Today's post is by Dani Oddo

Today was our last day in Vermont.  We made a few stops on our way back to Connecticut.  We went out for brunch at 158 Main, I ordered french toast, they had fresh fruit and the syrup was fresh. The french toast was made on a baguette and fried. All the food was fresh and healthy. The food that we had was from local owners and farms, and the bread was made at the restaurant.

Today's authors are Aaliyah Simons and Clare Shurtleff.

(Aaliyah) Our first stop was Cabot Creamery where natural cheese is made using local milk.  During the tour they made us put on slippers over our shoes which was weird because none of the workers had any on.  They have local farms where they get cheese and milk from. You know the farm means something to the company or the family if one person can tell all the cows apart, which did happen because they care about all the animals. People who work for Cabot milk their cows at 3:00am, there is always something to do and there is a never a dull moment. In order for a successful job you have to be into the job and be proud of the product you make, which they were. Our next spot was high in the mountains where Goodrich's Maple Farm was. All the maple was pure and first discovered by Indians which was a big deal back then, and now they make the most amount of maple syrup. Most companies get other people to tap their trees but Glen taps their trees himself and had his own sugar house.  Maple syrup is best produced when the day is warm and the night is cold. Goodrich’s Maple Farm taps their trees in the spring and it's easier for the clean up in the end, to this day they already boiled maple six times. As soon as you walk into the store there are ribbons hanging from the selling, they have over 600 first place ribbons. A little history of how the maple syrup is the way it taste because the use reverse osmosis,  they let their trees to be an age of 40 years, 65 feet tall and weigh 3000 pounds. They tap over 40000 trees and tap a whole 2 inches deep, 2000 of there trees are on their land right by the sugar house. The guy that was giving us a tour made his own invention on how to collect the sap from the trees. They produce 150 gallons per hour. Everyone that works there loves what they do and they dedicate themselves to that job. Later that evening we went to a fancy restaurant that was also in downtown Burlington, called Hen of the woods.



(Clare)

Today we went to Cabot Creamery I learned how they make cheese. They get their milk from New York, Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Rhode Island. All the farms that give milk to Cabot own a part of the company. There are 109 employees working in the plant. One million pounds of milk is delivered to Cabot daily.  Eighty-four thousand pounds of cheese is produced daily. Two hundred thousand pounds cultured product are produced daily.  Four to five truckloads of whey, remaining after milk has been curdled is shipped daily to Middlebury. I tried three different types of Cabot cheese; Adirondack, Everything Bagel and Artisan Reserve. I did not like any of the three cheeses I tried. I am not a huge cheese fan, so I found Cabot Cheese to be very strong and I did not care for it.

After Cabot we went to a Goodrich's Maple Farm where we got a tour of the factory. He told us how they collect sap to make maple products. First they tap the maple tree  to collect the sap. After that they put it in a truck. After that they put is in big containers to store the sap. Then they move it to the boiler machine to boil the sap down to maple syrup.

In the afternoon we had downtime. Then we went to dinner at Hen of the Wood. It was dark and the ceiling was cool. They had good service. For the starter I had oysters - they had good sauces that was served with them. For the entree I had a salad with radishes and blue cheese and some nuts. For dessert I ordered the root beer float. I thought it was good.  Other students had hanger steak, pork shoulder and pork loin. Everyone enjoyed their meals. On my way back from the bathroom there was a window and you could see a pig hanging. You could tell that things were fresh. 

Our posts for today, Day Six, are by Max Rubanenko and Emily Elfman.

(Max) Today we took a tour of Ben & Jerry’s, It only lasted about 30 minutes but we learned a lot of different things about the process of how they make their ice cream and the history of the company and its ice cream as a whole. Ben & Jerry’s was started in the 1970’s by two men Ben and Jerry. They started off in a small shop in Merrick, New York, serving only about 6 flavors of ice cream. The company continued to grow and grow really quickly and is now probably the biggest artisan ice cream maker in the world. We learned that even one of the biggest ice cream companies in the world can still get all of their ingredients from local farmers and still be artisan even is their company is so big. 

