Category: Ganado/Cattle

Los 70’s

Se entraba en jeep hasta la finca de los Lizano, a medio camino. Luego, en yunta de bueyes, caballo o a pie por 2Km más, tanto en invierno como en verano. Son pocas las fotos de esta época, pero les cuento que teníamos 2 vacas, 3 caballos, cabras, gallinas yunta de bueyes, casita y huerta.

El tío Jorge hacía queso fresco y los sábados bajaba a dejar cosas a su casa y pasaba por la nuestra. Luego, por la tarde, papá lo llevaba a la finca.

No había electricidad y el tío Jorge hizo todo sin este recurso.

 

Morano Gelato: deep awakening of the senses

People are ready for ice cream at 11:00am… We usually have the case filled by 2:00 or 2:30. Nobody makes it fresh every day. Our goal is to sell out our flavors every day.

—Morgan Morano

Gelato literally means frozen in italian. Modern gelato was developed by the alchemist Cosimo Ruggieri during the Renaissance. Ruggieri created the first gelato flavor, fiori di latte, for the court of the Medici Family. This summer, my husband and I spend the month of July in Hanover, New Hampshire, near the Vermont border. A week after our arrival in town, we were transported back in time, and to Florence, with this very first italian gelato flavor (fiori di latte) at Morano Gelato, located downtown.

Morano Gelato manufactures and sells traditional Southern Italian-style gelato. Morgan Morano, the business founder, spent six years apprenticing with Antonio Cafarelli, an artisan gelato maker based in Florence, Italy. Morano came back to Upper Valley, and began selling her ice cream at the Norwich Farmer’s Market, Vermont in 2010.  The gelato became very popular and she moved her business to the back of Rosey Jekes Apparel Store in Hanover. Morano opened her first dream shop, the one I visited, in 2012. Morgan sold her business and focused on expanding her brand. She has since, expanded to Chestnut Hill, MA and Westfield, NJ. Around 2016, Morano bought back the parlor located in Hanover. During an interview with John Lippman, Valley News Staff Writer, Morgan stated that “partnering for recontrol of the Hanover store is the keystone of her plan several years in the works to expand the eponymous gelato brand at locations through franchise agreements. This will be the flagship store going forward,” Morano said, explaining it will be the place to showcase the business to potential franchise owners, train them how to properly run the operation, and the place for “recipe development” of new gelato flavors and products “before we roll them out at other stores.”

My fascination with Morano Gelato is that my first job in the food industry, about 38 years ago, was formulating natural fruit bases and nut-based butters to be used in ice cream. The business name is Helados Pops, located in in San José, Costa Rica. Although different product and business models, inevitably, every time I went to Morano’s gelateria, I wore my Quality Assurance hat.

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A taste of Vermont: Norwich Farmers’Market

The farmer market opens during the summer in an open space, very close to  Hanover, New Hampshire and Norwich, Vermont. It is a joy go on Saturday morning to  this fabulous farmers’ market.   Right after crossing the Connecticut River, over Hwy 5, and about half a mile from King Arthur Flour, this market offers something for everyone.

The soft cheese from Woodcock Cheese Farm Company is very yummy, the yogurt from Sweet Cow  is flavorful and full of texture.  Farmers offer  locally produced fresh herbs, duck, fresh eggs, pickled egg and cumbers, grass feed meat, great sausages,  fresh greens and vegetables.  Lots of  pastries, prepared food, cut flowers, crafts, and of course, folk music and little children dancing and playing on the grass.

Norwich Farmers’ Market

Some Cows from California, Schoch Dairy

 

Click here to go to Schoch Website. Pulse aquí para ir al sitio de Schoch.

Click here to go to Schoch Website. Pulse aquí para ir al sitio de Schoch.

Schoch Family Farmstead

They manufacture aged cheeses, such as Junipero and Farmstead Jack. Those were my favorite cheeses last week. The Junipero is a low moisture,hard cheese. It shows few eyes, crumbles with facility and it has a crunchy texture. The flavor is sweet and nutty, with mild acidity. It has an earthy, clean finish and overall sapid sensation. My taste buds love the tangy flavor of the rind. The rind is natural, edible (it’s not made out of wax).

The old style Swiss yogurt is also made with raw whole milk. It comes in glass bottles that the company collects at the market. The yogurt maintains its flavor and consistency through the whole week. It is like having a bowl of yogurt at the farm.

I like to think that their cows are the happiest herd in the world. They live eating lettuce and other greens from Salinas from their ocean view home.

They are every Sunday at the Farmer’s Market, California Ave. Palo Alto, CA.

This is a linkto a video by Kristy Downings Rocks.

 

 

Finca Integral Savegre, Pérez Zeledón, Costa Rica

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Click here to watch the hens’ video. Pulse aquí para ver el video de las gallinas

Finca Integral Savegre  was born with the interest of use all the natural resources existing in a dairy farm, showing the bio-dynamic power of the earth, animals, plants,micro-organism, the sun and the moon in an ecological way.

the Farm has a trajectory of more than sixty years dedicated to the artisan cheese.  It’s located by the bank of the  División river, which later interwine with the Savegre river, to form one of the cleanest rivers in America.