At this time of year, when Connecticut’s leaves start to change colors, eventually rivaling those of a Turkish carpet, there are few pleasures keener than to drive along the back roads of our state to an apple orchard. To choose local fruit, often varieties that are otherwise hard to find, for oneself is a seasonal occasion worth seeking out, worth savoring, worth creating a special picnic for (think rustic breads, local cheeses, and local hard cider if the orchard allows it). If you’re lucky, all of this is set off by sweetly chilly temperatures and a sky of platinum blue---in which case, congratulations. You have officially reached peak autumn.
Our guide to some of Connecticut’s best pick-your-own-apple experiences is here. Readers are encouraged to add their own. Note that this past spring, in the short period during which apple trees are pollinated, weather conditions were very unfavorable; a lighter-than-usual crop has resulted, so bring your flexibility along. As with all such outings, a little thinking ahead goes a long way. Be sure to call ahead for availability, wear sturdy shoes, and choose a good time for your visit. Weekdays are better for a quiet group or one that can’t deal with crowds; weekends will thrill the extroverts.
Custom Meats, a 100% locally-sourced, traditional whole-animal butchery, is slated to open this spring at 1903 Post Road in Fairfield.
This next-door neighbor to Isabelle et Vincent French Bakery plans to serve non-GMO, nitrate-free, fresh meats raised on organic principles.
Sourcing beef, pork, lamb, and poultry from small farms in Connecticut and New York, everything will be cut and prepared in house, including dry-aged beef, sausages, and various prepared foods. Farm-fresh local eggs, raw milk, and seasonal vegetables will also be offered.
The diverse cuisines that the cultures of Latin America gave the world are well represented in Connecticut. Markets in our state serve more than 540,000 Hispanic residents---and foodies of other ethnic origins who pass over Ortega taco kits for more enlightened fare. Whether you’re making corn tortillas from scratch, seeking beautifully ripe fruit at a great price, looking to pick up a luscious pastry, or preparing your grandmother’s mole, these stores are well worth the trip. Here’s your guide to Connecticut’s best Latin American markets.
If there’s one thing that the Greeks are known for, it’s warm hospitality. The ancients, believing that the gods walked among us, saw this as a practical matter; the lowliest beggar could be Zeus or Athena in disguise, and so was given a lavish welcome.
For Greek-Americans today, faith and tradition still make hospitality a priority. Just ask the members of St. Barbara’s Greek Orthodox Church in Orange, CT, as they prepare to welcome guests to their 36th annual “Odyssey” festival this Labor Day weekend.
The Odyssey Festival takes place at St. Barbara Greek Orthodox Church, 480 Racebrook Road, Orange, CT, 06477. Hours are 12 noon to 10 PM on Friday through Sunday, September 2nd through 4th, and 12 noon to 7 PM on Monday, September 5th, 2016.
When I married a fellow Yale grad student whose parents came to this country from Norway, I was struck by how intensely my newly adopted culture focused on light. There was the magic of Norwegian Christmas, when it seemed that every window in Oslo shone with candles lit against the darkness. At the opposite end of the year, there was the solstice at Midsummer, which has also been an occasion for partying it up since pagan days. Summer visits to a family farm north of the Arctic Circle brought grilling, beer, and card games in the brilliant light of the midnight sun.
While Connecticut residents, being well south of the Arctic, can count on dark summer nights, you do not have to visit Scandinavia, or even claim family connections, to celebrate Midsummer. You just need to be able to appreciate that there’s something about this peak of sunlight hours that invites us all to lighten up and Let It Go. It’s a rare person who could not use the reminder.
The solstice technically falls on June 20th, but Midsummer parties typically take place from June 19th through the 25th. Locally organized festivities include the Scandinavian Club of Fairfield’s annual celebration complete with a Maypole, a Swedish tradition. This year it’s on Saturday, June 25th, at noon, at 1351 South Pine Creek Road, Fairfield, CT 06825.
“From wonder into wonder existence opens,” said Laozi, the founder of Tao Buddhism.
He might have been speaking of the joys of the table, so central to Asian culture for millennia---and to Connecticut foodies today.