(Emily)      We walk in to Ben and Jerry’s and the smell is amazing. It smells like vanilla and cookies. The first thing we see are old fashion ice cream scoops. I want to buy everything at the gift shop. I am picturing where I would put these items in my room. Then I hear  we are coming back to buy them after the tour. We are told to put our tickets on head as we walk up the stairs into this room with a giant movie screen. There were clouds and a button that says play
   “Two kids meet in track class, and they Need to make a living. They both have a love of food, and wanted to go into the bagels Business. They thought about it and decided ce cream was more their style. In the 80s they started cookie dough. They were the first ones to come up with the idea. Once the idea was out everyone copied it. In the 1990s they looked at ingredients and flavors to name after their favorite bands. In the 2000s corporations became interested which is when they became came popular all over the world. In the 2010 social media chose names like "The Tonight Dough" named after the tonight show, “ Americone Dream Come True” the after the Late Show with Stephen Colbert”.
    Now we just walked into the factory. It's fantastic there are numbers to give us an idea of where we are talking about. Number two was the pasteurizer where all the milk gets pasteurized. Then comes the flavor station at number three. They have many different flavors they inject into the ice cream.  Number four is the freezer where they freeze their ice cream at 36-34 degrees. The chunk feeder is number five, where they put chunks of either cookie dough, brownies, or any other chunk they come up with. After five come six, which is the sweet swirl machine, their number one swirl is caramel. Seven is the automatic filler, which leads to eight, which is the hardener to have it settle and make colder.

(Max) After our tour at Ben & Jerry’s we went to Prohibition Pig for lunch. I thought the meal was amazing and so did many of my classmates. I  decided to get the GLT (guanciale, lettuce, and tomatoes - which were fried green tomatoes), which I would recommend anyone who goes here to get. 

After Prohibition Pig we came back to the hotel for a couple of hours to relax and get ready for dinner at Our House. At Our House most of us got one of their 27 different mac n’ cheese's. They all sounded great but I went with the Steak and crab mac n’ cheese which was great. For dessert which all of us got I had a Nutella creme brulee, which might have been the best creme brulee I have ever had.

Day Five, by Mr. Bender

Today we left campus on a five hour drive to Burlington, Vermont, on our quest to study small local food companies.  Almost all of the student slept for the majority of the drive.  Mrs. Sands and I are hoping they sleep tonight!  We ended up having dinner at Outback Steakhouse (I figured it would be okay, as we will be trying a lot of new foods over the next few days).  Everyone seems happy and ready to hit Ben and Jerry's for the tour tomorrow.

Day four's author is Cammy Carter.

Today we went to Avery's Soda to make our own soda. What I learned was that they have over 50 different soda flavors. They are the only soda place that makes their own soda in Connecticut. They also put real cane sugar in the soda so it taste less sweet than high fructose corn syrup. To start the process of bottling the soda, the first machine they use is the cleaning machine what that does is washes the bottles. The second machine is the syrup, carbonated water and capping machine. What that does is brings the bottle through a cycle, where it squirts in whatever flavor you put, adds carbonated water then pushes a cap on the bottle. After all of that you shake up the bottle to mix the water and the syrup.  Everyone had a great time mixing their own flavors of soda and tasting the Totally Gross sodas like Worm Ooze and Alien Brains.

 

Day three's post was written by Julia Graef.

Today we went to Arethusa Dairy, Nodines Smokehouse and Milk House Chocolates. 

We first went to Arethusa Dairy in Bantam, Connecticut. When we got there, a lady, Sam, came down to show us the production rooms for the ice cream and cheese. We weren't allowed in the actual production room because of possible contamination so we looked through the window. She explained the process of how the raw milk gets to the store, then after it's all done, where it is send to be stored. Once they get the milk they can send it to where it needs to go. For example, they can send to where the cheese is made, some where ice cream is made, and wherever else it's needed. We walked upstairs to where the cheese production room was and one of the workers talked a little about how cheese is made. We learned that they make nine different types of cheeses at Arethusa. After the tour was over, we bought some ice cream. At Arethusa, their most popular flavor is sweet cream with dark chocolate chips. They also mentioned that in the winter, business slows down but people still come in. Pints are also more commonly bought in the winter.

