The Local Food Report

Most people think of stinging nettles as an obnoxious—and painful—weed. But this week on the Local Food Report, Falmouth resident Fiamma Straneo takes Elspeth foraging for stinging nettles and remembers nettle recipes from her childhood in Italy. 

You can read more about nettles on Elspeth's blog, Diary of a Locavore.

Under a canopy of tall hardwoods in Truro, there grows a small forest of Cinnamon ferns. On the Local Food Report, Elspeth Hay harvests these edible local greens - a springtime ritual - with forager Charlie Grimm.

Find out more and get Charlie Grimm's recipe for preparing Cinnamon ferns.

Audio posted above.

This episode of the Local Food Report is a rebroadcast of one that originally aired on May 19, 2011.

Temperature is important, and so is humidity, when incubating eggs. On the Local Food Report, Elspeth Hay speaks with Susan Knieriem of Miss Scarlett's Blue Ribbon Farm in Yarmouthport about raising chickens from egg to bird. Susan does it using an old-fashioned incubator—it looks like an old wooden icebox, and it holds about 100 eggs. She collects the fertile ones—which is most of them since she's got roosters—and dates them and lays them on the trays. After 21 days: peep. Peep. PEEP. PEEP! Babies.

Spelt is an ancient grain—a hybrid of regular bread wheat and another wheat variety called farro or emmer. On the Local Food Report, Elspeth Hay talks with Ed Miller of Wellfleet about a slow-rise spelt bread made with locally grown grain. 

Read more on Elspeth's blog, Diary of a Locavore.  

You don't often see cusk in local fish markets. On the Local Food Report, Elspeth Hay learns about this unusual species of groundfish. She delves into where it lives, how it's caught, and why despite a lack of demand, cusk populations are still in decline.

Read more on Elspeth's blog, Diary of a Locavore. 

It's that time of year: still cold, but avid gardeners are itching to get outside. On the Local Food Report, Elspeth Hay asks Truro farmers Drake Cook and Tessa Gifford what we can do to get started. First on the list? Prepare your soil...

Read more on Elspeth's blog, Diary of a Locavore.

Farm-to-table restaurants are incredibly popular right now. On The Local Food Report, Elspeth Hay talks with farmers and chefs at the Chatham Bars Inn resort, which recently bought a 7.7 acre farm. Will a large scale farm-to-table model work here, where soil is sandy and land prices are high?

For more information, check out Elspeth's blog, Diary of A Locavore.

In the historical heyday of salt making on Cape Cod, not only table salt was produced.  On the Local Food Report, Elspeth Hay describes how a byproduct was used for making washing soda for detergents, tanning leather, and dying cloth. What's more, the cold brine leftover could be used to make Epsom salt, or magnesium sulfate.

Find out more on Elspeth's blog, Diary of a Locavore.

Cape Cod's Long History of Making Salt, Part One

In 1837 there were 658 saltworks on Cape Cod,  producing 26,000 tons of salt a year.   On The Local Food Report, Elspeth Hay examines the Cape's rich history of salt production. By 1888 the last commercial saltworks was dismantled. But recently salt-making has been making a comeback.

Audio posted above.

 Find out more on Elspeth's blog, Diary of a Locavore. 

There is a drift of snow two feet deep over the garden. Still, it's seed ordering time. On the Local Food Report, Elspeth Hay rejoices in the certain approach of spring and the prospect of restarting the garden. So what seed do you order? And how much?

For more information, check out Elspeth's blog, Diary of A Locavore.

In Europe, scallop roe is a delicacy. But Americans haven't developed a taste for it—yet. In The Local Food Report, Elspeth Hay examines scallop roe, which is packed with omega-3s—good for everyone, and especially important for mamas and babies.

See a video of How to Open a Scallop and find out more about scallop roe on Elspeth's Blog, Diary of a Locavore.

Audio will be posted soon.

