Forests filled with chestnuts once covered some 200 million acres of America. Thoreau called them the “boundless chestnut woods” and they stretched from Maine to Florida. As Oregon freelance writer Laura McCandlish says in an article published yesterday on the NPR website: “Durable “cradle to coffin” chestnut timber built our communities, and our cuisine (particularly...
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Wanna teach Rover to fetch something more delectable than the daily paper? How about a truffle hunting class? For the first time, a two-day seminar on truffle dog training is being offered as part of the annual Oregon Truffle Festival in late January near Eugene. Here’s what the Truffle Festival website says: “That truffles, the...
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Food Network star Guy Fieri (no relation) is descending on the Northwest this weekend with his “Kulinary Krew” roadshow and rock concert. Fieri garnered good vibes not long ago for giving national attention — on his “Diners, Drive-ins and Dives” TV show — to Portland eateries like Pine State Biscuits and Bunk Sandwiches and Boise’s...
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Agricultural weekly The Capital Press says “Grape lovers in Treasure Valley no longer have to travel outside the area to attend viticulture classes.” According to the paper, an introductory course involving both classroom and vineyard work began this fall at the Treasure Valley Community College just across the border in Ontario, Oregon. “Some...
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The Northwest was once big on turkeys. Oregon and Washington, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, ranked among the top turkey-producing states in the nation. Those days are gone. Large-scale production, with its slim margins, requires proximity to abundant, economical feed. Since turkey feed is grown mostly in the Midwest, it’s hard for...
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An article at the New West website says fruit juice can be as nasty a pollutant as any industrial runoff. The Hood River Juice Company in Hood River, Oregon — which, according to it’s website, makes “organic and natural juice from Oregon and Washington apples and pears” — has been charged with numerous water...
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(GH): Here’s a story from NPR on the quince. Like the paw paws I discovered a few weeks ago, quince are a fruit I’ve seldom eaten but keep bumping into this fall. I’ve seen them at the Boise CoOp and at the recent blood sausage festival at the Boise Basque Center (as very delicious...
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