We came back to school for lunch and after we took a quick stop at Nodine's Smokehouse. Nodnie's in Torrington, Connecticut, has been a family smokehouse since 1969. They sell foods like maple syrup, beef, bacon, cookies, cheese etc. Something we learned is that they get their pigs all they way from Canada. Mr. Bender went and bought beef jerky for all of us to try. Some people didn't try it but the ones who did and liked it, took the people's beef jerky that didn't like it so much.

Our last stop was to Thorncrest Farms & Milk House Chocolates in Goshen, Connecticut. The first thing we saw were the cows. We walked into the barn and all you see are these enormous cows who are just eating and eating. One of the Owners, came out and talked to us a bit about the cows. Some of the things he said were that a cow's life span at Thorncrest is about 13.2 years and weighs around 1,200. One of the cows there weights about 2,220 pounds. They eat about 114 pounds a day! The cows are separated into flavor groups. The one cow, Daydream, is only responsible for caramel. Four other cows are responsible for milk chocolate, some are responsible for different types of milk, etc. One cow has 7.8 butter fat, breaking the world record. Something that was also really interesting is that they keep the animals at a no stress level and if any type of stress occurs, it can show up in acidic flavor in the milk. He told a story about how after they moved a cow next to a different cow, they received the cow's milk, and felt something was wrong. So they watched the animals go outside and the two cows started ramming into each other. It turns out that the milk was bad because the cow didn't like its new neighbor so it caused stress. Another fact is that they also don't use fly spray on the cows because it can sink into the skin and then when the cow gets milked, in about five hours, you can taste it in the milk. What they also said is that you can buy milk the same say that cow was milked but with others places, you would have to wait days for it. The lady who is married to the man that talked to us, came out and brought a plate of chocolates. She explained each chocolate to us; which we then tried, shared her some things about her including that she is self taught and has been working with chocolate officially for 20 years and answered some of our questions. After, we all went to the tiny store where we all managed it squeeze ourselves in. People bought chocolate, caramels, milk, t-shirts, and or just sampled the chocolates. There were a lot more fascinating facts and things we learned today so overall, this was a packed day of learning and of course eating.  

The trip today (Thursday, March 2nd) was to Great Barrington, MA.  Great Barrington is a town with a number of small businesses and artisan producers of diverse products.  Home to great restaurants and James Beard Award nominees, Great Barrington's community has a tradition of cooperation, and many of the small food producers work together.  We Today's post is by Morgan Yanni.

Today we went to Barrington Bagel Company to try their bagels and get a little tour of the kitchen.  We then got to go into Guido’s Market for a little while we waited to go on a tour.  SoCo Creamery for a tour at around 11, got a look around at how they made the ice cream, and their whole process.  Finally after the tour we go into the town right before lunch and walk around for a little to look at all the different shops.  We got a demo on how to cut with a kitchen knife from a local store.  After we got to walk around for awhile, we got to go to lunch at an amazing pizza place called Baba Louie’s Pizza.  Finally after all of that, we got to go to the Soco Creamery scoop shop to have ice cream and learn more about the business.  We got to talk to the manager, the CEO, a couple workers there and we had a great time.  At the factory we met Matt, the flavour master.  We learned that they have over 100 flavours of ice cream and sorbet.  They make all of their toppings, like cookie dough, caramel, and use local producers for things like their lavender, their honey, their coffee.  We learned about all of the machines in the factory, and about all of the techniques they have with making swirls in the ice cream and adding the toppings into the product as well.  They have many partnerships with different local companies.  They get most of their produce from no more 50 miles away, their honey, their maple syrup, their dairy.  Overall the day was absolutely amazing and i had a great time with everyone.  

Day One: Cooking Lesson at Cucina Casalinga

Today, we had a cooking lesson with Sally Maraventano in Sally's home in Wilton.  Sally is an Italian chef who specializes in culinary parties and travel.  Her website is here.  Today's post is by Owen Sheinberg.

Today, we drove to Wilton and had a cooking lesson with a very nice lady. At her house, we learned how to make meatballs, two kinds of pizza, and biscotti. I really liked her kitchen and how she grew all of her herbs at her home. This is special to me because rather than getting all of her ingredients from a supermarket, she grows them herself.

