Easy Apple Sauce Recipe

Apples are one of those great local foods that you can usually get almost year round. They store well and new technology that allows producers to create low oxygen storage means you can order them from Wendy’s Mobile Market almost anytime.

Besides slicing them up and eating them as is (or just biting into one) there are so many ways to bring the local flavor of apples into your child’s diet. Apple Sauce is a snack staple, and making your own (no sugar or preservatives added!) is too simple to resist.

Memorial Center Farmers’ Market- Potential

Despite my excitement about the opening of the new Farmers’ Market at the Memorial Centre I had to miss the launch because we were celebrating the little one’s first birthday, but yesterday we took a quick stroll over to check it out.

Definitely more modest than the Downtown Market, but it has some features that made me smile, like a simple kids tent featuring some coloring books and crayons.

Jerusalem Artichoke Mash

 

With the Jerusalem Artichokes I picked up the other day from the  downtown market I sauted half of them with some broccoli and parmesan, and with the other half I decided to make a quick side for the next day’s meal.

I’m all about breaking up the work in cooking and having a side or two already done makes getting dinner together much easier (dare I say more feasible?).

While my first half of Jerusalem Artichokes were sizzling in a pan on the stove I put these together in no time. The reward was much greater than the work.

Fruition Berry Farm

If you aren’t sure why anyone would go through the trouble of sourcing their food locally do one thing; go to Fruition Berry Farm.

You’ll be changed forever. Strawberries in the middle of January might be nice in theory, but the truth is those pale red things encased in plastic aren’t real strawberries at all. Don’t be embarrassed, I didn’t know until recently either.

Ken and Christine Paul have been working the land at Fruition Berry Farm since 1994. It’ll take about a 20 minute drive to get to the farm located at 3208 Hughes Road. And it’s worth going a few times.

Strawberries are their main crop in June and early July, but they share the spot light with Raspberries, Green and Yellow Beans, Peas, Pumpkins, and Apples. They also sell local preserves and pickles from the farm stand.

Kingston Public Market

The downtown farmers’ market is in the heart of the city, and it’s the epicenter for local food in Kingston.

Some cities can boast about a year round, indoor market. While we are currently lacking in that regard we can lay claim to the oldest farmers’ market in Ontario, ours having been established in 1801.

The market is run by the city and the Kingston Public Market Vendors Association. It takes place every Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday in the market square behind City Hall (at the corner of Brock and Kings Street East).

Tuesdays and Thursday tend to be a little quiet, especially in the spring and fall months.

Wendy’s Mobile Market

One of the best known sources of local food in Kingston is Wendy’s Mobile Market. They bring local produce, meat, dairy, eggs, flour, and prepared foods from over 70 farms and local producers to commercial kitchens as well as delivering to residential homes.

Wendy Banks and Rick Trudeau are the names behind the iconic green truck. In addition to the delivery service they also run Wendy’s Country Market in Lyndhurts at 408 Fortune Road RR #2, where they offer the same local foods for those looking to make the drive.

Limestone Organic Creamery Setting up to Begin Delivery around Kingston

There are a lot of trends that return through the years, we all know how cyclic fashion is for example.

With a growing local food movement we’ve seen the resurgence of a few habits of yesteryears; Saturday trips to the farmers market, filling our baskets from a pick-your-own strawberry farm, and driving up to the farm gates to see what this week has to offer.

One trend I often waxed nostalgic about (despite the fact that I had never experienced it myself) but never expected to return: fresh milk in glass bottles delivered to my door.

Limestone Organic Creamery is about to make that happen for those of us living in and around the Kingston area.

Village Co-Op Set to Open this Summer in Kingston

One of the largest problems local food enthusiasts are faced with in Kingston is the need for value added foods.

Raw goods, like the fruits and veggies we can so easily pick up from the Farmer’s Market make up the backbone of local eating.

But sometimes we don’t have time to gather tomatoes, mushrooms, onions, garlic, red peppers, basil, pasta, and mozzarella cheese to assemble our own lasagna. Sometimes we want to pick up a lasagna that only requires a quick re-heating.

It’s been impossible to find a lasagna in Kingston assembled from local ingredients ready and waiting for us to take it home, but too easy to head over to the grocery store and pick one up from the freezer aisle.

Local food producers have known for a while that there is a gap in the market for this style of product in Kingston. The problem is that in order to take their veggies and make a lasagna ready for our ovens the process has to be done in a licenced kitchen.

Licenced kitchens have very specific sets of rules and regulations as dictated by the health board, and they are routinely inspected. They work great in insuring the safety of our food, not so great for local food production, until now.

Andrew McCann, a local food warrior, began the Village Co-Op in August of 2011. He started a small Bread CSA that offered whole grain, organic bread and baked goods from rented space in the Portsmouth Hardware Store.