Crosby’s Vermont Acorn Vinegar

My cousin Paul Crosby – Renaissance man, food artisan and master forager – has been at it once again.  His latest locally sourced, hand crafted product is Crosby’s Vermont Acorn Vinegar, made in Leicester, Vermont. 

I had always just assumed that acorns were not edible.  When I express some (slight) skepticism to Paul, he sets me straight.

“People have been eating acorns forever!” says Paul.  “I’m sure acorns were on the menu at the first Thanksgiving.”   

Indeed, there is a wealth of information available online about foraging and processing acorns, and quite a history of use, particularly among indigenous populations. Acorns are high in tannins, a natural substance found in most plant species.  Tannins are the source of the slightly bitter aftertaste found in coffee, tea and wine.  But, too much tannin can lead to a tummy ache. In their raw state, acorns can be quite bitter because of the high levels of tannins, and must be processed before consuming.  

Crosby’s Vermont Acorn Vinegar is bright, bold, and acerbic with a crystalline, amber color. It’s a strong flavor personality and could overpower more delicate foods, but would pair nicely with robust, confident flavor profiles. Paul has made a simple dressing using Vermont Maple Syrup and Crosby’s Vermont Acorn Vinegar. He’s also mixed maple syrup with the vinegar to make a sweet and tangy glaze for pork loin or lamb.  

Paul Crosby forages for white oak acorns each autumn

To produce his Vermont Acorn Vinegar, Paul starts by foraging and he doesn’t have to stray far from home. “Every fall I gather as many fallen white oak acorns as I can from my property leaving a few for my furry friends. This takes hours and last through October. Once collected they are dried and stored in a cool dry area away from the squirrels. Dried acorns will last over a year if stored properly.”

Then begins the process of turning acorns into vinegar. “When I get ready to start a batch I crack up to 2 cups of dried acorns,” says Paul.  “I sort out the bad ones and put the remaining acorns in a bath of hot water to release the bitter tannins. This is done three times usually to release all the bitterness. I then taste one to make sure the flavor is right.”

The acorns are now processed and ready to infuse in a gallon of white vinegar. This usually takes up to three weeks.

“At this point the flavor and color should be nutty and straw colored,” says Paul.  “After three weeks the vinegar is filtered and put into a pot to boil, and sugar is added to the batch just like the elderberry vinegar recipe. It's boiled for about 10 minutes, filtered and then bottled.”

True to the spirit of foraging, nothing gets wasted. 

“Now you would think at this point, I would throw the acorns away,” says Paul.  “Wrong!  I take them along with a little acorn vinegar and pickle them with the standard pickling spices. They are aged for up to six weeks before eating and taste very nice.”

The website “Eat The Weeds” has a fascinating story on acorn consumption through the centuries, and reports they are high in nutritional value. According to the site, a white oak acorn is 50.4 percent carbohydrates, 4.7 percent fat, 4.4 percent protein, and 4.2 percent fiber. A pound of shelled acorns contains 1,265 calories.  

Crosby’s Vermont Acorn Vinegar is available for purchase online and sells for $12.00 a bottle.   (I received one bottle of Crosby’s Vermont Acorn Vinegar from Paul to use in preparing this post)  A number of Vermont restaurants are also using the vinegar in menu items.   

If you prefer your acorns as lawn art, feast your eyes on the world’s largest acorn and just imagine the size of the squirrel that would take a bite out of this!  

Photo Source:  Eat the Weeds

©2014 T.W. Barritt All Rights Reserved

Crosby’s Elderberry Vinegar

My cousin Patti’s husband, Paul Crosby is a Renaissance Man and a culinary DIYer. He makes honey straight from the hive, taught himself the art of blacksmithing, and has recently been lagering  his own beer at their home in western Vermont. What I’ve learned about Paul is when he sees something in the environment around him, eventually he finds an innovative way way to bring it into the kitchen or home. His latest creation, plucked from nature, is Crosby’s Elderberry Vinegar.

“Elderberries grow wild where I live,” explains Paul. “But, I'm actually growing my own berries.”

Paul says it takes up to three years to get good berries on the bush and he starts new plants by rooting each year.  The deep purple or blue elderberries are high in vitamin C, phosphorus and potassium and have medicinal benefits, including cold and flu prevention.  Paul describes the flavor as “sweet, fruity and tangy.” He uses the berries to make syrups, jelly and also dehydrates the berries.  

The inspiration for Crosby’s Elderberry Vinegar began with a bumper crop of berries.

