Restaurant Forum Magazine
Florida Food-print (Restaurant Forum's Green section) 2011 Farmer Profiles |
A Farmers' Maze Long & Scott Farms Zellwood, FL By Alicia Callanan Mandigo There really isn't a direct route to market. Getting your corn to market can be along series of twists, turns, errors, dead ends and breakthroughs. Perhaps subconsciously, years of navigating a commercial corn market maze is what inspired Long & Scott to create physical corn mazes. Maybe you don't know the Long & Scott name, but you've seen its work. Since 2003, Long & Scott has been creating 7-acre corn mazes that draw 20,000 visitors and lots of local and national media attention. Just this year an aerial view of its maze was featured on The Weather Channel.
Corn mazes are fun. So is Zellwood sweet corn, which would have vanished from our tables entirely were it not for Long & Scott. There was a time when Zellwood produced lots of corn. But all of the farms shut down, all except Long & Scott. As the only corn growere in the area, it becam impossible for the family farm to compete on the commodities market. In 2001, about 3-years after the surrounding farms shut down, Long & Scott decided to market its corn directly to the area's chefs and higher end restaurants. The new strategy coincided with a growing interest in local produce and local sourcing. "It's very positive, it's finally taking off", says Long & Scott Farms Manager Hank Scott, "the chefs have a lot to do with it. In the beginning, we would actually take the corn to the chefs so they could try it. They figured out what to do with it, they learned they could get it through Red's Market (now Fresh Point Central Florida) and it started taking off." For Scott, seeing how many different ways a chef could use Zellwood corn was a bit of an eye opener.
Long & Scott grows only bi-colored corn. This year 60 acres were planted, an increase over last year. The corn is astoundingly sweet and tender, so much so that it's actually enjoyed best straight off the stalk. "There's no reason to cook it," says Frank Scott, the founder of Long & Scott, "everybody over cooks the corn. All you need to do is warm it just enough to melt your butter." That's what chefs began learning , and they now vie for the chance to have Zelwood corn on the menu. Forget the cob and the butter though. This corn finds its way into chowders, salads and even desserts. Between the corn maze and the succulent sweet corn, it would seem corn is the main business at Long & Scott. Actually, the farm's big money crop is pickling cucumbers. It also grows watermelon, cabbage and sod. Corn is a small piece of the business, but it's what residents and chefs prize the most. Because of the success in marketing Zellwood sweet corn directly to chefs, Long & Scott hosted its first chefs farm tour in the fall of 2010. And there's an expectation that the farm will be able to increase it's corn acreage in 2011. Originally from Virginia, Frank Scott came to Central Florida on the promise of better farming. He says they "really had some fun" in the early days of farming, but as with so many industries, political and commercial interests began changing the way the farm could do business. And so the Scotts had to look for ways to evolve. The corn maze helps to promote the value of local farms and local produce, and direct marketing gets a much loved product on to the plates of those who want it. "We sell to special people, we grow it on order. There are a lot of people who really love this corn. They love the taste and they love the freshness," says Frank Scott. Oh, the freshness. That may be the biggest beauty of the direct marketing strategy. Corn sold to consumers at the farm is picked the morning it is sold. Corn sent to chefs is just as fresh. The senior Scott says the farm can now ship much faster than it used to, so one might argue that Zellwood corn is even better than it used to be. "It's taken a long time, and I think it's finally taken off because of the pressure from chefs and from local peoplek," says Hank Scott. It can sometimes seem like there's no getting through a maze, but when a farmer manages to make his way from farm to market, there's a pay off for everyone.
Alicia C. Mandigo is a freelance writer living in Winter Park, FL.
2010 Farmer Profiles
Honestly Hand-Crafted Cheese Winter Park Dairy Winter Park, FL. By Alicia Callanan Mandigo
One could view Winter Park Dairy as a homestead holding out against modern encroachment. Or it could be viewed as the progressive re-visioning of a citrus grove. Either way, Winter Park Dairy is an agricultural enclave within a metro area. "I am a fourth generation citrus farmer," says owner David Green, "and in 1985 all of the groves froze to the ground." Those who were here will not forget that winter, and citrus growers across the region began selling off their land. Replanting was expensive and it would take years for the groves to become productive again. With a picturesque 8-acre parcel of lake front property, Green easily could have sold too. Instead, he and his wife Dawn traveled to Vermont to learn how to become cheese makers. "We studied at the University of Vermont to learn how to do it, and we returned to become Florida's first artisan cheese makers licensed for raw milk cheese," says Green.
