Archive for the ‘Member Spotlight’ Category

FoodHub has members who grow food, who cook food, who process food, who deliver food, and now, as we excitedly welcome one of our newest members, EVOO Cannon Beach Cooking School, who teach food!

Bob Neroni and Lenore Emery fell in love with Cannon Beach twenty years ago. In 2004, they left behind corporate careers in the food industry in Seattle, moved to Cannon Beach and opened EVOO (named for their favorite staple, Extra Virgin Olive Oil), where they have since taught hundreds of classes together on everything from handmade pasta to knife skills to Seafood 101.

Guests of EVOO are treated to fun, informal classes featuring fresh seasonal ingredients—right now, that means fiddlehead ferns, asparagus, morels, scallops and pea vines. Believers in the Slow Food movement, Neroni and Emery offer classes that focus not just on food, but also on the experience of preparing meals together. And thanks to FoodHub, Neroni and Emery can more easily fill their guests’ plates with Oregon’s finest ingredients, helping EVOO dish out fabulous meals on the Oregon Coast for many years to come.

Photo by Carole Topalian

Today’s trivia: How large is a bushel of peppers?

One person to ask is Margot Wilcoxon, chef of Salvador Molly’s, who posted a request in the FoodHub marketplace for a local farm to grow 80+ bushels of habañero peppers. Salvador Molly’s has been serving up flavor-packed food for fourteen years on SW Sunset Boulevard. The restaurant also runs booths at three area farmers markets, selling handmade tamales.

How large then is a bushel of peppers? Others to ask include Anne and Rene Berblinger of Gales Meadow Farm, who were among the ten respondents to Wilcoxon’s post. Gales Meadow Farm sits in Washington County in the Gale Creek Valley. With over 250 varieties of vegetables and herbs—among them ancho, cayenne and jalapeño peppers—the farm had what Salvador Molly’s sought in terms of “variety, quantity and price,” Wilcoxon says. “They were personable and knowledgeable about their product and their growing capacity”

Wilcoxon made verbal contracts with Gales Meadow—which will grow jalapeños, tomatoes and cilantro—and two other local farms to provide her with not only peppers, but also other ingredients for salsas and tamale fillings.

“Hopefully we will enter into partnerships where we can let the grower know what we will buy next season, allowing them to plan, grow and get some stability in their business,” Wilcoxon continues.

A bushel is approximately 30 pounds. This year, with 80 bushels of hot peppers grown only one county away, Salvador Molly’s will receive some 2,400 pounds of local heat. Spicy!

Photo by Carole Topalian

Kris Pennella, owner of Little Pots & Pans (LP&P)—a Portland-based company that makes savory tarts—was looking for farms to grow zucchini, tomatoes, onions and butternut squash for tart fillings. She hoped to purchase, process and store enough in the late summer that LP&P would be able to use local produce in their tarts year round.

Kris posted a request to the Marketplace. She notes that her experience in the past trying to find local farmers who would grow directly for LP&P was time-consuming and not always fruitful. “Unless you’ve made previous contact with farmers… it’s tough to gauge if they’re interested in wholesaling their produce and/or could handle the volume you’re looking for,” she says.

Shortly after placing her Marketplace post, Kris heard from about one dozen interested farmers. She is now working out the details with several local farms and looks forward to harvest time, when she will begin “processing, storing and using all the great produce, creating even more phenomenal fillings for LP&P tarts.”

As a buyer, she notes, she hasn’t often thought about when farmers plant their crops. The opportunity to make forward contracts brought that consideration into the fore of her mind.

“My goal is to create on-going connections in order to have a network of suppliers as we (and they) grow,” she continues. “I’m running around telling everyone how excited I am to have local farms grow for us.”

In Woodinville, Washington—northeast of Seattle—an incredibly special dining experience awaits. The Herbfarm Restaurant serves nine-course meals that change weekly to reflect the offerings of the season and region. Much of their produce and meat comes from their own property, but like a trained pig to truffle mushrooms, they also sniff out the hidden gems around them. For that reason, this week they have joined FoodHub with a request to regional farmers who have “heirloom vegetables, heritage animal breeds, and foods of unusual or higher-than-good quality.” Are you just such a farmer? Log in and send them a message!