“This year's crop was large so I was thinking of how I could use the extra berries,” says Paul.  “I've always had a interest in vinegars and how they were made, so I decided to try it. I searched for recipes and found a British recipe on line and tweaked it to my liking.”

According to Paul, the recipe just takes a little patience.  “I take three cups of ripe berries and seep them in a gallon of white vinegar for a week,” he explains.  He then strains the vinegar, adds sugar, and brings it to a boil on the stove for 20 minutes.

“I add just enough sugar to get the right combination of flavors the berries provide.”

Paul thinks Crosby’s Elderberry Vinegar hits that sweet spot of a healthful and uniquely culinary ingredient.  

“Why not make a vinegar that benefits the cook and get all the health benefits of the elderberries,” says Paul.  “I think cooks for restaurants can experiment with this vinegar and get some awesome recipes that people will enjoy.”

I have a great time experimenting with Crosby’s Elderberry Vinegar in the kitchen and use it three ways to prepare a salad of chicken and local greens and vegetables from Restoration Farm.   First, I marinate the chicken breast in a combination of one part vinegar and three parts olive oil.   I use additional marinade for basting.   The greens are dressed in vinaigrette using Crosby’s Elderberry Vinegar.  Finally, I drizzle the sliced chicken breasts with an elderberry vinegar reduction.   I boil about a quarter cup on the stove until it is reduced to the consistency of honey.   The jammy-purple color of the reduction provides a nice contrast to the chicken and the deep colors of the radishes and heirloom cherry tomatoes.

Paul is already tackling his next home grown culinary project – a specialty Vermont Acorn Vinegar with a nutty flavor he says goes well with wild game or makes a tasty dressing combined with Vermont Maple syrup. 

©2013 T.W. Barritt All Rights Reserved

“A Taste of Long Island” Food Market and Commercial Kitchen Opens for Business

Long Island’s first specialty market devoted to local products of the region is now welcoming customers with its grand opening weekend happening right now, and culminating in a ribbon cutting ceremony on the evening of Monday, August 6, 2012.  

Owners Courtney and Jim Thompson – a Daughter and Dad team – created A Taste of Long Island with a dual purpose.   The Farmingdale, Long Island business is both a commercial kitchen for local entrepreneurs looking to produce batches of  “made on Long Island” branded food products.   The specialty food market at the front of the store offers clients who use the kitchen – as well as other Long Island food artisans – the chance to sell their products to retail customers.   

The shelves are now stocked with all manner of diverse and delectable products springing from the hearts, minds, hands and soil of Long Island food artisans.  Colorful labels list places of origin such as Huntington, Bellmore and Peconic.  

The commercial kitchen has been up and running since early July, and clients have been lining up to schedule shifts. Bobby Tomatoes fresh spreads, “Tomato Delight” and “Parsley Delight” were produced in the Taste of Long Island kitchen and are now available in the food market.  

Catapano Goat Cheese - produced on Long Island’s North Fork, and a Culinary Types favorite – is available, along with a selection of soaps and beauty products made at the Catapano Dairy.

A stunning double-layered carrot cake prepared by a pastry chef and caterer who runs the company “David’s Delights,” sells at local farmers markets, and promises “the best desserts around,” has a prominent spot in the new pastry display case. 

“We’re a small business that is helping other small businesses expand, and we’re excited about that,” says Jim.  

Throughout the grand opening weekend, there are tastings scheduled by various Long Island food artisans.  Weekly tastings of Long Island wine are planned for the future, as well. 

A Taste of Long Island is located at 211A Main Street in Farmingdale, Long Island.   The phone number is 516-694-2859.   A complete list of vendors can be found here. When you visit, you’re not likely to leave empty handed! 

©2012 T.W. Barritt All Rights Reserved   

Tasting the Heart, Soul and Soil of Hudson Valley Cheese

Can a taste of artisanal cheese transport you to the place where it was produced?  What can you learn about a cheese maker from a style of cheese, the way the animals are tended or the types of ingredients used?

A while back, I had the chance to visit several Hudson Valley cheese makers and explore the idea of “terroir.”  Loosely translated as "taste of the soil," the word refers to the “sense of place” one might taste in a wine produced in a distinct location, and the concept of terroir is becoming more prevalent in conversations about farmstead cheese.  I found cheese makers more than willing to discuss the merits of cheese and terroir and passionate about their role in defining the character of small-batch cheese in the Hudson Valley.  

Rory Chase and Peter Destler, the founders of The Amazing Real Live Food Co. in Pine Plains, New York founded their creamery on a commitment to serve delicious, restorative “vittles” for their friends and neighbors in the Hudson Valley.  They source their milk from 50 registered Holstein cows that graze in rolling pastures reminiscent of a Norman Rockwell illustration. 