Winter Park Dairy has seen almost exponential growth in its production since launching its product line 3 years ago*. The dairy started out producing 10 wheels of cheese a week, it is now producing 200 wheels of cheese a week. The Greens experimented with a few different cheeses through the years, but the focus is on Winter Park Dairy's signature Blue Sunshine and a Tomme. The Tomme is a hard-pressed parmesan style cheese with a flavor that is reminiscent of both parmesan and manchego. Its flavor makes it a nice table cheese, but it's quite suitable for grating. The Tomme is a very good cheese, but it's the Blue Sunshine that gets all the attention. Nationwide attention at that. In the summer of 2010, Winter Park Dairy's Blue Sunshine was served at the James Beard House when four area chefs cooked there as part of the Sunshine State Celebration. And now the cheese has found its way to Napa, where a cheese monger is ordering 300 pounds at a time for tastings and wine pairings. "We are producing a fine artisan cheese that we're confident can compete with any creamery in the nation. The Blue Sunshine is a very buttery, mild blue. What really sets it apart is the edible rind. It ages from outside in, creating a very complex rind flavor. And the edible rind means there's absolutely no waste," says Green. The Greens, along with their apprentice Leah Steele, personally manage every single aspect of running a dairy. There are no farm hands feeding the cows or rustling them from one pasture to another. The milking is done one cow at a time and the cheese is literally made by hand.
Steele has her arms elbow deep in a vat of milk as Green describes the process. Winter Park Dairy's cheese is now showing up on menus all over the state. Because he is now working with distributors, Green doesn't know exactly where his cheese goes or how it's being used. He's often surprised when he receives feedback on the creative ways Blue Sunshine ends up in dishes. "One chef was using the rind for chunky mashed potatoes, and another was using it for an infused olive oil,' says Green. Perhaps Winter Park Dairy is more than an enclave. Maybe it's a little artisanal oasis. It is, after all, one of the very few places where you can get an honestly hand-crafted raw milk cheese.
*In the years between being citrus growers and diary producers, the Greens raised beef cattle on the property, and built an equestrian boarding facility. The beef cattle are now gone, but the equestrian barn is still active today.
Alicia Callanan Mandigo is a freelance writer in Winter Park.
The Mega of Micro Cahaba Clubs Herbal Outpost Odessa, FL By Alicia Callanan Mandigo
In the cool hush of a greenhouse, fragile tendrils, delicate shoots and young sprouts with seed pods still attached like tine ornaments stretch out in velvety rows that completely belie their might. They are micro greens, meant to be consumed very young. When grown correctly, micro greens are packed with mega flavor. Consider the Micro Onion, a yellow bunching onion from Japan that Cahaba Clubs Herbal Outpost introduced to its clients six months ago. They are so fine, they don't look like they'd offer much flavor at all. Pop one in your mouth and its essence seems sweet and mild at first, but that subtle introduction is followed by a very distinct onion flavor. It is most definetely not a chive. If the Micro Onion doesn't get your attention, the Caliente most certainly will. Within a moment of tasting its tiny, tender leaves you have one clear thought in your head- wasabi! It's almost shocking that such pronounced flavors come from such tiny plants. Cahaba Clubs Herbal Outpost is a 10-year old family-owned hydroponic green house operation. And like every other grower in Florida, Cahaba Clubs was hit hard this past winter. We had 11-consecutive nights in the 20's in January, it was brutal, says owner Marvin Wilhite, Jr. I can handle a couple of nights of freezes, but January changed everything. I was up every night trying to save the lettuce but it just didn't make it. Lettuce can be tough to grow in Florida. Traditiionally the big challenge is keeping it cool in the summer. Whilhite successfully grew lettuce outside for 7-years, until this past winter. Now he has to be concerned with keeping lettuce warm in the winter, which will mean indoor greenhouses. The technology is expensive, but chefs and consumers alike are latching on to the ideas of sourcing locally and making sustainable choices and Cahaba Clubs offers both. By working with the University of Florida, Wilhite has employed multiple systems that make his greenhouses highly