Hudson Valley, Berkshires, and Litchfield Hills. Rural Intelligence shares local restaurant reviews, seasonal recipes, and stories celebrating regional flavor.

Food

AgriCulture: Indigestable Science News and the Comestible Beet

Peter Davies and Mark Scherzer are the owners of Turkana Farms in Germantown, NY. This week Mark writes: The news this week was certainly difficult to digest. A Stanford University climate study was reported to have concluded that heat waves like the one we had in early July will by

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Food

West Taghkanic Diner

Warm, welcoming, familiar, and reliable

By Lisa Green

Food

AgriCulture: Cassis-Making Season at Maison Turkana

Peter Davies and Mark Scherzer are the owners of Turkana Farms in Germantown, NY. This week Peter writes: While last week Mark discussed the pains of farming in a dry season, I am going to describe one of its rare pleasures, a wet one at that, as Turkana Farms starts

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Food

Stockbridge Sangria from the Red Lion Inn

You don't have to be staying at the historic Red Lion Inn to have cocktails beneath an umbrella table in its tranquil pebbled courtyard. The house drink of the summer is "Stockbridge Sangria," which is the creation of The Red Lion Inn’s Sommelier, Dan Thomas,

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Food

Our Incredible Shrinking Pond and Other Alarming Signs

Peter Davies and Mark Scherzer are the owners of Turkana Farms in Germantown, NY. This week Mark writes: It's Too Damned Hot! Cole Porter got that part right. It's also too damned dry. I feel like a contrarian, but looking at the weather forecast and seeing

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Food

The Making of The Millerton Farmer's Market

It takes more than a handful of sunburned farmers with bushel baskets of just-picked vegetables to make a compelling farmers' market. "It takes fruit, too!" says Jenny Hansell, who oversees the five-year-old Millerton Farmers' Market (Saturdays 9 a.m. - 1 p.m.). She is—and

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Food

AgriCulture: Beware the Downey Mildew Basil Blight

Peter Davies and Mark Scherzer are the owners of Turkana Farms in Germantown, NY. This week Peter writes: Just the other day I was looking on the bright side of the rather dry, hot spring we have been having here in Columbia County. At least, I thought, these weather conditions

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Food

Seize-the-Day Strawberry Shortcake

After my our annual strawberry picking at Ioka Valley Farm, our favorite feast is strawberry shortcake — warm, dense biscuits topped with juicy ripe berries and fresh whipped local cream from High Lawn Farm. I sometimes plan ahead, making biscuits before we pick, then storing them, uncooked, in the freezer on

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Food

AgriCulture: No, We Are Not The Fabulous Beekman Boys

Peter Davies and Mark Scherzer are the owners of Turkana Farms in Germantown, NY. This week Mark writes: ...but our chickens are very tasty. It started around three weeks ago, when Ronda Goldfein, a lawyer friend in Philadelphia, hearing from me on a decidedly non-agricultural matter, responded by telling me

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Food

Hudson Caterer Marianna Vadukul to Appear on Bobby Flay

"I met Nitin on his first day in New York," says Marianna Vadukul, of her husband, the photographer Nitin Vadukul. At the time, Marianna, the daughter of a Venezuelan diplomat, had not long been in the States herself. In due course, the couple married, and Marianna found herself

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Food

AgriCulture: The Ancient Lore and Allure of the Fava

Peter Davies and Mark Scherzer are the owners of Turkana Farms in Germantown, NY. This week Peter writes: It’s spring, folks—time to Fava! Our favas have suddenly burst into full production, presenting us with one of the best crops of these quirky beans we have had yet. Some

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Food

Guido's Chèvre Cheesecake

Jim Gop, the in-house chef at Guido's Fresh Marketplace, has come up with a dessert that takes full advantage of the season and local bounty. "Goat's cheese is never better than at this time of year," he says. "Soft, slightly chalky with a

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