Rory and Peter are clearly dedicated to their mission and their French-style artisanal and probiotic cheeses delight the senses.  

Rory becomes visibly animated as he inhales the “mushroomy” aromas in their aging room, and offers me delicious samples of fresh and aged cheeses.  

Joyce Henion – owner of Acorn Hill Farm in Walker Valley, New York – produces fresh, clean-tasting goat cheeses in the former garage of her split-level home, which she converted into a fully equipped creamery.  

Joyce’s fascination with Nubian goats inspired her vocation as a cheese maker.  

Acorn Hill Farm is a very different locale.  Joyce’s goats browse a wooded area of rocky terrain.  She manages the herd organically and knows each goat by name.  

If you taste the cheese of Rory and Peter or Joyce, you will savor two very different stories, but both are characteristic of the vital cheese making community in the Hudson Valley.  Read more about cheese terroir in my story “A Sense of Place” published in the Spring 2012 “Bread and Cheese” issue of the magazine, Edible Hudson Valley.   

©2012 T.W. Barritt All Rights Reserved   

Fresh and Local, Even in Winter

Long Island sisters Jaime Greci and Lona Graepel may have a touch of the farmer in their DNA. While most would be inclined to hibernate during these months of cold and darkness, they have sown the seeds and sprouted Long Island’s first winter farmers market.

It’s the coldest Saturday of the season yet, but the parking lot is full and people are streaming into Sweet Hollow Hall at the West Hills County Park in Huntington. The surrounding area is blanketed with fresh snow. Inside the hall, a musician plays guitar, pasture-raised meat is sizzling on a barbecue grill and visitors sample from vats of pungent homemade pickles. There are seniors tasting artisan cheese and kids having fun with crafts. It’s a community event.

Summer farmers markets are now so ubiquitous that one rarely considers how they come together. There are two-dozen summer markets on Long Island. Many communities offer winter markets, but it took Jaime and Lona to notice that none existed on Long Island. From the moment the idea took root last summer, they set to work planning and spreading the word. The “back-of-the market” logistics were all-consuming. They needed to confirm locations, and secure approvals, licenses and insurance. Once the details were in place, they also needed to recruit farmers and food artisans to participate.

Sisters Jaime Greci (l) and Lona Graepel (r) have created

Long Island’s first winter farmers market.

“We went to all the outdoor markets over the summer and approached different vendors,” says Jaime. “It was all word-of-mouth.”

“People were hugging me and kissing me” says Lona. She points out that after November, the opportunities for small farmers and food artisans on Long Island are quite limited. “They have no place to go in the winter and no outlet to sell here,” says Lona. “We wanted to create a nice environment, fun for the whole family, where you could bring the kids and the grandparents.”

“It’s important that we house the farmers during the winter, so they can continue to support themselves and their families, and to have a sort of community,” Jaime explains.

G&G Long Island Winter Farmers Market opened January 8th at Sweet Hollow Hall. Attendance far exceeded expectations with residents traveling from all parts of Long Island to visit. They’ve already seen repeat visitors, and some linger for hours.

“The phone’s been ringing off the hook,” says Lona who became a true market advocate during a summer stint in upstate New York working with her brother who organizes farmers markets in the region. “I would wake up each Saturday with a big smile on my face.”

A walk through the market is like a taste of Long Island, but there are also food artisans from the Hudson Valley and beyond. The team from Horman’s Best Pickles in Glen Cove sample delectably hair raising horseradish pickles and bright “Red Flannel” pickle chips garnished with sweet red peppers.

Lee’s Bees of Huntington offers a tasting of pure, raw unfiltered honey harvested by season, from the lively flavors of spring flowers, to the mellow, toasty caramel flavors of fall.

Migliorelli Farms of Dutchess County offers bins of blushingly-beautiful apple varieties as well as a selection of ruddy winter squash and root vegetables.

Old Chatham Sheepherding from the Hudson Valley serves up a smooth and peppery blue cheese that makes you wince with pleasure.

Jaime says the winter market is a win-win for the farmers and for food lovers on Long Island. “It’s fresh and it’s yummy stuff,” she says, beaming.

G&G Long Island Winter Farmers market runs every Saturday from 9:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. from January through April, and alternates weekends at two locations. Check website for specific dates or the market's Facebook page:

Sweet Hollow Hall, West Hills County Park, Gwynne Road, Huntington.

St. Paul’s United Methodist Church, 270 Main Street, Northport.

©2011 T.W. Barritt all Rights Reserved