Flavourful Saskatoon, October 15, 2012

My Favourite Things
I had a great holiday, but it’s good to be home and picking up great food from some of my favourite producers.

Here are just a few of this week’s food delights:

Pumpkin-Chocolate Brownies from Earth Bound Bakery – they just celebrated their 4th anniversary!

Vegetarian pad thai from Sawaddee Bistro

I won a basket of goodies from SaskMade Marketplace at the Three Farmers’ celebration of their Dragons’ Den win. SaskMade has so many great products – from Petrofka Bridge apple cider vinegar to sweet potato soup from Simon’s Fine Foods (and so many more – I can’t possibly name them all).

Fresh n Local delivered groceries to my home on Tuesday. What a timesaver in a busy week! They're now supplying City Perks Coffee Shop and Caffe Sola with fresh, local, organic produce - isn't that great!

Free Friday Frenzy 
The Garlic Guru, Saskatoon Farmers’ Market, is offering week-day specials and the chance to enter a draw to win a free Friday meal for you and 3 friends, one entry with every purchase. Free Friday Frenzy runs from October 19 to November 30.

Steep Hill Food Co-op
Steep Hill Food Co-op is selling 100% recycled aluminum foil, petroleum-free wax paper and unbleached parchment paper baking cups. They have parchment paper that’s been coated with silicone rather than quilon, a heavy metal that is toxic when incinerated. Silicone-coated paper can be used several times as well.

Herschel Hills Cheese 
I fell in love with good cheese as a teenager when I lived in France for a couple of years, so I am super-excited to be able to buy locally made cheese at the Saskatoon Farmers’ Market.

Sharon McDaniel of Herschel Hills Artisan Cheese House has just started selling her cheese at the Market, and it seems like every week there is a new variety. I attempted to show restraint by only taking home three out of at least five different options.

The Midnight Cammie is my current favorite, a ripe, gooey camembert that is sharp with flavour. But I also love the bite-sized chunks of Feta that are perfect for snacking, and I’m looking forward to trying the Fromage Blanc on my loaf of Currant-Walnut Bread from Earth Bound Bakery. Sharon was offering samples of her herbed cream cheese and the fromage blanc mixed with grated lemon rind – so good!

Sharon McDaniel is a member of Slow Food Saskatoon and will be attending Terra Madre, Slow Food’s international food fair, in Italy later this month. I’m sure she’ll come back brimming with new ideas. Not to worry – she plans to make enough cheese this coming week to keep eager customers like myself satisfied until she returns from Italy.

Sundays at the Market 
I visited the Saskatoon Farmers' Market twice this weekend, both Saturday and Sunday. The Saturday market has lots of choices, but it’s busy and crowded. Sunday, on the other hand, you have time and space to browse and chat with the vendors. And there are enough vendors and different products to satisfy.

I came away with an armful of delicious food – beet greens and heirloom German Butterball potatoes from Kaleidoscope Gardens, Muffuleta Olive Salad and Chocolate-Cherry Jam from Fruition Orchards, whole wheat tortillas from a new vendor, Las Tortillas, and more cheese (!!!). And that was in addition to everything I’d already bought on Saturday.

I also enjoyed samples of a Beet and Quinoa Salad and a Seabuckthorn Smoothie made by Brooke Bulloch, a registered dietician with Food to Fit. Both were excellent.

Saskatoon Sous Chef 
I was disappointed to learn that Saskatoon Sous Chef had been forced to shut down because they lost access to the kitchen they’d been using. There really is a shortage of commercial kitchens in Saskatoon, which I’m sure hampers a lot of would-be food entrepreneurs.

Flavourful Saskatoon is a weekly Monday feature. I also post regular profiles of culinary entrepreneurs, new restaurants and new food products.

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