You may already be cooking with “fresh” herbs from the grocery store, but if you haven’t tried locally grown fresh herbs you’re in for a delightful experience. The difference in flavor between dried herbs and fresh herbs, even fresh herbs shipped for long distances, is huge, but local freshness boosts the flavor by yet another quantum leap.
When you work with local farm fresh herbs, the first difference you’ll notice is the fragrance. Chopping herbs for a recipe is one of my favorite cooking activities. The scent is exquisite, and you can easily judge the freshness of your herbs by the smell alone. Continue Reading
Artisan cheeses are one of the great joys of locavore eating in Whatcom County. Several local farms produce traditional and gourmet cheeses which are available year round.
People sometimes think that by limiting themselves to food produced locally, locavores are also limiting themselves to plain, simple, boring dishes. Nothing could be farther from the truth. While farm fresh local food often has so much natural flavor that little needs to be done to make it delectable, you can also get as fancy as you like with the same ingredients.
Raising high quality grassfed beef commercially has been a challenge in Whatcom County. First, it takes a lot of land to raise enough cattle for year-round meat availability. Second, they have to be slaughtered at a USDA-approved facility, and none was available here.
As the weather warms (at least when we stand in direct sunlight out of the wind), fantasies of grilled food begins to appear in my mind. Fortunately we just purchased a new 