productive and ecologically efficient. Wilhite says a one-acre lettuce greenhouse will produce the equivilent of 2500 acres of field growth. Conversely, his greenhouses consume 99-percent less water than a traditional row cropper. This is achieved in part by constantly re-circulating and sanitizing the water. There is mind-boggling amount of science behind growing tiny greens. There's the Ebb and Flow drip method, the Nutrient Film Method, and the Perlite Containers. There are stringent contamination protocols in place, a precise air exchange system and even calculations on the irrigation water temperature. In the end, Wilhite's micro greens are a marvel of technology and not chemicals. Cahaba Clubs prides itself in being pesticide free. If that isn't enough of a health incentive for you, then you might want to look into the research being done on the cancer fighting properties that micro greens seem to offer. It's powerful stuff. For chefs though, the power is in the flavor and word about Cahaba Clubs continues to spread. On the day we visited, Wilhite was packing a sampler for Spanish River Grill, Restaurant Forum's June/July cover feature. Micro greens entered the food scene as a garnish and a novelty. But chefs are rapidly discovering their versatility and giving them more prominent roles in their dishes. They may be micro in stature, but Cahaba Clubs greens offer mega nutrition, mega sustainability and most of all- mega flavor.
Alicia Callanan Mandigo is a freelance writer living in Winter Park.
A Peach of a Find Florida Sweet Brand Peaches
Arcadia, FL By Alicia Callanan Mandigo
It's amazing to think that something requiring years of painstaking development, something that really isn't supposed to be here, should turn out to be so spectacular. "It's not the heat," says Florida Sweet Peaches' Nicole Adams, "It's not that this peach is resistant to heat, it's the lack of cold." Developed by the University of Florida, Florida peaches are able to set fruit with only 100 chill hours. A Georgia peach, by comparison, requires 600 chill hours. Although the peaches have actually been around for a wile, and are grown in Queensland, Australia as well as Florida, the Florida Sweet Peach only became marketable 4 years ago. So, if you're scratching your head and thinking, "I don't know we grew peaches in Florida," you're not alone. Peaches are growing in Florida, growing like gangbusters. Adams says the trees are so productive that the fruit produced by an acre of peaches outpaces the fruit produced by an acre of citrus 20-fold. Florida Sweet Peaches' 70 acres produced a quarter million pounds of fruit this year. Next year's yield is expected to be more than double that. The numbers are exciting, but what about the taste? "The Florida Glo, (a white fleshed peach), has amazing flavor and very high brix," says Adams. Brix is how sugar in a peach is measured. "The Florida Glo drops jaws, its brix is much higher than California and Georgia peaches," says Adams. There are actually six varieties available. Chefs tend to favor the Florida Prince because it cooks so beautifully. Other specialty varieties sent to restaurants include the Florida Glo and the Tropic Beauty. Aside from its magnificent flavor, the Florida peach promises to be about the freshest peach you ever get. Florida peaches are more fragile than their California and Georgia counterparts. They have to be packed in single layer packaging, and they don't shelve well. "We're picking fruit that will be on shelves within 18 hours. It takes a lot of labor, and there were no standards for how to handle the fruit so we've had to learn as we go, " says Adams. In developing the peach, the clever folks at UF looked at more than Florida's climate, it apparently looked at how this product would fit into the peach industry. The season is short, from roughly mid-April to the beginning of June. It's a nice, solid 6-week span during which there are no other peaches available anywhere in the world. And they helped to make for some exciting spring menus for several Central Florida restaurants. "We would definately like for more chefs to find us," says Adams, "the peaches are largely distributed to Publix, Winn Dixie, and Sweet Bay right now, but our peaches are available to restaurants too,' As word spreads, Florida peaches will no doubt become as valued as our strawberries and sweet corn. While the peach is unlikely to overtake citrus, it may find itself to be Florida agriculture's new rising star.
Alicia Callanan Mandigo is a freelance writer in Winter Park.
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