Specialty Foods

My husband and I recently discovered Holly’s Oatmeal and have been eating it for breakfast ever since!  This oatmeal is chock full of protein and fibers and has no saturated fat, no added sugar, no cholesterol, no sodium and no transfat.  And, best of all, it TASTES GREAT!   Some days we prefer the Goji Berry flavor, and some days we want the Cranberry Almond variety.  As recommended by Holly, we cook it in soy milk.  (Try the vanilla soy for a nice change.)  We like to try a number of toppings with it, too - fresh, local fruits, honey, cinnamon, bananas, etc.  We always look forward to having it in the morning.

Holly also makes a gluten-free oatmeal.

Holly’s Oatmeal is available for purchase online at:  www.hollysoatmeal.com .

Holly’s Oatmeal
241 Northside Dr.
Torrington, CT 06790
E-mail:info@hollysoatmeal.com
Phone: 1.860.618.0090

The Oxbow Market in Napa is now open!  I stopped by there last week and was thrilled to find such a broad array of vendors.   Take a look at the list of merchants:

Annette’s Chocolate Factory
The Fatted Calf
Fete
Five Dot Ranch
Folio enoteca & Winery
Heritage Culinary Artifacts
Kanaloa Seafood
Kitchen Library
The Model Bakery
The Olive Press
The Oxbow Cheese Merchant
Oxbow Wine Merchant & Wine Bar
Pica Pica Maize Kitchen
Ritual Coffee roasters
Rotisario
Taylor’s Automatic Refresher
Three Twins Organic Ice Cream
The Tillerman Tea Company
Whole Spice Company

In addition, there is a farmers market going on everyday there outside with 10 farmstands selling fresh, local, seasonal produce. 

A trip to Oxbow Market is a real treat. While there, stop by for a tour of the edible gardens at Copia.   

 The Oxbow Market is located next to Copia on First Street in Napa. 

I recently visited friends in London for a culinary weekend.  One of my main goals was to visit Borough Market, London’s oldest food market. 

After a great breakfast at Brindisa, a nearby Spanish cafe, we found the market to be buzzing with people.   And the vendors - what a wonderful mixture of produce farmers (many providing organic products), artisan cheese producers, honey producers, ethnic food vendors, bakers, butchers, seafood vendors and artisan chocolate makers.  There was a huge assortment of fresh, local, seasonal produce, fresh eggs, butter and cheeses, breads and baked good.  There were also gorgeous towels and cards (with food themes) by artist Richard Bramble.  The market itself was quite large and it was surrounded by gourmet specialty shops, too - just about anything you could want. 

Borough Market is conveniently located near London Bridge Station.  Be sure to visit stunning Southwark Cathedral next door, too.  

We also visited Marylebone’s Sunday morning market, which opened in London in 2003.  This market was smaller than Borough Market, but filled with local farmers and vendors who come from within 100 miles of London.   The vendors there must sell, grow or make everything they sell.  There were produce farmers, wild game vendors, cheese producers, bread vendors, poultry and egg stands, butchers, sausage makers and wine makers.  There was a nice variety of fresh vegetables, meats, honey, dairy products and prepared foods.  And the apples there were delicious - crisp and sweet with just a touch of tartness! 

Marylebone Market, which is open on Sundays only from 10am-2pm, is located just off Marylebone High Street, W1, near Baker Street or Bond Street tube stations.

For additional information on London’s farmers markets, click here. 

The truffle was referred to by French gastronome, Brillat-Savarin, as “the diamond of the kitchen”.  It is hard to find, coveted, very expensive and totally unique in flavor.

But what exactly is a truffle? Technically speaking, it is, “Subterranean, edible ascomycetous fungi of the genus Tuber. Found anywhere from 2 to 15 inches below the ground, usually in a circular formation about 4 to 5 feet from the base of an oak tree.”

Truffles are normally black (although there are some light-colored truffles that are called “white” truffles, as well), roughly round in shape and have a musky, mushroomy, damp forest aroma. In the mouth, a thin slice of truffle feels crunchy and soft at the same time and has a wonderful, unique, earthy flavor. Truffles are said to have aphrodisiac qualities.

In the past, pigs were used to find these truffles. However, the pigs had a real liking for the truffle and wanted to eat it themselves. (Ever tried to take a truffle away from a pig? I can’t imagine that it would be a fun experience.) Nowadays, dogs are primarily used to find truffles. A dog has to be trained, sometimes for years, to detect the scent of a truffle in the soil and to dig in that particular location.

There are several varieties of truffles out there. Our favorite is the Black Perigord truffle (tuber melanosporum) found in Provence between mid-November and mid-February.

Black Perigord Truffle (tuber melanosporum)
To me, this is the king of the truffle. This truffle is very dark in color and extremely fragrant. It is found primarily in the Provence region of France and is harvested between mid-November and mid-February.

Brumale Truffle (tuber brumale)
This truffle is normally harvested on some of the same sites as the melanosporum truffle, but is quite inferior to the melanosporum in flavor. It is lighter in color and in fragrance than the melanosporum and is heavily marbled with white inside. It is also harvested between mid-November and mid-February in Provence and the surrounding areas.

Black Summer Truffle (tuber aestivum)
This truffle is much lighter in flavor than the melanosporum, as well, and is normally harvested in France between May and September.

White Alba Truffle (tuber magnatum pico)
This truffle is found in the Piedmont Region of Italy and is normally harvested between September and December. The truffle is very light in color (beige to light brown), but the fragrance and the flavor are exquisite!

Truffles in the U.S.?
Truffles are now being cultivated in the U.S. We are planning to do some research this year on the truffles being grown in Washington State to see how they compare to the truffles from France and Italy.

Also, there are truffles on the marketplace that come from China. They are normally not terrible, but they don’t have nearly the flavor (or the cost - unless someone is trying to pass them off as a better variety) of the Black Perigord or the Alba or the other truffles listed above. I recently read about truffles from Australia and New Zealand that are supposed to be very good (and they hit the U.S. market in the summertime), but I have not yet tried them. I will update this posting when I do.

See for yourself :
If you want to find out more first-hand about truffles, how they are harvested, how they are sold and how they are used, join us for one of our Truffle Getaways to Provence in the Winter.