A Locavore’s Dilemma

100 Miles & Maple

The road to the ‘100 Mile’ way of eating and cooking can be long and daunting for many.  Real change starts with a plan and a few steps in the right direction. Now is a great time to start to learn about the food seasons and buying locally. While the Organic Farmers’ Market is open year-round, every Saturday at Bank and Heron, seasonal markets will be starting in less than a month. Find the nearest one to you at http://www.farmersmarketsontario.com/.

There are many ways to take your first steps toward a more local diet, or becoming a locavore: you can buy food directly from a farmer either at a market or directly. Buying food this way supports local agriculture by keeping your money in the region and out of the hands of trucking, distribution and oil companies.

If you can’t get to the market, you can follow our seasons and ask yourself and your grocer where and how the food you’re buying and eating was grown, and if it was sustainable.

Spring has finally sprung in the Ottawa Valley, and that means it’s time for maple syrup. The sap is running in the trees and maple syrup is being made in “sugar bushes” all over Ontario and Quebec. “ Sugaring Off” was a huge and very memorable seasonal event for me growing up, as it was for most children (and their parents) in rural Quebec and Ontario in the past, and for some it still is. The first social function after a long snowy winter started with a trek down a muddy trail to see vats of sap in various stages of evaporating or cooking. Paddles were whittled out of sticks while we waited for the syrup to turn to taffy. The snow was packed into containers ready to cool the stream of golden liquid as it was poured from the ladle. Yum!

Like the First Nations before us, many decades ago, we used maple syrup and maple sugar as the main sweetener in our food. Poured in a dish it was dessert but combined with cream or butter it was a spread, a sauce, a filling, a frosting or fudge.

Maple syrup and maple sugar are widely available and can be substituted for sugar in many recipes and you will be healthier and your taste buds will be happy too.

I’m always looking for new seasonal finds and maple cheddar is only in its second year of production by one innovative Ontario cheese producer, and is available only for a short time. I found it at Farm Boy.

Foccacia Bread with Mushrooms and Maple Cheddar uses two locally available ingredients: maple cheddar and mushrooms.

Continental Mushrooms, a family run business in Metcalfe, in rural Ottawa south, was started in 1972 and now employs 250 people in the region.  It makes its own growing medium, or soil, with such things as local hay and corn and after the harvest, it provides the spent compost back to the community free of charge!

We are lucky to have Le Coprin Mushrooms in Wakefield, a wholesale supplier of  many varieties of delicious sustainable mushrooms, seen in many of the regions restaurants.

Wild mushrooms are a popular foraged food and will soon be popping up on lawns and forests everywhere. You can learn more about edible wild mushrooms from the Mao experts at this seasons’ first organized Mushroom Hunt, which is May 11^th.  Email me at info@slowfoodottawa.org if you would like to more information.

Foccacia Bread with Mushrooms and Maple Cheddar

Dough

1 tbsp. yeast
1/4 cup warm water
1 tbsp maple syrup
4 cups flour, white, whole wheat or spelt
2 tsp. sea salt
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 3/4 cups warm water

Toppings

1 lb thinly sliced mushrooms, any sort you like
½ lb maple cheddar or other Canadian cheddar if not available
Sea salt, to taste
Fresh or dried herbs you like such as thyme, rosemary or oregano
Extra virgin olive oil

Method

Combine the yeast, syrup and a ¼ cup of the warm water, set aside, when it foams add the oil.

Mix the dry ingredients together in a large bowl and make a well in the center to pour all the water, oil, and yeast mixture in. Bring the dry into the wet a little at a time until soft dough is formed.

Put on a floured board and knead for 10 minutes. Place in an oiled bowl, cover and allow doubling in size, about 1 hour.

If using a bread maker put all ingredients in as usual and put on the, dough only, setting.

Frozen Pizza dough or fresh from your local pizzeria could also be quick and easy substitute.

Put cornmeal on a large baking pan or 2 small ones and with oiled hands press dough to fit and cover to rise once more.

Put on toppings, a little oil, salt, rosemary and bake at 425F for 20 minutes or until cheese is bubbly and lightly browned.