Almost 160,000 people of Asian descent call Connecticut home, and a considerable number of grocery stores in the state support the diverse cooking traditions of China, Japan, Korea, Thailand, Vietnam, and the Philippines. True to both their Asian roots and the universal principle of making the best of fresh ingredients, quite often the most modest such store will have a produce section and a fish section---in one case, at least, featuring live fish.
Your guide to the best East and Southeast Asian markets of Connecticut appears below.
“The way to a man’s heart is through his stomach, dear,” my maternal grandmother told me over and over again when I was growing up in the Midwest. Grandma, may she rest in peace, always had berry patches in her backyard for pies to please the most hard-hearted male guest, but if she could have seen the scale and abundance of Connecticut berry farms, she would probably, as we used to say, have fainted dead away. Prairies are not made for berries; woodlands are. Since it’s true that the way to a woman’s heart is through her stomach, too, I’ve developed a passion for the annual ritual of visiting local pick-your-own farms for strawberries, blueberries, and raspberries.
The argument for going to pick-your-own farms, when one has the time, is unassailable. It does not get more local than this, unless, like my Grandma, you want to grow your own (another unassailable idea but beyond the scope of this article). Berries in season are at their peak of freshness and nadir of price, and one also has the satisfaction of knowing that one is supporting farmers in one’s community.
“‘The future must enter us, long before it happens,’” says Sarah Gross, quoting the poet Rainer Maria Rilke.
That “future” for Gross is a newly realized dream of building a community kitchen in the Saugatuck neighborhood of Westport. “I feel like I’m 18 again,” she says. “I’m doing something that I know is true.”
Gross, who clearly is enjoying life more than most imagine possible, runs C & K Community Kitchen to support and accelerate the use of organic, non-GMO, locally sourced products and services.
“You are what you eat,” she says, “and when you start understanding what that means, it’s overwhelming.”
The collaborative incubator kitchen offers affordable, certified commercial space and can be rented in eight-hour shifts, potentially as much as 24 hours a day, seven days a week, with a wise and experienced mentor at the helm.
Anna Bendiksen is new to the CTbites team. Anna is a former scholar of Russian literature, and a food blogger over at threecoursesonaweeknight.blogspot.com or follow her on Twitter @anna_bendiksen.
When Domenico “Dom” Liuzzi talks about artisanal cheesemaking, his eyes light up.
“Quality is what sets us apart from Stop and Shop,” he said in a recent conversation at Liuzzi’s Gourmet Market---not that anyone could mistake his store, which carries over 200 cheeses, for anything other than the Greater New Haven landmark it is.
The cascades of Italian speech in the air, the display cases featuring Liuzzi’s own house-made cheeses, the scent of cured hams and sausages hanging overhead, the attentive staff darting about---all combine to make Liuzzi’s a prime destination for foodies from Connecticut and beyond.
The cheeses for which the store is best known---the result of the family’s cheesemaking heritage stretching over a century---are itsburrata (favored by Mario Batali), a caciocavallo(“cheese on horseback,” so named because it is strung in rope to drip dry),and two kinds of ricotta (whipped and large-curd).
Yet the cheese offerings at Liuzzi’s, located in North Haven, don’t stop with these house-made specialties. You’ll also find imported Grana Padano (a cheese similar to Parmesan that is favored by Italian children and a standby in Lidia Bastianich’s new cookbook Mastering the Art of Italian Cuisine); Moliterno, a raw sheep’s-milk cheese exquisitely scented with black truffle paste; the best of American artisanal cheeses such as Humboldt Fog; and many more.
At this time of year, when Connecticut’s leaves start to change colors, eventually rivaling those of a Turkish carpet, there are few pleasures keener than to drive along the back roads of our state to an apple orchard. To choose local fruit, often varieties that are otherwise hard to find, for oneself is a seasonal occasion worth seeking out, worth savoring, worth creating a special picnic for (think rustic breads, local cheeses, and local hard cider if the orchard allows it). If you’re lucky, all of this is set off by sweetly chilly temperatures and a sky of platinum blue---in which case, congratulations. You have officially reached peak autumn.
