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Time for farmstead honey and other market offerings
7/9/2009 10:16pm by Leslie Cooperband or Wes Jarrell
This week I had the priviledge of extracting the first of our farm's 2009 honey with our bee keepers, Emil and Melvin Blobaum. It was a simple, sticky and delicious affair. First, we took the comb and cut the wax cap off using a hot double bladed knife designed especially for this purpose. This was my job, along with Emil's son Paul who was visiting from the Chicago area to help out his dad and uncle. The benefits of this job were that you could take the cut wax and suck out the remaining slightly warmed honey--a truly exquisite experience. Next, Emil placed the uncapped combs in the honey extractor--a low speed centrifuge, essentially. The centrifuge spins for 30 seconds, then you flip the comb over to extract/spin the other side for another 30 seconds. The honey extracted in the centrifuge is collected in a bucket at the base. This honey is then strained through cheesecloth to collect any remaining pieces of wax. The honey is never heated to retain its full nutritional and health benefits.
I am happy to report that this year's early season honey is as clear,floral and delicate as it has been in past years. We will have some of this honey available for you to purchase at the farmers' markets this weekend in both 8 and 16 oz. jars.
Farmers' Market Offerings
This week we are attending THREE Farmers' Markets: Urbana, Green City Market and Oak Park. We will be bringing the following cheeses:
Little Bloom on the Prairie--on sale again this weekend; it tastes really great but has a bit of blue on the rind--love this cheese for its inner core!
Angel Food--nice and gooey
Red Dawn--a mold ripened cheese coated in smoked paprika--great to serve along size your barbeque fare.
Krotovina-half sheep & half goat separated by an ash layer
Ewe Bloom--our soft ripened sheep milk cheese
Roxanne-our raw sheep milk brebis style cheese with a subtle tang and creamy mouth feel.
AND Last but NOT least--our fresh as it comes chevre, available in plain, herbs de Provence blend and cracked peppercorn blend.
We will be sending a few pints of black currants to the Green City Market, so if you love to make black currant jam or juice them for a summer afternoon cocktail, get them while the limited supply lasts. These berries are loaded with anthocyanins--purported to prevent cancer among other health benefits. They are tart, but a some honey or raw sugar can clear that up, no problem.
Farm Dinners
This Saturday, we welcome Paul Virant, from Vie Restaurant in Western Springs into our farmstead kitchen. He will be cooking up an ode to the heritage pig feast. Check out the menu on our website under "Dinners on the Farm" "Buy Dinners," then click on July 11th "The Whole Hog." The dinner is sold out, and we are praying to the rain gods to hold off for awhile. Central Illinois has had enough rain these past few days, thank you very much. The corn around us is growing practically a foot per day (or so it seems), but we really would love to be able to dine outside with our guests on Saturday, July 11th. No worries if the rain gods ignore me--we have a beautiful backup space for the dinner.
Happy Local Food Eating!!
I am happy to report that this year's early season honey is as clear,floral and delicate as it has been in past years. We will have some of this honey available for you to purchase at the farmers' markets this weekend in both 8 and 16 oz. jars.
Farmers' Market Offerings
This week we are attending THREE Farmers' Markets: Urbana, Green City Market and Oak Park. We will be bringing the following cheeses:
Little Bloom on the Prairie--on sale again this weekend; it tastes really great but has a bit of blue on the rind--love this cheese for its inner core!
Angel Food--nice and gooey
Red Dawn--a mold ripened cheese coated in smoked paprika--great to serve along size your barbeque fare.
Krotovina-half sheep & half goat separated by an ash layer
Ewe Bloom--our soft ripened sheep milk cheese
Roxanne-our raw sheep milk brebis style cheese with a subtle tang and creamy mouth feel.
AND Last but NOT least--our fresh as it comes chevre, available in plain, herbs de Provence blend and cracked peppercorn blend.
We will be sending a few pints of black currants to the Green City Market, so if you love to make black currant jam or juice them for a summer afternoon cocktail, get them while the limited supply lasts. These berries are loaded with anthocyanins--purported to prevent cancer among other health benefits. They are tart, but a some honey or raw sugar can clear that up, no problem.
Farm Dinners
This Saturday, we welcome Paul Virant, from Vie Restaurant in Western Springs into our farmstead kitchen. He will be cooking up an ode to the heritage pig feast. Check out the menu on our website under "Dinners on the Farm" "Buy Dinners," then click on July 11th "The Whole Hog." The dinner is sold out, and we are praying to the rain gods to hold off for awhile. Central Illinois has had enough rain these past few days, thank you very much. The corn around us is growing practically a foot per day (or so it seems), but we really would love to be able to dine outside with our guests on Saturday, July 11th. No worries if the rain gods ignore me--we have a beautiful backup space for the dinner.
Happy Local Food Eating!!
I'll keep an eye open for your products.