The locavore's dilemma

The more I think about what I want the focus of this blog to be, the more I think about what it really means to eat local. At first, I wanted the majority of my posts to be simple reports about the local food available to my fellow Montanans and profiles of the people that supply this food to us while slowly switching my own diet to concentrate on local foods. Yet the more I think about how to switch to a mainly local diet, the more I realize how difficult it can be up here, especially trying to begin this new habit a few weeks before the winter solstice. Simply put, we live in a pretty desolate environment six months out of each year.

I’m currently reading a book about a woman who lives in Brooklyn who only ate food grown (or harvested) within 250 miles from her home. Two hundred fifty miles from Brooklyn will get you fresh lobster and maple syrup. Two hundred fifty miles from Missoula will get you Havre. No offense to Havre but it’s not a place I would go to satisfy my craving for shellfish. 

                                                                                   

So what are we locavores to do in Montana? How do we subsist mainly on a diet of locally grown food when little is growing here? So from now on, in addition to celebrating all those wonderfully hardworking creative people who strive to bring us great local food and drink, I am going to strive to find ways to sustain a local diet and share those ways with anyone who wants to try to do the same

Amaltheia Organic Dairy

Amaltheia Organic Dairy gets its name from the goat that nursed the infant Zeus in Greek mythology. Maybe if the king of the gods had continued to eat Almatheia’s cheese into his adult years, he wouldn’t have been such a temperamental old fart.

                                                                            

Chevre, the French name for goat cheese, is one of my favorite cheeses. It’s extremely versatile and can be used as both a topping on pizza or Bruschetta or melted within a tart. It has a distinctly sharp taste that adds a zing of flavor to anything it’s paired with. Plus it’s lower in fat than cow’s milk cheese. So I was thrilled to find out that I could get tasty local Chevre from Amaltheia Dairy in Belgrade.

Sue and Mel Brown began their goat farm in 2000 and have been making cheese since 2002. Currently they milk about 280 goats which can produce 150 gallons of milk each day.  Five pounds of goat’s milk will yield one pound of cheese. Herbs and seasonings are then added to produce flavors like spiced pepper, Perigord black truffle and sun-dried tomato. The Browns use locally grown and organic herbs whenever possible and vegetarian-friendly rennet only. When asked why they do this, Sue’s reply was “we believe that goat milk products are perfect foods for the body. We also believe that farmers can work organically to supply food to the people in a sustainable way, utilizing all by-products and enhancing, not destroying the land. Our goats and pigs are happy, healthy and thriving.”

I purchased a container of Amaltheia’s roasted garlic and chive Chevre from the Good Foods store in Missoula and used it in roasted butternut squash crepes. You can find the recipe in the Recipes section of my blog. I must say it was a fantastic combination. The somewhat sweet crepes melded well with the tart cheese and roasted squash. Simple high-quality ingredients always create a satisfying meal.

Visit Amaltheia’s website at http://www.amaltheiadairy.com/ to order their all their products and to find a local store or restaurant near you that supplies or uses their Chevre.

Winter Survival

You may be asking, “Who in their right mind would start a blog about locally grown food in Montana on the cusp of winter?” That would be me…the one with my hand raised. But actually I think it’s a perfect time. We Montanans spend at least six months of each year in the cold clutches of old man winter and I for one want need some help surviving him without my beloved farmer’s market. So here are some tips I put together to help you to continue to savor local food through our infamous Montana winters.

                                                                                                                                  

1)      Create your own freezer section.

Freezing is a great way to preserve several kinds of fruits and vegetables. With the knowledge of a few simple techniques on how to freeze properly, you can look forward to several months of preserved local produce. Fruits and vegetables are best frozen in pieces and several kinds need to be blanched or slightly cooked first. I’ve also had success with freezing fresh herbs. Just be sure to spread them out on a flat surface when you first freeze them, then place them in freezer bags. I’ve also chopped up fresh herbs and frozen the pieces in water in ice cube trays. You then have cubes ready to throw into a bubbling soup or stew to add flavor. I’ve found the website, http://www.helpwithcooking.com/ to be a great resource for step by step instructions on how to freeze all sorts of food. Of course, canning and pickling are also good ways to preserve food but I know absolutely nothing about these techniques. If anyone would like to offer up some advice, I’d love to hear it.

2)      Eat out.

This is probably my favorite tip. Restaurants have increased access to local food and better ways to store it than the average individual. That means many local restaurants like Biga Pizza and The Red Bird can make it a point to keep local food on their menus throughout the year. Take a drive down to Hamilton and experience uber-local food at Sleeping Child Farms, the only Farm to Table restaurant in Montana, which means they grow the food used in the restaurant on the premises.

3)      Expand your thinking from just locally grown food to locally produced food.

Honey from Victor, olive oil from Bozeman, pasta from Polson, bread from Missoula, eggs from Cascade. Local food doesn’t have to mean only fresh produce you just bought from the cute little man I recently bought cucumbers from at the farmer’s market. Many Montana producers create wonderful products that can be enjoyed all winter long and most of them strive to use local ingredients in the process. The Good Food store has a great local food section and a nifty handout that lists all the Montana-made food on their shelves.

4)      Drink up.

Ok, this might be my favorite tip. When it comes to local, don’t forget the beer…or the wine…or the liquor. We are fortunate in Montana to have some of the best microbreweries in the country. Wineries and, more recently, distilleries are sprouting up in many areas. These folks not only make a tasty product but the majority of them include locally grown grains and fruits in the process. Nothing gets me through a dreary, damp Montana winter day like a pint of Cold Smoke from Missoula’s Kettlehouse or a hot buttered rum using rum from Whistling Andy’s in BigFork. 

Those are my tips. If you have some of your own you’d like to share I’d love to hear from you.