Photo by Carole Topalian.

Sassafras Catering will introduce its new line of five artisan relishes, chutneys, and preserves at the PSU Farmer’s Market this coming weekend. “We’re very excited that the tasting jury picked us to be one of the vendors at the Farmer’s Market,” says Tricia Butler, proprietor. “Out of 660 vendors who applied for a spot, only 140 were accepted. We can’t wait to show up on opening day and introduce our products!”

This year marks the first time Sassafras Catering has been invited to join the PSU Farmer’s Market in downtown Portland. The market opens its 2010 season on Saturday, March 20. The five new products Sassafras Catering will sell are Sunchoke Relish, Fig Preserves, Windfall Apple Chutney, Peach-Cranberry Chutney, and Watermelon Rind Pickles. All of these products are made by hand in small batches in Portland, Oregon, using ingredients from local growers. (Note that Sassafras Catering currently has an open product request in FoodHub’s Marketplace section.)

Here’s more about the Sassafras catering products:
Sunchoke Relish: Sunchokes, aka “Jerusalem Artichokes” are the star ingredient in this tangy, crunchy relish, inspired by a recipe from the South Carolina Lowcountry. Pair with a sharp cheese and crackers or bread as an appetizer, or chop ?nely and mix into deviled eggs or potato salad instead of mustard.

Fig Preserves: Made from locally grown figs, Fig Preserves are one of Sassafras Catering’s most versatile products. Serve as part of an appetizer or on a charcuterie plate, paired with cheeses, or serve it with dessert warmed and poured over ice cream. Add a spoonful to your morning oatmeal or spread onto of a pork loin or chop just before it’s finished cooking.

Windfall Apple Chutney: This chutney is made with local apples in small batches, along with chunks of apricots and candied ginger. Mix it into chicken salad with curry, grapes, and toasted nuts, or pair it with melted Brie and serve with crackers. http://www.sassafrascatering.com/home/our-food/apple-chutney/

Peach & Cranberry Chutney: Tastes great on pulled pork, on grilled salmon, and in turkey sandwiches.

Watermelon Rind Pickles: Add them to a charcuterie plate and as a tasty alternative to ordinary pickles. It’s perfect in tuna salad, as a garnish to deviled eggs, or in a Bloody Mary.

We’re working hard to make sure that FoodHub’s reach extends well into eastern Oregon, Washington and Idaho. Today the Main Market Co-op joined FoodHub and will surely be a great friend, ally and partner as we build FoodHub’s membership base on the east side.

Main Market Co-op officially opened its doors for business in Feb 2010 and already has 1,000 members! Congratulations Main Market. One of the things we love most about the Main Market Co-op is their willingness and desire to provide services that benefit shoppers and producers alike. Consider for example that Main Market included individual freezer storage space for shoppers in their store design.

Why? So that shoppers who live in apartments or condos and don’t have room to store, for example, a 1/4 cow bought from a local rancher, can still participate in buying direct from local ranchers. How brilliant is that!? Much like the theory that putting a farmers market in store parking lots drives customers into the store, we suspect allowing customers to store the meat they bought from a rancher or the berries they froze from the farmers market IN the store will have a similar effect. A great, smart move for everybody involved.

Welcome to FoodHub Main Market, we’re glad you are here.

Over the past decade, Grand Central Baking Company has steadily converted from using conventional sourcing models and an unvarying year-round menu to purchasing products directly from dozens of local producers for a shifting seasonal menu. FoodHub is the most recent tool that they are utilizing in this progression, which began with the Portland Farmer-Chef Connection conference—now in its 10th year!

Read about how and why the bakery changed its systems as well as its search for 180 dozen local pasture-raised eggs per week in the latest issue of Edible Portland.

Photo by John Valls