Food & Drink

When it comes to producing maple syrup in Vermont, the younger generation is not only embracing the tradition, but also trying to make it better. In this podcast, we'll hear about high schoolers just learning the classic art of sugaring as well as a couple of college students who are innovating the process. 

There's a story about a fox trying to steal chickens from a farmer. Every time the fox got close to the coop, the chickens heard him coming, started squawking, and the farmer came out to chase him away. One day, a woodland fairy came to the fox and suggested he take the open blooms from a nearby flower and place one on each foot and try again. He did and was successful, stealing a chicken for dinner. The plant he used was the foxglove. You may not believe the story but you can't deny foxgloves are beautiful flowers.

I just finished pruning my cherry trees. While I love the taste of the sweet and tart cherries, there are a few other cherries to consider for your yard.

This time of year, many Vermonters are thinking about signing up for a CSA share at their local farm. Meanwhile, the Vermont Youth Conservation Corps is getting ready to supply a different type of Community Supported Agriculture – one you pick up at a doctor's office.

It's time to start thinking about your vegetable garden. Many gardeners have transitioned from flat, straight rows to raised beds. Raised beds warm up faster in spring, drain water sooner and allow you to garden more intensively without as much work. But the next level of raised beds is the keyhole bed.

There's a little place north of the border that makes you feel as though you've been transported to a small, French village. A Québécois Brigadoon, if you will. It's called L'Oeuf - a French country restaurant and chocolate shop where chocolate takes center stage this time of year.  

Tariffs imposed by President Donald Trump on some imported steel and aluminum went into effect late last week. Several countries have received exemptions from those tariffs, but still some industries in the U.S. are wary of them — including craft beer and cider makers.

Vermont's farms and food-and-drink producers are pitching themselves to tourists - not just as the source of what's on the table, but as destinations in their own right. We're talking about food tourism, how it fits into the state's economy, and whom it benefits.

"Microbrews and bluebird skies." It could almost be a Vermont tourism campaign — but in this instance, it describes an emerging trend in the region: solar-powered local beer production. And one central Vermont brewery's raising the bar even higher by throwing philanthropy into the mix.

From traditional Chinese food restaurants to Asian fusion, from buffets to pop-ups, it all can be found scattered throughout Vermont. In this episode, Seven Days food writer Hannah Palmer Egan shares a few of her favorites.

The name "lavender" comes from the Latin word meaning "to wash" — referring to the Mediterranean herb's use in baths, beds and clothing. Its oil is used medicinally as an antibacterial, anti-convulsive, antidepressant, anti-inflammatory and anti-rheumatic. Queen Victoria even used it to soothe her nerves. This herb also adds a slightly sweet flavor to breads, soups, salads and desserts — and it can be grown here in Vermont!

A rule designed to insure poultry and their eggs sold under the organic label are from birds raised under healthy living conditions, including access to outdoors, has been withdrawn by the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

With spring knocking at our door, sort of, I'm always on the lookout for signs of the season. One shrub that fails to disappoint in my garden is the flowering quince or Chaenomeles.

Glover, Vermont, is a strange and wonderful place. There's the self-serve/self-pay Red Sky Trading Company, Currier's Market and Taxidermy, The Museum of Everyday Life and - the epicenter of strangeness - Bread and Puppet Theater.

There's no doubt the British have a tea culture. But Vermont? Oh yeah, it's a thing!

The cucumber as we know it from our salad bowl is, in fact, a 3,000 year old vegetable from India. There are many variations of this melon-friendly veggie; let's look at a few. 

While Vermont is by far the highest producing maple syrup state in the United States, 70 percent of the world's maple syrup is made in Québec.

And that's where the benchmark global price for bulk maple syrup — the price paid by processors to Vermont's maple syrup producers — is set each year by a powerful, but legal, cartel.

Demand for maple syrup and maple products is growing by about 6 to 8 percent per year globally. The prospect of that kind of return is drawing in investors to Vermont like moths to a flame.