    At her house, we made a pizza with Scamorza cheese, caramelized onions, and fresh rosemary. We also made a margherita pizza with fresh mozzarella, tomatoes, and fresh basil. This was important to me because when I order pizza here at school, the toppings aren’t freshly made, while the pizza we made at the house the toppings were freshly grown and made. I also liked this experience because we got to eat what we made!

Introducing the Artisan Foods Winterim leaders:

Hello, I am Mrs. Sands,

I inherited my passion for cooking from my Mimi, my father’s mother. My favorite time of year when when Mimi flew up from Georgia and would spend two weeks with us over the Christmas holiday. On Christmas Eve she would wake up early in the morning and begin to cook Christmas dinner for my father’s side of the family. I would love to watch her spend the day moving effortlessly throughout the kitchen. When I become old enough to help her cook, she began teaching me how to make several of the dishes she prepared for Christmas dinner. The gift she really gave me was confidence in the kitchen. To this day I love to cook. More recently I have familiarized myself with local, organic and artisan foods. I look forward meeting several local vendors who have followed their passion and hope to learn how they gained their confidence in this industry.

In the next few weeks we will have the opportunity to taste, create and discover a variety of artisan foods. It is my hope to expand my knowledge of the artisan food industry.

My favorite food has and always will be anything Italian and all things pasta! My Grammy, my father's stepmother perfected my Great Nona’s bolognese. My Grammy shared this recipe with my mom who shared it with me and my sister. I have made adjustments over the years but keep the base of the sauce the same. When I was in grade school I remember being able to smell the sauce cooking as soon as I stepped off the bus. Pasta night with Nona’s homemade sauce was always my favorite family dinner night.

The one that comes to mind was a meal I enjoyed with my husband on our second wedding anniversary. We made reservations at Waypoint Seafood and Grille in Williamsburg Virginia. “Waypoint Seafood and Grill Restaurant marks Williamsburg’s latest culinary destination from Chef Hans Schadler. The Waypoint menu is a celebration of Chesapeake ingredients and includes items grown at local farms and caught in regional waters. The pure flavors and rich ingredients presented in the seasonally changing entrees represent modern regional American cuisine with classical culinary roots.” Chef Hans Schadler was awarded Virginia’s best chef of 2016.

Cilantro! Science has proved that an aversion to cilantro is actually due to olfactory-receptor genes, called OR6A2, that pick up on the smell of aldehyde chemicals. Aldehyde chemicals are found in both cilantro and soap.

Hi, I'm Mr. Bender.  I have always been interested in food and cooking.  Growing up in a family with different backgrounds, I have spent my life eating family recipes from the Midwest, Germany, Switzerland, Sweden, and the United Kingdom.  Since Winterim was incorporated into Forman's schedule, I've taught food-related courses four times, beginning with A Culinary Tour of Europe.  

While I'm not hoping to learn as much during this Winterim, I am hoping that all of the members gain an appreciation for the hard work and skill that goes into creating artisan foods.  

To choose a favorite food would be very tough for me.  After last year's Winterim in Scotland, I became very fond of haggis, and I've always loved salmon.  But perhaps my favorite, because it is so versatile, is the egg.  I've always disliked peas (though I'll still eat them), but there's nothing I won't try.  My favorite food experiences are always about trying new food: trying beef marrow is one of the most recent experiences that I can recall. 

Introducing the students of the Artisan Foods Winterim:

 

Hey, I'm Cammy.  I went with this Winterim because I love food.  I hope to learn about all the different kinds of food. Also I've never been to Vermont. I'll try anything to eat, I love food. If I was to choose a favorite food it would be pizza. The worst food experience I've ever had was when my mom forced me to eat her brussel sprouts and it tasted like tires. I HATE Brussel sprouts with a burning passion. 

 Hi i’m Clare Shurtleff.  I signed up for this Winterim because I wanted to learn about all types of food. Also I wanted to learn how to cook. I hope to learn how certain food are made.  My favorite food is salad, because you can pick out any type of toppings for different days.  I liked going to Latvia and eating all the fresh food from the garden. I really dislike peanut butter.
 

