Photo: Chiot's Run (Flickr)
Chef Daniel Orr visits Burton's Maplewood Farm to learn about tapping maple trees. He then cooks with maple syrup and turnips.
Local Sweetness, Local Veggies
The daytime temperatures are starting to warm up but the evenings are still cool. This is the perfect weather for tapping maple trees. Sugaring is in full swing at Burton’s Maplewood Farm in Medora, Indiana. Chef Daniel Orr stopped by the farm and spoke with Tim Burton, the farm owner, and Sabrina Burton, his daughter-in-law. This family business has a passion for preserving and promoting what they call one of our nation’s natural renewable treasures: maple syrup. They will be hosting the National Maple Syrup Festival this weekend and next.
Now Chef Orr takes some of that local Grade A maple syrup into the kitchen. He’s cooking with a root vegetable that is easy to find at the market these days: turnips.
The Power Of A Bagel Dog
After one look at the bagel dog served to her in the Chicago Public School cafeteria, speech pathologist Sarah Wu’s life was changed forever. A couple months later, she began a year-long project of eating the school lunch every day, photographing the meal and blogging about it — under the anonymous pseudonym “Mrs. Q” — at Fed Up With Lunch.
Last October, after 21 months of anonymity, Wu revealed her identity in conjunction with the release of her book “Fed Up With Lunch.”
Market Days
The Bloomington Winter Farmers Market takes place Saturday mornings through the end of March. Over the next four weeks, we’ll be chatting with some vendors who are the regular faces of the market. Sticking with the sweet theme of today’s show, I stopped by the table selling a variety of honey products: Hunters Honey Farm.
Sweet Taste Of Indiana
Chef Alexa Lemley and Sam Aulick of 240sweet in Columbus, Indiana started making artisan marshmallows in 2008 as a way of advertising their catering business. Eventually, there was as much demand for the marshmallows as there was for the catering, so they bought a high-powered mixer, hired some friends and family to help around the kitchen and found themselves breaking new ground in the world of sweet confections. Both raised in southern Indiana, they pride themselves on using local and organic ingredients.
Their marshmallows have some pretty famous fans, including Oprah Winfrey, who listed buying 240sweet’s marshmallows as a New Year’s Resolution for 2012. But in the beginning, they had a hard time getting foodies to buy into what they were doing.
News Stories In This Show:
- Judge Dismisses Organic Farmers’ Case Against Monsanto
- James Beard Semifinalists Announced
- Maple Syrup Festival To Kick Off Despite Wacky Weather
- People Share Meals, Life At Bloomington Cooperative Living
Stories On This Episode
Maple Syrup In Medora: Spring Is Here, Maple’s On The Run
Many have a tough time throwing down the extra cash for real maple syrup, but one visit to a maple camp and a cook-down will spoil you for life.
Caramelized Turnips And Pears With Real Maple Syrup
We're sweetening things up this week with a tasty turnip dish that pairs this somewhat perplexing root vegetable with pears and real maple syrup.
School Lunch Crusader Mrs. Q Out From Behind The Curtain
After anonymously blogging about her experiences eating school lunch for a year, Chicago Public Schools teacher Sarah Wu has now revealed her identity.
Meet A Farmer: Christina Hunter, Hunters Honey Farm
Hunters Honey Farm can meet all your honey needs, from raw honey and honey comb to honey sticks and bees wax.
240sweet Gets Creative With Artisan Marshmallows
240sweet of Columbus, Indiana is breaking new ground in the world of confections. They use local and organic ingredients in their artisan marshmallows.