Two Skidmore College students started the Wellfleet Sea Salt Company with a simple proposition: let the sun do most of the work. On the Local Food Report, Elspeth Hay explores the process and offers a delicious custard recipe for enjoying the results. How barebones is the salt-making operation? Seawater is evaporated within floating greenhouses, and the resulting crystals are crushed with a wine bottle. 

Audio is posted above. 

The last commercial dairy on Cape Cod closed in 1971. On the Local Food Report, Elspeth Hay visits Circle Back Farm in Yarmouth Port, where Tanya Daigneault and Don Chapin are working to open a micro-dairy. Once certified, they're hoping to supply milk to forty local families - and eventually even cheese and yogurt.

Find out more about milk cows on Cape Cod on Elspeth's blog, Diary of a Locavore.

Massachusetts has just two USDA-certified slaughterhouses for livestock. On the Local Food Report, an intiative is afoot to create a livestock processing facility on Martha's Vineyard. Plans are already drawn up.

Find out more about the proposal for a slaughterhouse for Martha's Vineyard, and get more information about slaughterhouses in New England, on Elspeth's blog, Diary of a Locavore.

Oysterman Jim O' Connell follows an old practice when it comes to over-wintering his shellfish. It's called "pitting," and it means storing oysters underground.  On the Local Food Report, Elspeth Hay speaks with O'Connell about the method.

Elspeth Hay's great-grandfather kept his eggnog recipe in the safety deposit box - it's that good. This week on The Local Food Report, Elspeth reveals its secrets, and how it got the sexton drunk.

Elspeth gives a version of the family eggnog recipe, adapted from the Joy of Cooking, on her blog, Diary of a Locavore.

At least four dairies in our region are producing feta cheese, and one is on Martha's Vineyard.  On the Local Food Report, Elspeth Hay speaks with Bonnie Alexander of Mermaid Farm and Dairy in Chilmark about making feta. It's one way the dairy uses surplus winter milk to create a product they can sell in summer.

Particularly in the winter, we need all the choices we can get when it comes to vegetables.  On this week's Local Food Report, Elspeth explores locally grown turnip family varieties.  She says it's nice to see local farmers reviving old root vegetables to keep us fed.

If you've never met a daikon radish, you're in for a treat. They're an incredibly large radish, very thick and satiny white. While Americans generally associate them with Japan, they actually found their way to Japan via China about two thousand years ago, and they're incredibly popular all over Asia. They're also called mooli in Britain, and they're used in Asia in all sorts of dishes. They're particularly popular in the winter when they provide a much needed source of Vitamin C. And yes, you really can eat the greens.

An interesting thing about Tromboncincos is that they can be used as both a summer or a winter squash. Right now, Darnell's selling them as winter squash—they look and taste like butternut, and they'll keep through the winter.

At the West Tisbury Winter Farmers' Market on Martha's Vineyard, Elspeth discovers a local, all-beef hot dog.

It's no secret that the fishery is in trouble. The Secretary of Commerce declared a commercial fishery failure in the Northeast groundfish fishery for the 2013 season. Starting in May, there will likely be big cuts to the quotas.

Find out more on Elspeth's blog, Diary of a Locavore.

First off, Stephen, thank you for the apple cake. I knew it would be good—I could tell that much from the warmth and the smell and the soft, crackly apple bits that peeked out around the edges. But I had no idea how good—that it would melt and give way and taste downright heavenly.

Find out more, and get the recipe for Old Truro Road Apple Cake, on Elspeth's blog, Diary of a Locavore.

Let's talk beer. Not the kind you buy, but the kind you make at home. In this 3-part episode of the Local Food Report, originally broadcast in February and March of 2012, Elspeth dives into the process of brewing your own beer.  She begins with a little history: 5000 years ago the Sumerians were already at it...

Elspeth has more information about homebrewing, including a recipe and links for brewing resources, on her blog Diary of a Locavore.