Hi, I’m Owen.  I signed up for this Winterim because I love food and I wanted to do something that I might want to do in the future.  I hope to learn how different companies make their food/drinks.  My favorite food is lobster or steak.  When I was 14, I went to Italy with my mom and we had a very special pizza that was made right in front of us.  My least favorite food is nuts and peas.







Hi, I'm Morgan Yanni.  I signed up for this because I find food very interesting and very cool to study.  I hope to learn different techniques with cooking and different foods I can show my friends and family.  I do not have a favourite food but if I would have to say anything I would say either buffalo chicken or cream cheese.  I would say in San Francisco, and my parents and I went to this “amazing” seafood place, turned out to be one of the worst experiences ever.  Or the other time when my friends mom got hit in the head by a gull over a sandwich.  My least favourite food is brussel sprouts, avocado and onion but I am up to try anything you put in front of me.



 Hi i’m Emily Elfman.  I signed up for a cooking and baking winterim. I have always enjoyed baking. When I was younger I would always help my mom.  The feeling when you make food and the waiting through the process while it cooks is so much fun. I hope to learn how to try new things. I am an extremely picky eater. I don’t eat anything with a squishy texture. I have never been able to eat yogurt or pudding. I hope to expand a little bit and become more open.  Lately I have been trying to eat healthy food. But when I was younger, Italian food was always my favorite.  When I was in New York I went to this restaurant called “per se” it was the fanciest restaurant I have ever been to.  This was the first time I tried caviar. After I tried it I went right under the table.  This is a tough one. I don't like anything not cooked. I won’t eat spicy food. Avocado ew! Most vegetables except for, cucumber, carrots, corn, brussel sprouts, asparagus. 

Hi, I’m Max Rubanenko.  I chose a food based winterim because I am interested in learning more about the process that is taken to produce and serve organic foods. I hope to learn what goes into making larger batches of old recipes that aren’t meant to be widely produced or available. My favorite food is chicken. My most interesting food experience would be when I was in Colorado two years ago for winter break, my friends dad dared me to try caribou for the first time and I did and I thought it was really good. This lead to him telling me to order other wild game such as deer, rabbit, and buffalo throughout the trip. My least favorite food is yogurt.

 Hi, I’m Julia.  I signed up for a food-based winterim because I thought it would be interesting to learn about how the food we eat is made and produced.  I hope to learn about the process in making and producing food.  My favorite food is grilled chicken, pasta & pizza.  I remember my dad introduced calamari to my sister and I and I didn't really like it that much but now I really like it. I hate eggs, some types of cheese, and sushi.



Hi, im Aaliyah  Simons. I signed up for this food based winterim because, one I wanted to get off campus this year but also to try new foods. Im very picky when it comes to eating but I will eat a lot.  I hope to learn that trying new foods is good not a bad thing.  My favorite food is meat lovers pizza but it has to be thin crust, otherwise it won't taste the best. The different types of meat I like on my pizza are: bacon, pepperoni and sausage. Usually in a restaurant I only eat cheese or bacon and cheese. The only time I would eat the pizza I described above is in a box from the store. My most interesting food experience is when I was trying something new for the first time and it didn't go so well but also I think it was the combination that made me feel the way I felt.  I forget where I was but I had a peanut butter and jelly sandwich with a strawberry milkshake and I threw up after that and never had it again. I have a lot of least favorite food but two that stand out are, marshmallows and fish. Also vegetables but it all depends who makes it or how it's done. 

Hi, I’m Dani.  I signed up for a food- based Winterim was because last year I really enjoyed Culinary and everything we made and overall I like food.  I hope to learn how to make new foods.   I enjoy Italian food and my favorite food specifically is chicken tenders, or anything with chicken. The best and most interesting food experience I’ve ever had was last year in Culinary we went to Sur La Table and learned how to make a lot of different things.  I don’t have a least favorite food, but probably fruit, I don’t always enjoy fruit. Even though I like Italian food, I’m not a huge fan of pasta because when I was younger I used to eat it a lot and now I don’t like it.