This Is Too Easy

While recently doing research on a local farm, I came across the website www.eatwellguide.org.  This free online database helps you to find "local, sustainable, and organic food" in your own town or in an area you'll be traveling to.  The site lists family farms, grocery stores, restaurants and CSA's to help you in your effort to support local food.  It has a nifty travel guide and also a seasonal food guide that tells you what foods are in season in your area each month. Of course, nothing was listed for this time of year in Montana but soon, very soon! You can also become a member of the site and enjoy members-only benefits.  I'm not sure what those are yet but I'll look into it and let you know soon. In the meantime, check out this great site or use the link on my blog to start finding all things local.

A Perfect Example

While sitting at the counter at Biga Pizza the other night, stuffing our faces with our two favorite selections on their menu, Flathead Cherry and Sweet Potato Bacon, we were told a lovely tale by one of the chefs.  My question to him came about because this is April and Flathead cherries are in season during the summer months.  I was in awe of how, almost a year after the very cherries I was gorging on were picked from the tree, they could possibly taste so good.  His answer made me smile and think what a perfect example it is of local farmers, food producers and chefs work together to bring us Montanans this plate of pure bliss.  Here's how it works. 

Biga buys Flathead cherries from the growers late in the season and stores them in a seriously deep freeze at their friends' store, Big Dipper Ice Cream.  Then when they are ready to use the cherries, they make a chutney out of them which results in an almost candy-like concoction.  Mix that with a little sausage, gouda and Biga's tasty crust and you have one mighty fine pizza.  It all works so perfectly because the cherry growers are able to sell (and not waste) the remainder of their crops when the market for fresh cherries is winding down, Biga sells Big Dipper ice cream in their restaurant and Biga has a widely popular variety of pizza to add to their menu.  Everybody wins. 

Plus, now I cannot WAIT for cherry season!

Benefit #1 Taste, Taste, Taste

Now that I've blogged several times about a particular local food or drink, I wanted to begin to explore the question, "Why Local?".  I know that eating locally grown or produced foods gives me a warm and fuzzy feeling but besides that what are the actual benefits of doing so? Over the next several weeks, I'll figure this out and share my findings.

Benefit #1. Local (and seasonal) food tastes better.
The other day I attempted to eat a cherry tomato from some tropical location way south of Montana and I literally had to spit it out. My thoughts drifted back to those big beautiful heirloom tomatoes I got at the farmer's market last summer that I was happy to eat like an apple.  My entire life I thought I didn't care much for tomatoes then I had one of these beauties and realized I just didn't care for store-bought, pre-packaged, long distance tomatoes.  The superior taste stems from a few causes.

First, once a tomato or pear is picked or an egg is laid, the clock starts ticking. The longer it takes for the item to get from its source to your mouth, the more it will loose taste because of its age.  So if you're eating an orange from Florida that had to be shipped to Montana, you're not getting the full flavor as opposed to an apple that has been grown in the Bitterroot and picked within the last few days or even hours.  This is true not just for produce but cheese, eggs and sauces. 

Second, the giant mass-producing farms that provide Montanans blueberries in February have to grow varieties that have a long shelf-life which may not be the best varieties when it comes to taste.  Local growers can pick and choose what they grow based on how good they taste, not on how long they last.