Photos by Jamie Png
This year Di Brunos sent me as our ambassador to the 20th annual PASA conference in State College, PA. What is PASA you ask? The Pennsylvania Association for Sustainable Agriculture supports farmers throughout the commonwealth of Pennsylvania, helps put consumers in contact with growers and producers of sustainable, local food and does advocacy work for a safe & sustainable food system in Pennsylvania. The Farming For the Future Conference brings together farmers, academics and food enthusiasts from all over Pennsylvania and beyond and includes lectures on topics such as value added dairy (this is a fancy way of saying cheese, butter & yogurt) to topics well outside of my mission such as "Alpacas 101: are they right for you." Putting any potential destiny with Alpacas aside, I was here to talk to Pennsylvania's cheese makers. Such as:
The always wonderful Sue Miller and Ruth Statt of Birchrun Hills Farm. Seen here with their full array of cheeses including the funky Fat Cat and a Di Brunos favourite,
Birchrun Blue.
Goot Essa farms of Howard, Pa. Front and center (where it should be) is Der Alpenkase. A powerful, alpine style cheese made in central, Pa and available shortly at a Di Brunos near you.
Seen here is the full array of Tait Farms Shrub. What is Shrub you ask? A colonial-era mixture of fruit vinegar, spices and a little bit of sugar that many a cheesemonger tends to use in place of bitters in a variety of beverages. Tait Farms provides you with this helpful guide to get you started.
http://www.taitfarmfoods.com/shop/food/Shrub_Recipes_tait_apr10.pdf
More coming tomorrow, in the meantime remember this.
